C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

AKA: How "Big" Jim Williams Became the First Man to Bench Press 700 lbs Big Jim Williams bench pressing in competition.  I rarely think about, or plan at all, what I'm going to write on this blog until I actually sit down to write it. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't write everything  in this manner.  Currently, for instance, I'm working on a "Budo Zen" book on the real  intersection of martial arts and spirituality, and that book takes research.  But that aside, I really, truly have no idea what I'm going to write until I sit down and actually, you know, write it . So this morning I sat down to hammer away at my keyboard, and thought, "what the heck should I write about in the field of strength training that I haven't  written about, or, at least, haven't written about in a long time?"  About the only  planning I do is asking myself that sort of question once I decide whether I want to write about muscle-building, or serious  s

High Frequency Training for Strength and Power Part One: The Basics      This is the first of what will be a multi-part series on “high frequency training” geared specifically for building strength and power.   High frequency training – training not just multiple times per week, but training each muscle group multiple times per week – has become more popular in recent years.   I’ve been touting its benefits for almost a decade, but so have other strength trainers/writers such as Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John.      High frequency training (henceforth just “HFT”), however, is nothing recent nor is it particularly innovative.   If you read my last couple articles on the training of Anthony Ditillo you should know that.   Before Ditillo there was “Big” Jim Williams.   (My first post on this blog a few years ago was related to Jim Williams training.   If you haven’t done so, please read it.)   And before either Ditillo or Williams, there were the original “old-timers” – men su

Power Rack Training for Beginning and Intermediate Lifters      Recently, I have received quite a few e-mails from folks wanting specialized routines for training.   Most of these e-mails are from lifters that are specifically after strength and power, but also want the muscle mass to go with it.   In addition, a lot of these lifters train in their garage or at home and only have access to a power rack, a bench, and a few hundred pounds of Olympic weights.      I happen to train in my garage—where I have a power rack, a Forza bench, and a deadlifting platform (not to mention 1200 pounds of free weights)—so I’m well aware of the fact that you can build plenty of strength, power, and muscle by training at home.   (In fact, I’ve made better gains at home than I ever made when going to the gym.)      What follows is a program that’s perfect for home training in a power rack.   It allows the lifter to train at home by him/herself without needing a spotter—although a spotter can defi

     Big Jim Williams - who died not that long ago at the age of 65 - was one of the great legends of strength and power that you just don't hear that much about.  What a shame.  Not only was Williams strong (he bench pressed 675 pounds in a meet wearing nothing but a t-shirt and lifting belt, and did an "unofficial" bench of 700 pounds in the gym), but he was massively muscular and had a wealth of knowledge for anyone interested in getting bigger and stronger.      One of the techniques that Williams liked to use - especially for more advanced lifters or for lifters who are "built" for a certain lift - was something called "21s."  And, no, these are not the 21s that are popular for bodybuilders.      Here's how real  21s work: On your major lifts (squats, benches, deads, overhead presses - whatever lift it is that you're trying to get stronger) you perform no more than 21 total reps for that lift in the workout.  Using this technique you then