C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

       Someone told me at the gym one time—many years ago; I haven’t been to a commercial gym on a regular basis since the ‘90s—that I had a lot of creative ideas.  I can’t remember the exact words that he used, but something to the extent of “innovative” or “unique.”  He had been reading my (almost) monthly articles in IronMan magazine at the time.  At this point, I had switched over from writing many “bodybuilding” pieces, and instead wrote a lot of strength-oriented articles with ideas I had stolen from (primarily) Bill Starr and various Russian strength coaches such as Zatsiorsky.  That’s right, stolen .  I proceeded to tell him that, although I might concede to being creative, I was most definitely not (and still am not) innovative or unique.  I simply borrowed, and still borrow, ideas from a lot of great writers, strength coaches, bodybuilders, powerlifters, and other strength athletes that have come before me.      Here’s the thing, though: if you’re going to be successful at y