C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  The "Original" Rapid Mass-Gaining Regimen A picture of a young Ken Leistner, one of the modern "popularizers" of 20-rep programs such as the one below.       When writing my “Old School is Still the Best… and Always Will Be” essay, I mentioned that I would begin to write regular programs on various old school training regimens.  And even though it wasn’t that long ago that I wrote about a 20-rep squat program (in a post a few months back on power rack training), and even though several of my articles/posts have mentioned 20-rep squat programs, I still thought that this would be the best program to begin any series on old-school muscle-building.      The 20-rep squat program is the original mass-builder.  Before steroids even came onto the scene, a couple of men named J.C. Hise—who first used the program to great success—and Mark Berry—who first wrote about the program—made this form of training the method for pac...

Power Rack Training for Physical Development   Part Two: The Ultimate Mass-Gaining, Bulk-Building Power Rack Training Program  (Inspired by Joseph Curtis “J.C.” Hise and the writings of Peary Rader) J.C. Hise, the inspiration for this article, in a picture from the 1930s. About two weeks ago, I released Part One of (what I expect to be) a semi-regular, but perhaps sporadic series on training in the power rack.  As I mentioned in that first part, the rack is so much more than a good training area to do partials—which, unfortunately, I think that is about the only thing it’s used for these days.  I recommend that you read Part One first, though it’s not necessary but it would be helpful, since I don’t plan on rehashing all of the goodies the power rack has to offer.  In Part One, I created a “new” program, but one heavily influenced by Charles A. Smith, who in turn was quite influenced by J.C. Hise, and Hise’s mentor Mark Berry.  It’s a basic, full-body, 3-...

  Part One: A Basic, Full-Body Power Rack Program  (Inspired by the Legendary Charles A. Smith) illustrations as they appeared in one of Smith's rack training articles for Muscle Power I keep a notebook on my person at all times to jot down ideas for articles and essays as they come to me.  My sons, of course, explain to me that I could make it easier if I just use a “notepad” on my cell phone.  But I won’t budge.  I’m pretty stubborn in that way, but it’s also because I don’t think we should be so quick to “throw out the old for the new.”  I bring this up for two points.  The first is that, looking through my notebook(s) of ideas, I realized that I haven’t written anything on “power rack training” in quite some time.  The 2nd is that you shouldn’t be so quick to get rid of “old” training ideas in favor of whatever “new-fangled” ones appear to work better; and, unfortunately, the lifting world seems to have forgotten some of the great exercises t...