C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Unique Training Concepts and Ideas for Gaining Size and Strength or Getting in Shape      I have a lot of stuff that I’m trying to write.  So much that it can get overwhelming—a book I’m trying to finish but seem to constantly get stuck in neutral in the process, about 20 different notes for articles and essays, along with a handful of others that I’ve already begun and need to simply finish—that I don’t really know where to start.  Or finish.  With that in mind, I thought it might be good to just write an “odds and ends” essay, the very thing that you’re now reading.  These are a few of the ideas that I wrote down for some articles, but I’m not really sure if there’s enough there for each one to comprise an article of its own.  I thought, well, what-the-hell, I’ll just throw a few of them together in one essay.      With that short preamble out of the way, let’s get going and see where this thing will go. Rest-P...

      I apologize for the delay in posts this month.  I just returned from a vacation to my home state of Texas and simply wasn't able to get the writing done out there that I had PLANNED on doing.  Anyway, I hope to post more frequently for the remainder of the month.  Also, be on the lookout for a new book (hopefully this week🤞) on heavy-light-medium training!  With that out of the way... Grip Work for More Mass, Strength, and Power If You Want to Get REALLY Big and Strong, Throw Away the Straps and Embrace HARD Grip Work        “When I made the decision to forego the use of straps and persevere until I could handle heavy weights without them, I surpassed previous bests.   In fact, the entire exercise (deadlifts) became much more intense and my overall gains in strength and muscular size were quite unexpected.   Perhaps my level of concentration was higher because I was so intent on maintaining my grip on the...

  On Programming, Variety, and Making Gains!      The other day, Jason, a lifting friend of mine, called me on the phone.  He needed some advice for breaking out of the rut he was in.  Jason’s one of those guys that’s always into “powerbuilding.”  He wants to look like a bodybuilder, but also wants to have impressive strength.  He said that several months ago he had started on one of those “briefer-is-better” programs—the kind of program that would have made Ken Leistner proud—and got some of the best results he’s ever had in just a matter of a few weeks, but then it all ground to a sudden halt.  After explaining to me what he had been doing, and some of the adjustments he’d made but to no avail, he was almost at his wit’s end.  “I just don’t know what I’m doin’ wrong,” he said.  To which I replied, “It ain’t what you’re doin’.  It’s what you’ve done.”      “Huh?” he replied in turn, bemusing...

     If you don't know already, I'm really not a fan of what is commonly called "H.I.T." training, and I'm REALLY not a fan of Mike Mentzer.  However, this doesn't mean that I have a problem with H.I.T. training as it was initially conceived.  What follows is a post I did around ten years ago that I thought would be good to re-post as a Thursday Throwback, especially since I have noticed a small resurgence of interest in Mentzer. REAL H.I.T.   Make  Real  Gains with Brief, Intense Workout Programs The back of Dorian Yates, probably the best-built  ALL TIME of any H.I.T. proponent.       For years now, high intensity training (commonly referred to as H.I.T.) has been one of the most controversial training methods in the bodybuilding world.    The proponents of H.I.T. seem to think that it’s the only method capable of truly transforming the “average”, drug-free bodybuilder.    On the other side you h...