C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

       I had an email from a reader this morning who asked a question I don’t usually get, although I’m sorta surprised I don’t get it.  Odd as it might be, come to think of it, I don’t remember a time that I’ve ever received this question.  The question was: “Should I specialize on a lift or a bodypart sometimes or should I just follow a basic, overall mass-building program?”  Although the reader was solely interested in hypertrophy, the same question could be asked by strength athletes.      My answer was, “well, it depends.”  But, on the whole, yes, you should specialize.  And then you shouldn’t.      If you’re new to training, or if you haven’t built any appreciable strength or muscle mass (depending on your goals) then, no, you shouldn’t specialize.  Specialization should occur when you have a weak point, whether it’s a “cosmetic” weak point for a bodybuilder or a strength weak point for a lifter.  If you’re after both strength and muscle mass, then you may need to specialize at

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