C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Pat Casey: King of all Powerlifters The massive Pat Casey performing shoulder presses. When I first fell in love with powerlifting - and power training in general - in the mid '90s, I immediately had a few heroes.  Some of the early 19th century strongmen such as George Hackenschmidt, Arthur Saxon, and Louis Cyr were all fascinating to me.  As was my favorite power bodybuilder of all time, Marvin Eder ,and then, of course, there were guys like Bill Kazmaier, Don Reinhoudt, and Bruce Wilhelm.  But, once I discovered him, Pat Casey might have - just might have - been my favorite. Several different things fascinated me about Casey.  First, was his strength (obviously).  He was ahead of his time when it came to the bench press and the squat.  Second, was his physique.  He looked as if he could - at any time - strip some fat and step onto the bodybuilding stage. And third was his training.  And it was this 3rd thing that I think I loved the most.  A lot of his training influ

     In part one of this series, we discussed some of the basics for building a lot of strength and power using high-frequency training (HFT).  In summation, here are the main points from the previous post: ·          “Train as frequently as possible while being as fresh as possible.”  For most people, this means 5 days per week, sometimes 6.  Take off at least one day each week.  When you first begin, however, 4 days per week should suffice. ·          For the most part, use progressively heavier sets. ·          Train with 2 or, at the most, 3 exercises each day.  Pick a squatting movement, a pulling movement, and a pushing movement when using 3 exercises, or 2 combinations thereof when using 2. ·          The majority of reps should be done in the 2 to 5 range. ·          For most lifters, 5 to 7 progressively heavier sets are enough. ·          The more reps that are utilized, the less total sets should be used.  In other words, if you are doing progressively heavier s