C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

The Truth About the Dietary Regimens of a Couple of Bodybuilding Legends!      When you think of intermittent fasting, you don’t usually associate it with the classic bodybuilders of the past.  For the longest time, I certainly didn’t.  Turns out, however, that I was more than just a little bit wrong.      I have written elsewhere that I think I can safely say, without much in the way of trepidation, that I was one of the first lifters I know of who tried intermittent fasting more than 25 years ago .  In fact, I first read about it in the late ‘90s, when Ori Hofmekler—who was actually, at the time, editor of Penthouse magazine of all things—published articles on his “Warrior Diet” in the online magazine T-Nation .  I didn’t refer to it as intermittent fasting—I don’t think that term had caught on yet—but simply told other lifters that I was going to try this (insanely sounding) Warrior Diet in order to lose enough w...

The Upper Arm Training of "The Myth" Sergio Oliva's massive upper arm development Sergio Oliva is, I believe, the greatest outright bodybuilder of all time. Here at Integral Strength, he gets the distinction of being the only bodybuilder (I think, at least😏) that I've featured now for a second time in a "Classic Bodybuilding" piece. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Oliva—for most, he really needs no introduction, but I would still recommend that you read this—then check out my previous post/essay on his mass-gaining methods entitled, "The Legendary Mass-Building Method and Workouts of 'The Myth' - and the Story Behind Them." And there's no reason to rehash the same stuff I wrote there, but, just for an introduction to this article, here is what I wrote on "The Myth": Early Career Sergio was born and raised in Cuba, and he got his start in Olympic weightlifting where he totaled almost 1,000 pounds in the Middle Hea...

The Legendary Mass-Building Methods and Workouts of "The Myth"—and the Story Behind Them   Sergio Oliva in the '80s      I’ve often written on this blog, and elsewhere, that I believe the greatest strength athlete/bodybuilder of all time was Marvin Eder.   Of the truly “old-time” bodybuilders there were other greats, as well, but none that could match Eder for both sheer muscle and the most impressive strength feats of the age.      What I’m not sure of, however, is if I’ve ever mentioned who I think the greatest pure bodybuilder of all time was/is.   By the title of this article, you’ve probably already guessed the answer: Sergio Oliva.   At the time of his emergence, I think he had the greatest physique the bodybuilding world had ever seen—shapely muscles, huge legs (compared to other bodybuilders of the era), and definitely more mass than anyone else.   His is a physique that still stands the test of...