C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  My son Garrett Sloan trains, eats, and looks  like a warrior.      One of the problems I often see in strength-training/muscle-building circles is an emphasis on aesthetics over performance.  Aesthetics can be “tricky” and even misleading if you only go by the “mirror” instead of what you are actually doing in your workouts.  So—you might now be asking—how should you approach your training, not to mention your diet, if the emphasis is on performance instead of mere aesthetics?  What follows are a few thoughts on exactly that. Train the Movement or Train the Muscle? Go By the Mirror or Go By the Weight on the Bar?      This is one of the “arguments” that you will often hear/read about, and one that can sometimes become heatedly debated.  Some bodybuilders, for instance, will argue that you should train the muscle, and not so much the movement.  They will talk about feeling the muscle, and about how you should leave your “ego at the door,” and the like.  They’re definitely not wrong

 A.K.A.: Intermittent Fasting: A Personal History Hugh Jackman used intermittent fasting to get shredded  for the X-Men movie "Days of Future Past" (seen here in this scene from the film). I'm going to go ahead and say it (or write it, in this case), even if there's an ever so slight possibility that I might be wrong: I was one of the first serious lifters in this country to experiment with intermittent fasting for competition.  How can I make such a bold statement, especially considering the fact that every single athlete, bodybuilder, lifter, etc. on planet friggin' Earth  has at least heard  of intermittent fasting, and knows something about what it is even if they don't practice it/utilize it?  I say it with some degree  of confidence because I did it in the '90s, while getting ready for a powerlifting meet, and, I'll add, I had no clue whatsoever that what I was doing would go on to be called "intermittent fasting".  And that's becau

            One of the more popular forms of “dieting” these days is “intermittent fasting.”  The term refers – rather loosely, I might add – to a wide range of different eating plans.  The premise, however, is rather simple:  You go for an extended period of time with little or no calories (the “fasting” period) and then you follow this up with a “feeding” period, which comprise either one meal, multiple meals, or possibly even an entire day of eating.      Opinions surrounding intermittent fasting are vast and, well, quite opinionated as to whether it’s good or bad.  The opinions run the gamut from “the best friggin’ diet on the planet” to “absolutely sucks, and has to be the worst diet ever; you’ll be starving all the time, and you’ll probably lose all of your muscle to boot!”      But I think the truth is somewhere in between.      Intermittent fasting can be a good way to lose bodyfat while also maintaining – or even gaining – strength.  But you need to listen to some