C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Advice from Bill Starr (and Myself) for the Midlife Bodybuilders and Lifters      Last week, I overdid it.  I should know better.  Actually, I do know better.  But, like all former elite athletes I’ve ever met with decades of training under their lifting belts, there are workouts and weeks when I decide to do a little too much—train too heavy, do cardio that is  way too intense—if nothing than to see if I can still handle it.  Kinda stupid, I know.  But I still do it.  And every time that I do this, reality comes crashing back down to earth and I know I need to settle into a kinder, gentler training routine.  How do I know I overdid it?  Because I hurt like hell in my joints and pretty much want to take a nap all day long instead of staring at this computer screen and writing the very thing that you’re now reading.      If you’re in your 40s and 50s, and have trained for a considerable amo...

  The Ageless Bodybuilding System Part 3 The "Base" Full-Body Program The great John Grimek is another "old-time" bodybuilder who was AGELESS.  Grimek trained hard, and looked good on up into his '70s!  He was also a fan of full-body workouts as presented here. Before reading this program, please read PART 1 and PART 2 .  If you want, though it's not necessary, you can also read my more recent post on "Ageless Bodybuilding for the Young," which will give you some ideas for how to use these programs (assuming you would want to) if you are younger than the intended audience. This program also assumes that you have done the "break-in" program that I recommend.  The "break-in" program is essential, especially if you are just starting out as an "older" bodybuilder or if you have been doing split workouts for most of your lifting/'building career.  If that's the case, then the "break-in" program will reall...

Should or COULD younger bodybuilders use my Ageless Bodybuilding System?   This morning, I was sitting at my computer and working on my next installment of my "Ageless Bodybuilding" System, when I received a curious email.  Now, I check my email every day, and try my very best to answer my mail, but it sometimes take a little bit since I'm typically "backed up" in responses. (By the way, if you have emailed me and I haven't  responded, always give it a week or so—I do eventually  get around to a response.)  However, with this particular email, I thought it would be best if I wrote the general gist  of my response to the questioner for the rest of my readers. In a nutshell, this young  man said he was interested in what I had written about my Ageless Bodybuilding System, and wondered if there would be benefits—or drawbacks—to a young person in their 20s doing it.  (He specifically asked about young men, but I'm going to include women here in my res...

  Ageless Bodybuilding Part 2 A Basic “Break-In” Program Don Howorth and Vince Gironda.  Howorth, I believe, was in his 50s when this picture was taken! If you haven’t done so, read Part 1 before continuing to THIS article.  Without the first part, you may not understand just what-the-heck is going on here, and why in the world you are attempting such an “odd” workout-style in the first place!  It will also explain a very basic outline to my entire Ageless Bodybuilding System. Okay, now that you have read Part One , we can move on to THIS workout program. This Break-In program should be used by anyone who starts my Ageless Bodybuilding System.  I write this because I have a feeling IF everyone reading this had my complete Ageless Bodybuilding System at their fingertips—which, of course, will eventually be the case once I have written the entire damn thing on this blog—the majority of you would probably skip this first one because, well, it just seems too “b...