C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Can a Lifter Really Train Using Instinct Alone? My Slightly Rambling Thoughts on the Subject      Ever since I first picked up a bodybuilding magazine sometime in the mid to late ‘80s, I’ve read about so-called instinctive training.  Even then (as there are now) there were debates over whether or not one could train “instinctively.”  A lot of bodybuilders, once they became advanced enough, seemed to naturally incline toward instinctive training.  Vic Richards—perhaps bodybuilding’s first true “mass monster”—trained in what seemed to be an entirely haphazard manner, but he simply called it instinctive training.  He would show up at the gym, have absolutely nothing planned, then did whatever he thought felt “right” when he hit the weights.  On the opposite side of that, you had Mike Mentzer , and others who took a more “scientific” approach to training (or at least thought they did—there might be more science to what we call instinctive tr...

       When a lot of lifters or bodybuilders first take up “briefer-is-better” workout programs such as H.I.T., the “Heavy Duty” programs of Mike Mentzer, or the strength-oriented training programs of Dr. Ken Leistner, they are often surprised at how much hypertrophy or strength gains they make in such a relatively short period of time.  This is especially true if they've been “killing it” in the gym beforehand with much more voluminous, frequent training programs.  But then the gains stop, and the lifter just can’t quite figure out what went wrong.      One problem—and this might just be the problem that plagues the average gym-goer—is the thinking that it is the workout that produces results.  I often refer to this as the erroneous belief of letting the means (the workouts themselves) justify the ends (the results seeking to be obtained) .  You see this approach in things such as “cardio classes” or “workout...

  The Importance of Proper Programming            The title of this essay comes from a well-known utterance of the real “trainer of champions” Vince Gironda.  I’ve quoted it more times than just about any other quote from a coach, bodybuilder, or strength athlete.  (Although I have oft-used Zatsiorsky’s quote “to train as often as possible while being as fresh as possible.”)  Gironda’s saying is an important quote that a lifter or bodybuilder needs to always keep in his mind, because too many trainees still just go to the gym and “work out” without any real plan.      I mentioned this briefly in another recent post—and I’ve mentioned it at various times in different articles and essays throughout my career—but the main reason that people still just “work out” is because they don’t understand what actually constitutes a “good” training session.  Most people let the means (the workouts th...