C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

A.K.A: Roscoe and His Backwoods Alabama Arm Power Program Part ONE       I told myself, when I first began writing this piece, that I would no longer do any multi-part series on this blog.  The main reason being that I never seem to get around to writing the 2nd or 3rd (or even 4th) parts.  However, this piece was going to be SO long that I had to go back on my original intention.      I hope you enjoy.      A few years ago, I took up the last sport I will compete in.  Unless my health improves, I seriously doubt competitive events are in my future, especially the kind that I have competed in over the years.  (Towards the end of this post, I will even tell you about my only—and final—competition in the particular sport concerned with here.)  Barring help from the Triune Absolute, I just don't see full-contact martial arts, bodybuilding, powerlifting, or arm wrestling in my future.      But en...

Little Known Training Routines for Massively Muscled Arms   Arnold shows off his "guns" at their most massive!      The “x-factors” are those little-known training programs that not many people even know about, let alone actually do.   But for the bodybuilders who do perform these workouts, there can be little doubt: these are the best programs in existence, capable of transforming physiques, and turning proverbial 98-pound weaklings into the big boys of the beach.      For this installment of “x-factor” training, I thought I would turn my hypertrophy-inducing beacon of light on every bodybuilder’s favorite bodypart(s): the arms.   So if you’re prepared to go down the rabbit hole, to swallow Morpheus’s red pill and enter an arm-training world that you thought only existed on some quantum paradoxical alternate universe, read on.   (And prepare to put inches on your arms as never before.) Arm Traini...

C.S.'s note: The chest-training methods that Jared uses in this article are ones that he first laid out in his "Prime and Pump for Massive Muscle Growth" article a couple of posts back.  Do yourself a favor and read that one first, if you haven't yet done so, before proceeding to this new bodypart-centric piece.  If you read the article below without  having read the other one, you may be confused over some of the terminology Jared uses. Prime and Pump Training for a Silverback Set of Pecs and Animalistic Arms! by Jared Smith I’ve heard some say that a pump will limit one's ability to go heavy. This could not be further from the truth. Physics dictates that the more mass something has, the more power it will possess. I’m not saying to obliterate a muscle with insanely high reps before attempting to go heavy, but if you pump the muscles that support the lift, it will add “mass” via sarcoplasmic expansion which will lend itself to more strength. ...

Arm Specialization Training for Massive Guns by Jared Smith Arnold showing off his "guns" in this early '70s pic It Begins with an Epiphany Many of the greatest things in the world were born out of necessity. In my case, I am not speaking of an invention, but rather a method of training that would allow me to bring up a lagging muscle group by forcing me to train it more often. I have always been of the mindset that the major lifts need to be trained often. Squats, bench presses, overhead presses, and deadlifts in all their various forms should be done as often as possible to stimulate growth throughout the entire body. One day I was squatting, as I had done a thousand times before, only this time my body decided it had done enough. A pain that felt like a rusty knife scraping across my kneecap hit me all at once. I rested and backed down the weight, thinking that perhaps it was just “wear and tear” and that a little light weight set or two may e...

Old-School Arm Training Secrets: John McWilliams’s Arm Routine      My most popular posts here at Integral Strength typically fall into two categories: old-school bodybuilding programs or serious strength and power routines.      With that in mind, I thought I would do a series of articles on various old-school lifters and bodybuilders (the two overlapped once-upon-a-time), and on various old-school methods for training different bodyparts or lifts.   Thus, this first entry is on old-school arm training, but others will be on old-school chest, shoulders, back, legs, squats, bench presses, overhead presses, power cleans, etc.   And for this first entry, I decided upon an old-school bodybuilder cum powerlifter that many of you may never have heard of: John McWilliams. McWilliams's back double-biceps pose.  He was impressive even in his 40s.      When I first came across an article about McWil...