C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Read On and Learn One of THE Keys for Becoming Strong and Powerful      In multiple articles, essays, and training programs that I’ve created, I’ve repeatedly mentioned the concept “same but different.”  It’s one of the most important concepts if you plan on getting brutally strong on a lift, any lift.  It’s so simple that—like a lot of simple things—its power is often overlooked.  But if you want to achieve your physique goals—not just strength and power but hypertrophy, as well—you need to put the principle into practice.      A couple things are key for continually increasing your strength.  First, you need variety.  As I’m fond of saying, or writing about in this case, everything works… for about 8 weeks.  Somewhere around that 8 week mark, most lifters need to make some changes.  If you’ve been at this training thing for awhile, then you probably should make changes long before even 8 weeks...

AKA: The 90% Rule for Mass and Power Some Thoughts and Programs on “Skill Training” as a Method for Gaining Size and Strength      In my recent essay “Heavy and High,” I suggested that the key to gaining mass for the natural bodybuilder lies in the ability to do programs that utilize both heavy weights and a high workload.  When a lot of modern bodybuilders think about training for hypertrophy, they largely think along the lines of training hard and then coupling this with plenty of rest and recovery.  Almost every program you encounter—whether you read about them, watch a YouTube video discussing it, or have a casual conversation about them with a fellow gym-goer—revolves around the balance of “intensity” with rest days after workouts.  The harder, or more , you train then the more you should rest.  I’m not denying here that workouts do, and should , involve those considerations, but I prefer lifters to think in terms of workload and work ...

  Partial Rep and Power Rack Training for Added Strength and Power Pointers, Tips, Programs      After some time spent under the bar, a lifter will often hit a wall when it comes to strength gains.  It can happen to any lift or to all of one’s lifts.  Oftentimes, the lifter will try new training programs, additional work, or less work.  Sometimes, they may attempt to alter their nutritional regimens, increasing calories and/or protein, all in a hope to get their strength moving again.  But one of the best techniques for increasing strength once more is the time-tested method of partial reps, often performed in the rack but also with the help of boards or blocks.  In this essay, I want to look at the various ways that partials can be utilized, especially for the three powerlifts, the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift, although it can be used for other lifts, such as overhead movements and even curls.     ...