C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

     In Part 3 of my “Big and Strong” series of on-going articles that I’m writing at the moment, I mentioned how that series isn’t for the average gym-goer.  If you’re going to follow the high-set, low-rep (and really high volume) regimens that the series recommends, you really can’t do much else.  Hell, you probably can’t do anything else.  I’m taking a break from that series briefly so that I can focus on some essays and articles that tackle different workout programs and just different subjects in general. I have several articles and essays that I’m working on at the moment, and it made me realize something.  Since this blog has quite an array of different workout programs, many lifters might be unsure as to the one they should be doing.  So, I thought it might be good to look at training goals and the workout programs you should be following for your goals.  Because, if you have been reading that series and you decide to ac...

Some Thoughts on Attaining Your Training Goals      It won’t be long—about a month and a half—and the gyms will be filled with new members, intent to get in shape or lose weight as part of their New Year’s resolutions.  They’ll probably quit sometime in February.      I have long believed that the reason for this—well, outside of the fact that it’s not something they really want to do in the first place—is because the approach they take, at least here in America, is wrong.  We live in a culture—at least, a gym culture; I suppose this applies to other areas, too—that is all or nothing .  You either train all-out, balls-to-the-wall, foot-to-the-floor (use whatever pithy little slogans you can think of) or you don’t train at all.  And to get in shape, it’s not just weights, either.  Nope, you gotta start running 5 miles a day, and throwing a medicine ball against a wall hundreds of times in a session, then battling...

  Hybrid Methods and Programs Utilizing Bodyweight Training AND Weighted Workouts       For Part 2 of our series, we turn to the hybrid method of training where you combine bodyweight training with weighted workouts.  There are several different ways that this can be done, and the methods that apply to one also apply to the other.  You can combine bodyweight training with weights in the same session or you can keep the two separate, doing weighted workouts on one training day and bodyweight only on the other.          A great benefit of the 2nd approach is that you can still use high-frequency training without the need to go to the gym 5 to 6 days per week.  Even if you prefer lower-frequency routines, you can go to the gym just once or twice per week and then do bodyweight training at home another one or two days.  If the reason that you have for not training more, or not sticking to a training r...