C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Balancing Life, Work, and Lifting      In 1998, I was heavily invested in powerlifting.  I loved it.  I was dead-set on being one of the strongest powerlifters in the world.  I was willing to do whatever required of me, training wise, to achieve that goal.  At the time, I was also writing a lot for Ironman magazine and MuscleMag International , two of the largest and most popular bodybuilding magazines of the day.  I had an article in one of them, sometimes both, almost every month back then.  But it wasn’t enough to pay the bills.  And powerlifting, like a lot of underground, niche sports, didn’t pay anything.  Nope.  It was, in fact, quite the opposite.  It cost money—payments to enter meets, along with travel and food costs associated with them, not to mention the money I poured into nutrition, training gear, and, at that time, setting up my own garage gym replete with everything a world-class strength athle...

  Get Strong, Massive, and Powerful with this Minimalist Program      Yesterday, I received an email from a reader with a simple question.  He asked what I thought was the best program for building strength and mass—this is one of the questions that I have received fairly regularly over the years.  He said that, after reading the many workout programs that I have on offer here at Integral Strength , he wasn’t sure which one he should select or what kind of program “style” in general was the best, and he said that, to be honest, all of the various programs I write about left him more than a little bit confused.  I told him, first, that there is no one program that reigns supreme over all others.  There are, in fact, a handful of programs that would be great depending on the lifter.  When selecting a program you must take into account several factors, including lifting history, age, job occupation (a construction worker needs a diff...

  Discover the Secrets to Developing Serious Strength Using Infrequent Workouts      I have long been a fan of high-frequency training (HFT), and I will continue to sing its praises, as I think it might be the best form of training—when done correctly—for natural bodybuilders and lifters who want to gain as much strength and muscle mass in the shortest time possible.   If you have read even a few articles and essays here on my blog, then you probably know this already.   What you might not know is that I also believe you can build a tremendous amount of strength and power utilizing low-frequency, high-volume workouts when, once again, they are done correctly.   So, read on and discover my tips for making this kind of training work for you .      This article was precipitated by an email I received—as are, probably, 1/3 of my essays—from a reader who had a particular question.   I’ll leave out all of the odd little de...