C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Shortly, you will see a big change at Integral Strength. First off, I'm back to writing with a volume that I haven't attempted in many years, which means a lot more posts.  But Integral Strength is also going to change in a large way. For the last several years, my health has sucked , to the point at which I even thought I may only live a few more years.  This has severely limited the amount of training I could do (in lifting or martial arts), and it has hindered the amount of writing I have done, whether it was articles for magazines or posts on my blog.  But I am now feeling like my old self for the last several weeks.  And I'm not just talking about feeling a little better, I'm talking about feeling better than I have felt in about a decade (when I was at my peak strength and conditioning in my mid 30s).  I'm currently lifting (or performing bodyweight workouts) 3 days per week, in addition to regular martial art workouts such as I haven't done in almost...

The Benefits of High-Frequency Training for Size and Strength Gains!       If you haven't done so, please read my previous post on High-Frequency Training (HFT) before reading the following.  It will be of more benefit—no pun intended—if you do so.      Now, on to building more muscle, strength and power... George Hackenshmidt—the "Russian Lion"—built a massive physique, with the massive strength to boot, using High-Frequency Training tactics in the early 1900's.      Different training strategies provide different benefits.  For instance—as an example of a training paradigm completely counter to HFT—if you were to follow a 2-days-per-week program of full-body workouts, focusing on the 3 powerlifting exercises, then you would reap the benefits of having more free time than usual during the week, and of being able to get good strength gains out of minimalistic training.      High-Frequency Training has...

If you read this blog regularly, then you know that I haven't posted anything in quite some time. There are a few reasons for this.  I've been extremely busy with work, training, and  writing some totally non-strength related material.  The lack of material here, however, is about to change. First, you'll notice that the blog has a new "look"—assuming enough readers like the new look, we'll keep it as is. I'm also proud to say that I've hooked up with a couple of people who are very important to me—my dear friend Jared Smith and my oldest son Matthew Sloan—who are going to do some regularly contributing to the blog.  Hopefully it will be enough so that, between the three of us, we can have two to three posts each week. Jared Smith Jared is a former workout partner of mine, and a man who I'm proud to have called my friend for the past decade or so.  He's also one incredibly massive S.O.B.  But don't take my word for it.  Here's...

Hybrid Leg Training 21 st Century Bodybuilding for Awesome Leg Growth      I love training legs—always have, always will.  I love it because it’s what separates the men from the boys.  I love it because it creates a euphoric pump (when doing bodybuilding workouts, at least) that can’t be “beat” by the pump that’s achieved in any other sort of training.  I love it because leg training will add muscle everywhere .      About twenty years ago, I attended a seminar with Tom Platz.  He was back in awesome shape at the time, and when I saw him, he had just finished doing some photo shoots with several of the top magazines—namely Iron Man and MuscleMag International .  (I wrote for both of those magazines back then, which made it even cooler, and the rumor mill was saying that Platz was going to get back into competition—Masters Olympia, or something of the sort.  He never did compete, but he still looked unbe...

      This is a first of a series of articles that will focus on what I call “hybrid training.”  Unlike some – but not all of the material – on this blog, this series will focus on specifically on bodybuilding .  And by “bodybuilding,” I simply mean the kind of training that I believe most guys (and gals) are interested in: building shapely muscle, adding muscle mass, keeping their bodyfat relatively low.  I other words: looking good. Hybrid Chest Training Bodybuilding for the 21 st Century and Beyond      “ Hybrid - a composite of mixed origin.  Complex, composite - a conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts.”      There was a time when bodybuilders trained in one, and only one, fashion.  Of course, in the early days – the “Golden Age” if you will, the age of Steve Reeves, the age of the original “Muscle Beach”, the age when bodybuilders engaged in “physical development” – ...

     Saint Augustine once uttered the phrase “love, and do what you will.”  The blessed Augustine was basically saying that as long as you do everything out of love – love for others, love for God – then whatever else you do will be correct.      I happen to think the same thing about squatting.  As long as you are squatting – if not at every workout, then at least on a very regular basis – then you can do what you will with the rest of your workout.  In fact, I think squatting is the foundation of all successful training.  (Okay, I suppose you can get good results without squatting – especially if you’re doing plenty of Olympic lifting or deadlifting – but squatting is a sure fire way to get great results all the time.)  For instance, if you do the following five things, I can guarantee you will get great results [1] : 1.       Squat a lot 2.       T...

High Frequency Training Frequent Workouts for Fast Results      High Frequency Training—we’ll just call it HFT from here on out—involves any form of training where you are working each muscle group a minimum of 3 times a week (that’s right, a minimum ).   HFT usually gets a bad rap when it is presented to the average bodybuilding public.   It has become a fad to train each muscle group infrequently and with a very high-intensity and/or high-volume.   But I’m here to tell you right now that there is a better way to train.   So if you’re tired of hearing that the best way to train a muscle is to “annihilate” it and then give it a week (or longer) to rest and grow stronger, you ought to love this article.      If you don’t believe this kind of training works, you probably would like to see some examples of well-developed athletes and/or bodybuilders who have used it.   First off, let’s examine athletes .   So...