C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Some Thoughts on How and When to Follow Specialization Programs Whether You’re Trying to Improve the Size of a Bodypart or Increase the Strength on a Specific Lift      This morning, I sat down with the intention of cranking out an article I had in mind for strength-specialization on a certain lift.  But, as I was working on it, I started to think that perhaps I should just write a “general” essay regarding my thoughts on when and how to go about setting up a specialization program.  The result is what you’re now staring at—I’ll save the other article I had in mind for another day.  (Hopefully, at least.  I forget more articles, unfortunately, than I actually write.)      First things first, for the most part you shouldn’t follow specialization programs the majority of the training year.  Specialization programs are needed when one of your lifts is falling behind the others—or if you’ve never really focus...

  On Programming, Variety, and Making Gains!      The other day, Jason, a lifting friend of mine, called me on the phone.  He needed some advice for breaking out of the rut he was in.  Jason’s one of those guys that’s always into “powerbuilding.”  He wants to look like a bodybuilder, but also wants to have impressive strength.  He said that several months ago he had started on one of those “briefer-is-better” programs—the kind of program that would have made Ken Leistner proud—and got some of the best results he’s ever had in just a matter of a few weeks, but then it all ground to a sudden halt.  After explaining to me what he had been doing, and some of the adjustments he’d made but to no avail, he was almost at his wit’s end.  “I just don’t know what I’m doin’ wrong,” he said.  To which I replied, “It ain’t what you’re doin’.  It’s what you’ve done.”      “Huh?” he replied in turn, bemusing...

  THE ULTIMATE WORKOUT SPLIT? Full-body split workouts were actually a favorite for classic bodybuilders (such as Freddy Ortiz and Larry Scott).  My "bodybuilding" workout below was similar to what they used. I have, on multiple occasions, extolled the benefits of what I refer to as "full-body split workouts."  But I'm not sure if I have ever written an article dedicated exclusively to this concept.  So here goes nothing, or, well, something  to be more exact. So, first things first, what are  full-body split workouts?  Is this, if not completely oxymoronic, paradoxical to say the least?  Aren't full-body workouts, well, full-body workouts, and split workouts split workouts?  The short answer is no , but since that wouldn't make much of an article, this post will be the long answer. When most lifters, bodybuilders, and physique athletes think of full-body workouts, they think of workouts where you work your entire body in one session, and the...

  “Good advice has been cast at me throughout my career.  I tend to ignore it when it comes in a dull package.” ~strength coach Dan John I start with this quote from strength coach Dan John so that you will understand this is NOT a glitzy essay, one packed with shiny “new” things that might be all the current rage in the muscle-building world.  It IS, however, informative and filled with good advice. 1977 issue of Muscle Builder & Power ; Muscle magazines have always been full of "lists." I like lists for lifters.  Short lists.  Easy-to-remember lists.   Lists of what foods are best for you to eat (depending on your goals).  Lists of the sort of exercises you should be doing; exercises that can help you achieve your goals in a shorter period of time. For the longest, I touted what I referred to as the “Big 5.”  The Big 5 is a list of the 5 things every lifter should do each and every week without fail—male or female, big or small, whether yo...