C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Power Rack Training for Physical Development   Part Two: The Ultimate Mass-Gaining, Bulk-Building Power Rack Training Program  (Inspired by Joseph Curtis “J.C.” Hise and the writings of Peary Rader) J.C. Hise, the inspiration for this article, in a picture from the 1930s. About two weeks ago, I released Part One of (what I expect to be) a semi-regular, but perhaps sporadic series on training in the power rack.  As I mentioned in that first part, the rack is so much more than a good training area to do partials—which, unfortunately, I think that is about the only thing it’s used for these days.  I recommend that you read Part One first, though it’s not necessary but it would be helpful, since I don’t plan on rehashing all of the goodies the power rack has to offer.  In Part One, I created a “new” program, but one heavily influenced by Charles A. Smith, who in turn was quite influenced by J.C. Hise, and Hise’s mentor Mark Berry.  It’s a basic, full-body, 3-days-per-week program that wi

The Best Leg Workout You’ve Never Tried!      Two things work the best when it comes to moving massive amounts of weight, and/or gaining massive amounts of muscle: Simple work, combined with hard work.   Nothing else is going to cut it.      As Mark Rippetoe once remarked, “the most valuable lessons of the weight room: a simple, hard program works best, and that you get out of your training – and your life – exactly what you put into it.”      I could never have said it better myself.      I also have a good feeling that a whole lot of lifters know that simple, hard work is absolutely the best way to train for building slabs of muscle that is also capable of hefting ponderous poundages, but they don’t do it.   And I think they don’t do it for a couple of reasons.   First, either they’re lazy and/or have convinced themselves that fancier programs that don’t require hard work—brutally simple hard work—work just as well.   Or, second, sometimes they just want to do som

Here's a video taken tonight of me doing a 405 pound bottom-position squat.  The BP squat is one of the best exercises you can ever do for building massive strength.  The problem is that most lifters do them incorrectly.  Because they lack either proper form or flexibility (or both), they end up doing partial squats. This is how the exercise should be done.  Notice foot placement and bar placement.  It's tough to get low on a BP squat if the bar is too high and/or the stance is too narrow.

Training Entry #2: The One with the Bottom-Position Squats... and the Poundage... and Tapping into The Source Sunday, January 17th Since my last training entry, several things have happened to me. For one—and this is the most impacting—I severely pulled a pectoral muscle. A couple of years ago, I had a partial pec tear, so I've had to take it kind of easy while training my chest muscles. However, even training easy didn't help in this case. I haven't let the minor setback keep me from training heavy, however. I have—since my last entry—been training quite heavy on squats, deads (various kinds), overhead presses (I can overhead press without much discomfort), and various sorts of upper-body pulling movements (chins, for instance). The other is that I have been using the 5 to 7 Method of training. (Read the post a couple below this one for more info on that form of training.) Now, on with this entry.... For the past several weeks, I have been lif