C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Pat Casey: King of all Powerlifters The massive Pat Casey performing shoulder presses. When I first fell in love with powerlifting - and power training in general - in the mid '90s, I immediately had a few heroes.  Some of the early 19th century strongmen such as George Hackenschmidt, Arthur Saxon, and Louis Cyr were all fascinating to me.  As was my favorite power bodybuilder of all time, Marvin Eder ,and then, of course, there were guys like Bill Kazmaier, Don Reinhoudt, and Bruce Wilhelm.  But, once I discovered him, Pat Casey might have - just might have - been my favorite. Several different things fascinated me about Casey.  First, was his strength (obviously).  He was ahead of his time when it came to the bench press and the squat.  Second, was his physique.  He looked as if he could - at any time - strip some fat and step onto the bodybuilding stage. And third was his training.  And it was this 3rd thing that I think I loved the most.  A lot of his training influ

It's been almost six months since my last post.  Three months ago, if I am honest, I didn't think I would be sitting here now, typing these words. I thought I would be dead. I am not going to get into all of the details - not yet, anyway.  I will save all of that for another post, when I am feeling more of a combination of elegiac and poetic, and when I think I'm ready to write about my declining health, and how it has affected my life in ways - often, amazingly - better, but bitter, as well, than I imagined such declining health could.   But my health has caused some real problems.  Until only a few weeks ago, I haven't been able to write, and I haven't been able to do the one thing I almost  love more than anything else I do on this green Earth of God's: lift weights. But I am writing again. And I am lifting again. Hopefully my health will continue to improve even more, which means even more writing and more lifting.  Often, the more I lift, the mo

Advanced Heavy-Light-Medium Power Training      What follows is a program designed for intermediate to advanced powerlifters who would like to use the H-L-M program.  This program is not for outright beginners.  It's also best suited for those of you who are actually "built" for the three powerlifts.  (Or at least built for two of them.  This kind of training, for instance, is very effective in bringing up the numbers on my squat and deadlift.  I have short legs, a fairly short torso, and long arms.  Squats and deadlifts increase for me without my having to do much else other than squat and deadlift.  For the bench press, I need a little something extra—but we'll get to that in due time.)      This workout program also tends to add muscle mass, so it might not be ideal for those of you who have trouble staying in one weight class.       Without further ado, here it is: Monday: Heavy Day Squats: Perform 3 to 4 progressively heavier sets of 5.  Follow this with 5 work s

     First things first—before we get to the actual training for today—as you can probably tell, this will NOT  be your typical training journal (for the most part).  I will try to also include plenty of the psychological and the spiritual in my entries.  Hopefully, this will allow you to see—if not completely understand—how physical training (especially certain kinds of physical training) can become a true  mind-body-Spirit process. Training Entry #1: The One with the Colds and the Christ Presence Tuesday, December 15th, 2009      When I arrived home from work this afternoon, I absolutely—and in no friggin' way—felt good.  I had (and have as I write this) a cold.  My body ached—not too bad, but plenty enough to be annoying—and my throat was sore enough that it was hard to swallow.      I walked through the kitchen, dropped my keys and my wallet on the counter, then headed straight to the bedroom.  I took a 30 minute nap, but made sure I set the alarm on my phone so that I could ca

     After a couple of years of "light" training—including a lot of bodyweight-only training this past year—I have returned to some heavy powerlifting training.  I absolutely love training heavy (as much as I've avoided it as of late) and so I'm glad to be back doing it (as long as my body holds up).      Anyway, I thought I would begin to share a lot of my training with you as I continue to do it.  Also, I'm training a handful of lifters who would like to (either) enter competition or get back into competing again.  And so I'll also include some of their training, as well.      I've been training hard again now for a couple of weeks, and after two weeks of training I'm already using over 400 in the squat and over 400 in the deadlift for reps (not bad, considering that I haven't trained either of those lifts in about a year).      So... continue reading all of my posts entitled "Training Journal" if you want to see how my training goes—an

     I have a new article out.  It was posted yesterday on Mike Mahler's website.  (Mahler, by the way, is a heck of a strength coach.  If you haven't checked out his website, you need to.  If you like the stuff you see here, you'll definitely like what he has to offer.)      The article focuses on the training methods—powerlifting, mostly—employed by a lot of Russian lifters, and lifters from other countries that were formerly part of the Soviet empire.      Here is how the article begins:      For years, the countries of Russia and others from the former Soviet Republic have dominated international powerlifting and Olympic lifting competitions.   And for years, there has also been an aura of mystique surrounding the methods they use to produce such phenomenal athletes, not to mention a lot of misconceptions about those methods.      In this article, I’m going to clear up those misconceptions by laying out the methods they utilize, plus I’m going to outline a couple of

Grease The Groove For Explosive Strength and Power        There are several good methods and training programs out there for building large amounts of strength and power.   One of the best methods—one that many lifters will find works the best for them—is to practice what Russian and other former Soviet lifters call “greasing the groove.”      Olympic and powerlifting coaches from the former Soviet republic—as well as Eastern Bloc countries—held the belief that the more frequently you performed a lift, the better, and, therefore, stronger you became on it.   Even now, it’s not uncommon for Russian (and other countries from the former Soviet Union) powerlifters to squat and deadlift three to four days per week and bench press as many as eight times per week.      For years, the success the Soviet Olympic lifters and powerlifters had was attributed to large amounts of anabolic steroids and/or great genetics.   I’m here to tell you, however, that this is just not the case.   I

 Monster Deadlift Tips and Routines for Monstrous Pulling Power      When it comes to developing functional strength and awesome pulling power (the type of power required to do real work), the deadlift stands above all others for measuring that strength.   But rarely do you see lifters and bodybuilders performing the type of routines that build the deadlift.   Why?   Many powerlifters find the deadlift the hardest of the three lifts, so they focus instead on their benches and squats.   And bodybuilders don't think that the lift has much to offer them, so they stay away from the routines that work their lower backs and hips and focus more on the "showy" muscles of the back: the lats.      Another problem that many trainees who are not physically built to deadlift have is that when they start training it hard, they find that their deadlift actually starts to regress.   And why train it when it's going to go down, not up.   Right?      Well, it's time to cha

     The following post is another article that I had written a few years ago.  It's not dated, however.  In fact, it's one of the best that I've written if your primary goal in strength training is increasing your numbers on the "big 3": squat, bench press, and deadlift.  It's also good for anyone who likes to have all of their training mapped out in advance.  You don't have to do any thinking with this training; I've done all of it for you already. Boost Your Total A “Total” Program For Explosive Power and Raw Strength      What follows is a total strength program geared toward increasing your numbers in the three powerlifts—the squat, the bench press and the deadlift.   It's primarily aimed at those whose main interest in training is strength, pure and simple.   However, if you're the type that craves muscle before strength, you can't deny the benefits of strength training on the "big three" for adding some serious