C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

An Essay on HFT Ideas for Achieving Your Physique Goals      In my recent article High-Volume, High-Frequency Workouts for Quick Mass Gains , I outlined a training routine that uses high volume as the primary training variable with high frequency the 2nd.  For anyone who likes to train with a lot of volume and particularly loves getting a “pump” while training, I would suggest giving that regimen a chance, especially if you’re new to training with both high volume and frequency and aren’t quite sure where to even start with high-frequency training (HFT).  In this essay, however, I want to present some different ideas for other ways that you might utilize HFT, notably if you like the idea of experimenting with new and/or different training strategies that you haven’t utilized before.  If you’re new to training, you probably need to get on a more detailed, regimented program, one where you don’t have to put a whole lot of thought into your workout...

  A Simple Method for Using Bodyweight Workouts as a Form of Muscle Building      After writing my last bodyweight training article— Bodyweight Training and Beyond: Lessons Learned from Martial Arts —I started making some more notes for Part 4.  However, while I was doing that, I was thinking about trainees who might want a simple way to use bodyweight workouts to build muscle.  So, I’m writing this piece as sort of an “in between” essay before I finish Part 4 of my Bodyweight Training and Beyond series.      The method discussed here is good for you if you want to use bodyweight training as your primary method of hypertrophy.  This is not an article for elite athletes, who might need more strength, speed, power, or a combination of those 3.  It’s also not for you if you’re already well-versed in bodyweight training and are already capable of highly voluminous, intense bodyweight sessions.  However, if you a...

A Hybrid High-Frequency Training Program for a Combination of Size and Strength      For more than 20 years, I have preached the benefits of high-frequency training (HFT) programs.  First in the pages of some of the major bodybuilding magazines, such as IronMan magazine and Planet Muscle , and then on the blog when I started it in 2009.  For the most part, the training I recommended was for strength first, with size, if it occurred, as more of a side-effect of the strength and power training.  And for more than a decade, one of my favorite ways to use HFT is through so-called easy strength methods.  However, I have in the last couple years proposed the theory of using an “easy muscle” approach, where you largely keep the “tenets” of easy strength but do it for higher repetitions, with the sole goal of hypertrophy.      I’m not alone in thinking that this might be a good method for many seeking gains in muscle mass....