C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Training During the Coldest Months of the Year My garage gym, where I train no matter the weather.      Okay, so a couple of mornings ago, when I started writing this, I was going to write—or, at the very least, I had every intention to—the 3rd part of my current “New Year Resolution” series, the latest being on fat loss (or at least it will be when I get around to writing it).  But, with the weather being 12 degrees outside as I sat down to my keyboard and started writing, and with much of the country that cold—or even colder—I have instead opted to write a piece on training in the winter .  Which is what you are now staring at, so I hope you find it informative, or, at the very least, somewhat interesting if not entertaining.      A few months ago in early October, about two or three weeks after the start of the Fall season, I wrote an essay on training in the fall.  So, with winter most definitely upon us, I t...

  Muscle-Building Resolutions:  Part One - Eating for Mass Garrett Sloan takes his muscle-building diet serious, and the results show.      It is, once again, the start of a new year, the time of year—the only time it seems—when the majority of people (at least here in America) make some “serious” resolutions, which usually involves either kicking a habit or getting in better shape.  Typically, “losing weight” is the New Year’s resolutions’ raison d’etre.  But “losing weight” is really no better of a resolution than “gaining weight” if you’re a bodybuilder or strength athlete.  In other words, it’s just too damn vague.      I thought this week and the next, I would post a few “resolutions” articles.  This one, quite obviously, is for those of you with the resolution to get big, or get jacked, or get massive, or, well, you get the point.  This one is all about building mass for the new year, with the emp...

 In February of this year, I published a post entitled "Winter Bulk Building" where I outlined the program that my son Matthew started on Thanksgiving of last year in order to gain a lot of mass.  In a few months, he went from around 210 pounds to just over 250 pounds - I believe it was 251, to be precise.  That was the point when I wrote the bulk-building piece. Fast forward to Thanksgiving of this year, and I thought I would give an update on my son's training, and how he went from being "bulky" to being an outright natural  mass monster.  Now he is a little over 260 pounds, but he didn't just gain 10 pounds of muscle since my last post on his training, he also reduced his bodyfat, and there is a noticeable difference in his "look" now as opposed to then.  Here are a couple of pics that I took of him yesterday while he was training arms in my garage gym: Matthew Sloan performs dumbbell triceps extensions with a pair of 80s for sets of 12 to 15 re...