C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

A Workout Program and Some Training Ideas for Those Who Want It All      In my last article on using the 3 to 5 method with split workouts, I outlined the Russian rules of training.  3 to 5 training is one of the methods that you can use when training with the sub-maximal effort method, or what is commonly known as “grease the groove” training.      I have talked to many lifters who have told me that they understand the reasons why grease-the-groove training and other Russian methods work .  They’ve also told me that they’ve gotten good results from that kind of training.  But there’s a problem.  When they do those kinds of workouts, they often miss using harder or higher-volume routines, or a combination of both.  They often ask me if there’s a way that they can do both.  To which I reply, “yes.”      Most grease-the-groove workouts produce gains by ensuring that all of the workout...

Minimal Equipment, Maximum Results Tips and Suggestions for Designing and Implementing a Home Gym Workout with Nothing but a Barbell      You really don’t need much equipment to get great results from training.  In fact, sometimes the more equipment you have—an array of barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, benches, racks, and other implements—the worse your results.  Why?  Too many choices.  After all, you can go to almost any big, corporate gym anywhere in America—gyms with all of the machines and weights you can imagine—and see that most trainees aren’t getting good results.  So, yeah, I often think this is because lifters have too many choices.      You could cancel your gym membership today, head to your local sports store and buy nothing but an Olympic barbell set with no more than 300 pounds, and get great results with only that barbell.  Oh, you’d also save a lot of money in the long run, too.  Yo...

Build Massive Muscles and Monstrous Strength with Heavy, Old-School Dumbbell Training      I don’t know when it happened, or how it happened, but when it comes to strength and power training, we think of barbells and little else.  I’m guilty of this myself.  I’ve written before about using the “ two barbell workout .”  It’s a sound theory, don’t get me wrong.  Basically, if you start your workout session, any workout session, with 2 big, compound barbell lifts—say, front squats and power cleans—you can then do whatever else you want for the rest of the workout and you will get great results.  Or, heck, you can just do 2 compound barbell lifts and nothing else at each workout.  But there was a time not that long ago, when the largest, most massive, muscular, and strongest lifters on the planet—the so-called “Bronze era” of the late 19th century, early 20th century—when strongmen did most of their training with dumbbells and not b...