C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Some Thoughts and Ideas on Designing a Workout Plan Made for You      I’ve mentioned in other essays that what makes training so unique and ultimately rewarding—though also downright frustrating for many, though I ain’t one of ‘em and proud of it, despite “pride goeth before the fall” and all that—is that training itself is unique to you .  What builds muscle—sometimes a whole heapin’, heckuva lot of muscle—for one person in spades doesn’t do jack-squat for another lifter.  If that guy you know who grows huge arms with 2 heavy, super-intense sets and a workout that lasts a grand total of 15 minutes done twice per week attempted a high-volume, 15-20 sets per muscle regimen, he’d make near-zero gains.  But if my buddy Mac, who thrives off 25 sets per bodypart workouts, tried the Heavy Duty dude’s system, he’d shrivel up worse than Charles Atlas’s scrawny beach geek who got sand kicked in his face and his gal taken away from him by the muscle-bound j...

Training Design for the “All-Around” Lifter      The popularity—or lack thereof—of many of my articles often surprises me.  Sometimes I will write an essay that I think will be a real hit—I spend several days crafting and honing it, giving it plenty of thought and time—only to find that it never really “takes off” or gets many reads.  On the flip side of that, I will occasionally write a piece in a flash of inspiration, giving hardly any thought to it but just allow my writing muse to take me where it will.  I also, quite often, don’t think that those works will be very popular, only to find that they get way more reads than many of my others.  My last article “ High-Frequency Grease-the-Groove Training - The Intuitive Approach ,” is a case in point.  I wrote it very quickly, in only a few hours, shortly after I came up with the idea while on a morning hike with my dogs Kenji and Kiko.  I was unsure if it would garner interest, but...