C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Heavy/Light/Medium Training Part Three: How to Build a Massive Squat      In this, the 3 rd part of our series on heavy, light, and medium training, we’ll take a look at how you can build a superhuman squat using this form of training.   Make sure that you read Part One , as it covers the basics of H/L/M training, before continuing to this one.   Part Two is on “upper body training,” and it, too, would be good to read before continuing here, but not necessary.   As I mentioned at the end of that essay, if this series was a book and these posts were chapters, I’m not sure the order they would appear, outside of the first and last entry.   So, read Part One so that you will know the basics; this article assumes familiarity with all of the concepts presented there.   So, with that out of the way, let’s get on with it…   All Hail the King      The squat.   It has been hailed the king of all exercise...

  Heavy/Light/Medium Training Part Two: Bill Starr’s Secrets for Upper Body Bulk and Power +How to Move to a 4 Days a Week Program        This is, as the title indicates, the 2 nd part of our new, ongoing series on heavy, light, and medium training .   If you haven’t read it, then please go to Part One first before diving into this one.   This essay assumes an understanding of everything discussed in the first part.        Here, we will cover upper body training, and more specifically how to build your upper body pressing strength.   I’ll give you the great Bill Starr’s advice along with some of my personal insights.      I was never a strong presser, either on the bench press or on the overhead press.   The most I ever bench pressed in competition was just over 350 pounds in the 181-pound class.   Sure, that’s not bad for the average gym-goer—and, yes, I did win some local be...

    Heavy/Light/Medium Training Part One: The Basics of Program Design      This past week, I received an email from a reader asking if I would write an article on how to design a heavy, light, medium program.   It was a bit serendipitous, as I had been gathering together some of my past articles on just that very subject with the intention of putting together an e-book entitled “The Heavy, Light, Medium Manifesto” (or something such as that; I’m a little “iffy” on the title at the moment).   You see, April of this year will be 10 years since Starr-man (as Bill Starr was sometimes affectionately known) left for that grand weightlifting gym in the sky.   And I have been thinking that what better way to honor the man than to put together a book covering every aspect of his lifting wisdom that I can think of.   His heavy, light, medium system had the single greatest impact on my personal training than any other method.   ...