C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

A Method for Developing a Work Capacity That Can Handle High-Volume, High-Frequency Workouts      I often preach the benefits of high-frequency training along with full-body workouts.  I think they are two of the best ways to build a lot of muscle and strength, especially for the natural lifter.  Another central component for the natural lifter is to develop a strong work capacity , or the ability to do a lot of work and then recover from it quickly.  Read that last sentence again if you have to and let it sink in.  There are, I would guess, a lot of lifters who are capable of doing a lot of work in the gym, but very few of them can then recover from it quickly.  You can blame that on modern training, I suppose, more than anything else, since we live in some sort of upside down, topsy turvy training world where bodybuilders “blast” their muscles with endless sets and then give those muscles a week—hell, sometimes even more—before train...

  The Focus Strikes Back!      One of my more popular training programs—I wrote it over a decade and a half ago for IronMan magazine—is “ High-Frequency Focus Training ,” or HFFT for short.  It involves combining two of the most popular, and result-producing, programs that you can do.  It’s a high-frequency training program—you train your entire body at each session—but one that also uses a “focus” at each training session, as well.  For the “focus” aspect, you train a muscle group(s) with more sets for a pump.  My original "beginner" program (I also wrote an advanced one—click on the link above for details), as an example, looked like this: Monday: High Frequency Portion Squats – 5 sets of 3 reps. Perform two warm-up sets of 5 reps, followed by 3 work sets of 3 reps, using approximately 70-75% of your one-rep maximum. Deadlifts– 5 sets of 3 reps. Use the same set/rep format as the squats. Barbell Bench Presses or Incline Bench Presses ...

A Simple Method for Quick Muscle (and Strength) Gains      When it comes to building muscle, especially for the natural lifter, I don’t think anything “beats” high-frequency training (HFT).  It works whether you want to use high reps or low reps, whether you’re after strength or hypertrophy or if you’re seeking a combination of both.  If there’s an “issue” with it, it’s the fact that you can’t generally do a lot of work for one muscle group.  I’ve had conversations with lifters—whether in person or through the internet—who have told me that HFT, no doubt, works but that they missed doing more volume for their muscles.  These are typically bodybuilders who really enjoy pump training and the feeling of completely congesting a muscle (or muscle groups) with a lot of sets for a massive pump.  I understand.  After all, in the pseudo-documentary “Pumping Iron,” Arnold even compared the pleasure of “da pump” to the pleasure of good sex. ...