C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  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 Highly Effective High-Frequency Program for Strength, Power, and Muscle Mass      In several recent articles, I have presented a few key concepts to building strength, power, and muscle mass.  One of the concepts is the “90% method” where you do most of your sets at 90% of a certain rep range.  It could be 90% of 1 rep, of 3 reps, of 5 reps, or even as high as 10 reps.  (If you want more in depth discussion on the 90% method then read my article “ Skill Training as Size Building .”)  I have also presented the concepts of weight ladders and wave loading , where, instead of sticking with the same weight throughout several sets before moving to a different weight, you move back and forth from heavier to lighter sets.      One of my more popular recent articles that used the above concepts is “ The 1-5 Program .”  It’s a high-volume program.  It’s good for lifters who like to use split programs, as it’s a mul...

A Hybrid High-Frequency Training Program for a Combination of Size and Strength      For more than 20 years, I have preached the benefits of high-frequency training (HFT) programs.  First in the pages of some of the major bodybuilding magazines, such as IronMan magazine and Planet Muscle , and then on the blog when I started it in 2009.  For the most part, the training I recommended was for strength first, with size, if it occurred, as more of a side-effect of the strength and power training.  And for more than a decade, one of my favorite ways to use HFT is through so-called easy strength methods.  However, I have in the last couple years proposed the theory of using an “easy muscle” approach, where you largely keep the “tenets” of easy strength but do it for higher repetitions, with the sole goal of hypertrophy.      I’m not alone in thinking that this might be a good method for many seeking gains in muscle mass....