C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Manipulating the Three Variables to Achieve Your Physique Goals Herman Goerner used the form of "high-frequency, high-intensity" programs outlined below in order to perform a one-hand deadlift with 730-pounds! If you are not properly manipulating the three variables of volume, frequency, and intensity, you are not going to see results from your training.  I don't care if you are trying to win a powerlifting contest or a figure competition, whether you are trying to get as massive as possible, or lose as much body fat as you possibly can in a short amount of time; if you are not regulating and programming these 3 variables in your training, you will not  achieve your goals. I have remarked before, in paraphrasing the late, great "Iron Guru" Vince Gironda, "Are you on a training program or are you just working out?"  And to be on a training program proper  is to ensure that you are regulating your volume, frequency, and intensity in the appropriate man

 For some reason, by FAR the most "hits" on any of my pages here at Integral Strength are for one of my oldest posts, one that I wrote in 2009 when I first started this blog entitled "Old Time Mass Tactics: One-Exercise-Per-Bodypart Training."  You can read it here if you're interested: https://cssloanstrength.blogspot.com/2009/05/old-time-mass-tactics-one-exercise-per.html Even though I wrote that piece when I was 35 - and I'm now 48 - I do think that it still "stands on it's own", and so I wouldn't change much, if anything, about it.  However, my views HAVE changed a little since that time, primarily when it comes to older lifters because, well, I'm  an older lifter now, and when you're in your upper 40s (or older) you probably  shouldn't train the way you did when you were in your early to mid 30s.  For instance, when I was in my early 30s, I was the strongest I had ever been in my entire life.  I could squat and deadlift (in

Manipulating the Three Primary Training Variables for Awesome Results and Quick Muscle Mass Gains by Matthew Sloan C.S.'s note: While editing this short article of my son's, I resisted the urge to make a few changes.  I will let Matthew's thoughts speak for themselves, and, in the future, he and I will both write a more in-depth article—or a series of articles—on styles of workouts that "work" when the 3 variables are properly manipulated. Matthew Sloan demonstrates the lean muscle mass he has developed while practicing what he preaches.      Anyone who is serious about getting real results from training(whether it’s strength or muscle gains), should be following an effective training program.  (As my father has often written—quoting the late, great Vince Gironda: "Are you on a training program, or are you just working out?") There are countless programs out there, and they are all different in their own unique ways, but they all have

High-Volume, Low-Frequency Training for the Ultimate in Mass-Building Part Two More of Dennis Du Breuil’s “Ultimate Bulk and Power” Rules      After my brief interlude into the world of high-fat “anabolic” muscle-building diets, it’s time to continue with some more of Du Breuil’s old-school wisdom on building bulk and power, with some more than occasional comments from Greg Zulak, along with my wisdom—for what it’s worth—on the matter.   (If you haven’t done so by this point, read Part One first.) Rule 4: Use plenty of isolation movements in your routine.   Of all of Du Breuil’s “rules”, this one is going to be the most controversial for many of you reading this.   It goes against a lot of the stuff you’ve read in other places—heck, it goes against a lot of what I’ve said (or seems to) over the years.      But I think it has plenty of merit—for the advanced lifter, at least.      First off, Du Breuil believed that beginner and intermediate lifters did need to f

     Sorry for the long delay in posts.  I will try to make up for it this month by publishing numerous posts/articles.  Here's the first:       For years—back when I was writing almost monthly for IronMan magazine —IM’s editor-in-chief, Steve Holman, penned many articles on his personal brand of high-intensity, briefer-is-better, training: something Holman called “positions-of-flexion” training, or just POF for short.      Holman first revealed this “new” form of training sometime in the mid ‘90s.   I can’t remember the exact year, but I think it was sometime in ’94 or ’95, and it was highly touted by IM as a new “state-of-the-art” form of high-intensity training.   (IM took advantage, at the time, of the rising popularity HIT was experiencing, especially under the incarnation of it that Dorian Yates was espousing as the key to his Mr.O dominance.)      POF was based on something that I thought—and still do think—to be fairly inventive.   Holman’s thought was that