C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Question: I compete in powerlifting.  I am interested in dropping down a weight class and want to try intermittent fasting to do so.  Will it be possible for me to keep my strength, or even get stronger, while fasting?  I can see how intermittent fasting would be good for getting in shape or losing weight easily, but I am concerned that it might not be good for strength athletes.  Can you really build mass and power while practicing intermittent fasting? (Question comes via email from Stuart)   Answer:  I have personally used fasting myself in order to drop a weight class for a powerlifting meet.   Over 20 years ago, when I competed regularly in powerlifting, I always lifted in the 181-pound class, but I wanted to get down to the 165-pound class as sort of an experiment to see how strong I would be at the reduced bodyweight.   To do that, I opted for the “Warrior Diet.”   This was in 2000.   No one knew anything about intermi...

  Some Slightly Rambling Thoughts, Musings, and Reflections on How One Should Train (and How I Train)      The other day I received a question from a reader who asked how I really train.  He said that, since I write about a lot of different training methods, he wanted to know how I actually trained.  He wanted to know this because he was confused about how he should train.  He said that he read a lot of the articles here on the blog, but he was confused because I seemed to recommend so many different training methods, and it left him a little bit bewildered and conflicted over the correct training methods for him—those weren’t his exact words, but I’m just paraphrasing in my own vernacular.      I have received questions such as this one before.  I even wrote an article over ten years ago entitled “My Training Philosophy” because of the confusion about the various lifting methodologies I recommend, but I figure...