C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Some Thoughts on How/When to Use Back-Off Sets, Add Extra Work, and Increase the Total Workload of Your Training      The other day, I received an email from a reader who wanted to know my advice on back-off sets and how to use them.  His question was based on the fact that he was having a hard time increasing the weight on his “top-end” sets using a standard 5x5 training model.  This essay is partly an answer to that question but, in addition to that, I want to use it to discuss how (and when) you should not only do back-off sets but also when a lifter should add extra work, whether that additional training is at the end of a workout or in another workout altogether.  The goal of all of this being, of course, greater strength on the core lifts, whatever those core lifts might be, whether you’re a powerlifter attempting to increase the three powerlifts, an Olympic lifter looking to increase your quick lifts, or just an “all-around” strength...

      Matthew Sloan does real bodybuilding workouts at 16 years old, and it shows!      The other day I received an email from a reader who stumbled across my article on "Increasing Work Capacity."  Apparently, this particular gentleman had come across it while perusing some forum-or-another—in one of the many "hardcore bodybuilding forums"—that was discussing the article.  Basically, to sum it up, he took me to task for "daring" to suggest that drug-free bodybuilders could possibly perform such hard work as I suggested for the advanced lifters in my post.      I, politely as I could, explained my reasonings.  I explained how drug-free bodybuilders could certainly work up to the amount of work I suggested and, not only survive it, but actually thrive  on it.  When I was finished with my reply, I hit the "send" button, and then began to lament inwardly, thinking to myself, "Where have all the real bodybuilde...

Increasing Work Capacity The Key for Gaining Massive Strength and Size Years ago, lifters – be they bodybuilders, powerlifters, or Olympic lifters – knew how to train. [1]   Take Marvin Eder, for instance (still my favorite of the “old timers”): Eder could squat close to 700 pounds, clean and press 355 pounds, snatch 285 pounds, bench press 515 pounds, and do reps on parallel bar dips with over 400 pounds strapped to his waist.  He also had 19 inch arms at a bodyweight of around 200 pounds.  And just how did Eder lift such prodigious poundages and attain one hell of a physique?  He began training around the age of 16 by using a 3-days-per-week, full-body workout plan (as everyone did at that time, I might add).  As he advanced – and by “advanced” I mean that he increased his strength [2] – he increased the number of exercises he used, the number of sets per exercise, the overall length of his workout, and the number of days per week he trained. ...