C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

On the Joy of Creative Training      I love training for many reasons.  Like a lot of lifters, I’ve always loved training because, more than anything else, I just loved the feel of moving heavy iron.  I also loved the kind of training that goes along with being incredibly strong.  I can think of fewer pleasures in life than a workout that involves near max sets of squats, bench presses, deadlifts, overhead presses, and curls.  But I also love training because I love the creativity of it all.  I am a creative, after all.  An artist.  Writing is one of the arts that my creative side is attracted to—not just attracted to but needs .  But I love lifting for the same reason that I love writing.  The gym is where I practice the art of training.      Training is both science and art.  If you neglect either side, you’re neglecting the full range of benefits that lifting provides.  Nowadays...

Some Thoughts on Different Methods of Training, Intuitive Workouts, and How to Break the “Rules” of Lifting      I’m not really sure where I’m going with this.  About half, maybe slightly more and perhaps a little less, of my articles I plan rather meticulously.  I make notes.  I craft an outline.  I have, in short, a plan.  The other half are nothing but the random musings of what is, at the time, circulating throughout the recesses of my mind.  As I’ve pointed out in other essays, I often write just to see what happens.  For me, it is these latter writings that bring a sense of joy to writing.  I’m a writer, sure, but I’m also a creative .  I think it’s also one of the reasons that I love training so much, as well.  Although there undoubtedly is some science to lifting, it is also an art form.  If I’m correct in this assumption of lifting as art, and I have absolutely no doubt that I am, then working out ...

Training Design for the “All-Around” Lifter      The popularity—or lack thereof—of many of my articles often surprises me.  Sometimes I will write an essay that I think will be a real hit—I spend several days crafting and honing it, giving it plenty of thought and time—only to find that it never really “takes off” or gets many reads.  On the flip side of that, I will occasionally write a piece in a flash of inspiration, giving hardly any thought to it but just allow my writing muse to take me where it will.  I also, quite often, don’t think that those works will be very popular, only to find that they get way more reads than many of my others.  My last article “ High-Frequency Grease-the-Groove Training - The Intuitive Approach ,” is a case in point.  I wrote it very quickly, in only a few hours, shortly after I came up with the idea while on a morning hike with my dogs Kenji and Kiko.  I was unsure if it would garner interest, but...