C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

The Truth About the Dietary Regimens of a Couple of Bodybuilding Legends!      When you think of intermittent fasting, you don’t usually associate it with the classic bodybuilders of the past.  For the longest time, I certainly didn’t.  Turns out, however, that I was more than just a little bit wrong.      I have written elsewhere that I think I can safely say, without much in the way of trepidation, that I was one of the first lifters I know of who tried intermittent fasting more than 25 years ago .  In fact, I first read about it in the late ‘90s, when Ori Hofmekler—who was actually, at the time, editor of Penthouse magazine of all things—published articles on his “Warrior Diet” in the online magazine T-Nation .  I didn’t refer to it as intermittent fasting—I don’t think that term had caught on yet—but simply told other lifters that I was going to try this (insanely sounding) Warrior Diet in order to lose enough weight to compete in the 165-pound class in powerlifting.  And the rea

      There is, at least in certain places online, a lot of “chatter” about whether or not you should practice intermittent fasting.  Many folks who used to previously tout intermittent fasting as some sort of miracle of modern dieting have backtracked, and now a lot of those “influencers” (or whoever-the-heck they might be) recommend a more standard, traditional approach to dieting for building muscle and burning fat.  Recently, there was even that god-awful “study” from the American Heart Association that showed a “91% increased likelihood of death” from heart complications by following intermittent fasting.  Now, this isn’t the place to discuss the real problems and politics around that so-called study, it will suffice for now to point out that its metrics were just plain wrong.   And, of course, on the flip side of all of that you also have the defenders, rightly so, of the benefits of various forms of fasting.      My point in this essay, however, is that most of the above—no m

 A.K.A.: Intermittent Fasting: A Personal History Hugh Jackman used intermittent fasting to get shredded  for the X-Men movie "Days of Future Past" (seen here in this scene from the film). I'm going to go ahead and say it (or write it, in this case), even if there's an ever so slight possibility that I might be wrong: I was one of the first serious lifters in this country to experiment with intermittent fasting for competition.  How can I make such a bold statement, especially considering the fact that every single athlete, bodybuilder, lifter, etc. on planet friggin' Earth  has at least heard  of intermittent fasting, and knows something about what it is even if they don't practice it/utilize it?  I say it with some degree  of confidence because I did it in the '90s, while getting ready for a powerlifting meet, and, I'll add, I had no clue whatsoever that what I was doing would go on to be called "intermittent fasting".  And that's becau

            One of the more popular forms of “dieting” these days is “intermittent fasting.”  The term refers – rather loosely, I might add – to a wide range of different eating plans.  The premise, however, is rather simple:  You go for an extended period of time with little or no calories (the “fasting” period) and then you follow this up with a “feeding” period, which comprise either one meal, multiple meals, or possibly even an entire day of eating.      Opinions surrounding intermittent fasting are vast and, well, quite opinionated as to whether it’s good or bad.  The opinions run the gamut from “the best friggin’ diet on the planet” to “absolutely sucks, and has to be the worst diet ever; you’ll be starving all the time, and you’ll probably lose all of your muscle to boot!”      But I think the truth is somewhere in between.      Intermittent fasting can be a good way to lose bodyfat while also maintaining – or even gaining – strength.  But you need to listen to some