C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Q&A for the Month of October I have decided to do something slightly different starting with this month. Over the last couple of weeks - since I switched over to my new email address - I've received multiple emails.  Not exactly an entire plethora, don't get me wrong, but enough that it's been hard - or, at least, very time consuming - to answer them all.  And, so, I'm afraid that I simply haven't answered some that I otherwise would have - I apologize, right now, if yours is one that I haven't answered as of yet. Several of the emails, however, while not being exactly  the same, are at least in the same ballpark.  Which got me to thinking: Why don't I return to writing a regular Q&A column (something I've attempted in the past).  If this is successful, and if it gets enough views (some of my posts, depending on popularity, get decidedly more views than others), then I will continue to do this sometime around the first of each month. I...

The following is an article from the always-great Bill Starr entitled "Low-Rep Lowdown." Starr, of course, always remains my favorite strength coach and writer—I'm amazed sometimes that he still gets so much attention from the mainstream magazines. But, then again, it could be that Iron Man —never one to shy away from heavy, basic training articles (after all, I have written for them since the early '90s)—knows what they have in Starr, and they don't plan on letting him go. Anyway, it's always nice to see Starr's byline next to an article—you know it's always going to be good stuff. This one is no exception. Low-Rep Lowdown by Bill Starr Currently there’s a trend in strength and fitness training to shy away from doing lower reps—threes, twos and singles. It’s largely due to the influence of those who are responsible for programs in high schools, colleges and the pro ranks. And, of course, personal trainers. The reason: safety. What those in cha...

     This type of high-set, low-rep training has become popular among strength coaches in various sports, and has been used by powerlifters and Olympic lifters for quite some time.   It only makes sense that bodybuilders should start taking advantage of it as well.      Powerlifting super-coach Louie Simmons uses a form of it to achieve the awesome results he gets with his lifters.   Another proponent of this training is strength/bodybuilding coach Charles Staley.   His method is similar to what I prefer when it comes to building muscle mass.   It's probably the method that would best be preferred by the majority of you out there who just want to pack on some more muscle mass.      Basically, for accelerative low-rep training, the force produced by each rep is more important than the amount of reps performed in each set.   More sets are performed to compensate for the lack of volume.   Let me explain.      Let us assume that you can perform 10 reps in the bench press with a...