C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

More Tips, Advice, and Program Suggestions for Winter Bulk-Building      After writing my last two articles on bulk and power training—the 1st on Hugh Cassidy’s training and the second on another, similar winter bulk building program—I figured that was it.  I mean, not as if I’m done writing or need to take a break from hacking away at my laptop.  No, I just mean that I thought that was it when it came to advice for cold weather bulk building.  I have a few other articles that I am already about a ⅓ of the way through at the moment—the 4th part of my "bodyweight and beyond” series, an essay on “pain”, and another one on Bill Starr’s advice for tailoring workout programs for your own needs and goals, along with a few others, in addition to outlines and notes for around 20 more—so I had every intention this morning of finishing up one of those assorted pieces.  But then I received an email.      A reader messaged me....

  Winter is the Time for Bulk Building      A couple of occurrences precipitated this essay.  First, my last article on the legendary powerlifter Hugh Cassidy.  His training is just the kind of program anyone seeking bulk should follow.  And not just his style of training, but most certainly his “method” of eating.  You know, if you can call scarfing down every calorie-laden, protein-packed, carb-loaded thing in sight a method.  Second, and most obvious, the cold.  Much of our country, as I type these words on my laptop, snug against the warmth of my fireplace, is in the grip of a bone-chilling freeze.  Even in the Deep South of Alabama where I live, work, and train (outdoors), we have been told by the wintry weather prognosticators that it will only get slightly above freezing as the high for the week.      I have long believed that we should do “seasonal” training.  Too many lifters, train a...

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...