C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

A Mass and Power Program for the Natural Lifter      This morning, I was reading some old muscle magazines—I have hundreds of them boxed in my attic—when I came across an article by Don “Ripper” Ross entitled, aptly for this essay, “Power Bodybuilding.”  I’m always looking for inspiration for new training programs, and this article gave the idea for the program you’re now reading.      Ross’s program was a 6-days-per-week routine where you trained chest and arms on days 1 and 4, back and shoulders on days 2 and 5, and, finally, legs on days 3 and 6.  I really like a lot of the training programs that Ross created—this one included—but I do think it had too much overall volume at each session for that many training days.  Each day contained between 8 and 10 exercises in his program.  Ross was the kind of guy that thrived on hard work and a lot of volume (oh, and a lot of anabolics).  This program keeps some of Ross’s principles—heavy training, multiple sets for each lift, low reps—and k

  The High-Frequency Training Manifesto Part Two: More Tips and Ideas for Designing and Implementing a High-Frequency “Easy Strength” Training Program      If you haven’t done so, please read Part One first, especially if you’re at all unfamiliar with HFT or what is meant here by “easy strength.”  The remainder of this essay simply picks up where Part One left off.      Throughout the more than 30 years I’ve worked as a writer for different bodybuilding/strength training magazines, I have been asked by hundreds of different people if I would look at their programs and make suggestions for improvement.  It doesn’t surprise me now, but years ago I was a little bit surprised that the majority of questioners were guys who trained in their home gym.  But in a way those questions really helped how I designed—and still design—programs, by cutting out a lot of the fluff and allowing the lifter to do only a few things, but do those few things really well.  (That’s another big benefit of HFT in