C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Build Muscle and Strength With This Basic 3x5 HFT Program! Matthew Sloan—at just 16 years of age—has built plenty of lean muscle and an aesthetic physique using HFT programs almost exclusively      After my last several posts on HFT, I thought it would be good—based on several emails that I have received, with readers pondering how to properly apply the HFT principles—if I did a few posts with specific methods of training.  These posts will take out more of the guesswork from planning, and then implementing, a HFT plan.      Keep in mind that these programs are just examples .  You may need to make your own adjustments based on genetics, past training history, etc.  But, for the average lifter, these programs—as examples—will be good on setting you on the correct path.  Some of you may need more training, and some may need to be less, but stick with the programs as I recommend them before deciding that you need to make personal c...

The Benefits of High-Frequency Training for Size and Strength Gains!       If you haven't done so, please read my previous post on High-Frequency Training (HFT) before reading the following.  It will be of more benefit—no pun intended—if you do so.      Now, on to building more muscle, strength and power... George Hackenshmidt—the "Russian Lion"—built a massive physique, with the massive strength to boot, using High-Frequency Training tactics in the early 1900's.      Different training strategies provide different benefits.  For instance—as an example of a training paradigm completely counter to HFT—if you were to follow a 2-days-per-week program of full-body workouts, focusing on the 3 powerlifting exercises, then you would reap the benefits of having more free time than usual during the week, and of being able to get good strength gains out of minimalistic training.      High-Frequency Training has...

High-Frequency Training for Fast Growth in Muscle Mass plus  Some Serious Strength and Power Gains "A day without work is a day without food." —Zen Master Hyakujo      After my son posted his previous article on some easy ways to lose fat ( fast ), I thought I would do something similar, assuming, of course, that your goals in this instance are fast gains in both strength and  muscle mass. Matthew Sloan builds his muscle with HFT      I have many other articles on this blog that cover high-frequency training, but it's amazing how many emails I still  get from folks—typically guys, of course—who want more information on how to properly design a high-frequency training program, or use HFT for a period of a few weeks as a break from their typical routines.  Consider this post—and the subsequent ones that will follow during the remainder of this month—as my answer(s).      There are many ways to build both stre...

     In the late '70s-early '80s,  Steve Davis became a well-known figure in the bodybuilding world.  He graced the cover of quite a few bodybuilding magazines due to his "classical" physique—he was by no means "massive" in the sense that we think of it today, but he had clean lines, and a well-proportioned physique.  But it wasn't necessarily his build that made him so popular, but, rather, the transformation that occurred in his body.      You can see Steve's rather impressive transformation on the cover of his popular book "Total Muscularity."      In addition to the above book, he also wrote a few others, but "Total Muscularity" remained the favorite among his readers.      When I took up serious  bodybuilding training in the early '90s, Davis wrote a monthly column for MuscleMag International  that, I'm afraid, was overlooked by many of its readers—I just never felt as if Steve got his jus...

An Old-School Technique for Breaking a Mass-Building Plateau      I can remember rather vividly my first plateau in muscle-building.  It was 1991, and I was only seventeen years old, but I had also been training hard for a couple of years prior to this.  (I started training at the age of 15, when my father bought me my first weight training set—a DP bench, and about 120 pounds of weight from the local Sears.  By the time I was 16, I started training at a commercial gym.  It was located adjacent to the dojo where I practiced Karate-Do consistently 4 to 5 days per week.)      At the time, I used a full-body routine, where I would train 2 or 3 days per week, focusing on the basics such as squats, bench presses, chins, barbell curls, and whatnot.  (To be honest—as ashamed as I am to admit it—I didn't discover the efficacy of deadlifts and the "quick lifts"—power cleans, power snatches, et al—until several years later.)  For the...

The Legendary Mass-Building Methods and Workouts of "The Myth"—and the Story Behind Them   Sergio Oliva in the '80s      I’ve often written on this blog, and elsewhere, that I believe the greatest strength athlete/bodybuilder of all time was Marvin Eder.   Of the truly “old-time” bodybuilders there were other greats, as well, but none that could match Eder for both sheer muscle and the most impressive strength feats of the age.      What I’m not sure of, however, is if I’ve ever mentioned who I think the greatest pure bodybuilder of all time was/is.   By the title of this article, you’ve probably already guessed the answer: Sergio Oliva.   At the time of his emergence, I think he had the greatest physique the bodybuilding world had ever seen—shapely muscles, huge legs (compared to other bodybuilders of the era), and definitely more mass than anyone else.   His is a physique that still stands the test of...