C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

C.S.'s Note: The following is a training program that Jared Smith and I have had in the works for some time.  It's Jared's brainchild.  He came to me with an article that outlined the program.  I made a few tweaks here-and-there, added some notes on classic bodybuilders, and what you are reading here is the end result. In honor and promotion of our new program, the template here at Integral Strength has changed—as you may have noticed—to a more ghoulish and ghastly image. If you have any questions or comments regarding the program, please post them in the "comments" section instead of emailing me.  That way, Jared can reply as well. And just why are we calling this program "Cemetery Circuit Training"?  Read on, discover, and (hopefully) enjoy! Cemetery Circuit Training Pump-Inducing, Hellish Training for Muscle Building Heaven! C.S. Sloan and Jared Smith      Most of us who have attempted to build muscle for a signi...

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...

a.k.a.: The Squat Nemesis Training Journal: Part One by Jared Smith          For some time now, I have been a firm believer that overtraining a muscle is about as possible as winning the lottery a dozen times in a row or establishing peace in the Middle East.   While the nervous system is another issue in-and-of-itself, the muscles can withstand much more punishment than the vast majority of people are willing to dish out. I admit that, when my training was in its infancy, I too was under the impression that infrequent training for each muscle was optimal.   However, as my knowledge evolved, I learned that the more frequently you can stimulate a muscle, the more opportunities for growth you can experience.   After delving into all the information I could find on how to enhance recovery between sessions, I embarked on a mission of training muscles as often as possible while remaining as fresh as possible ....