C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Build Tons of Strength, Power, and Mass with my 30-Rep Program. A High-Frequency, Moderate Volume, Low Intensity Program Old-time strongmen such as Hermann Goerner used programs similar to what is recommended here.      C.S.'s Note: I was hoping to have Part Two of my "Train for Your Body Type" series posted by now, but I have been busy writing for a local magazine (my "regular" job, so to speak) and that has prevented me from writing as much on the blog.  So until I can find the time to finish Part Two of that series, consider this "Thursday Throwback" as sort of an intermediate piece.  Here, you will find a program that would build hypertrophy quite nicely for anyone who is a "frequency" bodybuilder/lifter.      Even though it is not directly, but is  indirectly, related to the following piece, I will give a quick update on the aforementioned "Train for Your Body Type" series (see my last post).  That series is based on the fact t

How Old-Time Lifters and Bodybuilders SLOWLY Worked Up to Using Split Workouts - How They Utilized Them and How YOU Should Use Them Bill Pearl was one of the greatest bodybuilders who ever lived, and he rarely used anything more than a "2-way" split program.      If you’re new to training, always start with full-body workouts.      I say this because I see WAY too many split workout programs being recommended on the internet for “average” or even “beginner” trainees.  I write “trainees” because I understand that these guys aren’t lifters per se, and the kind of results they are after are probably not what the average reader of my blog is after.  None-the-less, I have a feeling that the majority of lifters that read my blog probably do a lot of split workouts, too, where you just might be better off performing a full-body program instead.      Now—and I must make myself crystal clear on this point—split workouts are not “bad.”  They simply need to be utilized correctly.  I

  Old School Lifting, Training, and Eating are Still the Most Optimal Methods and Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Tells You Otherwise! Marvin Eder, my favorite old school bodybuilder/strength athlete.      I like “old school” things.      I train at a dojo in the town that I live in that is the only old school dojo I could find.  The others around aren’t really dojos but are what are commonly called “McDojos”—they cater to the masses, and are a great after-school activity for your kid, or for your Grandma who wants to “get in shape.”  The dojo that I practice at often has to mop the blood off the floor after class, and is run by a 70-year old, 5’4” black man who can still whip men twice his size and half his age.  He runs it like a dictatorship, as any good dojo must be run.  So, yeah, it’s old school , and I like old school things.      I go to a Slavic-style Orthodox Church.  It’s as old school as religion can get.  I had a friend of mind, a German Catholic fella by the name of Richard

  Learning from the Legendary Eugen Sandow The 1897 (or 1899) cover of Strength and How to Obtain It.  (courtesy Wikimedia)      For some reason, over the last few days I have thought a lot about some of the old-time, turn-of-the-century strongmen.  I have written about some of them more than a time or two on this blog, men such as—in addition to Sandow—George Hackenschmidt, Louis Cyr, Arthur Saxon, and Hermann Goerner, to name a few.  If I’m honest, Hackenschmidt is probably my favorite.  He was not only one of the greatest strongmen and wrestlers this world has seen, but he was a prolific writer, could speak seven different languages, and developed a systematic philosophy of mind.  He was, in a word, a very cultured man.  (I will save Hackenschmidt for a much longer essay.)  But so was Sandow, and most of the other strongmen of that era, for that matter, as you may notice if you continue to read.      I thought it would be good to do a semi-regular series on the above men (and, prob