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 Ros...

Slovenian powerlifter Erni Gregorčič at Worlds 2014 in Sydney, Australia The other day, I received an email from a reader who wanted to know if I still felt the same way about strength training - specifically Russian strength training, for some reason - as I did years ago.  He asked this, he said, because I hadn't published very much on the subject in the last couple of years.  I replied that, of course, I still feel the same way about the efficacy of strength and power programs that I recommended 10 years ago as I do today. There really is nothing new under the strength and power building sun. With that being said, for those of you new to Russian-style training, here are the "rules" of Russian-style training as recommended by strength guru Pavel Tsatsouline*: 1. You must lift heavy. 2. You must limit your reps to five. 3. You must avoid muscular failure. 4. You must cycle your loads. 5. You must stay tight.  Tension is power. 6. You must treat your strength as a ski...

I'm excited to announce that I have a new book that has just been published by Regimen Books. For regular readers of this blog, some of the chapters were previously published under some posts entitled "Ultimate Strength", as well.  There is also some additional content that was never in my original posts. You can currently order the book from Amazon.  Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=sloan%2C+ultimate+strength I will also post a link in the next day or so where you can order copies directly from Regimen Books.  Anyone who is interested in a signed copy, then email me and let me know.  I will gladly send you one.

a.k.a.: The Squat Nemesis Training Journal: Part Two by Jared Smith       It is week two, and to say that my legs feel like they have gone through the meat grinder would be a huge understatement. I must say that there is something almost enjoyable about feeling this way. Perhaps it is the fact that I am testing myself, which gives me a sense of accomplishment. I know what some of you are probably thinking (and you are correct): You don’t have to be sore to know you’ve trained hard, but sometimes we need that painful little reminder that we killed it!          I must say that I am pretty happy with the gains I have made thus far. Going from hardly being able grind out a triple just to parallel with 315, to taking such a weight ass to grass with a pause in that position, before attempting to send it through the roof, makes me happier than a witch in a broom factory. I know that number is...

First, I want to apologize for my long delay between blog posts. I have been more than a little busy as of late. Between work (I do have a regular “9 to 5” job), moving into a new house (and all that entails), and writing quite a bit of articles, my blog just took a back seat. (Speaking of writing articles, I now have an article in almost every issue of Planet Muscle, so that’s where you can find all of my latest stuff. And I now only write occasionally for Iron Man.) With that out of the way, let’s get on with this blog post: As regular readers of my material know, I believe that fairly high-volume, frequent training is the best (the quickest, the most result-producing) route to bigger, stronger, more (dare I say?) functional muscles. (It must be noted that this wasn’t always my opinion. If you read a lot of my early stuff in Iron Man – mid ‘90s to very early ‘00s – you’ll find that my training programs tended to be based around infrequent training. But all of that changed when I actu...

To fail or not to fail... that is the question. We're talking training to failure, of course. On one side of the spectrum, you have strength coaches such as Chad Waterbury and Charles Staley (and I suppose myself in recent years) who seem to never recommend training to failure. On the other side of the spectrum, you have the great strength coach Charles Poliquin, and bodybuilding writers/trainers such as Steve Holman, Eric Broser (and whoever the hell invented that Doggcrapp—yes, that's the actual name of the training system for those of you who don't know— crap) who seem to always recommend training to failure. The million dollar question: Who's right? I think the answer is both—as long as certain criteria are adhered to for the most part. I haven't always felt that way. If you read my early writing for Iron Man magazine and MuscleMag International —I used to write quite a bit for those magazines 10 to 15 years ago—then you would have assumed I was a training...

The "O" Word: The Often Misunderstood, Always Talked About Issue of Overtraining The Barbarian Brothers—those crazy bastions of strength and muscle mass that I often admired in my teenage years—once said: "There is no such thing as overtraining, only undereating." (Or something along that similar vein; could be that I slightly misquoted.) The Barbarians were often derided for that statement. The argument against their statement would go something like this: "It's easy for them to say such a thing. They are genetically predisposed mutants of muscle-building who are on butt-loads of anabolic steroids, HGH, and no-telling what else." I don't think the Barbarians were exactly dead on in their assessment—don't get me wrong—but they did have a point. Proper training—hard, heavy training in their cases—and diet are the keys to success. Overtraining, in their minds, was just something that was entirely overdone by the magazines and all of the n...

I have a new article out in the latest issue of Planet Muscle magazine (March/April '10) entitled "Build a Big Bench and Get a Big Body: Training Methods for Bench Press Power and Upper Body Size." If you're into powerlifting—or just increasing your bench press—then you should find it interesting. It covers most of the current methods for increasing bench press strength—Westside, traditional powerlifting cycles, eastern bloc methods, plus a few more.

My friend—and fellow iron-pumper—Jared Smith (a big, hulking power-bodybuilder) sent me the following training "mini-article". Jared has some good advice in this piece. And most of you who read this blog for training advice might actually follow it. (Unlike a lot of the so-called bodybuilders who read most of the newsstand mags.) So... here it is: Commercial Manipulation and the REAL Key to Massive Arms Jared Smith I can't tell you how man times I've picked up a magazine that only glorifies abs and biceps and tells you that the key to bigger arms is simply to curl until your brain goes numb. Before I even get into the meat and potatoes of the program I'll outline, don't get the idea that I am anti-curl, but the curl aint gonna put size on those arms. What puts size on your arms are the same things that put size on the rest of you: COMPOUND MOVEMENTS. Benches, dips, deadlifts,chins, squats. Now before the vast majority of everyone who reads this get co...

Mike Mahler—over at www.mikemahler.com—puts out an excellent on-line magazine called "Aggressive Strength Magazine". The magazine always has plenty of great information, and best of all... it's free. (Mike, by the way, also seems like a wonderful person. He's one of the few vegan strength coaches/athletes that you'll find. Read over his personal articles and you'll see that he has a very spiritual side to him—we need more guys like that in the business.) The latest issue of "Aggressive Strength" is out, and I have an article in it entitled "3 Keys to Monstrous Muscle and Strength Gains". Here's the link to Aggressive Strength Magazine, Issue 176 .

     Power Volume Training is a system that I came up with a few years ago, and wrote an article about it in the November, 2004 issue of Ironman.   Since that time, this is the one program that I have used more than any other when training someone who is solely interested in maximal strength—powerlifters, for instance.   Although mainly geared toward building strength, it’s also a great means of building muscle mass, especially when you have been performing workouts with higher reps.   (It would be a great form of training, for instance, after a couple months of Staggered Volume Training .)      Power Volume Training works by incorporating 4 distinct methods of training into one week of workouts.   The methods used are: Dynamic lifting Very heavy training—max singles, doubles, and triples; and never more than five reps Partial reps Frequent training      Like a lot of good methods of strength building, the parameters of this program aren’t set in stone.   However,...

     There are several programs that I have touted on this blog because of their efficacy—the two that I get asked the most questions about would probably be the H-L-M system of training and the 3 to 5 method.  I like both of these systems for a few reasons: 1) They use full-body workouts. 2) They allow you to train your muscle groups frequently while still being fresh at each session.  And 3) while they are training templates  they both allow for enough variety to keep the lifter from getting stale and/or bored.      Now I would like to introduce another template of a training system that I think is even more effective for advanced strength athletes.  I call it the 5 to 7 Program .      The 5 to 7 Program works for advanced athletes because of a simple reason: it forces you to use more volume than with the other above systems.  (Despite the bull  that is often espoused in some of the various bodybuilding magazines, as you get more advanced you don't need less training you need mor...

     Here's a simple program that really works well when it comes to gaining strength and plenty of muscle to go along with it.  In fact, it may be more conducive to muscle growth than to pure strength.      Okay, first things first.  Go back and read my post on "The 3 to 5 Method for Strength and Power."  Here's a quick link .      Read it?  Good.  Now, the one thing I want you to do different with the training program here is I want you to limit your training to just 3 days each week (as opposed to 4 or 5).  This way you have enough energy to perform the "plus" part of the training program—don't worry, we'll get around to just what the "plus" part is in a moment—and enough recovery time between workouts.      So the 3 to 5 part of the workout might look like this: Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps Deadlifts: 5 sets of 3 reps Bench Presses: 4 sets of 5 reps Close-Grip Chins: 4 sets of 5 reps      When you are finished with that portion of the worko...

The Benefits of Full-Body Workouts       As anyone who reads this blog—or any of my articles—knows, I'm a big fan of full-body workout programs.  I'm a fan of them for a number of reasons: they allow you to train your muscle groups frequently (yes, dammit, that's a good thing!), they allow you to train your muscles frequently without  being in the gym all the time, and they act as a sort of anabolic "trigger"—stimulating muscle growth throughout your entire body better than split workout programs.      Don't get me wrong.  I am in no way opposed  to split training programs.  If you look throughout this blog you'll find a number of good workout suggestions and routines that use a split schedule.  Also, if you read past article of mine from 10 years back or so—mainly in Iron Man  magazine and MuscleMag International —you will discover back then that I recommended split workouts almost exclusively. Strength Coaches, Personal Trainers, Writers, and Their Perso...

     Most of my posts are not links to other articles, but occasionally I come across an article that is so good—whether it's bodybuilding or Spirituality—that I have to post a link.      The following is the latest interview from T-Muscle (formerly T-Nation; see link to the right) with bodybuilding trainer Scott Abel.  If you're interested in solely building muscle—as opposed to strength and power—then Abel is definitely your man.      There are some really good "gems" in this article.      Here it is:     http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/sucker_punch_scott_abel

     This week, it seems that I've received an inordinate number of e-mails.  Most of them have been related to questions regarding my latest article at Mike Mahler's website.  (If you haven't read that article—see the post a couple below this one—be sure to do so; and make sure that you check out Mike's site.  He's got a lot of good stuff there.)  I've been too busy to answer all of them—but I'll be sure to do so by the end of the weekend (hopefully).      Anyway, I received an e-mail earlier today asking me what the single greatest "approach" is for building muscle mass.  In other words, what kind of workout program seems to elicit the best gains in both building muscle mass and garnering strength gains.  I started to answer with one of the more popular lines from strength coaches (and one of the most redundant):  "The best workout program is the one you're not doing."      Then I decided that was a bit of a cop-out.      Truth is, ...