C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Use the Power Rack for Massive Gains in Size and Strength      In my last essay on “The Big 4,” one of the programs that I outlined was a power rack program inspired by Brooks Kubik’s “Dinosaur Training.”  I read that book sometime (I think) in ‘96, although it could have been ‘97.  The book was instrumental in my switch from training like a bodybuilder to training like a lifter.  In ‘98, I bought a power rack, an Olympic barbell set, and started training in my garage.  I have rarely stepped foot in a commercial gym since.      Although I found that some of the programs in that book didn’t work well for me, I wholeheartedly embraced the ideas Kubik espoused regarding power rack training.  And though I eventually went on to experiment, and often utilize, the training methods of Westside Barbell, and then the much more voluminous methods of lifting that came out of the countries of the former Soviet republic, it was old-school power rack training that first allowed me to make a lot of

  Part One: A Basic, Full-Body Power Rack Program  (Inspired by the Legendary Charles A. Smith) illustrations as they appeared in one of Smith's rack training articles for Muscle Power I keep a notebook on my person at all times to jot down ideas for articles and essays as they come to me.  My sons, of course, explain to me that I could make it easier if I just use a “notepad” on my cell phone.  But I won’t budge.  I’m pretty stubborn in that way, but it’s also because I don’t think we should be so quick to “throw out the old for the new.”  I bring this up for two points.  The first is that, looking through my notebook(s) of ideas, I realized that I haven’t written anything on “power rack training” in quite some time.  The 2nd is that you shouldn’t be so quick to get rid of “old” training ideas in favor of whatever “new-fangled” ones appear to work better; and, unfortunately, the lifting world seems to have forgotten some of the great exercises that can be done in the power rack.