C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Just the Basics for Fast Muscle Gains      There are a number of reasons why modern trainees don’t get good results in the gym.  I write a lot about programming , workout ideas, and whatnot, and the fact that most lifters would be better off training with more frequency, using full-body workouts, and stop treating every single workout session as if it’s an all-out onslaught where they have to storm the muscle-building Bastille.  I suppose when it comes right down to it, however, the first culprit for lack of gains is just not doing the right movements in the first place.  Do your workouts consist of these movements (with free weights, I must add)? Vertical press (overhead work) Horizontal press Squat Upper body pull Lower body pull Loaded carry      If they do, you’re probably getting decent results even without proper programming.  If, on the other hand, the majority of your sessions consist of pumping up your chest...

     In Part 3 of my “Big and Strong” series of on-going articles that I’m writing at the moment, I mentioned how that series isn’t for the average gym-goer.  If you’re going to follow the high-set, low-rep (and really high volume) regimens that the series recommends, you really can’t do much else.  Hell, you probably can’t do anything else.  I’m taking a break from that series briefly so that I can focus on some essays and articles that tackle different workout programs and just different subjects in general. I have several articles and essays that I’m working on at the moment, and it made me realize something.  Since this blog has quite an array of different workout programs, many lifters might be unsure as to the one they should be doing.  So, I thought it might be good to look at training goals and the workout programs you should be following for your goals.  Because, if you have been reading that series and you decide to ac...

  On Programming, Variety, and Making Gains!      The other day, Jason, a lifting friend of mine, called me on the phone.  He needed some advice for breaking out of the rut he was in.  Jason’s one of those guys that’s always into “powerbuilding.”  He wants to look like a bodybuilder, but also wants to have impressive strength.  He said that several months ago he had started on one of those “briefer-is-better” programs—the kind of program that would have made Ken Leistner proud—and got some of the best results he’s ever had in just a matter of a few weeks, but then it all ground to a sudden halt.  After explaining to me what he had been doing, and some of the adjustments he’d made but to no avail, he was almost at his wit’s end.  “I just don’t know what I’m doin’ wrong,” he said.  To which I replied, “It ain’t what you’re doin’.  It’s what you’ve done.”      “Huh?” he replied in turn, bemusing...