C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

An “Easy” High-Frequency Training Program for Plenty of Size and Strength + Some Other Tips and Workouts for Transforming Your Physique      I began training in martial arts more than 40 years ago, when I was around 10 years old.  By the time I was a teenager, it was my life.  (In many ways, it still is.)  I was at the dojo just about every day of the week but I also trained at my home every day.  However, when I was around 16 or 17—I’m not really sure of the exact age; I just remember that I could drive by that point—I only started going to the dojo about once per week.  Sometimes just once every two weeks.  I’m pretty sure that a lot of my fellow karatekas—especially those who had known me for many years—thought I had become lazy or that something was “wrong” with me or that I no longer took my martial training very seriously or even cared about it anymore, for that matter.  But I had a reason for it, though I didn’t really c...

Slow Repetition and Negative-Accentuated Training for Renewed Mass Gains      I have over many years of writing in several different articles and essays mentioned my general disdain for such things as really slow repetitions, negative-accentuated training that focuses on making the eccentric decidedly slower than the positive portion, negative only training, and “time-based” repetitions in general, where you count a certain number of seconds on the descent, the pause at the bottom of a rep, followed by counting the ascent for another number, whatever those numbers might be.  This is despite the fact that there are certain bodybuilding coaches who I admire(d) that have proposed these methods—Charles Poliquin comes to mind.      If strength and power are your primary goals, and especially if strength is your sole goal, such as a competitive powerlifter or weightlifter (this might be doubly so for the weightlifter) who needs to st...