C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  A Modified Westside Program for Natural and Raw Powerlifters      Recently, my youngest son Garret wanted to start back powerlifting.  He had spent the last year or so doing more “bodybuilding” type training, so I came up with a program that was essentially a “hybrid” Westside method in order to improve his speed and his low-rep strength, both of which can be “compromised” from doing standard hypertrophy workouts for a lengthy period.  After coming up with the program’s outline, and discussing it with him, I decided that it would probably make a good article.  Hence, the article you’re now reading.      This program combines the speed day or dynamic effort method, most commonly associated with Westside, with a more standard strength method found (typically) in Russian and other east European programs.  I will explain the training days first, then give you an outline of the program.  After that, I will give some pointers such as how to design your workout split, when to change exerci

How You Feel is a Lie A.K.A.: No Matter What, Just Do the Workout, and Other Crap I learned from Hard-as-Heck Training Programs C.S. pulls 500 pounds at 40 years old using the methods - or madness- contained herein. I first heard this saying probably a little over 20 years ago.  (I think it was the lifting coach John Broz that made the statement.)  At first, I probably thought something similar to what a lot of people think when they first see/read/hear it: “Well, that’s stupid.  Shouldn’t I go by how I feel?  How the heck am I gonna make progress if I don’t go by the way I feel every day.”  And so on and so forth, making an internal list of not just how stupid this saying is, but how downright weird and odd that a lifter would even think such a thing.   Right? Not so fast!  I think this is actually one of the truest maxims ever uttered when it comes to strength training and muscle building.  Let me explain. I discovered firsthand the truth of this statement almost 20 years ago when

 Utilizing the 5/4/3/2/1 Method for the Ultimate Combination of Strength and Muscle Mass ! Anthony Ditillo—seen here in all of his Bad-Ass glory—enjoyed 5/4/3/2/1 training as one of the methods in his strength and power arsenal. There is a lot to NOT like about our modern world, especially for “old-time” strength athletes such as myself.   We have become a society—hell, a world —that is over-politicized, and full of more “victims” than ever before in our planet’s history.  So, yeah, I could complain and rant if I wanted to, but here’s the surprising thing about our world: some stuff is actually better .  Yep, I said it.  Better.  Case in point: the workout presented here. Don’t get me wrong.  (Please.  Don’t.)  I’m not saying that “overall” the “lifting world” is more knowledgeable, and there is “better” information than when I started lifting 35 years ago.   There is definitely more CRAP than ever before.  But this is just because of the sheer amount of information that is available