C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

AKA: The 90% Rule for Mass and Power Some Thoughts and Programs on “Skill Training” as a Method for Gaining Size and Strength      In my recent essay “Heavy and High,” I suggested that the key to gaining mass for the natural bodybuilder lies in the ability to do programs that utilize both heavy weights and a high workload.  When a lot of modern bodybuilders think about training for hypertrophy, they largely think along the lines of training hard and then coupling this with plenty of rest and recovery.  Almost every program you encounter—whether you read about them, watch a YouTube video discussing it, or have a casual conversation about them with a fellow gym-goer—revolves around the balance of “intensity” with rest days after workouts.  The harder, or more , you train then the more you should rest.  I’m not denying here that workouts do, and should , involve those considerations, but I prefer lifters to think in terms of workload and work ...

  Simple, Easy-to-Follow Programs for Unleashing Size and Strength Gains     While working on the next installment of my series on HFT yesterday, I received an email from a reader who was a little confused—perhaps more than a little confused would be more appropriate—about how he should set up his workout program.  And, as with a lot of questions that I get asked and are then turned into an essay or article, I thought it would be good to write an article about some easy and simple workout plans that are also quite productive—the same kind of workouts that I suggested to this young man.      Periodically, I receive these sorts of emails from readers who are confused over some of my recommendations.  After all, I do write about various forms of training and lifting.  They are often different because, for one, different people respond well to different forms of training, and, two, different lifters have different goals....

  A Unique Training Split for Size, Strength, Muscle Mass, AND the Look of Power      As humans—and as lifters—we tend to be creatures of habit.  In many ways, this is good.  If we want to be skilled at something, anything really, we need to make a habit of practicing it, practicing it well , and practicing it often.  If you want to make good gains—in strength training, mass-building, or a combination of both—you must be consistent first and foremost.  But, as lifters, it can sometimes actually hinder us, or, at the very least, not allow us to take full advantage of different training strategies.  Because, since we are creatures of habit, we create a habit of training the same way for each of our muscle groups or for all of our lifts.  Sometimes, however, it might help to take an almost counterintuitive approach to training.  And that’s exactly what this program is.  (In fact, I suppose that I could have titled it “T...