C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Real Bodybuilding: A Squat Specialization Program for Huge Gains in Mass and Strength      “I started Marvin on weights a couple of years ago as a bet.   It was a mistake.   He got to like it.   Marvin’s training methods are as simple as he is.   He went from a skinny nut to a bulky nut in no time flat by squatting three times a week and eating everything that didn’t bite back.      “Marvin avoids work like the bubonic plague.   His only other recreation is the beach.   He walks around with his chest stuck out, eats hamburgers, and kicks sand in everyone’s face.” ~John McCallum        For natural lifters, very few programs are as effective as a squat specialization program for packing on mass fast .   The book “Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks” is a testament to this fact.   It has been a perennial bestseller since it was first published in 1989...

  Heavy/Light/Medium Training Part Three: How to Build a Massive Squat      In this, the 3 rd part of our series on heavy, light, and medium training, we’ll take a look at how you can build a superhuman squat using this form of training.   Make sure that you read Part One , as it covers the basics of H/L/M training, before continuing to this one.   Part Two is on “upper body training,” and it, too, would be good to read before continuing here, but not necessary.   As I mentioned at the end of that essay, if this series was a book and these posts were chapters, I’m not sure the order they would appear, outside of the first and last entry.   So, read Part One so that you will know the basics; this article assumes familiarity with all of the concepts presented there.   So, with that out of the way, let’s get on with it…   All Hail the King      The squat.   It has been hailed the king of all exercise...

In 2004, at a bodyweight of 172 pounds, CS pulled 585 lbs.  He did so using the same kind of training outlined in this article. Lately, I have received a few messages from readers who wish my site was "easier to navigate," or of a similar view. I agree. I've had this blog, in a couple of different incarnations, since 2009, and there is a LOT of material here. So I am currently working on a "new and improved" website/blog that will make it easier to find posts you may be interested in by organizing them according to categories. Until then, however, I thought I would - every Thursday for the foreseeable future - put some older posts/articles/essays that I consider my "best of", and title these posts " Thursday Throwbacks ." Unless otherwise noted, all posts will be just the way I originally wrote them. For our first "Thursday Throwback", I have decided on an article I wrote for IronMan magazine in the early '00s, and publish...

  How Squats Can Change Your Life! “Happiness is different from pleasure.  Happiness has something to do with struggling, enduring, accomplishing.”   -Dr. George Sheehan I have been reading a lot lately.  Not that I haven’t always read a lot, mind you, so I guess it would be more appropriate to say that I have been reading a lot more lately.  Which you can strike up a little bit to the slightly increased free time I have on my hands.  You see, I have been doing some really hard martial arts training a few days a week, including a session or two of sparring every week, which always takes its toll on you (at my age and with my injuries), and I simply haven’t been able to lift weights as frequently, nor even as intensely, as usual.  Which means (long story short) that I have had more time to read on my hands. As I was perusing one of the local online “marketplaces”, I came across a book with a most interesting title: How Squats Can Change Your Life! ...

Pat Casey: King of all Powerlifters The massive Pat Casey performing shoulder presses. When I first fell in love with powerlifting - and power training in general - in the mid '90s, I immediately had a few heroes.  Some of the early 19th century strongmen such as George Hackenschmidt, Arthur Saxon, and Louis Cyr were all fascinating to me.  As was my favorite power bodybuilder of all time, Marvin Eder ,and then, of course, there were guys like Bill Kazmaier, Don Reinhoudt, and Bruce Wilhelm.  But, once I discovered him, Pat Casey might have - just might have - been my favorite. Several different things fascinated me about Casey.  First, was his strength (obviously).  He was ahead of his time when it came to the bench press and the squat.  Second, was his physique.  He looked as if he could - at any time - strip some fat and step onto the bodybuilding stage. And third was his training.  And it was this 3rd thing that I think I loved the...