C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Strength-Building and Mind-Power Secrets from the 20th Century’s Greatest Weightlifter/Bodybuilder      I love old-school bodybuilders.  If you’ve scoured this site, or have been a long-time reader, you’re probably aware of that.  My most popular articles at Integral Strength are almost all “classic bodybuilding” pieces.      Old-school bodybuilders—especially before the ‘70s—were a different breed.  Like bodybuilders today, they trained for aesthetics and to have a pleasing physique, but they also trained for strength and power, for flexibility, on various “odd” lifts, and for all-around athleticism.  They were, essentially, one part bodybuilder, one part weightlifter, and one part gymnast.  But a few stood out above all others.  One of those was, without a doubt, the great Tommy Kono.  Superlatives such as “great” are heaped upon a lot of old-time lifters, but with Kono it’s no hyperbole....

  A Split Training Program for Strength, Power, and Mass      In general (even if you’ve only read a small smattering of my writing, you probably still know this), I’m a fan of full-body workouts.   When training with a split program, I typically like 2-way splits and little else.   There are times, however, when a “multi-split”—splitting your body into 3 or more sessions—can be effective.   In this article, I want to present one such program.   This program will be great for anyone who is at least at the “intermediate” level and is looking to gain even more mass, strength, and power.      Before we go any further, let’s look at the reasons that I generally favor full-body workouts and problems I have with most split training programs.   Once you understand that information, then you can make an informed decision over whether or not this program would be right for you.      Full-body progr...

  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 giv...