C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Some Slightly Rambling Thoughts, Musings, and Reflections on How One Should Train (and How I Train)      The other day I received a question from a reader who asked how I really train.  He said that, since I write about a lot of different training methods, he wanted to know how I actually trained.  He wanted to know this because he was confused about how he should train.  He said that he read a lot of the articles here on the blog, but he was confused because I seemed to recommend so many different training methods, and it left him a little bit bewildered and conflicted over the correct training methods for him—those weren’t his exact words, but I’m just paraphrasing in my own vernacular.      I have received questions such as this one before.  I even wrote an article over ten years ago entitled “My Training Philosophy” because of the confusion about the various lifting methodologies I recommend, but I figure it’s about time to write something such as that again.  My training philo

 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

 A couple of months ago, I wrote the first part of this series on SERIOUS strength and power training for martial artists and other "combat" athletes.  When I wrote that first piece, I expected to write the second part within a week, and I should have already finished the series.  But life has plans of its own sometimes.  A few days after I wrote Part One, a dear friend of mine since my childhood died unexpectedly.  It has been very hard on me and my family, and is the reason the only thing I have even "felt" like writing since that time was my continued series on The Dokkodo .  But I finally sat down at my computer this morning, and realized that I really  want to begin writing again.  And writing more than I had previously been doing.  When death intrudes upon your life, it can often spur you to concentrate on the things that do matter in life, the things that are important to you, and  the things that you want to leave behind you when you  leave this world. With

  Years ago, when I was a regular columnist for Ironman Magazine , I wrote an article in which I said, "bodybuilding has ruined strength training in America."  I'm pretty sure that I got more hate mail from that ONE article than all my others put together, and I wrote a LOT  of articles for Ironman  in the '90s and the early years of this century, so that's saying something.  But I stand by that statement.  Now, you may ask yourself, why am I beginning an article on strength training for martial artists  with an anecdote I wrote for a bodybuilding magazine that most martial artists are never going to read?  And the reason is simple: bodybuilding has also ruined martial arts strength training  in America.  Why?  Most martial artists who take up weight training in this country are greatly influenced by bodybuilding-style training , whether they know it or not, the kind of training that relies on multiple sets of multiple reps in order to achieve results.  And they a