C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

The 6 Primary Reasons Why You’re Not Achieving Your Goals      I think it’s safe to say that a whole lot of gym-goers aren’t making the gains that they want, aren’t reaching their goals, or aren’t making the progress that they thought they would when they first started lifting.  Maybe they made progress at first, but after those initial “newbie gains,” it just stopped.  When you first pick up a barbell, pretty much anything that you do will work.  But after those first 8 weeks or so, the gains come grinding to a halt and many a lifter is left bewildered and confused as to what to do next or what to do to get those gains moving again.  In this essay, I’ll look at some of the most common culprits for why you’re not making gains.  This list isn’t extensive, perhaps, but if you heed my advice, the gains will start coming again.  So, without any further preamble, let’s get started.  Here are 6 reasons that you’re not making gains. ...

The Magic of High-Volume but Minimalistic Training      As I have pointed out more often than I can count, there are many ways and multiple paths to achieve your physical goals, whether it’s strength, power, more muscle mass, less bodyfat, or a combination of several of those goals all at once.  The key to achieving your goals, whatever they may be, lies in the proper balance of volume, frequency, and intensity, but some training plans are decidedly better than others, depending on your genetics, training history, and whatnot.  In my last essay on balance, I briefly mentioned that if I absolutely had to select one training methodology over anything else, it would be the “sub-maximal effort” method.  With strength and power roots in Eastern European countries, mostly countries from the former Soviet-bloc, this method basically involves doing multiple sets of low reps with weights that are not quite maximal—hence the name.  Almost completely ...

Musings on “Good” Workouts and Effective Training Strategies      I’m sure that you’ve heard of “the rule of 3.”  Actually, just kidding.  I’m sure that you haven’t because, well, I made it up.  Like right now.  This moment.  But it should be a rule, and once I hit “post” on this essay, it will forever be on the internet, so it, you know, will be a rule.  Forever and ever.  Or until the internet collapses in an apocalyptic, cataclysmic downfall.  But maybe then it will be rediscovered by Max and all those grimy kids when they go in search of Tomorrow-morrow Land, and find a copy of it that one of you printed off the internet.  Anyway, rule or not, it is a good way to look at your training.      Now, there are various “rules of 3.”  After writing that first paragraph, I did a cursory search and Google spat out a handful of different “rules.”  The only one I was familiar with, I mus...