C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

                4 Tips for Serious Lifters Loaded Carries - one of the 4 tips for serious lifters      I have been lifting weights since, I think, 1986 or ‘87, when, for either my 13th or 14th birthday, my father bought me one of those cement-filled, plastic DP weight sets replete with a flimsy bench.  I’ve come a long way since then - in other words, I’ve gotten friggin’ old - but I’ve never stopped lifting, and I’ve seen a LOT of different exercises, workout routines, and training programs (some good, most not) done by a lot of different people.  In other words, in 36 (maybe 37) years of training - and paying attention - I’ve seen damn near anything and everything you can think of in the lifting world.  And so I’m also pretty sure that in another 36 (or 37) years, the following tips will be just as good then as they are now. Consistency Trumps Everything       “It doesn’t matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.” ~Confucius      One thing that the above paragraph tells y

  or How to REALLY Train, Eat, and Rest for Muscle Growth and Performance Bill Starr was a man who knew—and inspired—the information contained in much of this article. As of late, I have received more emails than I have in quite some time.  And most of them sorta, kinda—but not exactly, since I suppose it's almost human nature—surprised me.  Why?  Because most of them dealt with confusion in training.  Confusion about the proper diet, confusion about proper training (I'm 25 years old; should I follow your Ageless Bodybuilding program?), and even confusion over rest—a topic I just  covered in my essay on "Stillness, Rest, and Relaxation" for muscle growth.  Geez!  Initially, I didn't really respond to the questions other than tell the said questioners to, you know, actually search my blog for the topics they are interested in learning more about.  But this morning, I thought, what-the-hell, it's always a good time to discuss getting back-to-the-basics—in traini

and Other S**t I Learned from a Lifetime of Training in Zen, Martial Arts, and Powerlifting Tom Platz's thighs were built through some of the most extreme, non-moderate training one can imagine!  And the results speak for theselves. Okay, so the title of this post is a little over-the-top.  It’s supposed to be.  But that also doesn’t make it any less true.  Whether you want to get in the best shape of your life, or win a powerlifting competition, or become a martial arts “expert,” or any dream that you have in life.  If you want to achieve any of those things, or anything else for that matter , then you must be determined to work extremely hard, moderation be damned. Modern “self-help” books recommend moderation as one of the ways to achieve your goals - especially in the West, where we think there is something “Eastern” to moderation, a balance of yin/yang or a balance of mind/body/Spirit.  But moderation is really NOT an Eastern “thing,” not any more at least than it is a Wester