C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

     If you're looking for a program to pack on the muscle mass and the power, or if you're looking for a program to bust you out of the (dreaded) plateau you have encased yourself within, look no further.  Sometimes, you just have to go back to the basics.      A lot of time when lifters go back to the basics they end up doing some crappy, gutless routine where they train their whole body with something along the lines of 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps.  They got the full-body routine part right, but the rest of it pretty much blows.  Enter Old-School bodybuilding; the kind of full-body programs that used to be employed by the likes of Anthony Ditillo, Reg Park, and Marvin Eder.  We're talking the real friggin' deal.      Okay, I'm not going to waste your time with any rambling.  Let's get right to what the "real deal" actually looks like.  Here are my "rules" for Old-School Bodybuilding:      1. Use a full-body workout 3 days each week.  The

     "Are you on a training program or are you working out?"  These words were uttered by that great immortal of the iron game, the one and only Vince Gironda.  I have always found this quote to be the most important one for training success—and probably the reason why it has been so often uttered by trainers other than just me.      Just "working out" won't cut it.  Never has.  Never friggin' will.  No way.  No how.  You must be on a training program.  Ideally, you must be on a training program that is built around achieving your specific goals.      Which brings us to the title of this post.  What are your training goals?  No doubt they change over the years.  They have definitely changed for me.  When I first started training, I wanted one thing and one thing only: to be as muscularly big as humanly possible.  And, you know what?  I achieved this goal by eating everything in sight (and making sure that I consumed plenty of protein along the way), taking t

Just Bow Putting my right and left hands together as one, I just bow. Just bow to become one with Buddha and God. Just bow to become one with everything I encounter. Just bow to become one with all the myriad things. Just bow as life becomes life.      Kosho Uchiyama's final poem, completed on the day that he died.      Kosho Uchiyama has long been my favorite of the modern day Zen masters.  Trained in the Soto lineage of Zen (Soto is one of the two main branches of Zen in Japan; the other is the Rinzai tradition), he seemed to "get it" better than any of the other Zen masters of the late 20th century.  Often crude, earthy, and witty, his style was simply more down to earth than others I have read.      My favorite of his books is "Opening the Hand of Thought."  It contains in it one of the most profound explanations of what good religion should look like.  I call this way of approaching religion—and approaching life, for that matter—the 4th way.  By this, I mea

     For many years now, high-volume/high-frequency training has had a bad reputation.  This all started sometime in the early '90s (about the time I got seriously interested in bodybuilding and strength training).  Natural bodybuilders of that era—is that even far enough back to be considered an era?—decided (and rightly so) that the high-volume workouts done by pro bodybuilders only worked if you were either 1) genetically gifted, 2) on a buttload of anabolic steroids or other performance enhancement drugs, or 3) a combination of the two things.  Unfortunately, however, the baby was thrown out with the bathwater (so to speak) because high-frequency training—combined with a fairly high amount of volume—definitely has its place in strength training.  In fact, whether your goal is to build muscle or gain strength, high-frequency workouts might just be the most effective training programs in the muscle-building, mass-gaining multi-verse.      The reason that the high-frequency, hig

     Okay, for those of you who care, you'll notice that I have renamed this blog and changed the sub-heading.  The reasons are a few-fold.  (Is "few-fold" even a word?)      First, when I changed to this new blog, I thought I would focus on just  strength training, but that is proving hard to do.  Like, really  hard to do.  My spirituality—which is integral to all things that I do—infuses Itself and weaves Itself around and into all aspects of my strength training.      You see, my spirituality is something that bursts forth from the Kosmic no-thingness  (which is also an All-Thingness ) at the depths of my being; and it bursts forth, outward, upward and all around-ward until it becomes an all embracing, life enhancing Fullness .  And this fullness creates a spontaneity that is part of my writing, my living and breathing, and most certainly the weight training and martial arts sessions that I perform.      My strength training and bodybuilding would not be what it is wit

     This week, I have received several e-mails from lifters who wanted help—in some way or another; whether it was for muscle growth, strength, or both—in setting up a full-body workout.  This is my first post which will deal with this issue.      This li'l mini-article that you're staring at on your computer screen will deal with how to set up a full-body workout for muscle growth.  In other words, these tips are for anyone whose primary goal is just muscle growth.  (I suppose I could have titled this entry "How to Look Friggin' Good Naked with Crazy  Full-Body Workouts."  That probably would have gotten more attention.  But alas...)      You will, of course, gain some strength out of workouts designed in this manner, however these programs are not for aspiring powerlifters or other strength athletes.  These are for bodybuilders—or anyone who just wants to gain the most muscle growth possible in the shortest amount of time.      Here are what I consider to be th

     Since I had my most recent article published at Dragon Door ("The Heavy-Light-Medium System for Strength and Power"), I have received a few e-mails from lifters with a wide range of questions.  I thought I would use this post—and some later ones—to answer some of those questions and to help some of you lifters who might need to adapt the system to fit your particular needs.      This post will deal with adapting the system for "low-volume" lifters.  First, let's categorize what a low-volume lifter is, then we can get on to designing an actual workout.  When it comes to the heavy-light-medium system I categorize a low-volume lifter as a lifter who 1) responds well to workouts that contain less volume (most lifters respond well to moderate-volume, and some—about the same number of lifters who respond well to low-volume, in case you're wondering— respond well to high-volume), and 2) gets stronger on the top-set of a core lift with a relatively low number o