C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

  Never, Never, NEVER Stop Training Don't worry, this image will make sense shortly. I was raised by parents from East Texas.  I say this at the beginning so that you can be as bemused—or perhaps befuddled—as much as I am that my mother, Texan through and through, has a deep, abiding, and often (for me, at least) confusing love of all things British.   British movies, British novels (my mother is a novelist, so that might be part of the problem), British mysteries whether in print or screen (small or large), British tea; well, the list could go on and on and on.  She even has a deep love for the Royal Family, which is the most confounding of all to me, and which I gladly point out at a lot of July 4th celebrations.  As a Texan myself, who has made his home in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and (mainly) Alabama, I’m proud that my ancestors fought the British, and kicked their tails back “across the pond.”  But, hey, I’m also proud of my ancestors that fought...

How You Feel is a Lie A.K.A.: No Matter What, Just Do the Workout, and Other Crap I learned from Hard-as-Heck Training Programs C.S. pulls 500 pounds at 40 years old using the methods - or madness- contained herein. I first heard this saying probably a little over 20 years ago.  (I think it was the lifting coach John Broz that made the statement.)  At first, I probably thought something similar to what a lot of people think when they first see/read/hear it: “Well, that’s stupid.  Shouldn’t I go by how I feel?  How the heck am I gonna make progress if I don’t go by the way I feel every day.”  And so on and so forth, making an internal list of not just how stupid this saying is, but how downright weird and odd that a lifter would even think such a thing.   Right? Not so fast!  I think this is actually one of the truest maxims ever uttered when it comes to strength training and muscle building.  Let me explain. I discovered firsthand the truth of ...

  The Ageless Bodybuilding System Part 3 The "Base" Full-Body Program The great John Grimek is another "old-time" bodybuilder who was AGELESS.  Grimek trained hard, and looked good on up into his '70s!  He was also a fan of full-body workouts as presented here. Before reading this program, please read PART 1 and PART 2 .  If you want, though it's not necessary, you can also read my more recent post on "Ageless Bodybuilding for the Young," which will give you some ideas for how to use these programs (assuming you would want to) if you are younger than the intended audience. This program also assumes that you have done the "break-in" program that I recommend.  The "break-in" program is essential, especially if you are just starting out as an "older" bodybuilder or if you have been doing split workouts for most of your lifting/'building career.  If that's the case, then the "break-in" program will reall...

  Build the Ultimate Combination of Mass and Strength with this Unique High-Set, Low-rep Method of Training The late, great Anthony Ditillo utilized programs very similar to what is written here.  If he were with us today, he'd probably give this one a thumbs up and say, "Ditillo approved!" Some of my favorite programs for building muscle mass involve the use of high-sets and low-reps.  In fact, when I first started this blog 14 years ago, one of the very FIRST questions I was asked by a reader was whether or not I had a “favorite” method of training.  At first, I think I was going to “cop out” and tell him some crap such as, “the best workout is the one you’re not doing” kind of thing.  But then I decided that, hell, honesty is always the best policy, and so I told him the truth: my FAVORITE approach to training was the high-set, low-rep method, specifically using anywhere between 10 to 20 sets of 1 to 5 reps. Fourteen years later is that still the case?  ...