C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

       It’s quite possible that, at one time or another, I’ve already written about this subject because, I swear, I remember doing so, but when I looked around on my blog—and in the myriad of word documents that I have stored on my computer—I couldn’t find it.  I also have a sense of deja vu, as the reason I started thinking about this subject was because I received an email from a reader who was confused over the different variations within 5x5 training that he had come across.  And I, once again, could have swore I received this same email—or one unabashedly like it—awhile back.  And I thought I had written an essay in response to said email because I figured that there are other readers out there who are probably looking for similar information.  Hence, the deja vu.      Oh, well, I reasoned, even if I have written about 5x5 variations before, I write a lot of articles that often revolve around a similar theme or subject, and I write about some stuff a lot —such as what I call the

  Whether You’re After Strength, Size, or Looking to Get Shredded, You MUST Follow These 6 Keys to Progress      Many lifters become frustrated because they can’t seem to make consistent progress.  It doesn’t matter what their goals may be, either, whether they want to get massive, build incredible strength, or just lose some bodyfat.  In this essay, we will look at what I believe are some of the major keys to ensuring you progress consistently, regardless of your specific goal.      Before we get around to these keys, let me say one thing that sometimes gets missed when pursuing a lifting/bodybuilding goal: gains are rarely, if ever, linear.  The truth is that gains are almost always non-linear.  There do seem to be a small segment of trainees who achieve linearity in their progress, but they are always the exception rather than the rule.  You see this misunderstanding most notably among the general population when it comes to losing weight.  (“Losing weight” should rarely be anyone’s