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HIT Training...

Milford Jenings

New member
Guys,
Never realized this before but after reading some threads and visiting a ton of sites regarding HIT training I have been doing it since high school football. Our strength coach always had us do heavy weights at low reps in good form until positive failure. It never seemed that we spent much tmie ni the gym but we always made progress. I started out a 185# butterball lineman in 9th grade and came out a 248# 10% bf bone breaker after four years of this philosophy.

Over the next few four years I continued to train in the same way continually adding weight and spending a whale of a lot less time in the gym than the folks that never got anywhere until sidelined with some wedged vertebrae and torn spinal muscles after an accident. So now nearly 10 years after high school (I'm dating myself here) I am back in the hunt for big thick strong mass. When I looked into it I knew it sounded familiar. Try it out for and eight week cycle. You'll like the feeling of truly digging in deep for the last two controlled reps!

MJ
 
I've only ever heard of HIIT in reference to cardio trianing. Sprints, that kind of stuff. How does it work in the weightroom?
 
:devil:
Do an internet search, there are alot of sites that are based strictly around HIT training. There are also plenty of books on this subject. To explain it all here would take way too much time.
 
HIT stands for High Intensity Training. You can read about exactly what it involves here. The basic philosophy behind HIT is doing each rep relatively slowly (2 seconds on the positive, and 4 on the negative). You do each set to concentric muscular failure (when you can now longer complete another rep without sacrificing form). The idea here is that you should be spending about a whole minute doing the actual set (6 seconds per rep for, say, 10 reps = 60 seconds). It is also believed that by working this slow and so intensely (to failure), you should not have to do more than 1 or 2 sets (nor should you want to). This is the basic idea anyways, read more from the link, cyberpump.com is all pretty much based on this philosophy.

Personally I've been using HIT for about 2 months now and I've just exploded. It could simply be due to the fact that its such a different way of doing things that my body is reacting because its not used to it. Whatever the reason, I love HIT. Anyways, if you guys have any questions about it just post a reply or PM me.
 
DaCypher,

You beat me to it and you said what I was going to say. The philosophy is to do it Hard, do it right, and do it slow...most of all do it infrequently. I go to the gym three times a week to lift. I run almost every day, but I only lift three times a week. The trick is to use what is available. I try to get to one body area each tmie I lift, and by keeping in strict form (and I am still learning even after all these years) you will hit all the muscles you want to build. By not cheating you force the stabilizer muscles to work along with the ones doing the real lifting and therefore nail everything pretty good. I would say that I feel a workout for several days...and that is a good thing.

If you continually progress in weight (like one to two pounds per week) you will always be working your muscles to failure. That failure is what causes the body to say "hey I'm not big enough yet" and you build muscle to keep up with what you are doing, except you don't accept status quo, you progress in weight. I am fortunate that I am an employee at a University with one of the largest Co-recreational facilities in America and have access to very nice equipment, but I stick to the basics. And this mindset does not require expensive machines or fancy rubber coated cookies with handles molded in. In the last few months I brought my 8 rep set of flat bench back up from a dismal 185 back to 235 by doing this. My progress will slow once I get past the initial "getting back into lifting" memory phase, but I will progress. That means next year this time I will be up to 300+ for an 8 rep set if I add only 1.5# per week.

I'm pumped are you?

MJ
 
Thats a good point. I forgot to mention the infrequent aspect of HIT. I only train twice a week now, where before I started HIT I was going to the gym 4-5 times a week. I spend about an hour each time I go. Its funny that because I don't train very often, when I do go I'm incredibly pumped. I make each rep count because I know I'm not going to be back for a few days. I remember before HIT I would sometimes skip sets or even whole exercises thinking that I could just do them the next day. Whether its a mental game or if theres a chemical reason, I find that the less frequent I go the more intense the workouts.
 
Absolutely true. If I go to the gym too often I get too comfortable and start to talk or rest too much or think...ahhh I can just do it later. But when I have only one chance to get it in I make it count. Dedication becomes second nature and intensitythe rule.
 
HIT is the only way to go. I only lift once per week using compound exercises. Only one set to failure and around 4-5 exercises per workout. I have made great gains using the program. It is very important to get the proper rest between workouts to let your muscles recuperate. I guess everyone is different, but lifting more than once a week sounds a bit much. I'm older, so I may need the extra time as opposed to you younger dudes. I participated in a master's thesis where HIT was compared to a volume routine. We blasted them out of the gym after 8 weeks. In between HIT workouts, I do HIIT cardio training. I'm only in the gym about 45 minutes and I'm completely hashed when done!
 
Thank you very much! It has been a sheer pleasure for an old man (36 yrs of age :)) reading the stories above after having just read another thread about a 17 year old kid complaining that he hadn't made any sizable gains for the past two weeks!

He had gained 30 lbs in the four (four!) months he had been training, and now he was worried, because he hadn't gained anything significant for two weeks.

My initial thoughts was "What the hell am I doing in a forum like this?" If that's the level of experience and wisdom to be found here, I better be getting my fat butt outta here. This kid is destroying his own body by not knowing even the simplest thing about his own body and the simplest rules about weight training.

I started on an answer to him a few times, but I didn't feel able to formulate the right answer to him. (Maybe one of you experienced guys with english as your main language should give it a try).

Well, back to the point. I'm doing HIT training myself, and I recognized Milfords statement about adding 1,5lbs/week for a year. That's exactly the way I do things.

Having been in this game for a long time, I know, that you can not expect to add 5 or 10 lbs every week. First of all it just doesn't happen unless you're on drugs, and I respect my own body too much to do that, and secondly, if it should happen, every experienced lifter would know, that injuries were knocking on the door.

I'm the only one in my gym training the HIT-way (doing one set to failure, only one hour of training per session, and only training twice a week), so I'm looked upon as being a little weird. Nice, but weird :D Well, when you reach my age, you can live with that, but it's still nice to see, that there are guys out there sharing my point of view.
 
At the gym I go to they dont have 1.5lb weight. Im going to start the HIT program next week and see how it works out. Moving up 5 lb per week would be a little much
 
Increasing your weight slowly but steadily is supposedly a big factor. I've heard of people using very small weight increases (less than 1 lb plates) to increase their lifts. I've been thinking of buying a pair of light plates that I could add on for barbell lifts. I've also heard they make magnetic ones that you can use for dumbbells. Does anyone know of some light (less than 2 pounds) plates (magnetic preferably) that you can order online?

TAGMAN,
Do you happen to have any online references to that master thesis that you participated in? I'd love to see some of the information gathered from that.
 
http://www.er-equipment.dk/intindex.htm

This is a link to a danish supplier of powerlifting equipment. On their site is a picture of plates as low as 1,25 kg (= 2 lbs), but at my gym we have plates as light as 0,5 lbs, so they can probably also supply those.

Anyway, as you can see, they have an international department, so just send them a mail and check out product and price. Remember to ask for price delivered at your door, as the price for transportation might be higher than the price for the plates themselves.
 
Im 7 weeks out from a contest and have been doing HIT along with cardio. Gains are impressive!
 
DaCypher,

Will try to locate the thesis. It was done at Utah State University and the author was my trainer. I'll see if he can send me the info. The study was great. We began the 8 week experiment by taking body fat measurements and doing 1 rep max on deadlift. At the close of the study, the HIT group lost bf, gained in weight lifted, and had much fewer injuries and sickness. The bottom line, the volume groug was overtrained. If you buy the theory that muscle mass increases as you perform exercise to failure (or to some point), then doing multiple reps makes no sense. Get in the gym, hit it hard, and then get out. If you are there over an hour (preferably less), then something is wrong.
 
TAGMAN,
Oh thats cool, sounds pretty interesting.

By the way, has anyone heard anything about possible joint problems associated with long term weight training when training to failure? A physical therapists told me this once but I wanted to know if anyone could back this up.
 
One of the main principles of HIT is to use what is available. If you want to add a little weight then use what is lying around. Like add an extra set of clips on the bar for around one pound per side. The next week add a 2.5 plate tied to the center of the bar with a shoestring. It may look wierd but when you are growing and showing improvements thats what matters. It's not about looking good for the people there its about getting the job done and done right. Think McGyver :fro:

MJ
 
Milford Jenings,
Thats a great idea, I'm going to start adding more clips to my barbell exercises. What would you recommend for dumbbells?
 
Well, for dumbells it gets a little more tricky. On thing I've found are the ankle weights that you use elsewhere in the gym can grasped by the fingers or simply strapped around a wrist. I've even duct-taped a role of quarters to a dumbell...but that is another story.

MJ
 
Milford Jenings said:
Well, for dumbells it gets a little more tricky. On thing I've found are the ankle weights that you use elsewhere in the gym can grasped by the fingers or simply strapped around a wrist. I've even duct-taped a role of quarters to a dumbell...but that is another story.

MJ
Haha, thats awesome, very creative. I should start playing with ways to add some increments...
 
PDA makes incremental plates. If I remember correctly, they go down to 1/4 of a lb. I think they also make mini magnetic ones that you can stick to dumbbells.
 
Blood&Iron said:
PDA makes incremental plates. If I remember correctly, they go down to 1/4 of a lb. I think they also make mini magnetic ones that you can stick to dumbbells.
Thats cool, do they have a website?
 
The training that I am doing now is the closest thing to HIT Training I have ever done- around 8 total sets for large bodyparts and 4-6 for smaller bodyparts.. seems to be working well...

:D:D
 
I have utilized HIT for over a year now, and I have seen gains in mass. Every other week, it's time for "GLOOTZ HOUSE OF PAIN"
 
Hey Glootz,

When you said "every other week", is that how often you workout? With HIT, it is important to get the proper rest between workouts. I train every 7 days.
 
Tagman,

Yeah, if you find that study, I'd be interested in a copy too....I'm always interested in seeing hard science when it comes to training, instead of always relying on anecdotal evidence.

I read HIT and started doing it several months ago, but lately I've moved back towards more volume. I think I'm going to go back to HIT and give my bod a rest and see if I grow a little better with less volume. I still incorporate some of the premises of HIT like 2-4 rep cadence, strict form and sets to failure, but I'm doing way more volume than strict HIT would recommend. I'm also doing more specialized, isolation movements than most of the HIT stuff I've seen talks about. Most of the HIT stuff I've seen tells you to focus on compound movements, and to leave the isolation stuff alone, because you hit muscles like bi's and tri's well enough with the compound movements like pullups and bench (etc).

What kind of routine are you HIT-ers doing these days? Post 'em for comparison...
 
Nature Boy,

I'll probably screw this up a bit, because I'm a bit fuzzy on what I read a while ago about HIT (so correct me if I'm wrong HIT-ers), but essentially, HIT believes you should do each body part once a week, maybe twice if you do something like 2 workouts a week, full body each time.....You get in there, you completely blast yourself (failure on all sets) in a short amount of time, keeping the volume low, but the intensity super high and then you get the hell outta the gym and eat and recover. HIT believes that traditionally bodybuilders over train entirely too much, and they basically discount periodization and high volume approaches. They aren't saying that people can't have success on these types of systems...obviously, thousands of people have developed massive physiques on higher volume approaches, but they argue that high volume isn't the most efficient way of doing things. In fact, they say that you could achieve the same results with less time in the gym if you followed HIT principles and allowed your body to recover fully before going back in and blasting your muscles again.

I probably missed a lot and over-generalized, but I think that's pretty much the krux of what HIT says.

Anyone else care to add?
 
The Nature Boy said:
quick qestion on HIT.

How can you train your body with only 2 or 3 training days per week?

Thanks

I was pretty hardcore into HIT for several years. Recently, I've upped my volume a bit and decreased the intensity. HIT is not a single training modality. It includes everything from 5X5 to SuperSlow to Heavy Duty. Guinness is pretty much on the money with his description, but no description will really give you an idea what HIT is. You have to do it too understand. If I were to overgeneralize I'd say HIT typically emphasized a much slower cadence, longer TUL's, very short rest periods, and very abbreviated workouts. In some ways it's more of a mental/metabolic test than anything. If a workout doesn't end in nausea, puking, or passing out it ain't HIT in my opinion. If you really want to give HIT a try go to:

http://www.cyberpump.com

Here's one of my favorite pieces that IMO epitomizes what HIT is(sorry about the length, but no one would read it if I posted a link. Hopefully I won't get sued for copyright infringement)

Avoiding Obsession!

by Sean Toohey

Lots of people neglect the importance of balance. I'm not talking about the kind of balance necessary to do a handstand here... I'm referring to balance in the sense of your life. Lifters, particularly the bodybuilding variety, tend to obsess about things. The need to them is obvious! Either barbells and muscles become your life, or you simply won't make it! Well, that is a fallacy. As a matter of fact, this particular obsession will slow your gains down, either by causing you to overtrain in frequency or volume, or do something really silly like spend all your money on muscle magazines and supplements.

Having someone in your life that creates balance is certainly one way to accomplish this. My wife, for instance, simply cannot see why I am involved with heaving iron in our basement, and why this is important to me. Don't think this could possibly help? Neither did I, but it did.

A few years ago I really applied myself to getting my squat up into the big weights. Naturally I went through a string of PR's at a time, and like most guys I was getting pretty impressed with myself. Well, as circumstances would have it, I was confident I would nail 275 or so that evening for 20 clean reps, and naturally I wanted to share this experience with the person I love the most!

"Hey honey? Can you come down here and count for me?"

"Count what? I can't even count on you taking the trash out and you want me to count something for you?"

"Uh.. yeah... the trash.. Ummm... I'll get that later. This is important!"

"Fine Mr. Man.. I'll be right down. Will this take long?"

"Nope.. 10 minutes or so."

I was psyched! Yep, she sure was going to be impressed with her man now! I wandered all over my basement flexing at inanimate objects and growling at the walls. "20 reps! 20 Reps!" I said. I turned around and flexed my quads for emphasis. Wouldn't you know she was standing right there.

"Ummm... Sean? Are you feeling alright?"

Sheepishly I muttered yes and moseyed into my power rack. "20 reps honey."

"20 reps. Got it."

I started squatting. Reps 1 through 5 went off like a shot, very little rest, fairly typical. Big lung bursting breathes between reps. Yessiree! This was going to be great!!

"Sweetie? You aren't going to hurt yourself are you? That's 5 reps by the way."

"I'm fine!! I growled." I was starting to have doubts about this participation thing...

I kept squatting. My focus was solid, reps felt hard but good...

"Do you think we should put up curtains down here? The neighbors can probably see you. OH! And did you see how I rearranged the candles in the living room?"

"Aiiighhh! I yelled! JUST COUNT!! HOW MANY REPS IS THAT?"

"I don't know.. probably 6, right? Weren't we on 5 a minute ago? Don't yell at me either, you jerk, I'm helping YOU out, remember?"

Well, I was already well past 10 reps at this point and I thought my head was going to explode. My wife was pissed off now. I was going to pay for this at dinner.. I kept repping.

"8, 9, 10... are you sure you are ok? You sound sort of strange over there. What's that smell, anyway... have the dogs been down here or is that just you?"

I had never experienced a set like this in my life. I must have been approaching 20 at this point. My back was shot, my legs were shaking, and I'm certain my eyes were bleeding. I let out a sound that no human being should ever make. When written it looks something like this:

"AIIGIAGHHAHHHFWANAHABAGEEESHHACK!"

"JUST COUNT!!! HOW MANY REPS IS THAT??"

"16 AND QUIT YELLING AT ME! Do you have to breathe like that, you big jerk?"

I repped out two more...

"YES!!" I shouted amidst furious panting, "Oh GOD!! HOW MANY REPS??"

"16."

"WAAAHHHH!!!" I screeched. I kept going.

"17, 18, 19.... 19 and a half.... 20!"

I collapsed in a heap. It was all I could do to remember my name. The oxygen wasn't sufficient and I passed out for a moment. When I came to, I was looking up at my wife.

"You are a very odd man." She said. Then she wandered up the stairs.

I lay there on the floor for about 20 minutes, just trying to remember who I was. In the aftermath of that incredible set, I realized it was my wife who had just driven me to nail something like 30 reps, but with the accuracy of the counting, who really knows? I crawled over to the stairs, managed to pull myself to my feet and slowly made my way to the kitchen. Once at the top of the stairs I realized the lesson of balance. Good things come from the unexpected! I told her I loved here and promptly collapsed for the evening.

I gained something like 5 pounds that week all from just 1 set of squats. Far more than the obsessive/compulsive methods employed by the bodybuilding crowd.

Hard work, good food, plenty of rest and fresh air, and don't obsess!

Oh... and spend some time with your loved ones! It is very beneficial!

Copyright © Cyberpump!
 
MonStar,
Personally I only train twice a week now and have been getting great results. So I would say three times a week is too much. :D I'm sure others would argue otherwise, but I say just try out a different routine and see how you like it.
 
Well, currently I'm doing a 2 day split. So it looks like this:

Day 1:
Legs, chest, bis

Day 2:
Back, shoulders, tris

I also do calves, forearms, and abs both days. I'm constantly playing with the split. I'm contemplating using a 3 or 4 day split but still only going twice a week so it may take me almost 2 weeks to work my full body.
 
How can you expect results hitting every bodypart just once in 14 days? I am just curious not trying to insult.. I cant decide if I should only train 3x a week!!? It seems like WAY too little. 5x seems much more likely.

:D:D
 
Well, the idea behind HIT is training to failure each set. This is extremely taxing on your muscles (and your body altogether). So its easier to overtrain (hence the lower volume). Personally I'm still making great gains with my 2x per week setup, so I'm not going to change anything until I notice some slow downs in my progress. If you aren't training to failure each set (not many people do) you should be fine with 3x per week of non-HIT training. No matter what style of training you are doing, I wouldn't recommend training the same body part more than once a week, for naturals anyways (although some will argue otherwise).
 
DaCypher said:
Well, the idea behind HIT is training to failure each set.
Although this is a common belief, it's not 100% true. There are many HIT advocate who don't go to failure. Others do multiple sets with only the final-set being to failure. I find calling this a single set somewhat disingenous, although Dorian Yates and Mike Mentzer both do this.

MonStar1023 said:
How can you expect results hitting every bodypart just once in 14 days? I am just curious not trying to insult.. I cant decide if I should only train 3x a week!!? It seems like WAY too little. 5x seems much more likely.
Some people do well with such a low volume. I've tried the Hardgainer approach Stuart McRobert advocates which typically consists of a whole-body workout using slightly different exercises performed twice a week, or doing upper-lower split. Actually, this did little for me. I do better on somewhat higher volume, working out 3-4X a week, but still keeping volume fairly low. Frankly, if you're only 18 and are already 240 lbs. as I think I've read, you're the opposite of a hard-gainer. I do think, personally, that 5X a week is a bit much though.
 
Although this is a common belief, it's not 100% true. There are many HIT advocate who don't go to failure. Others do multiple sets with only the final-set being to failure. I find calling this a single set somewhat disingenous, although Dorian Yates and Mike Mentzer both do this.
Thats true, however, there are so many spin-offs and derivatives of HIT that its concepts get somewhat lost. I believe the original, real High Intensity Training methodology can be found here which advocates doing 1 set (sometimes 2 or 3) to concentric muscular failure in each set.
 
I think you just hit it on the head. Some people do well with infrequent training and this philosophy stays with that. My goal in posting this was to give people another prospective to train from. Increased intensity will provide results in any type of regimen. For me, HIT training and its credo’s have proven very successful. I have tried other fashions of training but have always returned to HIT in the long run.

Everyone's body is different, but you won't grow or add size until there is a true demand to do so. Another member and I have been talking privately and while stick to the same principles we go about them differently. I like warm-up sets, he does not. I do target exercises he does compound. He has a trainer I do not. Point being you have to find what works best for you.

MJ
 
Thought I would post my HIT routine for everyones inspection and comment. I have 2 routines performed alternately every 7 days. Yes, I only lift once every 7 days! I'm a bit older than most of you so this time for me to recover seems to be important in order for me to make strength gains (which I do every time).

Routine 1
Deadlift, 265 X 13, 1:09 (yes, I time all my sets. I fail around 1 minute. I do perform a few warmup sets, usually half weight for 3-4 reps)
Bench Press, 185 X 18, 1:11
Machine Row, pin 13 (?) X 6, 1:06
Calf Press, 455 X 18, 1:24

Routine 2
Unilateral Leg Press, 505 X 23, 1:28-1:31
Bicep Curl, 107 X 13, 1:30
Leg Curl, pin 9 (?) X 6, 1:01
Weighted Dips, body weight + 35 X 14, 1:00

In between lifting, I do 2-3 sessions of cardio HIIT (high intensity interval training). I am also starting to do 1 lift on each of the cardio days of either legs, biceps/triceps, or pecs. Technically I shouldn't do it according to strict HIT, but I thought I would see what it would do. If I start to suck on my routine, I'll reevaluate. Supplements? I started taking creatine again, that's all.
Comments?
 
TAGMAN,
Pretty interesting routine, sticking mostly to complex exercises. I noticed you go high reps on some of them and low reps on others. With the machine row you do 6 reps and the bench press you do 18. Its seems both these exercises are equally as complex (involving approximately the same amount of muscle groups to perform). Is there any reason for this?

Also, what does HIIT involve? I've never heard of it.
 
Cypher,

I do partials on the bench, so my reps are more than the machine row (which is full range of motion). Failure, though, for just about everyting is around 1:00. That is what is most important, time under load, not reps. I'll write about HIIT later.
 
Cypher,

I think that there have been some threads on HIIT that can explain it better than I can. Apparently, this method is more effective at burning body fat. I don't know about the science, maybe someone else can fill us in.

Here's what I do. I ride a stationary bike, but you can do it with just about any cardio machine or just plain running. I warm up for 3 minutes at a steady pace, then sprint like hell for 20 seconds. Then I resume a steady pace for 1 minute then sprint again for 20 seconds. This is repeated until I have (4) sprints followed by 1 minute rest periods. I add a cool down period for 3 minutes at the end and I am done in 10 minutes! I hate cardio, but I can handle this for 10 minutes.
 
TAGMAN,
Interesting about thing about the reps. I understand that the time spent on each set is the most important factor (assuming proper form of course). However, I think reps should be kept within reason (that is not to say that your rep range isn't). For example, I could do like 50 reps with real light weight in about of minute in any given exercise, but is that the most efficient? From my understanding of HIT, there is an optimal rep range that can be calculated for each exercise. Anyways, this is not meant to criticize your routine, just trying to throw in another perspective. :)

Also, HIIT sounds pretty interesting, I'll have to look into it some more. Thanks for the info.
 
Tagman,

You only do 10 minutes of cardio? Even with the intensity you are doing it at, I can't see only 10 minutes doing much for fat burning....most of the literature I've read said you have to be at it a minimum of 20 minutes before your glycogen stores are depleted to the point where your body needs to mobilize your fat reserves for energy....anyone got any other info that backs up/refutes this?

DaCypher,

to answer your rhetorical question from a HIT perspective, no, 50 reps with a light weight wouldn't be most efficient. The reason is, in order for you to do 50 reps and keep your TUL (time under load) under a minute and a half, you'd have to have a very fast rep cadence, like 1 1/2 seconds per rep. That means that you would be throwing the weight pretty quickly, ignoring the middle portion of the movement. Not to mention, moving that quickly increases your chance of injuring, even though the weight you'd be using would be lighter, and that's a big no-no in HIT. HIT is big on slow, controlled movements and proper form for safety. In fact, in some HIT literature, they even discount the need for warmup sets, citing that if you are doing your reps properly (i.e. slow, controlled and with good form), your muscles don't need to warm up.

As far as rep range, I believe HIT tries to stick with 8-12, and sometimes going as low as 6....as long as you can do weight that has you reaching concentric failure at 6 with proper form. If you can do 12 or more, it's time to increase the weight so that you get back into that 8-12 range. I think they might advocate up to 20 for legs, but again, a lot of that is dependent on your muscle fiber make-up also.

Anyone else confused yet? hehehhehehe :)
 
I know, I know, only doing 10 minutes of cardio sounds puny, but let me tell you at the end of the time I am sucking air big time. Now everyone else at the gym rides the machines for 30-40 + minutes and they don't reach near the intensity that I do in 10. It is a bit embarrassing when I sprint, but I think this method is doing me a whole lot of good as opposed to riding "gently" for an hour!
 
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