Universal Nutrition Forum

HIT

Use rest/pause followed by a few forced reps, going into negatives and static holds, like Mike Mentzer did. That is true HIT training. Dorian did similar but found what techniques worked best for him. I've done the same.

Very few people thrive off volume training. Sure they make progress, but I'll bet anything if they lower the volume, and up the intensity, coupled with longer rest periods between training sessions, they'll grow at a much faster rate. Problem is most people still think more is better, in regards to training. This is one sport where less equates to more.
I think moderate volume training is effective when done properly. There's a very fine line between moderate and volume training. You have to have a full understanding of the differences to be successful at moderate volume type training.
With all the above said, I feel it's mandatory that every trainee takes several weeks during the course of the year to lift much heavier weight, coupled with very low volume. This strength training will carry over into the moderate style volume training many people use. Volume training is known for it's slower strength increases than that of HIT style training. So anytime you get increased strength gains, you can be sure muscle mass will soon follow. If you've been lifting basically the same weight for the last 3-4 months I highly doubt you've grown much at all. You need to be getting stronger on a weekly, monthly basis in order to grow.
I'll say it again. Strength proceeds size!

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I train in the 6-10 range. Basically when I up the weight, I'll have it set to fail at 6 reps. Then I'll get a few more reps with rest/pause...then 1 or 2 more forced reps, until I get 10 or so for that set.

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Do them similar to how Dorian incorporated them into his sets. After I fail out using rest / pause. Then forced reps, I then do a few negatives followed by a static hold.

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After you went through rest/pause...forced reps, as well as a few negatives to bring the muscle to COMPLETE failure, then you'd rest around 20 seconds before doing your static hold.

Please take note of the difference between temporary muscular failure and complete muscular failure. Not knowing the difference will either make or break your HIT training. You have one set per exercise to send the signal for adaptation. Not bringing your muscle to utter failure will result in lackluster progress. You don't stop a set til you can't budge the weight ONE inch.
HIT training is brutal. Not just physically, but mentally too.

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After you went through rest/pause...forced reps, as well as a few negatives to bring the muscle to COMPLETE failure, then you'd rest around 20 seconds before doing your static hold.

Please take note of the difference between temporary muscular failure and complete muscular failure. Not knowing the difference will either make or break your HIT training. You have one set per exercise to send the signal for adaptation. Not bringing your muscle to utter failure will result in lackluster progress. You don't stop a set til you can't budge the weigh ONE inch.
HIT training is brutal. Not just physically, but mentally too.

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No bro... I keep the same techniques as always, but I rotate or switch around those techniques with in any given training session.

I use some drop sets when I get close to show time, usually when I'm being more cautious of injury.

I never ever use pre exhaust. I'm a firm believer in lifting the heaviest fucking weight, humanly possible, with good form. That's how you grow. Mike Mentzer was a big believer in pre exhaust, but that's where I disagree with his ideology. Dorian hated pre exhaust too.

Pre exhaust is fine if you're nursing an injury and need to lift lighter weight. But when you're healthy, you should be lifting buildings, not boxes.

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Reason why I have, and sometimes still pre exhaust my chest is because my delts are overpowering, and that has been a factor in my chest development in years past. So basically all I have done is modify my routine to suit my personal needs. Anyone else that might have a lagging chest, I'd suggest they try it and see if it helps.

~RR

Is it possible to have success with a HIT style routine without a consistent training partner? OH YES! I rarely train with anyone. I use spotters only.

I have tried several times in the past, but I cant seem to chalk up the same growth that I get with higher volume. I always thought not being able to do forced reps was to blame? Mind over matter bro. If you want it bad enough, you'll get it done

Can I get enough intensity with say just partials at the end of a set? After rest/pause? Sure. Drop sets are another option

What rep ranges do you also prefer on each muscle group? Exclusively 6-10 rep range on everything

Do you recommend hitting a muscle twice per week? Not with HIT training. NO!

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I work strictly in the 6-10 rep range. When I can get 10 reps with a given weight, on any exercise, next time I come back to that exercise, I up the weight enough so by the 6th rep it's an absolute fucking nightmare to achieve. And the battle continues til I can get 10 reps with that weight, and then battle starts all over again. You have to win a million battles to win the war!
Keep in mind bro. I use rest/pause...forced reps...negatives..static holds all with that one set. Say I got 6 reps on a given exercise. I'd use rest/pause to get a few more. Then I'd have someone there to immediately help me get some forced reps(which don't count in my log book). I rest about 10 seconds, then do some negatives,and finish the exercise off with a static hold. FUN SHIT BRO!

I also use a training rotation A & B. Never the same exercises every week.I hit each muscle group differently in rotation A than I do in rotation B. This way your body never gets used to the same routine, and when you come back to those exercises in a bi weekly fashion you are ALWAYS stronger.Continual progress. Hence, STRENGTH PROCEEDS SIZE

BODYBUILDING: PUSSIES NEED NOT APPLY!

~RR

What dose strength proceeds size mean?
It's means you must get stronger, before your body will adapt and grow.

But what I'm saying with HIT style training, you are getting slightly stronger each week on the training rotation. As that strength gradually builds up over the weeks, muscle tissue accrual follows right behind.
Say you start out training HIT and on leg press, your working weight is 300 pounds. 2 months later, training your ass off properly following the HIT protocol (and diet),your working weight is 425. I'll bet your legs will look a lot different after that 2 month period. As you progress with HIT training, you are constantly striving each and every training session for strength gains. Whether it's a few more reps from the previous week at that exercise, or you upped the weight for that exercise. You get stronger, you grow. You keep lifting pussy ass weight each week, you'll look like a pussy ass.

I recently have been over the advanced techniques used for HIT training. Rest/pause...forced rep...negatives...static holds, all done with in one set. It takes guts, determination to train like that. It isn't for everyone. HIT training is brutally hard. Most can't handle it. You need to shit lightening and piss fire! That's what it takes. You want to bring your physique to the next level, you need to force your body to grow. Train each and every time like a gun is pointed at your fucking head. Block out the pain. Pussies stop a set when it starts to hurt! You have to go wayyy beyond failure to force your body to adapt and grow, each and every set. EVERY TIME you enter the gym. Take no prisoners!

John McCain sat in a cell in Hanoi for 7 yrs being tortured every day, you certainly can torture yourself to grow 45 minutes, 4 x a week! That's if you want the physique though.

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You have the right idea, my friend. On your 1 working set, after you fail out. You'll use rest/pause first(twice) to get a few more reps, then go into forced reps, followed by negatives, and finally a static hold. ALL WITH IN THAT ONE SET!

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When I was in my early 20's, I couldn't grasp the idea of HIT training. I was like " How the fuck can someone grow off one set"? Funny thing is, back then I was training my final set to failure, then using some forced reps. I thought I was training hardcore.ROFL. I wasn't even fucking close.
A lot of people think they are training HIT and aren't even remotely close to training in that fashion.

I agree with what Arnold said, as well as what Mike Mentzer said. It's the reps beyond failure are the ones that make you grow. All the reps leading up to those final reps mean jack shit! warm up sets, are just that. Too many warm up sets, defeats the purpose and drains you of valuable enegery resources to take that lsat set wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy beyond failure using rest/pause, then some forced reps ect.

Lastly, most young guys reading about my HIT training really aren't grasping the full concept of what needs to be done on your 1 working set. You have just one set to make a difference and it has to be done correctly, or all your efforts will have been in vain.
So yes, any young guy interested in training this style should hire someone(like me ) that knows HIT training inside out.

ONe final note: After training each muscle group, extreme stretching must be done. It helps you grow by stretching the fascia around your muscle fibers,brings fresh blood into your muscles so blood doesn't stay pooled up like it does after a pump, and it also brings out muscle sepeation.
Here's a link to some extreme stretches for each muscle group.

http://timwescott.proboards18.com/in...ay&thread=3005

Rotation

I do suggest you start a training log, and have a rotation A & B. And stick with it! You shouldn't be changing exercises all the time bro. One of the major ideologies behind HIT is to get stronger on the exercises you've chosen. To be honest you are the first person I've ever heard of that switches exercises around all the time. The only time an exercise is dropped is when you hit a strength plateau with that given exercise. Further, by having a training rotation with excerises done on a bi-weekly basis, your body won' acclimate to the exercises. You can train a rotation A-B forever and make continual progress without ever switching exercises. I've been using the same exact exercises for years now, progressively getting stronger each training session. Some times I only add 5 pounds to an exercise. But that's progress.Then I'll add another 5 pounds,again, progress!

Now get a roation for all body parts and you'll be on your way to the physique of your dreams. Never ever the same exercises back to back!

Rest/Pause

Rest/ pause is used on EVERY exercise my friend. You thought HIT training was easy? Think again, it fucking brutal. But the ones that actually can handle the intensity( Mentally and physically) grow beyond their wildest dreams.
Say you are doing incline smith machine presses. You have the weight set to fail out at 6 reps. Rest 15 seconds, then fight to get one or two more reps. Rest again another 15 seconds and fight to get one more quality rep. Your book would look like this: 6+2=1
Next time you come to that exercise 9 reps is what you have to beat. I don't give a flying fuck how you get them, just get it the fuck done. Say you got 8 reps then 2 rest/pause, followed by one more. 8+2+1.You got 11 total reps, so next time you come to that exercise you need to up the weight and set it to fail out at 6 reps again, so the battle will start all over again. This is how's it done bro. Constantly striving to beat the log book every fucking week.

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- In your training, there is a space for partials after failure, as sometimes we have in some movements in DC training as "statics"?Barbell rows is one exercise. Even leg press, or hack squats, if you really want to get crazy. I do partials at times with DB side lateral raises. HEAVY!
Form

I believe you should lift heavy ass weight with good form, not great form. It will hinder your progress being too strict. Explosive moves with heavy weight is the quickest way to put on muscle mass.

HIT training is taking one set to complete muscular failure by any means possible (rest/pause, forced reps etc), til you can't budge the fucking weight one inch! It's just as much mental as it is physical!

Back

As for back my friend. The only two exercises I go to "just failure" with is Barbell rows, and deadlifts. Every other exercise is way way way beyond failure bro. I rotate between deads one week,and BB rows the next. That allows me 3 exercises per week to destroy my back by using advanced techniques. I utilize machines for that purpose. Primarily hammer strength machines.

Shoulders

No, you're not weird at all. You're actually learning one of the major principals of training that many over look. The mind-muscle connection.
As for delts, it tough to really get that squeeze you're looking for. Focus more on the point of contraction. That is key. A full range of motion is not want you want to do with delts, especially pressing movements. Never lock your elbows on military press, behind the neck press. By doing so you are taking the pressure completely off the deltoid muscles. Another problem people have with delts is they come down too deep on pressing movements. You only need to start the pressing movement right about even with your ears. So as you see, it's a very short range of motion, and by doing so, you'll be able to lift much heavier weight, hence huge delts!
The huge issue people have with back is, they lift far too much weight. This is why you don't see many good backs in the gym. By moving weight from point A to B, they never get that great contraction which is needed to send the signal for growth. You are much better off lifting lighter weight and get a good squeeze/contraction. Over time increase the weight and you'll grow.

One last thing. In the early stages of the learning process, it's great to take your time to get that squeeze. But as you get better at training, you'll see a quick split second squeeze is all's that needed once you truly have that mind - muscle connection going on. When you get to that point of knowing when your muscle will contract on a given exercise, you'll be able to increase weights much faster. Strength proceeds size. Don't ever forget that. But you must lift the weight properly, or all will have been in vain. I see plenty of gym rats lift heavy ass weight, but don't grow. What does that tell you?

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Chest

What I did was simply give my chest more rest. I trained chest last in my rotation, then took 2 days off. I also used the pre exhaust technique utilizing DB flys prior to pressing. I already train high intensity, so by adding more volume would only defeat the purpose.

This is how I solved my issue. Others might say train chest twice weekly. Once higher reps, then lower rep, but at much heavier weight. I know people that has worked for. Bottom line is you'll need to experiment to find what will work for you.

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Cable crossovers can help with you inner chest,flys too. But in all honesty, you are just going to have to keep on pounding your chest bro. As it develops over time, you'll see your inner chest thickening up. Patience and hard work..

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Wider grip bench press, as well as weighted dips will hit the outter pecs.
Just as I told the guy the other day asking about his inner pecs, I'll tell you the same thing. Patience and determination.

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Split

Down the road you might want to try this :

Chest/ Bi
OFF
Legs
OFF
Back
Delt/tri
OFF
Repeat

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Chest/bicep
off
Back
off
Quad/hams/calves
Delt/tricep
off

You're welcome. No need to train forearms. Do traps on back day, and abs whenever you want

Chest/delts/tris = 3 exercises each....1 working set each

Back= 5 exercises(I like Dorians approach)..1 working set each

Quads=3 exercises...1 working set each

Hams/calves= 2 exercises...1 working set each

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I take a about 5 minutes in between exercise. I'm in no rush. I want to lift heavy ass weight, so I need to get my wind back from the last exercise.

After my first exercise on each training day. I usually only do one warm up set using 50% of the weight I'll be working with on the proceeding exercises. No need to expend unnecessary energy warming up a muscle on second, and third exercise. It's already warmed up and ready to be blasted to the pits of hell!

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I know you said you have 2 sessions in that day which allows for the pm session to not contain so many exercises so I guess your glycogen stores are not used as much thus requiring less refuel through PWO meals. Is that the reason?Keeping glycogen stores full is a small part of it. It's more to do with intensity. It's much easier going in the gym knowing you have just one muscle group to attack intensely. You can train that muscle very hard in 30 minutes or so.
It's very hard to train high intensity more than one muscle group at a time. After you train chest high intensity, you're pretty wiped out, so gong into a bicep routine you wouldn't have nearly the intensity to train them hard. But going back to the gym in the pm just to train biceps, your energy levels will be high and you'll be able to train the piss out of your biceps.
Not many people have the time to train a double split, but those who do, will make fantastic progress. Many pro's train double splits for the reasons I mentioned.

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Rotation A

Chest/ Bicep

Smith machine incline press 1 set
Hammer strength flat bench 1 set
Incline BD fly 1 set

Barbell curl 1 set
Machine preacher 1 set
DB hammer curl 1 set
--------------------------
Delt/ Tricep

Smith machine behind neck presses 1 set
DB laterals 1 set
DB hammer grip front raises 1 set

Close grip presses 1 set
Incline skull crusher 1 set
Seated barbell extension 1 set
----------------------------

Quads/Ham/calve

Smith machine squat 1 set
Leg press 1 set
Leg extension 1 set

Stiff leg deadlift 1 set
Lying curls 1 set
Standing curls 1 set

Seated calve raise 1 set
--------------------------

Back/rear delt

Barbell row 1 set
1 arm machine rows 1 set
Hammer strength high row 1 set
Pull over machine 1 set

DB reverse incline fly 1 set

ROTATION B

Chest/ bicep

Smith machine flat bench 1 set
Hammer strength incline press 1 set
Machine fly 1 set

Preacher curl 1 set
Seated DB curl 1 set
cable curl 1 set
-------------------------

Delt/Tricep

Hammer strength machine press 1 set
Wide grip upright row 1 set
Barbell front raise 1 set

Weighted dips 1 set
Flat bench skull crusher 1 set
Wide grip cable pushdowns 1 set
( I alternate grips between sessions,as well as use a rope at times)

------------------------------------
Quads/ Hams/calve

Hack squat 1 set
unilateral leg press 1 set
machine squats 1 set

Sumo presses( on leg press machine) 1 set
1 leg lying curl 1 set
1 leg static lunge 1 set

Standing calve raise 1 set

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Back/rear delt

Deadlift 1 set
Hammer strength pull down 1 set
Seated cable row 1 set
Stiff arm push down 1 set

Bent cable reverse fly 1 set

HIT is the shit. Its working absolute wonders for me, thanks jeff for getting me on it!ill be posting the changes in weight lifted on my journal

Thanks Jeff. Very good and concise post. Did you edit it yourself? Ive just started DC training last week. Different to this but i am already liking the idea behind it. To early to say anything about results obviously but i am already liking the whole rest pause and beating the numbers.

HornDog wrote:

Thanks Jeff. Very good and concise post. Did you edit it yourself? Ive just started DC training last week. Different to this but i am already liking the idea behind it. To early to say anything about results obviously but i am already liking the whole rest pause and beating the numbers.

Thanks, just edited roughly myself.

I'll be really interested to see how you get on with the DC Training. Keep us posted!

absolute overlaod is the key- pass it on to the fit ball brigade

[quote=revolver]

absolute overlaod is the key [/quote] .........in a short space of time.

I've been using HIT for a few months now and it certainly works - best gains I've ever gotten and the intensity required for each session keeps things fun and helps ya stay focused and motivated when you enter the gym.

I modified things slightly in recent weeks and I'm finding the changes are working well.

I read that muscles respond better once you hit failure in HIT if you, on the final lift:
1) Use a slow lowering of the weight after final contraction on Pushing exercises or;
2) Use an Isometric type static hold after you hit failure on Pulling exercises.

Also, I wasn't happy doing HIT principles for some exercises either cos of the element of danger or just cos I didn't feel it was hitting the muscle correctly so have changed to 3 sets for:
Deadlift
Squats
Leg Press

Since I've changed, I think my muscles are responding better than when I was using HIT for them.

Any one else find this? I actually think Squats are impossible to do using HIT, way too dangerous to hit failure...

I use slow negative reps and static holds in all my workouts.

I'm the same,. I don't use HIT on Squats, Deadlifts and BB Rows.

Hi Lads,

Have been reading about the HIT and some of you have said you have made some good gains.
I want to change my routine as I have been doing the volume training for months.

Just want to confirm that you exercise one/two muscle groups per night by 3 exercise each with one set of 10 reps with heavy weights, so that on the tenth you should be in bits!

My question is, using the bench press as an example, do you dothe reps slowly say, 4 sec up 4 sec down, with a negitive rep, say 4 sec up and fast down or as you would do volume?

You can do two muscles groups at a time, except for larger muscle groups (legs, back). I do the following every week........

Chest/Back
Shoulders/Triceps
Back
Legs

On each exercise you do one set to all out failure. A set contains a number of different parts. First off pick a weight that allows you to fail at 4 reps, then use rest pause - rest for no more then 10 secs lift again to failure, rest for another 10 seconds and lift to all out failure. After this you can either rest for 10 secs or go straight into forced (assisted) reps. This can be followed by negative reps, where a spotter takes the brunt of the weight on the positive and allows you to lower the weight slowly in a controlled manor. Following this you can then do a static hold where you hold the weight in a position where the muscle is contracted for as long as you can.

All reps should be performed in a controlled manor, i.e. you should be able to stop and hold the weight at any point in the negative. The positive portion of the rep can be explosive, but don't use momentum to lift the weight.

If you are newish to weights and this type of training, I'd start by just using the the straight set incorporating rest pause until you get a feel for it. HIT training is all about increasing the intensity of your workout and bringing the muscle to complete failure in a short period of time. At each workout your mind has to be really dialed in and focused on what you are lifting and trying to achieve. Everytime your body is telling you it can't lift the weight anymore, use your mind to tell your muscles that you can and you'll squeeze out another rep.

Chest/Back
Shoulders/Triceps
Back
Legs.

you mean chest/bicep ye?

I have been thinking of giving HIT a shot and I think I will when im finished my LC,cheers for the info jeff!

Thanks for the reply Jeff!

Hardgainer wrote:

Chest/Back
Shoulders/Triceps
Back
Legs.

you mean chest/bicep ye?

I have been thinking of giving HIT a shot and I think I will when im finished my LC,cheers for the info jeff!

Sorry, Chest/Bicep is correct.

No worries lads.

Jeff ' Dorian' Mentzer haha!!
HIT is the shitttt, thanks to Jeffs recommendations and advice my lifts went wayyy up quicker than I ever thought they could for a hardgainer like myself

I started HIT today and got a great buzz from it.

it took me 1.25 hrs though,should it take this long??