HIT

High Intensity Training. Originally popularized by the founder of Nautilus equipment Arthur Jones, HIT went on to receive even more acclaim after Mike Mentzer became the first and only person to attain a perfect score in the Mr Universe competition. Mentzer was a huge advocate of HIT, and was later thought to be one of Arnold's toughest foes in the 1980 Mr Olympia had he not injured himself right before the competition.

High Intensity Training is a workout centered around brief, intense and infrequent workouts as opposed to the "traditional" long workouts consisting high reps and sets. A good analogy is to relate weightlifting to running. HIT advocates say that the long bodybuilding workouts are like running a marathon or a cross country race. Whereas HIT is more like running the 100 meter sprint. With HIT, you get to the gym, do your highest weights possible for one set per exercise, and get out. Eight-time Mr Olympia Lee Haney always said to "stimulate, not annihilate" your muscles. And that is exactly what HIT does.

The latest highly successful bodybuilder to employ the high intensity method is Dorian Yates. Dorian got first place in 15 out of his 17 professional competitions - 88 percent overall! The other two that he didn't place first in, he placed second, and they were his first two professional competitions ever. This is a man who seriously impacted the bodybuilding scene the moment he came into it, being the one to usher in the freakishly huge era of bodybuilding. Yates set a new bar for what bodybuilders should look like, with his mammoth frame and unbeatable back. Even with being six-time Mr O, he would only workout four days a week, for 45 mins to an hour per session, and only one work set per exercise. Don't get me wrong though, this one work set was to absolute failure, employing everything possible for that one set - rest pause, drop sets, forced reps and negatives to ensure that his muscles were sent to complete failure. And Dorian's definition of failure is different from most peoples' definition. For example, whenever you see a someone performing bench press, he'll get his normal 10 reps or whatever, and struggle on the last few, with needing help from a spotter on the last final pressing movement. To him, he went to failure. However, what you need to remember is there are three parts to a single lift: the positive (in the case of the bench press, the pressing motion), the negative (the lowering of the weight to the chest) and the static (the holding of the bar at the extended top position). The body is weakest doing the positive, and strongest in the negative. So, back to the example of the bench presser, he actually didn't go to complete failure on his set. Even though he couldn't have got another positive motion out of the set, he still could have got a negative or two with the help of a spotter. Only when you cannot control the bar down to your chest have you gone to complete failure. And the last part is rest. Since you're putting your body through so much, it needs rest (hence why Yates lifted only four days in the week).

That's what HIT is about. One set. Complete failure. Then rest.

Why a blog?

Why make a blog? That's a good question, and there are two answers to it.

The first answer is it helps me track my own progress. It's been proven that if you keep a daily workout log that your performance in the gym will increase. There's no more of "Hmm what did I do last week? How much should I do this week?" Rather, it's just there for me to see and assess.

The second reason is it's there for you, the reader. I am constantly asked the following types of questions: How much do you bench? How do I get biceps like yours? What kind of arms routine to you do? So that's how to get a back like yours? How much do you eat to get that big? Now that I have this posted, I can just refer you to my site and you can see what kind of arms routine I do. And you can see how much I bench. (I'm telling you now that I don't do my maximum ever. Never have. Never will. I'm a bodybuilder, not a powerlifter, so I keep my rep-range at least above six. Sorry guys but I really don't know how much I bench.)

And on top of all this, I feel like my insights can help anyone out there who wants to learn. I'm sick and tired of seeing these personal trainers at gyms who don't know what they're talking about at all. I hate seeing them put beginners or old people with frail bodies on these extreme and bizarre routines. Stick to basics people! It's been tried and proven for decades. The use of bands and stability (pilates) balls is fairly new. You don't need to make someone who doesn't know what they're doing stand on an inflated ball so their core is worked while they're doing biceps. It's just not logical. Wait a few years before going on that type of routine and you know what does and doesn't work for your body. I've been seriously lifting for over six years and I've never stood on an inflated ball before in my life. First off, the risk of injury is too great for me to risk it. Literally, almost every time I see someone on one of those, they fall. With all that iron all around me, I'm not willing to risk falling and hurting myself. The second reason is, well, Arnold never did it. And Arnold had the best physique in the history of bodybuilding. Did you ever see eight-time Olympia winner Lee Haney use anything unstable? Or eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, who is also the winningest bodybuilder ever, stand one one foot while doing kick backs? Or how about Dorian Yates, a man who took first place in every single one of his professional competitions except for two, and got second in those two that he didn't place first in? The answer is no. You never see any of these guys do any of that crap. Because that's all it is. It's crap. Stick to the basics. Deadlifts, squats and bench are the most simple workouts there are, but they work. Workout trends will come and go, but the basics have and always will work the best.

Background

As my first post, I thought I'd put my brief background when it comes to sports and weight training, since well this is a weight lifting blog. This might put things into perspective of where I'm coming from.

I started lifting weights off and on starting in seventh grade. I always liked the thought of getting bigger. However throughout high school, I played volleyball for four years and basketball for three. So I always kept the lean basketball player look. I think the time I really started to lift more seriously was when I was in my senior year of high school. I moved schools between my sophomore and junior years of high school. I started on my basketball team in tenth grade, but didn't start on my new team in eleventh and this really bothered me. So I set my sights on the gym. I would wake up at 4:30am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, just to get my four days of weight training in before LDS seminary at 5:45am, before I had to get to school by 7:30am. The reason I didn't lift after school is because I had my varsity sports practices everyday immediately after school and would get home around six at night.

First season was volleyball. By the time basketball season came around, I guess I was fairly used to getting up early to work out. It set me apart from everyone else at school because no one else did. it. Even the gym-goers thought I was crazy for getting up that early. I didn't mind though. I could feel my body transforming. And I liked it. By the time basketball season came around, let's just say the coach and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. So instead I went out for rugby, having never played football or anything, and made the varsity team. I not only fell in love with the sport, but I could really see how my lifting carried over to a contact sport like that. So I kept at it.

After high school, I went to BYU-Idaho for two years, and there wasn't much to do up there, so I spent a lot of my time in the gym. Since I wasn't in any sports anymore, I started to actually put on weight. I high school, I saw definition and some size, but mainly strength gains (my squat got up to 400lbs from like 200lbs) but not much size. When I got to Idaho, I saw the size come. And that's what got me hooked to bodybuilding. All in all, I have been seriously lifting for the past six years. It is not easy and it takes a lot of motivation and drive. But it's worth it.