Thread: HIT Training

hello all, I know there are a lot of training philosophies out there. I recently read an article on training. The article was for a workout where you workout out two days a week. The split was like this:

Chest / Back / Shoulders - Monday.

Legs / Arms / Abs - Thursday or Friday

Cardio four - five days a week.

You actually do two sets for twelve (not to light, not to heavy), then one set to ten for failure. It varies for each grouping but similiar throughout.

What do you think? Any opinions?

I think it might not be a bad idea, just wondering what is your opinion?

Dorian Yates used to do a form of this training, I believe.

My suggestion is give it a try and see how your body reacts to it. If you wake up the next day sore and unable to workout then you know it is good

I thought I have heard of this before. I tried it last night. I am a little sore today. I am using mostly big compound movements. Thanks for the insite.

ive personally had more success with a 5 day split. im really able to concentrate more fully on the muscle im working if i know i dont have to share that wo with too many other areas. my split goes mon..tris/bis tues..quads/hams wed..shoulders/calves thurs..back/traps fri..chest sat/sun..rest. ab work 2-3 days per wk. cardio 2-3 mornings per wk...the wo u described is good to use every know and then just to shake things up imo

Thats what I was thinking. It does make sense though. I know you don't need that much stimulation to get muscle growth. Unfortunately, this workout means you really have to watch you diet because you are working out less frequent. I will give it a shot and see what happens.

From a health standpoint, it seems reasonable that one should do as little work as possible, to elicit the required response (in this case muscle growth).

In the end, one has to experiment with various weight, rep, and intensity schemes to find out what works best for "you".

One other note: For most people, training schemes differ depending on whether your goal is muscle size vs. muscle strength. Initially in a training scheme, both will occur, but as you progress, either strength or size will predominate.

Trust this answer as from someone who knows...

For HIT to be effective, it needs to be completely balls to the walls. Multiple sets to failure, with occasional rest pause and negatives. If you use anabolics, all sets should end with assisted rest pause and failure.

Rep ranges, by necessity, would be in the 8-15 range.

This was a documented Casey Viator leg workout performed the night before he stepped on stage for a Mr. Amercia contest:

"At approximately 9 o'clock on the night of June 10, 1971, Viator did 13 repetitions in the squat with a 500-pound barbell on his back.

None of his reps were half squats. They were all butt-to-heels, full squats - performed after he pre-exhausted with 750 pounds on the Universal machine leg press for 20 reps, followed by 225 pounds on the Universal machine leg extension for another 20 reps with no rest between the exercises.

Viator was a bit of a whackjob anyhow, and he was being pressed hard through all of his workouts by Arthur Jones, so it is difficult to expect anyone to do proper "HIT" alone, and without some very motivated training partners or coaches.

Sadly, ost of what poses for "HIT" on the internnet these days is simply abbreviated routines with a set or two taken to failure once in a while, done infrequently. As most people with any experience will tell you, this will not work very well. If you plan on doing HIT, make sure you are actually doing HIT.