High Intensity Training – My 6 Month Update
It was last December when I started up a super slow HIT program. For those unfamiliar with High Intensity Training (HIT), it differs from traditional weight lifting in the following ways:- 1 set to failure
- slower movements – the goal is to remove momentum from the lift
- as little as 1-2 exercises per body part
- shorter workouts
- fewer workouts
My HIT Protocol
There are several different HIT training protocols and they differ slightly from one another. I mostly used The Big 5 Workout plan outlined in Body by Science and used by Ideal Exercise. Often I would add two additional arm exercises. During a second workout at Ideal Exercise, I learned how to incorporate a technique called pre-exhaustion into my workouts. That method is covered in detail in The New High Intensity Training by Darden. In addition, I did some experimenting with John Little’s static hold techniques, which I plan do more of after I finish reading his book Max Contraction Training.Most of my workouts last just 10 minutes and I only workout every 5th day.
Leg Press by Oliver DelaCruz. I used to believe the leg press was a worthless exercise. Once I learned to really slow the movement down and not lock out, I became a fan. 99% of the people in the gym use this piece of equipment wrong. SLOW DOWN!
Was HIT successful for me? Before I can answer that question, I wanted to define what success means. Given my age, training age and the fact I’m an ectomorph, I do not think it would be fair to expect noticeable muscle gains. If I were a 25 year old newbie mesomorph, my expectations would be much higher. So for me, I will measure success with these metrics.
- Do I Feel Good? – Yes. Unlike traditional weight lifting, I never get shoulder or back pain. My muscles are more sore, but my joints feel great. Using machines and slowing down the movement has taken the fear out of lifting. For the past five years, I’ve always held back in the gym on the last few reps out of a fear that I was going to injury myself.
- Am I Getting Stronger? – Yes. Especially in the arms and legs. I am 6 foot 2.5 inches tall and I can tell you that Dr. Doug McGuff was dead on correct in the book Body By Science when he made the case for machines with taller athletes.
- Is this style of lifting holding my interest? -At first it didn’t. It was tough getting the right mindset in the beginning. I had to undo the hesitate style I had been using for so many years. Visiting Greg Anderson at Ideal Exercise really helped me understand what is meant by intensity. Clarence Bass felt HIT was too tedious for him. I didn’t. I enjoy it more each week.
Show Me the Numbers
I violated a core HIT rule. I didn’t record any workout. Times and weights are very important to HIT. Since you are typically only doing a few exercises for a single set, you don’t have the luxury of dialing in the weight across multiple sets. My training philosophy is the Minimal Effort Approach. As long as I feel I’m moving in the right direction, I wont try and complicate things. For me the first 6 months of HIT were about unlearning old habits, practicing slower movements, better breathing techniques and listening to my body.At some point if I feel my progress is stalling, I’ll start recording things.
Going Forward
In the post Training To Failure or Training To Quit, I theorized that I might cycle between periods of High Intensity Training and a more traditional Pavel style workout program. Well, I am going to stick with HIT for now. Every week that passes I become more convinced that HIT is right for me.Returning to Slow Motion Weight Training | Critical MAS
Returning to Slow Motion Weight Training
Earlier this year I decided to abandon my normal weight lifting protocol and try slow motion weight lifting. Body By Science is a stellar book and it made an excellent case for slow motion weight training using machines. How did my test go?From the post Is Slow Motion Weight Training Superior? I wrote:
What I did learn was that slow training is boring. Apparently, I am not alone. That study that the slow motion group throws around has a back story. Even though the group had a 50% strength gain, the lead researcher discovered that only 1 out of the 147 people in the study continued training. Most felt it was too tedious.I went back to my old classic weight lifting program. It was just more enjoyable to me. However, I haven’t been happy with my progress recently. My strength levels peaked in November 2008. Since then I have focused way more on diet, but even when I dedicate myself to lifting, I’m not putting up the numbers I did two years ago. For my age and body type I am in pretty good shape, but I can only go so long without seeing concrete gains before I decide enough is enough.
Recently, I read an interview with Luke Carlson about functional training on Conditioning Research. It addressed many of my doubts about using slower more controlled movements on machines. It was enough to convince me to try slow motion weight training again.
Even though it has only been a few weeks, I feel like this time it may stick. For someone that has only known how to generate intensity via explosive high momentum moves, I am slowly figuring out how to generate even more intensity using a much slower movement. I still think that the extremely slow moves are too boring, so I have found a middle ground of 6 second reps to play with (2 seconds up, 4 seconds down).
I’ll stick with this plan until spring and then reassess.
