AlexPowell
So as i mentioned in your diet thread, im gonna change the eating program a bit after vacation. Get back on the 19th. So i drew up a rough plan and here it is.
Pre workout: ½ scoop vitargo
PWO: 2 scoops oats, 2 scoops protein
Lunch: 9oz grassfed beef, 1C rice, veggies
Afternoon: 1 scoop oats, 1 scoop protein
Dinner: 9oz grassfed beef, 1C rice, veggies
After work: 9oz grassfed beef
Pre bed: 1C egg whites
About 2850 calories, 100g fat, 300g protein, 167g carbs
Those are rough numbers but oughta be awfully close. Thoughts?
Scheduling wise, the 2 shakes are hard to do away with. I workout first thing in the AM, so i do the shot of vitargo. Workout, then immediately go to work.
Im gonna try this, and if i can find a way to flex the schedule to allow me to stop and eat another meal in the day, ill make the adjustment. I work 10-12 hour shifts 5-6 days per week so its all about getting on an eating schedule that jives with work.
Question. Ive taken a liking to quinoa of late. Now that i have this written, im thinking of doing quinoa instead of the rice. Any issue with that?
Got back into the gym today after a few days off. Backed the weight off just a bit. Had over reached a little in pursuit of numbers. Not terrible, but rep cadence and form had slipped. Felt good.
That rep cadence is brutal and it is easy to slide, especially over time. Smart move to adjust.
It really is. Weird how much constant concentration this style of lifting requires. Glad to catch it after a couple of weeks vs letting it get out of hand for months.
Yeah, it's the type of thing people dont understand about HIT. They just think, "I work hard and 1 set isn't enough". They dont get how hard it actually is. Not everyone, but most.
Only thing you have to think about with HIT is that progress is made by increasing training volume over time. This is done by more weight, more reps or more sets generally. But each week you should be increasing your volume until you are not recovering, then deloading for a while and starting again
So with HIT, you will progress for a few weeks and be able to increase the weights just fine taking the sets to only concentric failure. After you can't increase the weights any more, you can decrease the weights a little and go to eccentric failure and work up in weights each week taking the set to eccentric failure. Then when you can't do that, you can decrease the weights and add another intensity increasing method like a max isometric hold after eccentric failure and start increasing the weights week to week like that
A lot of people with HIT, they will see some John Meadows or Mike Mentzer video and do all the tricks straight away. So they have 3 weeks of progress and then what? Time to deload
If you take your time with adding the intensity raising methods slowly and progressively you can make progress for a lot longer before deloading and starting again
So, I wrote out one of my typically long posts (and it was long even for me) about this response as I kind of disagree....but after typing it all, I'm not sure I necessarily disagree lol. We just have different angles, but I appreciate you ability to think differently than others.
What I will say is that I think you haven't ever followed HIT specifically and that your training methodology answers its own question in a way - you see less and less progress and eventually have to deload because you are increasing volume in that methodology. With HIT you are using high intensity, but the volume is so low that you don't need much time to recover and the the frequency is low so you have plenty of time to recover. Because of this, it's my experience that I can often go for long, long periods without any deloads on HIT training without seeing a reduction in progress. The reason, really, is because you are deloading between every workout in a way - allowing for maximal recovery and growth. This allows for harder training sessions (you aren't getting more and more worn down) and actually creates very consistent gains and fewer injuries - especially nagging injuries.
With your philosophy you are using a slightly different tool. You are using planned, temporary overtraining (which upsets some people and they prefer to call it over reaching) to create a deficit and then deloading to allow for recovery all at once. I think this has its merits, but it's a completely different mindset/philosophy than HIT. It's a different tool, and it may actually be an entirely different toolbox. haha.
With HIT, you don't increase your volume at all- you NEVER want to hit a period where you are not recovering. By that point, you have long since stopped growing - the process is Stimulate ---> Recover ----> Grow. You have to recover before you grow, so if you wait until you've stopped recovering you have stopped super compensating well before that.
At some point you have to provide a novel stimulus though
Well, I guess it's how you define novel. Novelty doesn't seem to have much to do with it, the stimulus just has to be sufficient for a response. Like I said, I've gone for months on HIT without progress stopping.
I used to do it all the time and over the past 2 years I've focused on 5x5 and using more frequency and volume, etc. But I'm going back to HIT more and more. I feel less worn down on it, I make better progress and there isn't much over thinking for it.
What do you do when progress stops?
HIT4ME
Got a workout in today on vacation and wanted to ask your opinion on something id been thinking about. It concerns rep range. Obviously, there tends to be value in lifting in different rep ranges. As i add weight, reps tend to trend down as i keep adding the weight. Ive noticed its extremely difficult to lift in the HIT style in a range leas than 8-9 reps. The weights just too much to be able to properly control it at the right cadence. I feel like 12-15 reps is the sweet apot for me with this lifting style, or even higher. What are your thoughts on this? What tanges do you typically lift in?
HIT4ME
Got a workout in today on vacation and wanted to ask your opinion on something id been thinking about. It concerns rep range. Obviously, there tends to be value in lifting in different rep ranges. As i add weight, reps tend to trend down as i keep adding the weight. Ive noticed its extremely difficult to lift in the HIT style in a range leas than 8-9 reps. The weights just too much to be able to properly control it at the right cadence. I feel like 12-15 reps is the sweet apot for me with this lifting style, or even higher. What are your thoughts on this? What tanges do you typically lift in?
This is funny, because I feel the opposite. Going heavier is easier for me with the higher reps requiring very light weights.
I think this has to do with the makeup of Type 1 and type 2 muscle fibers. Some people are just geared toward very low reps and some can handle higher reps.
But I think this also changes based on your training. I have changed quite a bit while training in the 10-15 rep range.
I have spent time training in such a way that I would do a set to failure at 15 reps, add weight and do a second set to failure at 5 reps. Doing this was interesting because I noticed I could add weight to the 5 rep sets faster than the 15 rep sets.
I feel like focusing on both rep ranges helps keep progress going. When you hit a spot where you aren't improving at your 15 rep weight, you can start adding weight and working the lower ranges to get progress again.
I also progress a lot faster with lower reps
Dorian Yates said this was why he trained most of the time at 5-8 reps
You progress in strength or mass?
You progress in strength or mass?
Until you reach a very high level strength and mass gains are synonymous with each other
You progress in strength or mass?
Until you reach a very high level strength and mass gains are synonymous with each other
I’ve never in my life loaded up mass naturally like I am with this upper lower upper lower split. I can’t believe I never tried it before. Definitely recommend.
Upper/lower/rest/upper/lower/rest/rest. It’s not a program where you demolish each muscle group each session. It’s a moderate volume program. 1 minute rest periods between sets. For example my FIRST upper day looks like this:
Chin ups: 3 sets 6-12 reps
DB Bench Press: 6 sets 10 reps
Landline T Bar Row: 3 sets 10 reps
Standing DB Press: 3 sets 10 reps
Seated Cable Row: 2 sets 10 reps
DB lateral raise: 2 sets 10 reps
Ez Bar Curl: 3 sets 10 reps
French Press: 4 sets 10 reps
DB shrugs: 3 sets 15 reps