High intensity training?

[R1187]

I have watched some videos and some claim HIT is only doing one or 2 sets to failure per muscle group, others think it is more "circuit training" doing a full-body workout with lots of sets and little rest in between.

Is HIT always full-body? Because if you used it on a "split" program chest day could literally take 5 minutes????

 

[kisaj]

My opinion is that it really doesn't matter. The point is to really hit the muscle with your working set or two and your set up would be dependent on what kind of time you want to spend or what your goal is. Don't concern yourself with the amount of time it takes, but how you "overload" the muscle(s). Hell, my intensity is far beyond most people I train with and I am out of the gym in 35-45 min.

 

[max d]

HIT (high intensity training) vs. HIIT(high intensity interval training)

 

[HIT4ME]

There are a few different "flavors" of HIT. Arthur Jones came up with the idea that people train too much, and full body routines that were brief but intense were effective. People, such as Ellington Darden, have taken this and stuck to the basic principles while Mike Mentzer really pushed the limits and said 1 set carried to absolute failure is all a muscle needed to grow. Mentzer is the extreme and what most people think of when they talk HIT. Unfortunately, most people who discuss HIT online have never taken the time to read the work and thoroughly understand, what the people mentioned above said to actually do.

I don't follow Mentzer to the letter, but I use his process to adjust my own routine. I actually use what many on here would refer to as a "Bro-split", training roughly 4 times per week as follows:

1. Legs
2. Chest & Biceps
3. Off
4. Back
5. Shoulders & triceps
6. off
7. off

Sometimes I will take an extra day between the chest and back workouts. I'm not at all strict about what day of the week I train which bodyparts - if I train on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, it doesn't matte. Rest/recovery determines when I get back in there.

I typically do 3 exercises/bodypart, warm up at the beginning of the muscle group with 1 warm-up set, and then do 1 set of each exercise to failure. While Mentzer said 1 set to failure, this somewhat follows his guidelines, because for thins such as chest he often said to pre-exhaust with flyes and then do the bench presses as a superset. I count this as 2 sets, but you could look at it as 1 set.

The real difference with Mentzer that is often overlooked is that his 1 set has a lot of TUT, while this same TUT may be accomplished with higher volume/slightly lower intensity. At the end of the day, there is always going to be a trade off between how hard you push, how often you push, and how much volume you do. You have to find the right mix of those 3.

 

[Rodja]

HIT is a good way if you literally only have 2 hours a week where you could train. Other than that, it limits yourself far too much and is the main culprit for the absurd notion that you can only train a muscle once per week.

 

[R1187]

I typically do 3 exercises/bodypart, warm up at the beginning of the muscle group with 1 warm-up set, and then do 1 set of each exercise to failure.

So basically your workouts take under 5 minutes???

That does blow my mind seeing I never really questioned the conventional "split programs", and usually stuck to doing 4 sets of 3 exercises, spending an hour in the gym.

Also, isn't hypertrophy at least partially caused or enhanced by pumping the muscle full of blood? I know blood is still rushing to the muscle on the first set, but I can't see getting a pump from 1 set or pumping as much blood into the muscle with just 1 set. We all remember Arnold and the videos of him saying he spends 5 hours a day working out.

I don't think I will go extreme and just do one set, but I might try 3 sets of 3 exercises.

 

[HIT4ME]

My workouts take about 25-40 minutes usually. The problem is, this isn't "just do 1 set". I carry those sets to failure and beyond and they are difficult. I may spend 5-7 minutes recovering from a set of a certain exercise like deadlifts. I'm not talking about hanging out at the water cooler, I'm talking about gasping for air, not even thinking about talking, type of recovery between sets. As you can see, I typically do 2 bodyparts/workout. This means usually 2-3 warm-up sets and about 4-6 working sets of all-out effort.

Tonight I train legs and the timing will probably work out like this. Warm-up with a set of squats. Maybe takes about 1 minute, take about 30 second break and then do a warm-up set on leg extensions - warm-ups will be 2-3 minutes then. Then, about 1 minute break and I will do an all-out triple drop set on leg extensions. This may take me 90 seconds or 2 minutes. I will need a good 2 minute break after that. Then I will do a set of squats to failure. Another minute of exercise and probably a good 2-3 minutes rest will be needed. Then I will do a set of leg presses with 2 drops. Another minute and then I will probably need at least 5 minutes to rest. Now I am at 15-20 minutes and I will finish with a set of straight-legged deadlifts - so now I'm going to be around 22-25 minutes. Any delays setting things up and moving weights around may bring this to 30 minutes. I could probably, and probably should, push the rest periods a little harder to get my time down a little more....but it works for me. Oh, and then I will barely be able to climb the stairs to get out of the basement.

Of course, chest and biceps will require shorter rest periods, so that might be slightly shorter.

If I'm not pushing the drop sets, forced reps, etc. and just going straight in, I've finished a workout in 15 minutes and I have no problem with that at all.

I think that you may be missing some of the point in just focusing on "it may only take X amount of time". It is like when people say, "Just 1 set to failure? That will never work." The real power behind the idea isn't that 1 set is all you need - because it may be more. The real power is that 1 set MAY be all you need and you should be searching for that specific amount that is necessary to stimulate muscle growth/adaptation (which is your goal).

Can you design workouts to be under 20 minutes? Easily. I have had times where, instead of doing a drop set on leg extensions, I superset them with squats, and that will cut some time out. I've also experimented with doing just leg extensions, squats and straight legged deadlifts on one workout and then replacing squats with leg presses on a second workout (More of a Mentzer approach) and those workouts were 15 minutes each or so.