To answer that question specifically for you I'd need a lot more info. But I can answer it as a generality pretty easy. One of, if not the primary benefits of a HIT routine is that the volume and frequency are low enough that recovery takes place more often than not if the supporting factors are present (diet, adequate rest). While coming off, or training clean recovery ability is much lower (at least for most people) so HIT fits the bill very nicely. Recovery occurs between workouts, the weights go up and size follows at some point, or linearly. When doing PH's or Gear your ability (again for most people, some people DO NOT recover much faster when on, but still grow more) to recover and tolerate increased workloads goes up. And thus the volume routine works great while on. One thing everyone needs to understand is that volume routines are absolutely wonderful for growth..........the problem is MOST people, even most people on gear just don't have the ability to recover from them and grow. OK, HIT works while clean, but of course the results are not as good as when doing HIT while on, or in your case, as good as doing volume work while on. So how do we make HIT work for those people that do poorly while on, and conversely how do we make volume training work for people that it fails while clean, or even while on? The answer is to meet in the middle. One thing that needs to be made abundantly clear is that even though I am primarily known as a HIT advocate I certainly know it just doesn't work for everyone. I do know however it is absolute MAGIC for so many of the trainees out there that respond poorly to conventional training. Yes, the typical "hardgainer", And while it may be the only type of training that will coax growth out of the extreme ectos, it works wonders on LOTS of guys that have all the genetic advantages and also respond well to volume, and does so for them on or off. OK, enough HIT rambling. While I primarily promote HIT variations, when posting, when I personal train people they get anything from extreme abbreviated HIT, to mid-volume traditional BB routines. They get what works for them, and that is all that matters, not dogma over what protocol is best.
When "on" you (and many trainees) make super progress doing volume. While off, HIT works fine. Your answer could be to do volume while on, and HIT while off, but that’s not the question you asked so I will keep going. What I have found to work for many people in your shoes is to structure a routine with the volume significantly higher than the typical HIT routine, and the intensity quite a bit lower. In other words, just enough additional volume for the increased size that additional workloads provide many people. But still keeping volume and intensity low enough that overtraining is held at bay.
A couple of nuances are, lets say you have a muscle or lift that you have always been scary strong at. Well it could be mostly leverages, but its more likely you have a high predominance of fast twitch muscle there. When structuring the routine we keep the volume for that muscle about like HIT because you DON'T need a bunch of volume there to get the results. There, that just saved some recovery for growth. Now, instead of picking 3-5 exercises per bodypart and doing 3-5 sets of each, we carefully pick one or two. Weak muscle/lifts get more volume AND reps. (PROBABLY slow twitch). Average strength BP’s get less than weak BP’s more than strong ones, with reps in the middle of the two.
What else do we do? Well we damn sure don't go to the gym 5-6 nights a week like the volume guys. We keep the gym days as minimal as possible and let the body have a chance to grow. Volume trainers generally train with………well…….lets just say less than maximal intensity. They have to if they are to get through so many sets. HIT guys tend to kill themselves on each set so can't, and don't need to do a lot. When we meet in the middle the intensity is less than HIT, more than volume. If three sets of a lift are to be done I like the first set to be hard, but all the targeted reps are made. The second set is an ALMOST all out set, but again the targeted reps are completed, set three is balls out to failure. These are only work sets listed, it is assumed warm-ups proceed the working sets. By adding an additional lift in some cases, and by doing multiple sets with at least one of them to failure we achieve the number one objective of effective training. Stimulating maximal gains, while keeping the workload at the lowest EFFECTIVE level thus preventing overtraining.
Is it HIT training? Not in it’s truest sense. Is it volume training? NO! Who cares what it’s called as long as it works. I have a lot of my trainees on this basic format and it works wonders in most cases. Will it work for you? Maybe, maybe not. NO TRAINING PROTOCOL WORKS FOR EVERYONE ALL THE TIME, but understanding the fundamentals will allow one to make the necessary adjustments to tune your routine and diet to your body.
This is not the only way to make HIT work, or work better for those that get good results with volume. But it is the one that works for the larger percentage of the people out there. I’ll cover more options at a later date.
If anyone is interested in personal training I currently have slots open.
Iron Addict
