Archives for 2008

Oliva actually trained with Arthur Jones in 1971 while getting ready for the Mr. Olympia contest yet again.  He hit the stage bigger than ever before after using H.I.T routines in his training.

Ray Mentzer, like his brother Mike, was one of the top body builders in the 1970's.  He used H.I.T. in the form of Heavy Duty Training (Mike Mentzer's own brand of H.I.T.) to sculpt his body.

Ray learned about H.I.T. during a visit to Florida to Arthur Jones' training facility.  The two brothers, Ray and Mike, really liked the ideas behind H.I.T.  A typical Ray Mentzer workout week would be:

Monday
Bench Press 1 x 8 reps
Incline Press 1 x 8 reps
Flyes 1 x 12 reps
DB shoulder press 1 x 8 reps
Triceps Extensions 1 x 10 reps

Wednesday
Squats 1 x 16 reps
Leg extensions 1 x 16 reps
Leg curls 1 x 16 reps
Calf raise 1 x 12 reps

Friday
Bent over rows 1 x 8 reps
Pull downs 1 x 8 reps
Barbell curls 1 x 10 reps
Preacher curls 1 x 10 reps

Ray believed in lifting heavy and getting in and out of the gym quickly.  He would build the intensity over time.  As mentioned when discussing Mike Mentzer, Ray's brother, took a very scientific approach to the H.I.T. style he was introduced to.  He broke it down into many different components and his understanding of those components is what gave him the wonderfully sculpted body he ended up with.

Casey Viator was a young body builder who was trained directly by Arthur Jones.  Casey attributes the development of his physique to H.I.T. and his sessions with Arthur Jones.  Casey won Mr. America using this training regimen.

Casey's workouts consisted mainly of full body H.I.T. workouts where he started with the lower body and worked his way outward to the smaller muscles.  He  would lift 3 days a week.  He used an extremely low volume of exercise to gain his magnificent physique.  In a way, Casey was the poster child for H.I.T.  Arthur Jones personally trained Casey. 

Casey was the youngest body builder to ever win Mr. America.  He was one of the thickest body builders in history.  He did his training in the Florida training facility of Arthur Jones.

Casey continued to use H.I.T. even after leaving the Florida training facility.  He states that the H.I.T. principles got him the body he competed with, so why would he stop using a system that worked so well for him?

As has been my habit lately, I am going to bring you into the gym with me for my workout.  First, my log is incorrect.  I loaded 540 lbs. on the sled and hammered out 20 (not 10) repetitions.  My legs were quivering at the end of just the very first exercise of this workout.  Now, lately some people online have been making fun of this workout that I am doing and I'd challenge them to do it the way I have with the intensity that I have.  My bet is they wouldn't get to the upper body work because they would not be able to walk after finishing the lower body work with the intensity I've been using.  The standing thigh curl machine I use has you do one leg at a time.  I loaded 105 lbs. on that thing and cranked out 12 repetitions on each leg.  Yes, that's 105 lbs. with just one leg!  I then loaded 160 lbs. on the seated calf machine and hammered out 11 repetitions.  I hit 9 repetitions and I could feel the fire in my calves, but I pushed out 2 more repetitions.  My calves were cramping and stinging from the final 2 repetitions as I moved into the front squat.  I have been keeping the weight low on this exercise so that I can master the form and I'm glad that I have done that.  Today I got a nice burn in the front of my thighs as it should be.  I cranked out 10 repetitions at 125 lbs.  At this point my lower body was shakey at best.  I strapped myself into the Quad Blaster and grabbed a 50 lb. dumbbell.  I held that dumbbell up under my throat and cranked out 12 grueling repetitions.  On number 12 I had to drop to my knees from pain.  That's what this kind of intensity is all about.  You want a body builder's body without using drugs you have to work hard and with alot of intensity.  From this point forward I managed to either increase the weight or repetitions on every single exercise.  Between my bench dips and my skull crushers, my triceps were on fire by the time I was done.  My delts were ablaze after finishing the dumbbell overhead presses and bent over laterals.  My deadlifts continue to get better.  I am now doing 275 lbs. with no straps or belt and I'm getting 9 nice repetitions.  I actually think I could have gotten 10 but my lower back was getting very tight, so I stopped at 9 to be safe.  I don't need an injury after making the progress I've made.

Dave Draper never did exclusively use H.I.T.  Instead, he incorporated H.I.T. cycles into his training schedule.  He was a big believer in volume training.

Dave would use H.I.T. to increase his strength, but did not believe he could increase size properly using this type of training.  Dave has alot of interesting takes on H.I.T.  One of the major components of H.I.T. is continuous progression.  As a H.I.T. trainee myself, I can tell you that my mindset is to continually increase the weight on every single exercise during every single workout.  This causes me to continually seek progression.

Draper contends that the relentless pursuit of progression will eventually lead to poor form.  Dave says that the trainee, in the pursuit of progression, will push the poundage or reps before they have actually mastered a particular weight with good form. 

While I find Dave Draper's take on H.I.T. to be interesting, I also note that he, himself, used H.I.T. as part of his training regimen.  Unlike other body builders I recently profiled, he never used H.I.T. exclusively.  However, because he did use it, I have to believe he saw some results, otherwise why would he have used it at all?