What's on my mind today?
I've been harping on the benefits of H.I.T. for several weeks now.  Many of you have probably read it and just blown it off as another fad.  If that is you, take note–H.I.T. is here to stay for me.  No other system of weight

Well, when are you going to start your H.I.T. program?

Mission 2, Day 46: Going massive brings massive DOMs

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

What's on my mind today?
WARNING:  Rant about to begin

One of my pet peeves is people who don't work hard when they are exercising.  I often look at other people working out and I wonder why they are even bothering to come to the gym.  They just give no effort at all. 

Today I took another spinning class.  The instructor took the time to explain the 1 to 10 scale and made it a point to mention that it is a personal scale.  By this she meant that a 10 to one person might be greater or less than a 10 for someone else.  It all depends upon the personal conditioning of the people involved.

Throughout the class the instructor would say to turn up the tension to a 9 or lower it to a 7.  She would implore the class to do sprints or to work one leg harder than another.  More than once I heard someone state "It is too hard" and it made me extremely angry.  More than once I saw people pretend to up the tension when in fact they didn't touch the tension meter at all.  Come on, the only person you are fooling is yourself!

How the heck can it be "too hard"?  You are setting the difficulty to your own personal level.  Why are you even in the class if "it is too hard"?  If you aren't going to give any effort, why get up and attend a 7:30 a.m. class on a Saturday?  I just don't get it.

When I workout, I do it to the level of intensity that will bring me the results I want.  I may not like what it feels like, but I do it because I know what will happen when I push myself to my personal limits.  What is it about the majority of people that they are simply incapable of pushing themselves to the limit?  Why do people complain that a personal level is "too hard"?  Why do people come to a class at 7:30 a.m. and not work hard?

The following goes out to everyone who is lazy and doesn't want to work hard.  Please, don't come to the gym and take up valuable space that could be used by those of us who want to work hard.  Please stay home and watch television or read because working out just isn't for you.  Don't come and annoy me and attempt to take me off my focused workout.  Do us all a favor and just find some body weight exercises to do at home.  Don't come in and pretend that you are working hard when you are not.  The only person you are fooling is yourself.  You want people to think that you are working hard, but nobody is fooled by your ridiculous attitude.  There is a limited amount of space at any gym and it should be utilized by those of us who work hard and bring it day in and day out.

The bottom line is that hard work is necessary and if you don't want to do it, stay out of my gym and stay away from me!

Yesterday

Thanks for all the sweet comments about my children.  We have what we call 2 sets.  We have the girl and boy who are 16 and 13 (Set #1) and then we have the girl and boy who are 6 and 4 (Set #2).  We call Set #2 "The Midgets".  My midgets like to copy me.  I haven't taught them to do it, they just do it.  They want to "lift weights like daddy" when they are old enough.  What fun!  Set #1 lifts with me 3 days a week (I have one day I lift by myself, one day I lift along with them and two days I just train them).

Mission 2, Day 45: Massive part deux

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

What's on my mind today?
Monday I begin a series of posts on bodybuilders who have used the H.I.T.

As you can see, I have some pretty Powerful Reasons Why to keep me going.

Mission 2, Day 44: Going massive

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

What is H.I.T.?

H.I.T. is High Intensity Training.  It was made popular by Arthur Jones, the inventor of the Nautilus line of equipment.  It has had alot of proponents over the years.  It involves working with intensity, form and progression to give your entire body an incredible workout.  While there are alot of ways to approach the H.I.T. philosophy of lifting, the basics are very simple.  The program revolves around a 3 day a week full body routine.  The frequency of the workout can change depending upon your recovery abilities.  You do 1 set of every exercise in the routine and you take it to complete failure (defined as not being able to complete another repetition with good form).  For the upper body you are aiming for a repetition range of 6 to 10 repetitions and for the lower body you are aiming for the range of 8 to 12 repetitions.  When you hit the high end of the repetition range you add more weight to the exercise.  One wrinkle in my own H.I.T. program is that I am using timed repetitions with 3 seconds on the up and 3 seconds on the down to increase the intensity.

What is my workout?

Progression

One key to the success of H.I.T. is the fact that it forces you into proper progression.  You either add weight or repetitions at every workout.  The amazing thing is that as you push your body harder and harder, it responds by accepting a larger and larger load.  My progression has been amazing.  Through 4 weeks of this program I have averaged an increase of 45% in volume (weight x repetitions).  This is the best increase I've ever seen during a workout routine and most of the routines I've done have been longer than 12 weeks.  For me to see this kind of increase in just 4 weeks is amazing. 

Adaptability

This workout is extremely adaptable.  I highly suggest that you do a Google search for "high intensity training" and review the information that you find there.  Like me, you will find that this approach to lifting is going to suit you perfectly.  It does not assume that you must workout a certain number of days a week.  It allows you to fit the workout regimen to your body's ability to recover.  I have found this to be the most desirable part of the entire system.  Remember, I started out doing H.I.T. 3 days a week and now I've dropped to 2 days  a week.  My body is getting hit just as hard with 2 days a week as it was with 3 days a week.  I honestly could not do the 3 day a week routine right now because my body just is not recovered.

Conclusion

I strongly suggest that you give H.I.T. a try if you have been trying to add muscle.  You will not be sorry if you do.  H.I.T. lends itself perfectly to the Experiment of One.  You adjust the workout to your own needs and to the way your body responds.  The results will simply amaze you!

  

I arrived at the gym at 4 a.m. and I felt like a man possessed.  After warming up on the cardio equipment, I loaded up the plates on the leg press sled and figured I'd add 50 pounds to the previous week's weight as I had hit 12 reps.  I managed to crank out 19 repetitions at 500 lbs.  I proceeded on to the standing thigh curl machine and added 5 lbs. to the previous workout.  I got to 9 reps and started to feel a severe burn in my right thigh.  I pushed until I got 13 reps and then repeated on the other leg.  The seated calf raise was no different.  I managed to get 15 repetitions (more than last week) with 10 lbs. more weight on the rack.  I then proceeded to get into the squat rack and prepared myself for front squats.  I realized today why I really don't like this exercise.  It just hurts all over!  I proceeded to the Quad Blaster and instead of going up to 45 lbs. I upped the weight to 47.5 lbs.  I pushed out 11 reps at which point I collapsed to the ground in pain.  My thighs were huge from the pump I was experiencing.  I had to spend about 2 minutes on the ground because of the intensity with which I attacked my legs today.  The rest of my workout proceeded in the same insane fashion.  On every single exercise I pushed my body to its most extreme limits.  The most interesting thing came about when I hit the deadlifts.  I realized that on my Monday workout I had done 9 reps with 255 lbs. so I aimed for 12 reps with 255 lbs. today.  I walked up and loaded the bar with 3 plates on each side like I had on Monday and then proceeded to do the lift.  By the 4th repetition my lower back was burning and my glutes were on fire.  I wondered why the weight felt so heavy when it hadn't been as heavy on Monday.  As I finished the 7th repetition and set down the weight I realized my mistake.  On Monday I had put 3 plates on each side — 45 lbs., 35 lbs. and 25 lbs., which is 255 lbs. when you do that on both sides and include the bar weight.  Today I had put 3 plate
s on each side, but made a big mistake — 45 lbs., 45 lbs. and 25 lbs., which is 275 lbs. when you do that on both sides and include the bar weight.  At the same time I managed to get the work done!

Mission 2, Day 43: Planning ahead

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

What's on my mind today?
It is an old method that many don't believe in today, but pyramiding is still a wonderful way to increase the intensity in your workout.  There are actually 3 types of pyramiding that I will discuss:  (1) load pyramiding; (2) repetition pyramiding; and (3) intermission pyramiding.

Summary

Each of the pyramiding techniques will blast your workout intensity through the roof.  They are very simple to use and are extremely effective.  If you are looking for a great, easy way to increase intensity, pyramiding is the way.

Mission 2, Day 42: Practice makes perfect

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!