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Hey all,

 

Been working out seriously for about 6 months now, and have been vegan for about 2!

 

I got burnt out on what I was previously doing in the gym, so I decided to switch things up a bit. I am primarily going for overall fitness and strength, but definitely do want to add some mass. I'm hoping you can take a look at my routine and give me some good constructive criticism on what is good about it, and what you think I should change. I do a 3 day rotation twice a week, as I've marked below.

 

Here's what I've been doing for about the last month:

 

Legs (Monday/Thursday)

• Leg press

• Lunges

• Jump-ups (basically jumping onto a raised platform as fast as I can)

• Quad extensions

• Hamstring curls

 

Chest and arms (Tuesday/Friday)

• Barbell Bench Press

• Incline Dumbell chest press

• Dips

• Cable cross-overs (low, mid, high)

• Bicep curls

• Tri-cep pulldowns

 

Back and shoulders (Wednesday/Saturday)

• Deadlifts

• Pull-ups

• Barbell/dumbbell Overhead press

• Barbell/dumbbell row

• Barbell pullover

• Deltoid flies (front, side, rear)

• Shrugs

 

I generally do 8-12 reps at ~60% 1RM, for 3-4 sets. Every fourth workout or so I do more in the 4-6 rep range for 80-90% 1RM. I know I should be doing squats, but I had been doing them 3x a week, and it was starting to kill my lower back. I know this was from poor form, so I am trying to get my back healthy and relearn proper squat form before adding them back in. Leg press is a poor substitute. I do a solid ab workout every other day.

 

I would be grateful for any constructive criticism. Thanks.

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Eh, kinda pieced it together myself based on what I've learned over the past couple of years. I'm mostly concerned about my back day, not really feeling like I am making much progress, other than on deadlift. I am pretty slow to increase weight or reps on the barbell row and pull-ups especially.

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Hi S Tales,

 

I would not recommend the above routine to anyone (even if that person was taking steroids and recovery enhancers). Such a program does not allow for systemic recovery to take place, let alone for localized muscle recovery.

 

Increasing muscular size and strength is a tri-phase process, you MUST first employ a proper stimulus (high intensity training), you then MUST allow enough time for the body to compensate/recover from the workout (and not just for localized recovery, but for full systemic recovery), and then you MUST allow enough time to elapse for the third phase to take place, ie over-compensation / growth. Repeat exposure to the stimulus before the second and or third phases have had a chance to happen and you simply short circuit the whole process.

 

I would strongly recommend you reduce your volume and frequency of your training to no more than 2-3 intense abbreviated workouts per week. For the pull-up and BB Row, i would recommend you use wrist straps, this should take some of the focus of pulling with your arms and your grip somewhat, and allow you to focus more on contracting your back muscles.

 

Hope this helps

Best

Rob

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I've never heard of this systemic recovery idea. Do you have any recommended readings to learn more about it? 2-3 workouts just doesn't sound like enough to me, plus I really enjoy getting intense exercise every day.

 

I do think that what I am doing allows for localized muscle recovery, as no two days in a row work the same muscles. Yes, there is a small amount of overlap between chest/arms and back/shoulders, but not so much that it should interfere significantly. I've been doing this for about 2.5 months now, and am not feeling over-trained and have gained a few pounds of muscle. Still, I would be curious to read more about your training ideas.

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I've never heard of this systemic recovery idea. Do you have any recommended readings to learn more about it? 2-3 workouts just doesn't sound like enough to me, plus I really enjoy getting intense exercise every day.

 

I do think that what I am doing allows for localized muscle recovery, as no two days in a row work the same muscles. Yes, there is a small amount of overlap between chest/arms and back/shoulders, but not so much that it should interfere significantly. I've been doing this for about 2.5 months now, and am not feeling over-trained and have gained a few pounds of muscle. Still, I would be curious to read more about your training ideas.

 

If you take just your frontal delts alone, they are stimulated/effected by the first 5 exercises in your chest and arms workout, and then the very next day your hitting them again with overhead presses and front lateral raises...and this takes place twice a week. My question to you is...does a natural trainee really need or require that amount of volume and frequency for such a small chunk of muscle?

That kind of volume and frequency is the kind used by pro bodybuilders whom are born with superior a recovery ability, on top of that they take vast quantities of steroids and growth hormones which also aid recovery.

 

Trust me, when you've experienced a true HIT workout you'll know that 2-3 intense abbreviated workouts are more than enough for the natural trainee...there'll be no doubt in your mind about that:)

 

I first learned about systemic recovery when i spoke with former Mr Universe and HIT pioneer Mike Mentzer in my late teens, i too believed that if i train certain bodyparts on certain days i could get away with using more volume and frequency, i was wrong! Mike taught me that intense exercise has a systemic effect on the ENTIRE physical system, not just the targeted area. So even when using a split routine, one must still allow a sufficient amount of time to elapse for systemic recovery to take place. This is not my idea, Mikes idea, nor anyone's....NATURE that dictates the rules here. Intense exercise is not a hobby, its intense physical stress, and the human body doesn't have a infinite capacity for dealing with it.

 

Mike talks about systemic stress and recovery here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1IcqZLMaH4

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  • 1 year later...
Hey all,

 

Been working out seriously for about 6 months now, and have been vegan for about 2!

 

I got burnt out on what I was previously doing in the gym, so I decided to switch things up a bit. I am primarily going for overall fitness and strength, but definitely do want to add some mass. I'm hoping you can take a look at my routine and give me some good constructive criticism on what is good about it, and what you think I should change. I do a 3 day rotation twice a week, as I've marked below.

 

Here's what I've been doing for about the last month:

 

Legs (Monday/Thursday)

• Leg press

• Lunges

• Jump-ups (basically jumping onto a raised platform as fast as I can)

• Quad extensions

• Hamstring curls

 

Chest and arms (Tuesday/Friday)

• Barbell Bench Press

• Incline Dumbell chest press

• Dips

• Cable cross-overs (low, mid, high)

• Bicep curls

• Tri-cep pulldowns

 

Back and shoulders (Wednesday/Saturday)

• Deadlifts

• Pull-ups

• Barbell/dumbbell Overhead press

• Barbell/dumbbell row

• Barbell pullover

• Deltoid flies (front, side, rear)

• Shrugs

 

I generally do 8-12 reps at ~60% 1RM, for 3-4 sets. Every fourth workout or so I do more in the 4-6 rep range for 80-90% 1RM. I know I should be doing squats, but I had been doing them 3x a week, and it was starting to kill my lower back. I know this was from poor form, so I am trying to get my back healthy and relearn proper squat form before adding them back in. Leg press is a poor substitute. I do a solid ab workout every other day.

 

I would be grateful for any constructive criticism. Thanks.

 

It looks more than enough to get the results.

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Opinions vary...ignorant and all!

 

Fact is, ANYONE looking to increase their muscular size and strength must expose themselves to intense physical stress, moreòver, physiologists found in the early 1900s that INTENSITY (not volume) was the single must important factor for increasing muscular size and strength. But each to their own, some adhere to the laws of nature, while others

try to ice state uphill.

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HIT enthusiasts can be successful in spite of their training, not because of it. And they will have the CV fitness of a couch potato.

 

Although I do think your program is overloaded with fluff

 

Leg day = squats and or deadlifts, calf raises

 

Chest - bench, incline, dips

 

Back- pull-ups/chins, db rows

 

Shoulders- overhead press

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Eiji,

 

We can cherry pick research all day long to support what were saying, i will say this, HIT isn't for everyone (though neither is high volume training) - it is a fact that everyone must expose themselves to progressively higher intense physical stress to warrant a continual adaptive response, however there is a genetically medicated limit as to how much exposure can be tolerated, just as there are individuals that can tolerate a lot of exposure to high intensity sunlight stress, there are those that can tolerate very little.

 

With regards to CV, it is a physiological fact, that the only way you can get at the myocardium, is by preforming mechanical work with muscle, and to the degree, that the greater the intensity of work done with muscle...the greater the "cardio" benefits.

 

With regards to what you think about my training, i don't really care, ive been training for 25 years and have had highly experienced trainers train me, i did the volume stuff for years Eiji, but it wasn't until i reduced the volume and increased my intensity of my training did i begin to see much better results.

 

I have encountered many people like yourself Eiji over the last few decades, i was even once even physical threatened in a gym for believing what i believe, but i guess that's what i get for challenging decades of tradition based conventional wisdom, it has not detered me in anyway shape or form, as Mike Mentzer once said to me "Am not on this earth to win a popularity contest". I will continue to shout what i believe and what i know works from the rooftops.

 

Have a great weekend

Rob

Edited by HIT Rob
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Yeah, I am opinionated for sure. It's great that HIT works for you. And yes we both can pick studies that support our opinions. I do believe that more research points toward higher volume and frequency to being a more effective approach. That is why the vast majority of athletes and coaches use it.

I dont really care how you train but when you state that HIT is superior to other methods that may be true for you but not for the vast majority of everyone else. See where I'm coming from?

 

I think that HIT is easier to be successful with than high volume high frequency because it's less taxing on the whole system. Your nutrition and sleep habits don't have to be as dialed to get results. HVHF places more stress on the system as a whole and if your recovery side (nutrition,rest,sleep,massage,mobility drills, etc.) is not on point the gains do not come. Once you dial in those variables HVHF surpasses

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Its ok lol, its good to have an opinion:)

 

Indeed the majority of the research is in favor of volume training, that being said, I believe theres a few reasons for this...

Firstly, those who are more fast twitch muscle fiber dominant will benefit more from high stress HIT techniques such as rest pause, max statics, negative only etc.

Secondly, participants in these studies have in many cases have little to no training experience, it takes time to develop the ability to train with maximal intensity, it must be learned.

Thirdly, I dont believe the quality of todays research is as good has it once was, theres a lot of poorly conducted research these days, due to inexperienced researchers or funding limitations.

 

One of the longest - best conducted studies, was by one of Germany's most respected physiologists of all time, by the name of A.E Muller, Muller was obsessed with finding out what yeilded size and strength increases in the shortest time poss, he also used a combination of experienced and none experienced participants. After 10 long years of researching many different protocols (3sets x of 10, 5x5, 4sets of 12, once per week, 3 days per week, 7 days per week etc etc) he concluded that a 6 second maximal static contraction (with the resistance held the the fully contracted position of a given muscle) performed once a week per bodypart yeilded the fastest and best gains. He later refined that and said that a one second maximal static contraction (as long as it was truely maximal) would do the same thing. Muller corresponded with the man recognised as the godfather of western physiology, Authur Steinhaus, interestingly enough, he also had similar findings as Muller and was an advocate of maximal intensity static contractions.

 

The man recognised as the godfather of HIT thoery Arthur Jones also did a lot of research and contributed a great deal to the field, he was something of a genius and spent well over 100 million dollars of his own fortune on resesrch. Back in the late 60s, he was advocating training 3x per week with as many as 15-20 exercises (one set to failure per movement), by the 80s (after much research), he was advocating training just twice per week and with 8 or less exercises....thats a heck of a reduction in volume.

 

So does one go with high intensity or high volume, both apparently work, however, one exposes the joints and connective tissues to considerably less wear and tear than the other, and one also has you spend considerably less time in the gym. That makes one superior in my book. Is HIT easier, absoultely not, ive had volume trainees train with me, several couldnt even complete a 20 minute workout. The first my training partner and nephew trained with me, I had him perform an abbreviated full body HIT workout, Bench, Rows and leg presses with just one set to failure per movement, after going to all out vanilla failure on the leg press, he made a v-line for the fire exit door - booted it open and proceeded to throw up all over the place, the workout by the way lasted 15 minutes, afterwards, I said to him "you learned something about intensity today", he didn't say anything, he just nodded. Within 4 months, he went from leg pressing 250kgs to 500kgs (he now uses 620kgs) for the same number of reps, his bench and row also almost doubled.

 

 

 

Rob

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hey all,

 

Been working out seriously for about 6 months now, and have been vegan for about 2!

 

I got burnt out on what I was previously doing in the gym, so I decided to switch things up a bit. I am primarily going for overall fitness and strength, but definitely do want to add some mass. I'm hoping you can take a look at my routine and give me some good constructive criticism on what is good about it, and what you think I should change. I do a 3 day rotation twice a week, as I've marked below.

 

Here's what I've been doing for about the last month:

 

Legs (Monday/Thursday)

• Leg press

• Lunges

• Jump-ups (basically jumping onto a raised platform as fast as I can)

• Quad extensions

• Hamstring curls

 

Chest and arms (Tuesday/Friday)

• Barbell Bench Press

• Incline Dumbell chest press

• Dips

• Cable cross-overs (low, mid, high)

• Bicep curls

• Tri-cep pulldowns

 

Back and shoulders (Wednesday/Saturday)

• Deadlifts

• Pull-ups

• Barbell/dumbbell Overhead press

• Barbell/dumbbell row

• Barbell pullover

• Deltoid flies (front, side, rear)

• Shrugs

 

I generally do 8-12 reps at ~60% 1RM, for 3-4 sets. Every fourth workout or so I do more in the 4-6 rep range for 80-90% 1RM. I know I should be doing squats, but I had been doing them 3x a week, and it was starting to kill my lower back. I know this was from poor form, so I am trying to get my back healthy and relearn proper squat form before adding them back in. Leg press is a poor substitute. I do a solid ab workout every other day.

 

I would be grateful for any constructive criticism. Thanks.

 

Thanks for sharing it's really helpful for newbies like me

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