When I first bought this eBook I didn’t know what to think. I actually laughed involuntarily. The whole program is not-to-failure? What happened to this guy I grew up reading? I’ve read Ellington Darden ever since I was a kid because my father and grandfather had the books. One-set-to-failure was dogma, period. Never questioned it - and thought Body By Science just solidified it further for the general population.
Then I did the first week of workouts and gained an immense amount of respect for a man who after fifty years was still open to experimentation and finding new answers. That alone was worth the $10 even if I never did the workouts. To see someone with an open-mind who was and is THE guy in a field of scientific endeavor continually willing to apply new methods if they seem reasonable is worthy of my entire respect. Thank you, Dr. Darden.
The workouts feel tailor-made for me. I feel like I can finally workout three times per week with all the benefits that has and not overtrain. I was down to a split workout that saw me hitting each muscle group just once every two weeks. I was missing out on the “protein synthesis” 24hr post-workout window that more frequent exercise bestows on the trainee, but I wasn’t recovering fast enough to use that as a tool. With Extreme HIT, I can perceive and feel the growth even just after one week.
I had a sore chest/heart after the third workout, so I’m going to watch that going into week two and see if it reappears. There were other factors involved that have been removed and I’m hoping to be able to continue the program as it was written.
I made a few minor adjustments to the program due to my home gym limitations. The adjustments have probably made the workouts more difficult than as originally written. I’ve substituted Barbell Squat for Leg Press and Leg Extension, and Deadlift for leg curl. I’ve also strategically used the push up instead of bench press so I can move faster between exercises while my awesome and loving wife sets up for the next set.
I don’t know how anybody does this without a training partner or machine equipment. I’ve been able to go from exercise to exercise without any rest in between for most of the workout. I had to up the weights a hair after the first workout, but I was able to get them dialed in quickly. Doing 30-10-30 prior to this was helpful in understanding what the weight needed to be.
I’m not using the nutritional supplements… because I’m on the Lion Diet (carnivore but just red meat). I don’t want to get too much into what amounts to a controversial topic. Last summer just short of my 32nd birthday I realized that I had low T. I started looking into possible natural remedies and this is one that showed up time and time again, with lab results to back up claims. I was unable to accept what came with low testosterone and this diet made a lot of sense to me.
To be clear: I don’t think there is one way to go about nutrition (or weight lifting) and I don’t feel religious about my diet. I only include this so that when I post my beginning pictures and ending pictures, along with measurements and feedback at the end of five weeks it can be taken in that context.
Thanks for putting out this material Dr. Darden. It is a pleasure to do the workouts. I hope that you consider self-publishing the book that the NY publishers would not publish. I’d rather pay $20-30 directly to you anyway.
I’m going to do these first five weeks and then I’m sure I’ll have questions about how to proceed forward. I like this method of lifting and I’d like to run it for a good while before returning to any MMF workouts.
Alex, Maryland.
