My Clinic: Muscle Gain w/ HIT!

Hello all,
So i have decided to become the latest person to start a blog. As we Europeans are forced out of the Clinics we must start our own !
Main difference between mine and others is my choice of gym routine. HIT is not as popular as others, in fact it seems to have died a death.
I myself found it as i read a new book every week, and last week was El Darden’s book on New HIT. This was a complete culture shock as before that i was the 38 or the 103.

After that book, i was totally captivated and went off and searched through the internet. Where i found Arthur Jones and his works, his Bulletins are mind blowing to say the least, 2nd one is on my to do list.
Will post my Diet and Training reigmens later.
More so that im FORCED to keep records than any claim to fame, i tend not to put to much emphasis on writing stuff down. This will provide the impetus to do so, that i can see month to month.

Ok here is the results from my 1st ever attempt at HIT. Still finding the weights but i can assure you this was mind blowing intensity.
Apoligies for the light enough weights, only been training for near 7 months now but im advancing!
Im up again tonight even though my tris and upper back are still painfull. Yesterday lifting my arms above my head was met with severe giving out !

Leg Extension: 55kg * 10 Probably +10kg
Leg Curl: 60kg * 10 Probably +5kg
Squat: 85kg * 9
Calfs: Using Seated Leg Press + 105kg (How to make them harder)
Bent Arm Pullover: 14kg * 8 (promptly lost my lunch)
Incline Bench Press: 55kg * 10
Bent Over Rows D.B: 22kg *8 for each arm
Tricep Extension: 18kg (Nearly lost my lunch again)
Bicep Curl: 25kg (Thought i was going to die)
Truck Curl: (Body Weight for10)

As you see when i got to the arm pullovers my stomach HEAVED, 1st time ever had to run to the bathroom minus my pride and let loose !
Came back got to triceps stomach AGAIN nearly gave !
Biceps physically thought i was dying, bright red face !

Paremeters are: 8-10 reps
Get to 12 reps, put on 15%-20% weight
Attempt NO REST AT ALL asap between all excercises
All told warmup, main and cooldown = 27 mins
Bring a Sick bucket :confused:
Attempt PERFECT FORM! No cheating get someone to help
you, 1st six are usually ok 7-8 are TERRIBLE where death
seems preferable and 9 we wont talk about !

thats my 1st day which was 2 days ago. Today is Day 2 will let y’all know!
Diet to come soon

Diet for yesterday,today and tomorrow. have no problems in work as the breaks are spaced out perfectly!

7.00: Apple, 2 Bananas, 2 oranges, 6 heads of brocolli and 3 eggs.
Man i love my blender !

9.15: 1 bowl of oatmeal, 2 slices of Brown bread with Butter

12.15:1 serving of Rice, 1 breast of chicken, 1 bowl of salad from work, as
some person said on this site “eat the rainbow”

3.30: 1 tin of tuna + mayo + sweet corn (by far my fav meal :D)

5.15: 1 Chicken breast in a Salad or else i buy a CHicken Caesar Salad

8.30 (1 hr before workout): 3 slices of Turkey.

Post workout: 3 Servings of BCAA;s
Whey Protein Shake
1/2 bottle of Lucozade.

Before Bed: 2 spoons of Cottage Cheese
2 spoons of REAL peanut butter.

Also around 5-6 litres of water

Hello again, just thought i’d post the link, Dan John is a fantastic writer i must say, much like CT no BIG HUGE words when the articles mean shit.
VERY good article

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=645867&cr=

And another post :slight_smile:
For anyone looking for a 2-3 week program. EVEN IF YOU DONT LIKE HIT as Dan John says ANYTHING works for 6 weeks, here is a real mass builder.

he Workout

Note: Do a short warmup set before each exercise with approximately 50% of the weight you will use for the main working set. Do about 4 - 6 reps with this lighter weight, just enough to get warmed up.

* Squats 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Leg Extensions 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Leg Curls 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Dumbbell Pullovers 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Barbell Overhead Shoulder Press 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Seated Rows 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Bench Press 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Barbell Bicep Curls 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Tricep Extensions 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Weighted Pullups 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Weighted Dips 1 X 8 - 10 reps
* Standing Calf Raises 1 X 8 - 12 reps
* Abs - 1 X 10 - 15 reps

The most important thing is that you lift to absolute FAILURE! This is not an option. It is almost 100% necessary to have a workout partner. If you need to get 8 - 10 reps, choose a weight that allows you to get 8 - 10 reps? But not even ONE more. I am serious!

Once you reach your last rep, you should not be physically able to do another one, no matter what. If Britney Spears promises to date you if you get one more, it wouldn’t matter. You should NOT be able to do it. Only you can judge if you are truly putting all possible effort into each set.

“Unlike programs where you are doing 4 or 5
sets per exercise, you only have one chance to blast
your muscles. Don’t waste it!”

Perform each set with good form. Cheating will only hurt your gains. Do each rep slowly and do not use momentum. Each rep should use a full range of motion and take approximately 2 seconds on the way down and 2 seconds on the way up. Do not “jerk” the weight up. Slowly move it up and down. Use lighter weight if you must. This is VERY important to your gains so don’t ignore this!

Do not stop moving during any part of your set. Some people will go all the way down on squats, then come back up and lock their knees, rest for a second or two, then go back down. Do NOT do this or you will be making Baby Jesus cry. You should stay in constant motion without locking out on any exercise. Do not stop at the bottom of your bicep curls or any other exercise. Again: Keep moving for the whole set and do not lock out your arms or legs.

And also seems some authors here reccomend doing legs 1st as it helps the rest of your body.
Basically same what im doing 3 Days training 1 on 1 off etc

Another interesting thing is that people who do 12 sets per bodypart usually do not go to full failure on each set. This would be almost impossible as it would nearly kill them!

They will usually do their first few sets with ease because in the back of their mind they are saving their energy for the last few sets. Most of their sets are worthless since they are not going to failure. How often do you see somebody in your gym perform a full, balls to the wall set where they are almost about to die from the pain and effort. Not often.
Usually these people are just going through the motion, getting a good “burn”, while making a few grunts. Then they walk out feeling better than you because they did 12 sets for biceps and you only did one. Your muscles will only grow if they are forced too! Otherwise, we would all have huge legs just from walking around all day.

The workout LOOKS easy on paper, since you are only doing one set per exercise. Trust me, if you go to failure on each exercise, you will be more physically exhausted than ever before. Usually, a person works just one or two muscles groups. They walk out of the gym with burning biceps or triceps. “Oooohh… my biceps are tired! I am da man!”

Tips for each one:

Squats

        Since this is your first exercise, you may want to do 2 or 3 short and easy warm up sets to get ready. This will be your hardest exercise most likely, so we put it at the beginning so you can throw everything you can at it. Lifting to failure on squats means almost falling down on your last rep. Be sure to go all the way down and have a partner or rack there to help you if needed.

Leg Extensions

  Use a full range of motion. Go all the way up and all the way down.

Leg Curls

  Use a full range of motion and do not "jerk" the weight up. Also from what i have read today to properly isolate the Hams, when lifting up point your toes toward your knees, when going down point AWAY from the knee. I forget the whole science will try re-find the article if no-one can offer the reason.

Dumbbell Pullovers

  Your first upper body exercise. Be sure to do a good warm up set so you do not injure yourself. Lift heavy and do not rest at the top of the movement.

Barbell Overhead Shoulder Press

  Do these in front of your face, not behind the neck. You can injure your rotator cuff when doing them behind the neck. Go down until the bar is about at chin level, not lower. Slow, slow, slow reps!

Seated Rows

  Keep your back straight up and down. Do not move far forward or lean far backwards. You want to be squeezing together your shoulder blades!

Bench Press

  Slowly, go down and touch your chest around your nipple area. Do not use momentum to get the weight up. Use a spotter and get an extra rep with his help to really blast the muscle.

Barbell Bicep Curls

  Do not sway! Keep your elbows at your side and do not move them. Squeeze your biceps upward.

Tricep Extensions

  Keep your body straight up, do not lean over too much.

Weighted Pullups

  If you can't do pull-ups, do pulldowns. Do these slowly and go all the way up and down. Use the wide-grip bent bar.

Weighted Dips

  Strap on the weight! Keep your body straight up and down, do not lean over too much. You want to be working your triceps, not your lower chest.

Standing Calf Raises

  Go all the way down and up. Don't use too heavy of a weight where you can only do partial reps. Feel the burn!

Abs

  Choose a good exercise that uses some resistance. Don't work your abs on any off days. Abs are normal muscles just like your shoulders and chest!

Also for motivation here is some tips !

Join A Gym.

  Sign up for a long term membership! You will know that you are wasting your hard earned money if you don't go. Why write a check every month for something you are not using? Taking supplements and buying a gym membership can hit you in the pocketbook. They are both very worth it if you actually workout. Otherwise you are throwing your money away!

  Joining a gym will also help most people workout harder than if they workout at home. Just knowing that people are watching you will motivate you to lift heavier and harder.

  People would laugh if you spent 20 minutes in between sets watching The Simpsons. Nobody at home can motivate you quite like this, and besides, you've already seen every episode of The Simpsons.

Create A Set Schedule.

  Saying that you are going to workout "sometime tonight" doesn't work for a lot of people. Many gyms stay open to at least midnight nowadays. Many people keep putting off going to the gym.

  They think that they will go "pretty soon". Then they say they will go right after this TV show. Pretty soon they are feeling tired and ready for bed. You can't go to the gym feeling like this! Besides, you can always workout tomorrow night, right?

  Tell yourself that you will go to the gym at 7:00 p.m. on each workout day or whatever time is best for you. Do not change from this schedule no matter what is going on. Meet your partner there each day at that time without even calling him/her.

Tell Everybody You Are Working Out.

  Do it! This won't be scary to you if you know that you are not going to quit. Let all your friends, co-workers and family know that you are starting a new workout program and you can't wait to get results. Just the thought of failing in front of all these people will be enough to keep you going strong. Soon they will all be asking how you did it.

Change Your Routine Often.

  The same old routine for six months at a time will bore you to death. This can also lead to frustrating plateaus. Change your routine every 6-8 weeks. Change the exercises, the number of days per week, the order of the exercises, the time between sets and the number of reps per set.

Don’t Be Negative.

  Some people skip certain workouts (like leg day) because they are hard. Don't even let that thought enter your mind! Don't go around telling your friends, "Ugh! I hate leg day! I almost puke everytime and I friggin hate it!". Just saying a sentence outloud like that will help reinforce it in your mind.

  Soon you will be skipping every leg workout and then skipping every workout altogether. Every time you start to think negative thought about working out, make yourself think of something else. Don't dread your workout all day long. Be positive and remember how it feels to finish a hard workout. Good pain. Think of the results!

Music.

  Most of us know the emotional power of music. Pick out your most motivational and exciting songs and put them in the car. Listen to them on the way to the gym to get motivated to workout harder than you ever have before.

Along with them, read anything by Chris Shugart. Be scared to be around him be psycho-anyalysing you in seconds :smiley:

Too much to comment on, but have at it. HIT isn’t dead, at least not HIT principles.

Well i will give it a month and see the difference between the pictures.
I live in hope !

Good luck Tiribulus. Stay strong!

Here is last nights report:

Leg Extension: 65kg * 8
Leg Curl: 65kg * 7
Squat: 85kg *10
Calfs: Using Seated Leg Press + 105kg
Bent Arm Pullover: 14kg * 7 (promptly lost my dinner)
Incline Bench Press: 57.5kg * 7
Bent Over Rows D.B: 22kg *8 for each arm
Tricep Extension: 18kg * 9
Bicep Curl: 25kg (Thought i was going to pass out)
Truck Curl: (Body Weight for10)

Seriously wtf is it about these pull overs.
Straight after i dropped the weight my stomach seemed to rejoice a little bit TOO MUCH!
UGH!
Again the bicep curls were the death of me. NEVER EVER again will i do these for fun !

Why no pulldowns or pullups?