Speaking of AI

Bigger Stronger Leaner Ellington Darden HIT Coaching
1

And we were…

I’m here at the computer, so why not. First I asked ChatGPT to summarize Dr Darden’s philosophy. How’d it do?

Dr. Ellington Darden is a key figure in the world of strength training and high-intensity exercise. He’s best known for his work with Nautilus, his influence on the High-Intensity Training (HIT) movement, and his many books on fitness and bodybuilding. Here’s a clear summary of his exercise philosophy, including the core ideas he’s promoted over the decades:

✱🧠✱

**Core Philosophy: High-Intensity Training (HIT)✱

Dr. Darden advocates for brief, infrequent, and intense workouts designed to maximize muscle growth and fat loss with minimal time commitment. His approach emphasizes:

**1.✱

**Training to Momentary Muscular Failure✱

  • Each exercise should be performed until **you cannot complete another rep with proper form✱ .
  • This ensures maximal recruitment of muscle fibers.

**2.✱

**Slow Repetitions (Often 4-4 or 30-30-30 Protocols)✱

  • Slow, controlled lifting and lowering reduces momentum, increases time under tension, and improves safety.
  • He later popularized “negative accentuated” training, like the **30-30-30✱ method:
    • 30 seconds lifting
    • 30 seconds holding
    • 30 seconds lowering

**3.✱

**Minimal Volume, Maximum Effort✱

  • Usually one set per exercise is sufficient — provided it is done to true failure.
  • Workouts often include 5–10 exercises and take **30 minutes or less✱.
  • Trains 2–3 times per week to allow recovery.

✱🧰✱

**Key Tools & Approaches✱

  • Heavy use of Nautilus machines, designed to provide variable resistance that matches strength curves.
  • Preference for full-body routines over body part splits.
  • Introduced and tested techniques like pre-exhaustion, negative-only training, and slow reps with Nautilus founder **Arthur Jones✱.

✱📘✱

**Philosophical Influences✱

  • Strongly aligned with Arthur Jones, the founder of Nautilus and the HIT movement.
  • Scientific and empirical — he documented countless case studies and before/after transformations.
  • Advocates objective measures like body fat testing, strength gains, and photographic documentation.

✱🧂✱

**A Few Controversial or Distinct Positions✱

  • Strongly critical of high-volume training (e.g., Arnold-style routines).
  • Views explosive, high-velocity movements as risky and unnecessary for most people.
  • Opposes overtraining and emphasizes recovery and nutrition as vital to progress.
  • Promotes brief, structured eating plans (e.g., low-carb/high-protein regimens) to pair with HIT for fat loss.

**:writing_hand: Notable Works✱

  • **“The New High-Intensity Training”✱
  • **“Body Fat Breakthrough”✱
  • **“A Flat Stomach ASAP”✱
  • Many books featuring dramatic before/after transformations

**:compass: Summary✱

Dr. Darden’s training philosophy is best described as:

**“Train hard, train brief, train safely — and then recover.”✱

It is ideal for:

  • Busy individuals wanting efficient results
  • People looking for safe, joint-friendly strength work
  • Those who prefer machine-based training
  • Anyone skeptical of “more is better” in the gym
2

Then I asked for a Joe Weider impersonation, describing Darden…

✱💪✱

**[In Joe Weider’s booming, old-school voice…]✱

“Now listen here, kid — I got nothing against Ellington Darden. He’s a fine fella! Smart guy. Real into those Nautilus machines. Great hair, too. But let me tell you somethin’…”

✱🗣️✱

**“One set to failure?! ONE? That’s your workout?!”✱

“I spill more intensity brushing my mustache in the morning! You wanna grow massive, mountainous muscle? You don’t tiptoe into the gym, do a little bicep curl to failure, and call it a day. No, no, no! You bombard the muscle! You blitz it! You shock it like Frankenstein’s lab!”

✱🗣️✱

**“Machines are nice — for rehab and your grandmother.”✱

“But you want real iron game glory? You grab a barbell, you get under that squat rack, and you move some heavy iron like Zeus himself forged it. The Weider athletes didn’t build chests like cannonballs by fiddling with cams and pulleys!”

✱🗣️✱

**“Train once a week? That’s not high-intensity — that’s a vacation!”✱

“The champions I trained hit it every day. Chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, calves while you’re brushing your teeth. That’s dedication! That’s the Weider Way™!”

✱🗣️✱

**“Darden wants to train smarter. I say — train smarter AND harder!”✱

“Use your brain, yes. Eat your protein, absolutely. But don’t think for a second you’re gonna build Olympia biceps with a 30-second isometric hold. That’s not hypertrophy — that’s holding in a sneeze!”

✱🗣️✱

**“But hey — he’s got his place.”✱

“Darden’s methods? Great for the busy executive, the aging accountant, the guy who thinks pull-ups are for doors. But if you wanna build muscle like a champion, you follow the Weider Principles: overload, instinctive training, flushing, pre-exhaust, pyramids, supersets — you need a glossary just to survive!”

✱🏆✱

**“Now get out there and train! And remember —✱

You don’t build statues out of easy sets.”

3

AI is incorrect on this, Darden promotes 60/20/20 (carbs/protein/fat) for fat loss

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4

I caught that too. I use it (play with it really) a lot, and it makes a lot of errors, but is still shockingly accurate a lot of the time. I like to play with data and coding sometimes, and it earnestly tries to give me instructions, but there are a lot of do-overs and apologies and “oh yes, good catch, that won’t work because…”

It’s voraciously learning language and is a lot of fun. it is definitely learning about ✱me✱. Oh dear.

Most of the Dr D stuff is on the nose.

Edited to add before someone gets in with it: I don’t believe Joe Weider had a booming voice and I never heard of chests like cannonballs either. Now delts…

5

AI is a good tool…but it needs to be verified before it’s trusted

and don’t forget…Weider only cared about Weider

6

He had principles you know. Right?

7

The principles already existed…he just named them and capitalized on them…and can’t blame him for that

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8

I can’t resist a pun.

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9

I was wondering, lol