I 100% intend on doing that once haha. Though not with the barbell versions of the “Big 4” for safety reasons.
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That’s a picture of Roger Estep, not Mark Rippetoe
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LOL
The mustache fooled me too
“Everything is f**ked”
I didn’t like it as much. It’s a little more of a macro view of the same ideas from the first book. Still good, though.
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You know I’m not into gomad and low bar squats. My dude if Hvt bro splits worked for me I had no problem doing it, everybody is different.
What’s wrong with low bar squats?
Nothing just a personal preference, but by the way what’s wrong with gomad?
I don’t think anything is wrong with a gallon of milk a day when gaining is the goal. I did just that for 6 weeks while running Super Squats.
With low bar squats too.
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Am I reading correctly you think neither high intensity nor high volume are effective approaches? I’m typically the least confrontational guy on here, but I don’t think looking for the minimum amount of work will yield the keys to success.
I’m not being a jerk: are you sure this is a hobby to which you want to dedicate your time? It doesn’t give a ton back if you don’t actually enjoy doing it.
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As I said I was influenced by the hardgainer magazine, and It’s not that i think that high volume doesn’t work, it clearly works for some, it doesn’t work for me, I mean I tried it for a long time. High intensity training is low in volume and has a fascinating logic but the intensity is so high that the toll on the body are not less. I simply enjoy more low volume, fullbody, mostly compound exercises.
I didn’t say you were; I was really asking if you liked doing this. Typically you’re going to see most “successful” (whatever that means) trainers fall somewhere along a spectrum of volume vs intensity. Rarely will you see them on the lower end of both.
That said, if your goals are not necessarily hypertrophy-specific (maybe you’re training for sports, for example), there could be some merit. Even then, though, I’d expect the trainee is getting their volume at practice or from conditioning work.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter what I think. If you like what you’re doing, then that’s exactly what you should do; I mean that sincerely.
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Thanks
Very interesting topic.
Whenever a person says that a program does not work, i always ask - how much weight did you gain while on it?
At some point nothing works unless you gain weight. And in my experience, when you gain weight, almost everything starts to work unless you just overtrain.
I do agree that going to failure can fuck you up but we have to also understand that most HIT stuff was made for machines and isolation.
Sure, doing Deadlifts to failure might destroy you, but i dont think leg extensions will.
Also, HIT workouts are supposed to be super short, and the actual HIT sets limited.
I am doing this cool thing called EDT. Which is a mix of HIT and volume, but in a limited period of time. I just take an exercise, i take 5min time and go for an AMRAP in those 5mins. I try to start around 50 reps, and i try to add 1 every session i do the exercise(mostly once a week). When i reach 60 reps, i add weight.
Its kind of like HIT but you can split the reps as much as you want. You can start with 10/10/10 and then do 5/5/5/5 and end with 2-3 reps to reach the required reps.
I am in no way an expert of this. But i do have some 17 years of experience as a person who has shit genetics for anything athletic.
I believe i have done everything there is to do, taken and/or injected everything, etc.
The best advice for myself i have found during these years is that - if i dont gain weight, i dont progress no matter what i do.
And also i havent seen much difference in progress if i change stuff around. Either i progress slow while gaining weight or i dont.
I cant just take loads of steroids, train twice as much and eat twice as much and grow twice as fast. Its like an ON/OFF switch for me. Either i do gain something or i dont. Doing something MORE does not speed up the process.
SO again - did you gain weight and size while doing HIT? If no, its not HIT that is the problem.
If you dont like HIT - dont do it. Training is supposed to be fun. Do what you enjoy, its not a war, its just active relaxation.
But if you want to give HIT a try again, push for 2lbs a week of weight gain, and in 6months see how are you doing 
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There’s always fly fishing & tying.
It has all of the cool stuff of weight lifting without all of the weight lifting.
Iconic figures.
Old timey bullshit. (Tons of this!)
Superfluous attention to insignificant details.
Dogma!
A lot of stories that don’t have to be true.
And if you aren’t good at it you can blame the fish.
Fortunately, fish are pretty dumb and easy to trick.
It really does have a lot to offer.
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Before testosterone, an exhilir was available consisting of testicular extract from virile animals.
The exhilir was injected
Still… there are many impressive looking athletes and professional bodybuilders/strongmen that existed before steroids were around.
Look at some of the old school heavyweight boxers
The stronger you get, the more difficult it is to power through leg day.
I absolutely dread heavy leg days now
Do you consider hyperextensions a leg exercise? It’s hammies, glutes and lower back. With an emphasis on lower back.
In a bit of balance, the stronger you get, the better you get at powering through.
It’s a lower-body exercise. I feel it mostly in my glutes and hamstrings.
An example of one of my two or three weekly training sessions now is:
- Dumbbell split squats
- Weighted dips
- Single-leg RDL’s
- Inverted rows on Blast Straps or rings
- Rotational med-ball throws
Sets and reps: 3-4 x 6-12 excluding warmup sets
This is done as a circuit with 45-60 seconds rest between sets and 2 minutes rest between circuits.
I know there is nothing special about this and it looks like something out of Men’s Health but I do what I think is near the bare minimum to be healthy and to save time. It’s not that easy to do that workout though.
I now loathe long rest periods and drawn out sessions and exercises that are tedious to set up (eg, hip thrusts), one of the reasons I seldom use a barbell for anything these days. Anything that causes me physical or mental aggravation, I don’t do, far different than how I used to work out.
I run on nearly all other days. I might do a Tough Mudder.
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That’s good.
So now that we got the “Your Kung fu is good…” out of the way, what is your plan moving forward?
You seem pretty thoroughly done with HIT, don’t like high volume/ bro-splits.
So what’s next?
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