HIT: High Intensity Training

This is a short article about HIT, a rather unique and unusual bodybuilding/weight training method.

An overview of HIT
I reckon that the most talked-about thing which sets HIT apart is the fact that when you are doing HIT, you should only do a single set per exercise, per week.

No, I’m not pulling your leg. As an example, if you’ve just completed a set of squats today (one single set, that is), then you wouldn’t be doing any more squats until this same time one entire week from now!

The concept here is that with high intensity training, you put your muscle groups under absolutely intense stress, resulting in a massive growth impulse, after which you give your body a lot of time to recover and grow.

Just how is it possible to get a really strong growth impulse with only one set? HIT has two elements to it, that make it exceptionally intense:

1. Best Possble Execution
You need to do each and every repetition of every exercise with painstakenly perfect form and you also carry out the repetitions very slowly. Consequently: No cheating or pulling the weight load, no extra tension in any parts of the body not immediately needed for the lifting and lots and lots of pain in your muscle tissue.

2. Going Beyond Failure
Pursuing nearly all training techniques, reps are carried out to failure. I.e. you keep pressing until you just cannot move the weights any longer, regardless of how hard you try. That’s the point of muscle failure and also the point where a set finishes. In HIT, you’re going beyond that point.

This need some additional explanation, of course. After all, it’s not immediately apparent how one is supposed to train beyond the point of muscle failure.

Going Beyond Failure
There are a number of approaches employed to assist you move beyond failure in HIT. Here are some of them:

Spotting
For a lot of exercises, this is quite a straightforward method. Everyone knows the spotter can help out a little on that final rep, when you are doing bench-presses. With high intensity training, the spotter can hold back until you reach the point of failure and then ever so softly support you for an additional two to three repetitions.

Pyramid Training
An additional technique is to immediately lower the weights after muscle failure is reached, and squeeze in a few extra repetitions using the reduced weights. With machines, you can employ a spotter who gets rid of a couple of plates for you and when using free weights you can prepare one heavy and one less heavy set and then change between these as fast as (safely) possible.

Stop and Go
This last one is a method you may also use when training solo: Once you have reached the point of failure, go back into a neutral (non-tense) posture, wait for 5 seconds and then start pushing again until you reach failure a second time (usually after just one or two reps).

My Personal Take on HIT
Following the HIT method is a agreeable experience for about 6 and three quarters of the week and then a totally excruciating experience for the rest of the week, starting with the beginning of the exercise routine and concluding an hour or two after it’s completed.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much power I gained in the course of my time doing HIT. I sort of thought that performing only one set a week would lead to minimal gains, at best, but I made just as much, if not more, progress as I did with volume training before. I should also mention that when training HIT, I felt in good, pain-free shape at least five days of the week. With more traditional split-training type of routines, I usually ache all over on most days of the week.
The most interesting facets of HIT are probably the mental ones, though. To begin with, it’s just extremely tough to train as hard as is needed. Without someone spotting for you, and motivating you to keep going, it’s very difficult to push yourself far enough. I also noticed that my attitude approaching each exercise was effected by the fact that I always knew this one was going to be the only set for an entire week. You always approach each set resolved to push as hard as you can – and by the point where you’ve reached muscle failure and kept going, you typically regret you ever started…

Bottom line for me: I think High Intensity Training is an interesting and effective method.

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