In this article, I briefly want to talk about just what High Intensity Training is all about and discuss a few of my experiences with this workout technique.

Basic principles of High Intensity Training
When you are training according to the HIT method, you perform only one set of each exercise and you train each muscle group only one single time per week.

Yes, I’m serious. You do 1 set of, let’s say, bench-presses right now after which you do not do any more bench presses until the same day next week.

The idea here is that using high intensity training, you place your muscle groups under absolutely extreme stress, resulting in a massive growth impulse, and then you give the muscles a whole lot of time to recoup and grow again.

How can you get this kind of formidable growth impulse using just one single set? HIT has 2 aspects to it, that make it extremely intensive:

1. Flawless Form
You do each repetition of an exercise with thoroughly perfect form and you also perform the repetitions very slowly. This means: Zero cheating or pulling the weight load, absolutely no extra tension in any areas of the body not specifically involved with the weightlifting and gratuitous amounts of of soreness in the muscles.

2. Going Past the Point of Failure
Pursuing almost all training techniques, reps will be done to the point of muscle failure. I.e. you keep pushing until you simply can’t move the weight load anymore, regardless of how hard you try. That is the point of muscle failure and the point where a set ends. In HIT, you go past that point.

This need some additional explanation, of course. After all, how can you go beyond failure?

How to Keep Going
There are various methods utilized that will help you move over failure in High Intensity Training. Below are a few of these:

Get Someone to Help Out
For many exercises, this can be quite a simple method. Everybody knows the spotter can help out a little bit on that very last rep, when you are doing bench-presses. With high intensity training, the spotter will hold back until you get to the point of failure and then ever so softly give you support for the next 2-3 reps.

Pyramid Training
An additional technique is to immediately reduce the weights right after failure is reached, and do a few extra reps using the lowered weight load. When working out using machines, you could have a spotter who gets rid of 1 or 2 plates for you and when training with dumbbells and barbells it is possible to arrange one heavier and one lighter set and then change between these as fast as (safely) possible.

Stop and Go
This last one is a method you may also employ by yourself: Once you’ve reached the point of failure, return to a neutral ( non tension) posture, wait for five seconds and then start pushing again until you reach failure a second time (usually after just one or two reps).

My Experience With HIT
Performing the HIT workout is a relaxing experience for approximately six and three quarters of every week and then an absolutely excruciating experience for the rest of the week, starting with the beginning of the workout and concluding an hour or two after it’s completed.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much strength I gained throughout my time doing HIT. I kind of assumed that doing only one set per week would lead to minimal gains, at best, however 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 simply extremely tough to train as hard as is required. Without someone spotting for you, spurring you on, correcting you and shouting in your face to do one more rep, I don’t think it’s even possible to get there. I also noticed that my attitude approaching each exercise was effected by the fact that I constantly knew this one was going to be the only set for an entire week. You usually start out driven 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…

In conclusion: HIT is an advanced workout technique, not very well suited for the beginner, but certainly effective when done right.

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