Burn Fat and Build Muscle with High Intensity Training
High Intensity Training or HIT as it is often referred to, isn’t for the faint of heart. It is known for being one of the hardest training systems out there and it hurts like hell. It’s been around in it’s current form since the seventies and some people probably used variations of it before that, maybe not even knowing what it was. While it’s a brutal workout, it’s also known for being very effective at packing on lean muscle mass while keeping you lean. That’s probably why it’s still around today.
What is it?
HIT is a seemingly complex training method that can be explained in pretty simple terms. According to Ellington Darden, PH.D. who is one of the foremost experts on this system, it can be summarized in nine words.
“Do as many repetitions as possible… in good form.”
While that definition explains a good portion of what HIT is all about, a little more information will help. Essentially, HIT involves doing a series of exercises that target large muscle groups first, moving to smaller muscle groups next, all the while doing only one set for each exercise. The key though, and what separates HIT from many other approaches is that your goal is always to do as many repetitions as possible with the heaviest load you can manage to use while maintaining good form. What is crucial is that a high intensity level isn’t achieved at the expense of good form. What is also important to note is that really, the intensity level for each exercise isn’t just high, it’s through the roof. So, if you think you can do twelve repetitions for a particular exercise then somehow you should try to will yourself to get thirteen – or even more – all with good form and always reaching momentary muscular failure. Or, basically, lift until you can lift no more.
The Details
There are a few things surrounding HIT that make it different from other approaches. They are all also factors in it’s effectiveness.
First of all, you always take each set to momentary muscular failure. In other types of training systems, you don’t necessarily try to achieve another rep after you have reached exhaustion. Not that you can really do that here, (after all, when you’re done you’re done) but the point is that working extremely hard on each set and pushing through to do one rep more than you think you can ensures absolute fatigue.
Secondly, when using HIT, you generally utilize a 20 percent strength inroad to your starting level of strength. What this means is that let’s say for instance your one repetition max on the leg press is 200 pounds. This means that you can perform a leg press for one repetition at that weight and any further repetitions would be impossible because the weight is to heavy. So, if you were to use a 20 percent inroad then you would be using 80 percent of your one repetition max of 200 pounds. This would come out to 160 pounds, which would be a weight that would probably be challenging for you to lift ten times. Since 8 to 12 repetitions is the rep range within which you want to fail with HIT, this calculation is perfect. It’s good to note though that for some people this is different. In some cases people find they would overshoot the desired number of repetitions if they used 80 percent of their max weight. Some individuals are actually able to use 85 percent of their one rep max for a set of 8 to 12. So you have to figure out where you stand, but the idea to remember is that a good starting weight when you begin before you have gained strength is 80 percent of your one rep max.
Next is recovery ability. While recovery ability is important is all areas of fitness and sport, it is especially important in activities that are high intensity like HIT. After you workout, a number of chemical processes go on in your body to allow it to rebuild and repair itself. Often the body’s goal is to not only recovery to it’s previous level but to recover and become stronger for the next time it is exposed to a similar stress, i.e. hitting yourself with HIT.
Another huge part of HIT is maintaining good form. Specifically, the idea of minimizing momentum. To understand this just picture someone lifting weights. How often do you see someone bring the weight towards their body in a leg press or chest press and then jerk it back up immediately before pausing at all? While using some momentum while lifting weights isn’t always undesirable, in HIT you want to avoid it. Here’s the reason: momentum adds to your performance in resistance training or any endeavor where you are trying to produce force, but it subtracts from your end result if you goal is to exhaust your muscles as thoroughly as possible. Since momentum itself can actually keep resistance (weights) moving, it takes some of the work away from the muscles and makes the exercise easier. So how should you lift the weights then for HIT? Slowly and smoothly. Lifting in a controlled fashion with a slight pause at the bottom and top of the range of motion will produce the greatest possible goals with the smallest potential for injury.
Repetitions and Progression, Duration, Frequency and Order
Although some of these topics may have been discussed briefly in the above section, it is important to emphasize these four parts of HIT because they are some of the most important.
Reps & Progression - very important but also pretty simple. With HIT, you want to generally stay in the 8 to 12 range. Again, this means that you are using a weight that you can get at least 8 reps for but not more than twelve. This range ensures that you will be using a weight that you will fatigue the involved muscles without going so light that you will shift towards the aerobic energy system. In order to stay in the anaerobic pathway you need to make sure that each set lasts no more than 120 seconds. It is when using this energy system (anaerobic) that the body becomes most primed for gaining muscle size and strength.
Occasionally you can try higher reps on the lower body (15 – 20) and lower reps (5 – 
on the upper body. While the main impetus behind switching up the rep ranges is simply to challenge the body with something new, sticking in the 8 – 12 rep range has been shown to be the most effective long term. The idea though still is that you need to progress and continually challenge your body for your muscles to grow. The most practical application is to do more reps in each workout than you did in prior workouts. When you reach 12 repetitions on a particular exercise, increase the weight. This type of approach – increasing the repetitions first, and then the weight is referred to as double progression.
Duration – according to the HIT method, you can look at your physique as seven sections or body parts that need to be stimulated with training. You have your hips and thighs, calves, shoulders and neck, back, chest, arms, and waist. You should aim to work each of these body parts two times a week unless you are at the advanced level. An advanced bodybuilder should typically reduce that to once per week. The total number of exercises that you will do will vary from a high of 12, if you are a beginner or intermediate trainee, to a low of 7 if you are more advanced. Each exercise should be done smoothly and slowly for one set of 8 to 12 reps, which should last somewhere from 40 to 90 seconds. The goal is to take no more than 60 seconds rest between exercises. Each routine (I’ll provide some samples at the end) should take no more than 25 minutes and often less than that. Again, you are trying to be efficient and train with extremely high intensity and then leave the gym.
Frequency – while Ellington Darden has written quite a few books on HIT, there is another man who knows even more. His name is Arthur Jones and he is often credited for be the creator of this training system. A biologist and the creator of Nautilus weight training equipment, Jones often looked to nature to find the answers to questions about training and the like. When Ellington Darden asked Jones what the optimum training frequency was for HIT, he used his experience with lions to reveal where his feelings on how often one should train came from. He said this,
“A large male lion will weigh around 500 pounds, and a large female lion will weigh around 250 pounds. And what kind of exercise schedule does each one follow?”
“I didn’t know lions exercised,” Darden replied.
“Well, whether you call it work, or activity, or fighting or chasing or killing, they exercise. But there’s a distinct difference between how the females exercise and how the males exercise. The females do the hunting. They stalk and kill game. Then they drag or carry the animals sometimes for miles to the dominant males. Of course, the females also take care of the young cubs when they’re not hunting. The males on the other hand, do only four things. They fight, mate, eat, and sleep. The males attack each other violently for territorial and mating rights. The fighting is very intense but infrequent. On the dominant male in each pride of lions mates with the females. The weaker males are killed, or they leave the territory.”
Darden then responded with this, “In other words, what you’re saying is one of the reasons that a male lion is twice the size of a female has to do with the male working harder, briefer, and more infrequently than the female.”
“Yes and the female does a large amount of continuous-type activity. She certainly doesn’t rest and sleep nearly as much as the male. The male probably sleeps 14 hours a day.”
Now, while Jones’ opinion as to why male lions are bigger can be argued (after all human males aren’t bigger on average than human females because they don’t do the shopping and take care of the kids – not to mention in human pre-modern societies, men did the hunting), it is an interesting point. Regardless of whether or not his theories on lions are entirely accurate, the frequency of training with HIT originated from them – and it works. With HIT you are training your entire body in each workout and are allowing 48 hours for rest. This results in three workouts being completed each week, with either a Monday, Wednesday, Fri or Tues, Thurs, Sat scheme.
Order – Here’s something to really think about: lots of young guys get interested in lifting weights because they want to build their pectorals and biceps. The result is that many of these same guys get stuck doing the same workouts, most of them focusing on bench presses and bicep curls, often without any consideration of what the most effective exercise order might be. Occasionally, these guys might throw in some leg exercises at the end of a workout just to “round it out” but not really contemplate whether their approach was efficient.
What gives? A lot of guys do it, and they definitely don’t do it on purpose. The important thing for them (and some not-so-novice trainees) to remember is that most guys aren’t going to build much muscle mass on their chest or biceps unless they first build up the muscle tissue in their hips, thighs, and back. It simply is not possible to build substantial size in the smaller muscles unless you are forcing the bigger areas to grow as well. Surprisingly, the smaller muscles will often grow to stay in proportion to the larger ones even if this means growing sometimes without being trained! Essentially what you want to remember is to hit the larger muscle groups first. You will have more energy and be more enthused during the beginning of your workout and this will help you hit those areas hard. Most of the time you will want to follow this pattern: work your lower body before you upper body, your hips and thighs before your calves, you back before your shoulders and chest, and your upper arms before your forearms. Since the muscles around your waist help to stabilize your upper body in the majority of exercises, work them last. While there can be a few exceptions to this, it is generally the way to go.
In Summary
Although I have spent a fair amount of time above explaining the principles behind HIT, there are only a few main things you need to remember to put it into action. Here are the guidelines:
1. Workout two to three times per week.
2. Hit all of the major muscle groups in each workout.
3. Compound or multi-joint exercises should make up the bulk of your routines. They are done first and typically yield the greatest results in muscle growth. Isolation exercises are secondary.
4. Stay within the 8-12 rep range. Also avoid taking more than 60 seconds between exercises.
5. Only do one set per exercise.
6. The workouts never include more than a dozen exercises and should never take more than 25 minutes. Sometimes they can be completed quicker, but if they take longer, than you are doing something wrong.
Examples
Listed below are some sample HIT beginner and intermediate routines. The key is making these workouts intense, so these routines should suit about anyone. I might talk about some specialized HIT routines, but I’ll save that for another post. Here are the routines:
Beginning HIT Routine 1
1. Leg-Curl machine
2. Leg-extension machine
3. Leg-press machine
4. Straight-arm pullover with one dumbbell
5. Bench Press with barbell
6. Bent-over row with barbell
7. Overhead press with barbell
8. Biceps curl with barbell
9. Triceps extension with one dumbbell
10. Wrist curl with barbell
11. Standing-calf-raise machine
12. Trunk curl on floor
Beginning HIT Routine 2
1. Leg-Curl machine
2. Leg-extension machine
3. Leg-press machine
4. Standing-calf-raise machine
5. Bench press with barbell
6. Bent over row with barbell
7. Lateral raise with dumbbells
8. Shoulder shrug with barbell
9. Bent-arm fly with dumbbells
10. Triceps extension with one dumbbell
11. Biceps curl with barbell
12. Trunk curl on floor
Intermediate HIT Routine 1
1. Leg-extension machine
2. Leg-curl machine
3. Squat with barbell
4. Standing-calf-raise machine
5. Bent-arm pullover with barbell
6. Incline Bench press with barbell
7. Bent-over row with barbell
8. Triceps extension with one dumbbell
9. Biceps curl with barbell
10. Trunk curl on the floor
Intermediate HIT Routine 2
1. Leg-extension machine/Leg-curl machine
2. Stiff-legged deadlift with barbell/Leg-press machine
3. Standing-calf-raise machine/Seated-calf-raise machine
4. Bent-arm pullover with barbell/Straight-arm pullover with one dumbbell
5. Incline bench press with barbell/Bench press with barbell
6. Pulldown on lat machine
7. Bent-over raise with dumbbells
8. Triceps extension with one dumbbell/Biceps curl with barbell
9. Negative chinup/Negative dip
10. Side bend with dumbbell/Reverse trunk curl on floor
One more thing. Only High Intensity Training has made me feel like I may vomit and pass out at the same time. I have tried a variety of different approaches when it comes to lifting weights and I have also competed in a couple of gut-wrenching endurance sports and never achieved the quite same feeling as I did with HIT. My point is not to dissuade you from giving it a shot. On the contrary, I think this experience showed me just how hard it really is. And it is in being intense that it is effective. So if you want a challenging workout that is sure to help you bust through your muscle building plateau then give it a shot. Your guts may hate you, but you won’t be disappointed.
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