i started doing upright rows as part of my routines when i was a freshman in high school. That was 9 years ago and i havent had any ill effects. People alwasy criticize my routines because i also like doing parallel bar dips too. 
if i feel pain while doing them, im smart enough to stop doing them regularly
lol. i fell off the bandwagon hard. havenāt been to the gym since april. gonna try and get it all back together and make a run at getting to where I want to be before the summer.
Falling off the wagon sucks. Getting back on can be a difficult task. I had a 9 month run in 2005 then got the flu that took me out of commission for 2 months. About 2 months ago, I started cleaning up my diet and getting the protein synthesis started again. I had two good weeks of lightweight routines to get back into it and then 3 good weeks of Full Body HIT. 2 weeks out of town for work has me playing catch up.
This time around Iāve opted for a HIT routine that has me doing full body 3 times a week. Warm up includes dynamic stretching and some light weight reps. I get as close to failure as I safely can and only perform 1 set of each exercise. I have already found myself doing pre-exhaust and stripping the weights to extend the single set.
Iām with Bics on the arginine. There are ways to do it cheaply and with good results.
The hardest part is the first weekā¦then after that it will be easyā¦it is a lot easier if you have someone to lift with.
What kind of HIT training do you do?
I try to follow the original core of the HIT training program where you do 1 set of an exercise to muscle failure or max effort. Then I try to get several days of rest.
My routine has 11 exercises and works the full body in about 30 minutes.
All of the exercises are very basic and mostly compound exercises.
HIT is kind of tough to do by yourself safely, so I try to incorporate some pre-exhaust and then extend the sets beyond failure by stripping weights.
When I would run HIT Cycles I would strip weightsā¦but for bench a spot is always needed. I have always gotten pretty solid results from doing strips. I would also do drop sets with DBās which I thought worked well. I tried negatives but didnāt get that great of results out of themā¦the only thing I really got was āknowingā how really heavy weight felt. I owuld only run a HIT cycle for about 3 weeks or so ā¦considering it is hell on your body and CNS to avoid overtraining.
Negatives are just about impossible to do by yourself, but I can do negative chin ups by using a chair.
HIT is great for getting back on the wagon or changing the routine after a few weeks.
Over training is a huge concern no matter the routine. I do HIT 3 times per week and if I am really sore I only do 2 days a week.
On a lot of exercises it is impossible to do them with one spotā¦sometimes 2 or 3 people are needed
Then it becomes dangerous simply because of having to transfer the weight back and forth.
An all negative workout is a very specialized version of HIT anyways. I like the very basic HIT principal of 1 set to failure/almost failure combined with lots of rest.
Same hereā¦I did negatives for benchpress beforeā¦loaded up more wieght than I could max out, lower it as slow as i could, then have my spotter lift it. I really didnāt care for them and didnāt feel I got solid resultsā¦what I did like with them is it gives you a feel for heavy weightā¦less of a shock when you try and max out.
When I hit a plateau I will run some drop sets or strips and I always get solid results. A lot of people hate the idea of HIT but I think it is OK if done on moderation.
I do really hate the idea of HIT but its not something i perfer. I usually throw in a shock week of strip sets, pyramids and ETC at the end of a workout. I follow that week with a full week off to totally recover.
The biggest problem i see with the HIT program is that people end up in a state of overtraining or catabolism. Most people do not have the knowledge to feed their bodies correctly to recover from failure/overload type workouts!
I am a big believer in doing what works for you though. I did not mean to discourage anyone from doing this type of routine, if its what works best for them.
Jimmy
you are 100% correctā¦you have to know what you are doingā¦it is very easy to overtrain while using HITā¦I will pick an exercise and do strips or drop sets for 1 or 2 sets once per week.
i meant the first sentence to say āI DONāT really hate the idea of HIT but its not something i perfer.ā
I first learned of HIT in the early 90s while stationed in Hawaii. I was already overtrained and did not get enough rest. Throw in multiple sets of HIT and I became an overtrained disaster. Injuries, fatigue, and sickness were common.
After doing some extensive reading on HIT and actually sticking to the 1 set rule + plenty of food and rest, I found that I was able to make the program work better.
People fail to realize that you only need 1 set with HIT. It just has to be the best set ever! Multiple sets of the same exercise simply interfere with recovery.
People overtrain all the time and donāt even know it, so I do not feel that it is a problem that is more common with HIT or is only HIT related. When I do HIT it is HIT only for several weeks at a time and not mixed with other routines.
Well itās 2007 and I am sure there are a bunch of people who are going to be on a mission to get into better shape. Keep in mind the #1 thing is being true and consistent, and #2 is to make sure you have a solid game plan.
I have been going pretty solid with being consistent and have a solid routine. I just want to get a little more strict with my diet. For the next few months I would like to put on 5-8 lbs per month then come spring to go on a cut and get the body fat% down.
ok since this is where all the supplement people are. Ive been going to the gym like crazy the past 2 weeks. Couple my buddies been going for awhile now also. They swear by protein this and protein that. Now im not against it but since I want to lose weight + build muscle should I take protein? (ex shakes, bars etc.) With my diet consisting of 2 hard boiled eggs in the morning and at leas one breast of chicken during the duration of the day.
protei shakse are great for you. they are not weight gainers, they are protein shakes. there is very little calories, and if mixed with water, it is usually under 300 calories for 42 grams of protein. drink about 3 per dayā¦goood luckā¦
everyone is different and everyone builds/loses at a different rate. Forget the supplements and get a routine that works. If all else fails and in a year you still arenāt where you want to be, then look at other methods.
how about thisā¦So I had some coupons and gift certificates for Dickās sporting goods and decided to use them last night. I ended up getting 2 45lb plates and some new glovesā¦after the coupons it only cost $29 for all. Not too bad. Well I just threw on the 45ās to see if they felt like 45ās and on my first rep I noticed the left side was way heavier. So I got my scale and weighed themā¦the one was just over 46lbs and the other one was 41lbsā¦WTFā¦6 lbs is way too much variationā¦for the same brand weights. I laid them both flat on the ground and the heavier weight was about 1/4" thicker. So I will be returning them and making sure I weigh them b4 I leave this time.
I weigh 135ā¦ im trying to gain weight. 