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powergraham
01-02-2010, 11:32 AM
CYCLIC HIT TRAINING

Reference:

HIT (High Intensity Training):
A style of training where you push your body to failure and beyond with one very big and large set. Usually done in a low volume, maximum weight style, to push the body to maximum anabolic state, with minimum catabolism of the muscles.
Cycle:

A cycle is a series of events or processes that is repeated again and again, always in the same order.




Description

A training philosophy developed by Mike Mentzer and later made famous by Dorian Yates, the idea behind HIT is to get the maximum out of the gym, whilst spending the smallest amount of time there, therefore increasing time spent outside of the gym, recovering, and decreasing the catabolic state within the gym itself on your muscles.

Now, Dorian may have trained 5 days a week, everyday as intense as possible, but simply put, we are not all carved from that stone, we don't have the sheer physical ability, or the time to recover from working out this style five days a week.
My idea is therefore to cycle the days we lift in a HIT style, and our remaining days in the gym, focus on a more volume based training style, but not pushing ourselves to ultimate failure, thereby pushing our bodies hard, but not to it's breaking point everyday.

Training Splits

This split is based on a 7 day split, 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off.

Mon: Chest, Biceps
Tue: Back, Triceps (HIT)
Wed: (OFF)
Thur: Shoulders, Calves (HIT)
Fri: Legs
Sat: (OFF)
Sun: (OFF)

Mon: Chest, Biceps (HIT)
Tue: Back, Triceps
Wed: (OFF)
Thur: Shoulders, Calves
Fri: Legs (HIT)
Sat: (OFF)
Sun: (OFF)

The way I have laid this out, is that in your first week, you will have one full day off after your first HIT session, and in the second week, you will have two days off after your fourth HIT session. The way I have split my bodyparts above, is that my two main target areas, Back, and Legs, have the biggest recovery time of all groups, after the sessions where they will be hit most, thereby maximising recovery, and also recuperating energy before my next big training session. When I feel that these bodyparts have come up to where I want them too, I will again swap the body parts around, too fit maximum recovery, and therefore growth.

Why Cycle ?

(Just as a proviso, these are just my beliefs. No science, just what I have seen from what I have been reading, videos, and how bodybuilders have built up their physiques, so, as I'm posting this up, if something you know disproves this, I'll be more than happy to here it).

In cycling, I want to be doing two different things in my training. In the HIT, I want to be putting the maximum stress on the muscle, hitting it superhard, and causing the most microtears in the muscle, and therefore causing the largest anabolic reaction in the body.
However, in my "ordinary training days, I won't be going light. Simply, in these days, I want to be creating more of a "pump" in the muscle, creating more of a stretch, to really push the muscle out, and hitting growth from a different factor to that of thr HIT. More volume than in HIT days.





This is how from after christmas, I will start my training, and once I've dieted, will hit this extremely hard in my bulking phase, and hope to gain some quality mass. Any criticisms of this will be appreciated, and any comments are welcome.


(The main focus of this idea I've put together is for natural users. Basically, your looking at a style which brings the high intensity focus, but gives your body more time to repair, which for me, is one of the biggest neccessities for a natty. I put this in training but it didn't get many views, so I thought I'd put it in natty focus as that's mainly who I'm aiming it at. Thanks Guys.)

s2h
01-02-2010, 12:15 PM
I'm curious to see how this works for you keep us posted!!

powergraham
01-02-2010, 01:25 PM
I will do deffinitely. I'm gona keep a picture diary, because I'm dieting my excess fat off starting by next week (I'm currently very ill) and it'll be interesting to see what this training is like during dieting, and then hitting the floor running in my bulk phase.

I'll be doing my REPS qualifications to be a personal trainer in the next few months also, so, I will hopefully have many more clients I can use this philosophy on.

NATURAL-1987
01-02-2010, 02:45 PM
I switch up training every few months and feel that this is my fav. Similar to your split. I never tried cycling th hit days though, train by feel and give it all my body can handle on the particular day. Your philosophy does make sense though.
monday-legs
tuesday-chest/biceps
wednesday-off
thursday-back/traps
friday-shoulders tris
saturday-off
sunday-off

Con
01-02-2010, 03:07 PM
Good luck with it!

Personally when i was natural and now when i have my "downtime" i always train my body in the true HIT fashion as in the A. Jones method. I train my whole body in one session twice per week.

powergraham
01-02-2010, 07:12 PM
To natural, I completely get training by feel would be the way to go, but for me, let's say I get my qualifications in a few months, and I have a client come to me who wants to put on some beef. After having them get use to training and stuff, I wouldn't expect them to be able to train by feel in that way you know ? So by cycling, I'm basically giving people what they need to do, when they need to do it, no more, no less, and in theory, this should give excellent results, but, I am my own guinea pig.

To Con, Christ that sounds insane. I've never heard of that to be honest, but I don't think I'd ever want to do that. I try to never put my legs near chest or back work, because after I've done legs, I feel sick. Most the fellas at my gym are shocked by how much I do, being the age I am. I had 6 plates a side on, and one of the dudes wandered over and was like, "wow, that's a lot of weight", sort of condescendingly, and I finished off with 8. I don't do leg presses now because it feels like I'm gona pass out. It's that blood circulation thing, I can't remember what it's called. But there seems to be a real anti leg thing going on in the UK, most people are just bench and bi boys. But, I don't think I could ever do everything in one session, props to you man.

AVBG
01-02-2010, 07:26 PM
Repped. Great thread idea (good layout too)

powergraham
01-02-2010, 07:38 PM
Thanks Man. Now lets just hope it works too haha.