High Intensity Training Principles

Increases in size and strength are the result of a growth response triggered by mechanical tension through exercise
A certain threshold of intensity is required in order to receive a growth stimulus
A single set to failure is all that is needed in order to stimulate muscle growth, provided that the set is taken to the point of absolute momentary muscular failure
Movement of weight does not provide stimulus. Stimulus is provided by deeply and aggressively fatiguing muscle fibers
Damage caused by exercise is inherently a net negative to muscle building efforts entirely and is an unfortunate byproduct of having to exercise as a means to achieve stimulus
Muscle growth follows a formula requiring stimulus, recovery, and then supercompensation
There are natural genetically coded hard limits on the things that we are capable of doing, such as our speed of recovery
There is an inverse relationship between intensity and duration. One can either exercise very hard or very long, but not both.

Train harder. Train briefly. Train less often.

"Intensity refers to the percentage of possible momentary muscular effort being exerted at that time" - Mike Mentzer (speaking about the first time he read the definition of intensity)

Intensity is the amount of muscular effort that you can exert relative to your potential to produce effort. Going to absolute momentary muscular failure would mean that you have achieved 100% intensity in a given exercise

This is an incomplete work and an ongoing effort. The contents of the page will change with time. New research may be added or some may be taken away or modified based on new research.

Brief Introduction

High Intensity Training (HIT) refers to a series of principles and techniques related to strength training. As the name would suggest, the core focus of HIT is to ensure that all muscle fibers have been properly recruited and properly stimulated to grow by taking the muscles to the point of absolute momentary muscular failure with highly intense training. Performing exercises with a high level of intensity will satisfy the requirements in order to create a growth response.

High intensity training began with Arthur Jones, who theorized that exercise should be brief, intense, and infrequent, as those are the conditions that apply to animals in a state of nature. The idea was sparked when he witnessed a gorilla doing a one-armed pullup. He taught Mike Mentzer his philosophy. Mike Mentzer further refined his own version of HIT, which he called “Heavy Duty” training. Dorian Yates was briefly trained in Heavy Duty by Mike Menzter and then briefly popularized the method by winning the Mr. Olympia title six consecutive times from 1992 to 1997. Of these bodybuilders, Mike Mentzer was the one that most clearly defined what high intensity training is, why it is naturally and philosophically consistent, and how to perform HIT.

>Mike Mentzer audio tapes, 1-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEKU9S8qtRs&t=1097s&ab_channel=e92acj75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlLJmant9Ek&t=1593s&ab_channel=e92acj75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL9wrPjjcq0&t=176s&ab_channel=e92acj75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAq015AVZeM&t=12s&ab_channel=e92acj75

In the times of these bodybuilders, their methods of training were based on a series of philosophical arguments in order to form a consistent viewpoint of how to approach training. As time has gone on, more and more research has been conducted that proves that their methods are in fact, absolutely correct in nearly every way. This eliminates the need to rely on some sort of philosophy, as there is now physiological science that validates their claims. Although there is no longer any NEED to rely on the philosophy in order to reap the benefits of HIT, it would be highly beneficial to understand the concepts of HIT in order to make sense of why it works to help you form a better training approach.

The body of man exists as an extension of nature and is thus subject to natural laws. There is a hard capped limit on certain things that we are able to do such as recover and produce force. By respecting our natural limits and capabilities we can see that there is a certain amount of exercise we can tolerate and there is a certain amount that is useful. There is a certain amount of rest that we need and any less or more than that is counterproductive. By choosing to ignore these two major facets of undeniable natural law, you’re effectively throwing out your ability to make progress in the most efficient and intelligent way possible and sometimes entirely.

The goal of bodybuilding/strength training is to get bigger and stronger. Any exercise should be performed with the goal of getting bigger and stronger. Anything that does not produce bigger and stronger muscles, is by definition, not exercise. It may be an activity, it may require movement, it may be difficult, but if it is not done with the express purpose of inducing muscle hypertrophy or muscle hyperplasia, it cannot be classified as exercise. If something that you are doing is not specifically designed and adapted in order to stimulate muscle growth, it is not exercise. The only thing that exercise does, ultimately at the end of the day, is provide a stimulus to force adaptation.

You cannot force growth. You can only provide a stimulus and the muscle will grow based on that stimulus. Exercise does not produce growth. Exercise provides stimulus. Exercising is placing a demand on the body. If exercise itself produced growth, then all we would need to do in order to get bigger and stronger forever in infinity is to stay in the gym, lifting weights endlessly. You would be able to see the body grow after each set, and you would never get smaller or weaker as a result of exercising. We know that this is not true, due to the fact that there are large amounts of people that spend an excessive amount of time in the gym that do not grow bigger to any appreciable degree for years on end. We know that these people also have not reached their genetic limit, because when they change their routine or take longer rests, they tend to experience growth.

Another way to think of this that Mike often used as an example is sunlight exposure. Being in the sun itself does not make you darker. The stimulus provided by the sun is what kicks off a series of adaptations that cause you to darken by producing melanin, and more does not mean better. If more were better, you could lie in the sun until you were black, but if you were to do this, you would simply die of sunlight radiation exposure. You become darker in the later days following exposure as your body repairs the damage to your skin caused by the radiation and then supercompensates to protect you by producing melanin. If you do not get enough sun, you don’t get a strong enough stimulus in order to become darker. If you get too much, you could get a sunburn or even die. You do not need such little sun that you do not produce an adaptation and you do not need so much sun that you get burned. You need the exact correct amount of sunlight. In addition, any damage incurred upon the skin is a net negative to the body as a whole and is an unfortunate byproduct of having to be exposed to sun, rather than an important facet in the tanning process. Applied to muscles, if all that was required in order to become stronger was to damage your muscles, you could pound them with a hammer all day and you would get jacked pretty quick, but that’s not the case, as people that regularly damage their muscles with too much exercise may get even weaker as a consequence of their unnecessary overtraining.

This is why there is no need for high volume. Once you stimulate the muscle and trigger the growth, you’re done. Doing more than is necessary will only further damage your muscles, increasing the time required in order to repair itself, or in the worst cases, causing injury or a permanent destruction of the muscle. There is a specific amount of stimulation that must be attained. After that, ALL EXTRA WORK IS DETRIMENTAL. Remember, muscles cannot be produced in the gym. The only thing that can be produced in the gym is an injury. HIT seeks to attain that proper amount of exercise by reaching failure and then stopping. Strength training is about getting bigger and stronger. Hit the stimulus and be done with it. More does not equal better. There simply is no need for long efforts of endurance, containing dozens of sets for various muscle groups. If someone wants to test their mental endurance and capability to do something hard for a long period of time, then that’s fine, but they should never mistake doing these feats as exercise or strength training. If they are good for anything, it would be mental toughness training. High Intensity Training is about getting the exact correct amount of stimulus to the muscles in order to make them adapt, but not so much unnecessary stimulus that they are uselessly damaged. This is the critical foundation of the entire philosophical theory of HIT.

Only by stimulating a muscle to grow, will it grow. Bodies are incredibly metabolically efficient. If there is no reason to grow, it will not. If you do not expose yourself to sunlight, you won’t darken. The body only develops muscles in response to the stimulus placed on it by its environment in order to survive, maintain homeostasis, and pass on its genes. If a body can reasonably maintain its homeostasis without large muscles, it will.

The only way a muscle understands what is considered to be a need to grow is by placing a demand on it that it is not currently equipped to be able to handle. If your muscles were sufficient enough already to handle the demands placed on it, then there would simply be no reason to grow. In a state of nature, the only times that a muscle would be taken to the absolute limit is when you are hunting an animal to eat, foraging through difficult terrain, or defending yourself from an attacking animal. There may also be certain circumstances in which you may run, jump, or climb in order to eat or to defend yourself or to fight for mating rights.

Placing such a demand on the muscles and FAILING to achieve your goal, means that you may die or fail to pass on your genes, which is the genetic equivalent of death. You will fight and win or you will fight and die. You will get the fruit or you will starve trying. By going to failure, you are simulating a life-threatening emergency that absolutely MUST be tended to, under dire circumstances. After a muscle has been stimulated, all that is needed in order to grow is to properly recover any damage that was done and then supercompensate in order to protect itself against what it perceives to be a life-threatening emergency, so that the next time it is attacked by an animal or forced to climb a cliff-face or tree in order to acquire food, it will be handily capable. All of the strongest animals will give 100% of their effort in what they do for a very brief period of time, eat what they kill or forage, and then rest for long periods of time. There simply is no other reason to utilize muscles, the only other exception being voluntarily engaging in combat for mating purposes. If the goals cannot be met, then the muscle must adapt or the organism will die. If they do not win a fight for mating rights, then they don’t get to pass on their genes.

After receiving that stimulus, just ONCE, then the muscle has all the information needed. It has been stimulated to grow. This stimulus is nothing more than a transference of information, a message indicating that growth is required. Nothing more is required except to eat and sleep in order to rebuild and supercompensate. Lions do not lie around doing ab crunches. Gorillas don’t continually curl tree trunks with their 8 hour killer arm workout. Tigers do not do lateral raises for 5 sets of 10 reps. Animals do not chase their prey slower so that they can get in more running volume. The very idea of this is incredibly stupid on its face. If human muscles needed such specific requirements in order to grow in response to stimulus, our entire species would have been wiped out a long time ago in a state of nature for being so useless and pathetic. We are not tigers of course, but the general principles of nature and intensity still apply. You can do something easy for a long time or you can do something very hard for a short time. Attempting to do high intensity for long periods of time will simply lead to chronic overtraining and injury.

Using the sun tan analogy, this would be like choosing either to use a tanning bed for a few minutes or spending all day in a shaded forest environment. The tanning bed is far more intense and only spending a few minutes in it is enough to trigger a darkening response. It is far more efficient to use the tanning bed because of its high level of intensity. You receive the stimulus in short order, but also due to its high intensity, you cannot stay in the tanning bed for very long. If you spend more time in a tanning bed than is necessary, you might severely injure your skin. If your exposure to sunlight is not intense enough then you might not receive a tan at all, such as if you were trying to tan by exposing yourself to moonlight. Intensity and duration have an inverse relationship. You can either do something easy for a long time or you can do something hard for a short time. Doing something hard for a long time produces injury and places too much of a demand on the body such that it cannot recover properly. Doing something too easy, even for an extremely long time, will never produce an adaptive response at all, as the threshold for intensity has not been sufficiently met and may also produce injury. The workout equivalent of these two scenarios would be like either training multiple days per week, ignoring your body, doing a dozen compound exercises, all taking each exercise to failure multiple times (Rich Piana’s 8 hour arm workout comes to mind, David Goggins as well), and expecting to produce anything other than injury. It’s foolish. The intensity is way too high compared to the duration. Doing something that difficult for that long is simply going to redline your body and see you lose progress unless you are on a ridiculous amount of steroids or in the case of David Goggins, an absolute madman, but even then, you would likely be better served giving yourself time to rest. Similarly on the other end of the scale you could do hundreds or thousands of reps at a low level of difficulty and never get any adaptation at all. The intensity threshold is so low that there is no hope in hell that you could ever be stimulated to produce a growth response. Movement itself is not what produces change, it is the intensity of movement and the relative load placed upon the muscle tissue that stimulates change. Cashiers at large box stores scan thousands of items a day. If movement itself was responsible for the growth adaptation, then cashiers would be absolutely yoked since they’re getting their thousands of reps per day in, but they’re not. They’re not yoked. They’re walking around with stick arms and carpal tunnel.

Many serious bodybuilders actually do not have any problem training to a level of relatively high intensity. Many are capable of taking a set to failure. What they lack is recovery. Having small muscles means that someone can recover relatively quickly to any damage that is done to the muscles. As they get larger, the recovery ability stays absolutely similar to when they began , but the amount of damage that can be done to the muscles dramatically increases in absolute terms with the larger amounts of muscle tissue that is added to the body. Many people tend to find that they get larger and stronger with more rest for this exact reason. They overtrain themselves to death, expecting to get larger and stronger, but they often plateau or even get weaker and smaller as a result. Then they think that more exercise is needed, so they continually add more and more exercise, maintaining their plateau, or they get even weaker. The larger someone becomes, the more rest they will need as a basic fact of physiology. Beginners recover much faster, as a consequence of having less total muscle tissue, and need far less time to fully recuperate and supercompensate.

For someone that is more numbers oriented, here is a short example using fictitious numbers. If someone starts their bodybuilding journey and they are able to synthesize 2.5 lbs of muscle per day (fictitious numbers, remember) and they start their journey with 30lbs of muscle, then that means that they are able to synthesize 12%% of their muscle weight every single day. Assuming that when they exercise, they are effectively damaging 6lbs of their musculature (20%), then they must wait for 2.4 days in order to simply fully recover to their original condition, then they can put on another 2.5lbs of muscle per day until their growth mechanism is turned off. That’s not too bad at all. Now imagine that same bodybuilder a few years later now has 100 lbs of muscle on their frame. When they now do an exercise, they effectively damage 20 lbs of their musculature (20%) but their recovery ability has only slightly improved as it does for most people. Assuming it has improved by around 20%, they would now be able to synthesize 3 lbs of muscle per day. Now they would have to wait 6.6 days in order to simply recover, and that’s not even accounting for supercompensation! They would effectively be synthesizing 3% of their muscle weight per day, which, while greater in absolute terms of tissue synthesized, still requires them to utilize longer periods of rest. This is a fictitious example of course. The actual numbers of the increase in synthesis, synthesis potential, and recovery times will be included later in the text.

Many people are different in their ability to recover though. If you don’t go outside, you may be as pale as a ghost or you may be darker than another person can achieve while never going outside, all based on your genetics. In this same vein, someone may be incredibly strong and fit while doing no exercise, being stronger at their bare minimum than someone that has worked to achieve their maximum genetic potential. The body attempts to strike a balance between what muscles are required and how much metabolic resources are needed in order to maintain homeostasis and does so to the best of its genetic capabilities. Everyone is different in their genetic capabilities, which is why it is so important to understand the theory of HIT, so it can be intelligently applied to everyone based on their capabilities. Prescription strength training protocols do not translate over a large population of individuals. If 10,000 people were instructed to exercise 6 times per week, many of them would make little or no progress, a few of them would see an extreme leap in progress, and a few of them would become even weaker than when they started. It makes no sense to blindly follow a routine that someone else has made for themselves. Steroids increase the body’s ability to recover in quite a drastic fashion. A steroid user can spend more total time in the gym than a natural athlete, however, they still only need one set in order to stimulate growth, just like everyone else. The only difference steroids will make to someone is how many days of rest are required in order to recover and supercompensate. While some natural athletes may need a week or more of rest between training a body part if they are approaching the upward limits of their natural genetic capability, a steroid user may only require a few days, even if they are significantly bigger. The same stimulus of triggering muscle growth still applies to steroid users though. Even if they might be able to train more often, their workouts should still be the same.

Training to failure is optimal as a form of strength training, as it reduces the amount of time in the gym, can be done safely, it is the easiest to understand, it reduces or eliminates the potential for unnecessarily damaging the muscles, and is the easiest type of training to program. You can achieve the exact same results as volume training while reducing risk of injury and spending less than 1/10th of the time in the gym that others do. A person that is willing to work and to push to their absolute limits can see consistent changes in their strength gains and spend little time doing it, eliminating excuses such as not having time. HIT can fit into anyone’s life that genuinely wants to get bigger and stronger, and that is willing to put in effort for a very short duration.

Absolute momentary muscular failure is when all of the strength possible has been drained out of a muscle at least once in a given session. Positive failure has been reached, followed by negative failure, and any remaining static strength has also been drained. The methodology of HIT is to hit Absolute Momentary Muscular Failure on every muscle exercised, every single time you exercise, for one set. If you are unable to do this in a single set, then you may need to add more. Using a single set is absolutely ideal, but some people may stop at volitional failure. By going to absolute momentary muscular failure, you are providing the absolute strongest growth stimulus possible to tell your body that you are not currently strong enough to meet the demands of the environment and you must adapt and overcome. By definition, if you have drained every single muscle fiber of their capability to produce force in both the concentric and eccentric portions of a movement, you cannot work any harder than that or provide any stronger stimulus.

Once you understand that only a single working set is needed in order to trigger a growth response, you will see that there is simply no need for volume based training, although volume training does have benefits in certain areas that will be covered in a later section.

This document was created for the sole purpose of bringing together all of the scientific literature regarding exercise in order to extrapolate what is the no bullshit way to get to your genetic potential as fast as possible. This is not mindless mental masturbation literotica praising High Intensity Training. High Intensity Training simply happened to be the correct and most optimal way to exercise, as has been discovered by science. Using our philosophical and research based understanding of why this works, we can apply a reasonable and intelligently planned approach. The way to get bigger and stronger is the same for everyone. Humans are roughly the same in how the mechanisms of training operate, though there are specific differences between people, such as their individual need for rest. Understanding the way broadly will open up the reader to be able to construct their own narrow path forward with an intelligent and logical approach.

Research Supporting HIT

Concepts

There are concepts that must first be understood about physiology in general before anything else related to training will make any sense. People will have many questions in regard to training and lots of them will initially be skeptical on both points that only a single set can be effective. After all, if you’re only doing a single set, how can you fatigue all of your muscle fibers? How many reps do you need? How do you know if you’re taking a muscle to failure correctly? By what mechanism does this single set operate in order to grow us bigger and stronger? Are you going to simply get bigger, stronger, or both? How does this relate to cardio? All of these questions and more will be answered in this text.

Take great care to not just gloss over the information, especially in this Concepts section, as they are the most important to building your foundational understanding of exercise science as a whole. Simply reading studies and looking at results will only give you a tiny glimpse of the results of the process, but truly understanding the process will allow you to visualize everything in your mind’s eye from beginning to end. After understanding the concepts of basic physiology

You will no longer ever be persuaded by snake oil salesmen
You can effectively train yourself and develop your own plan
You will instantaneously be able to recognize who knows what they are talking about and who doesn’t
Your training journey will be injury free
You will spend less time in the gym
You’ll be able to explain to other people exactly why something does and does not work, allowing you to train your friends and family if you so desire
You will get better results
You’ll know which exercises are effective and which ones are trash
You will save untold amounts of time
You will feel secure in your training, knowing that it is an effective and scientifically verifiable approach

You’ll be absolutely blown away by how much garbage information there is in the fitness industry. Of all of the information available on exercise that is geared toward the general public, nearly everything is a scam. Gyms, Personal Trainers, Supplement Companies, Equipment Manufacturers and everyone else involved in the fitness industry have one singular goal and that goal is to extract as much money as possible from you at every single opportunity that they can. They intentionally put out bad information so that you are confused and do not know how to approach training and then they will try to sell you a solution. “Burn fat with this one simple pill”, “Put on 60 lbs of muscle in 15 days”, and “Take your physique to the next level with our extreme training program” are all common scams that are run in the industry. It’s a ploy to sell you useless supplements and training programs and the goal is not to solve your problem. The goal is to CONTINUE to extract money from you over time. Customers that have their problem SOLVED are no longer customers. They want to keep you in the sales pipeline. They are financially incentivized for you to NOT see results, but to keep you on the hamster wheel, always promising that the solution to your problems is just one more product away. You cannot sell some bullshit supplement to someone that is already 220 lbs of solid muscle at 10% body fat that has reached their own ideal physique. They need nothing from you.

Burpees, multiple sets, “functional training”, 6 days a week training, RPE and RIR, “explosive training”, training for strength vs training for size, Olympic Lifts, deloading, balance training, fat burning supplements, testosterone boosters, exercise watches, flow training, tai chi, the secret routine that nobody knows about, FUCKING CROSSFIT, kettlebells, steady state aerobic cardio, plyometrics, calisthenics, speed training, fat burning training, pilates, agility training, the list goes on and will continue to grow infinitely so long as there are suckers that will buy into the garbage. All of these things are complete and total horseshit from beginning to end.

A more common scam that is occurring nowadays is the science-based scam. Someone cherry-picks a single study or two, reads the results, and claims that it is the best way to train, usually based on a small statistically insignificant difference in the results and will take that as gospel, which they then use to fool customers that want optimal results based on science. Doing that is particularly easy to do, as you do not have to know what you are talking about. You can simply shove off the authority onto the scientists and say that your method, based on their results of a dubious study, is factually correct. While I’m sure that some of these people in the science-based training world are well meaning, they may also be unaware of why that doesn’t work. By not having a full grasp on the TOTALITY of the body of exercise literature, you cannot hope to utilize the knowledge that all of these scientists have gained. By understanding the way broadly, you can forge your own narrow path. This document will equip you with the knowledge to understand the way broadly.

The people that advocate for those things either know that their training methods are based on nothing and are useless or they don’t. In each case that means that they are either lying and intentionally trying to mislead you, generally to take your money, or they were misinformed by accident or stupid. In either case, you never want to listen to anyone that advocates for things that don’t align with physiological fact, and after learning the facts for yourself, you’ll never need to listen to anyone ever again on the topic of exercise science. It doesn’t take a genius to understand the concepts in this section. It is BASIC physiology that can be learned and understood in a few hours at most.

For those that have no desire to understand the body broadly, there is a section located toward the end of the text that simply describes what to do. It is the section titled, “Putting it into Action”. If you choose to skip toward the end, you are only cheating yourself out of knowledge that may drastically impact your results and performance. You may be reeled back into the hamster wheel of the fitness industry sales funnel. I strongly encourage you to take some time and to read everything written in this entire document, so that you can think rationally about your training.

Henneman’s Size Principle of Sequential Recruitment of Motor Units

The Henneman's Size Principle is a fundamental concept in exercise physiology that explains the order in which muscle fibers are recruited during voluntary muscle contractions. This principle states that small, slow-twitch fibers are recruited first, followed by larger, intermediate fibers, and then the largest, fast-twitch fibers. As the demand for more strength increases, more muscle fibers are recruited, and at the absolute peak of strength, all muscle fibers are recruited.

According to the Henneman's Size Principle, in order to fully fatigue the muscles and stimulate growth, all of the muscle fibers must be recruited and fatigued, from the smallest to the largest. This means that the specific training methods used to fatigue the muscles, such as the number of repetitions, sets, or weight used, do not matter as long as the muscles are taken to failure.

Therefore, the Henneman's Size Principle allows us to understand why factors such as high reps vs low reps, the number of sets, tonnage, and volume do not matter for muscle growth and strength. As long as the muscles are fully fatigued, the training methods used are less important for achieving optimal muscle growth and strength. The discovery of the Henneman's Size Principle shows that all fibers of a muscle are successfully fatigued when taking an exercise to failure.

>Henneman’s Size Principle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOGC_PH2VCg&t=9s&ab_channel=HouseofHypertrophy\

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henneman%27s_size_principle#:~:text=The%20size%20principle%20states%20that,two%20very%20important%20physiological%20benefits.

(Pictured: Henneman’s Size Principle of Motor Unit Recruitment, sequential recruiting scheme)

All-or-None Law, Motor Unit Response to Recruitment

In addition to the henneman’s size principle, there also exists the “All-or-none” law. In physiology, the all-or-none law (sometimes the all-or-none principle or all-or-nothing law) is the principle that if a single nerve fiber is stimulated, it will always give a maximal response and produce an electrical impulse of a single amplitude. If the intensity or duration of the stimulus is increased, the height of the impulse will remain the same. The downstream muscle fiber either gives a maximal response or none at all.

It was first established by the American physiologist Henry Pickering Bowditch in 1871 for the contraction of heart muscle.

An induction shock produces a contraction or fails to do so according to its strength; if it does so at all, it produces the greatest contraction that can be produced by any strength of stimulus in the condition of the muscle at the time.

This principle was later found to be present in skeletal muscle by Keith Lucas in 1909. The individual fibers of nerves also respond to stimulation according to the all-or-none principle.

As long as the stimulus reaches the threshold, the full response would be given. Larger stimulus does not result in a larger response.. Attempting to push beyond your limits of strength will not produce greater outputs of strength. If you are pushing harder and getting more, you simply didn’t push hard enough the first time around.

Through this understanding of the henneman’s size principle and the all-or-nothing law, we can effectively conclude that the only possible way to train every single fiber in a muscle group is to exercise them to a 100% intensity threshold, which is absolute momentary muscular failure. By insufficiently reaching failure, you are not exercising the largest muscle fibers, which have the greatest capability to produce strength and have the greatest capability for growth.

You can only exercise fibers in a muscle group if there is a strength demand placed upon them.
All fibers are recruited sequentially from the smallest to the largest.
A fiber will always produce the strongest contractile force it can muster
Fibers will grow if they receive a growth stimulus by way of fatiguing them
Once fibers can no longer produce force, they have been fatigued and stimulated
Fibers are fatigued sequentially from smallest to largest
Not going to failure means that the largest fibers will not have received stimulus
By going to failure, one can ensure with no doubt in their mind that they have 100% effectively stimulated and fatigued all muscle fibers taking part in a particular exercise
By ensuring that 100% of your muscle fibers have been fatigued, you can ensure the maximum amount of growth stimulus possible from a single exercise

Going to failure more than once is absolutely not necessary. When you go to failure the first time, all of the fibers have been stimulated. By going to failure a second time, or a third or fourth, you are simply fatiguing and damaging the same fibers for no reason. More sets and reps does not equal more or better stimulus. A muscle only needs to be stimulated to grow a single time. It has received the stimulus after hitting failure. Any more than that is counterproductive in that exercise produces DAMAGE to muscles. Exercise does not produce muscle itself. Exercise produces DAMAGE. If we could stimulate muscles to grow by turning on the appropriate hormonal sequences that occur after an exercise, then there would simply be no point in having to perform an exercise in the first place. As it stands right now, if you are a natural bodybuilder, you must perform an exercise in order to receive the stimulus. The fact that we have to perform movements, causing damage to muscles in order to grow them, is an unfortunate byproduct of our basic physiology, not the main point of performing an exercise.

All of this is being stated in an effort to get people to understand that there is a finite amount of work that needs to be done. No more and no less is required. Do the exact correct amount of work and then stop. The all-or-none law allows us to understand that if you are going to 100% intensity of effort then there is no more that could or should be done. You cannot output any more force by trying harder if you reach the point of absolute momentary muscular failure. After fatiguing a muscle and expending it to its greatest potential, the muscle stops contracting as a defensive mechanism to prevent further damage. If you could somehow surpass this natural mechanism, it would not be in your best interest, as it would simply cause untold amounts of unnecessary damage to your muscles. You have nothing more than you can give in a set going to 100% intensity of effort. Resting and doing more sets and reps will only continue to recycle the small slow twitch motor units that have already fatigued and recovered in your short duration of rest.

>All or None Law

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-or-none_law

Nerve Innervation

Fiber Types

Mind-Muscle Connection

The mind-muscle connection refers to someone’s capability to produce action potential in a neurological pathway that allows them to recruit motor units. Oftentimes, people are unable to successfully recruit all of their motor units when attempting an exercise. Many people report not being able to “feel” certain muscles. This is most often the case with untrained individuals that have not utilized their muscles to any significant degree before attempting training. Athletes often have a much better capability to recruit their muscles as they have used them sufficiently before training. For anyone that has ever learned any physical skill, they will understand that they will get better at a particular activity as they continue to perform it. Typing on a keyboard, for example, is a skill that can be taught, learned, and improved over time.

The reason that someone gets better at a particular physical activity is due to the neurological pathways that are developed within the brain and throughout the nervous system that form in order to effectuate the process of performance. This applies to all skills. Motor unit recruitment is also a skill that must be learned and one that can be mastered as well. Some people are simply not even capable of flexing a muscle that they have due to their lack of experience in using that muscle. For the regular person that has never lifted weights or done sports this can often be the case. When was the last time a normal person that has not lifted weights or done sports consciously sat and thought to intensely contract their Trapezius muscles? It’s extremely uncommon for someone to even consider doing something like that. Due to their lack of experience in utilizing various muscles, they have a far lesser capability to consciously recruit these muscles due to the underdeveloped neurological pathways.

Neurological pathways can be formed intentionally through the practice of a given activity. For someone that has a poor capability to produce action potential in their muscle due to a lack of use in the past, they may have to learn how to properly recruit their muscles. The mind-muscle connection can be drastically improved in individuals by taking an exercise through a full range of motion, where the trainee intensely focuses on the contraction of their targeted muscle. The more a movement is performed and the more the muscle is being used, the more someone can improve their ability to recruit that muscle group.

There is an important associated time component with the mind-muscle connection as well. Spending more time performing an action may result in greater action potential capability. For this reason, it may be highly beneficial for brand new trainees to perform very high repetitions of a particular exercise with light loads in order to establish this connection. This will give them more time to be able to practice a movement. Any significant amount of time spent performing an exercise will greatly benefit the mind-muscle connection.

The Russians have developed a system of training in order to enhance the mind-muscle connection, which often shows a great increase in the capabilities of trainees. They call it, “Greasing the Groove”. The prescription is simple. Perform an exercise to about 50% of your possible reps once every 15-30 minutes all day, every day, with the occasional rest day. This will not do too much in the way of increasing overall strength and mass, but for someone that has previously not had their neurological pathways developed, doing this for a period of a few weeks may drastically increase their capability to produce force by allowing them to fully recruit the fibers of a muscle group, translating to a virtual increase in force output with the same amount of absolute muscle on their body. Greasing the Groove can work wonders for muscular recruitment.

It is absolutely possible to continue to see increases in strength and size by performing an exercise, taking the muscle to a full range of motion without having a significant mind-muscle connection, but it would be generally advised for any trainee that is not able to adequately feel and contract their muscles to work on their neurological pathways before attempting to perform HIT weightlifting in order to get the best possible recruitment and growth out of their muscles. So long as neurological pathways are forged and regularly used, they will only continue to strengthen with time, making this a skill that will stay with someone for a lifetime.

>Training adaptations in the behavior of human motor units

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00543.2006

>The Neuroscience of Learning, Informative Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nWMP68DqHE&ab_channel=HaloNeuroscience

>Strength Training Increases Conduction Velocity of High-Threshold Motor Units

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31688652/

>Action potential amplitude as a noninvasive indicator of motor unit-specific hypertrophy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4922476/

(A: comparison of the torque (a) and rectified electromyography (EMG) of the tibialis anterior (b) recorded in one subject during a fast (ballistic) isometric ankle dorsiflexion, before and after dynamic training. )

mTOR pathway

Mechanical overload and anabolic stimulation are suggested to be important for increasing skeletal muscle mass and fiber size. Notably, changes in adult muscle mass by external stimuli emerged from the growth of the individual muscle fibers, not from an increase in the number of muscle fibers. One of the most widely recognized major players in controlling muscle mass is mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). mTOR is a serine/threonine kinase which senses various environmental and intracellular changes including nutrient availability and energy status, and coordinates diverse cellular processes including cell growth, differentiation, autophagy, survival, and metabolism. mTORC1 is known as a key regulator in controlling skeletal muscle mass following contraction and mechanical load-induced hypertrophy, synergistic ablation, myotube hypertrophy, and amino acid sensing, in which mTOR interacts with factors of both skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy.

As one begins to look at the biology of the mTOR pathway, they can quickly become overwhelmed with the complexities of it all. For those that are interested in learning more about the mTOR pathway, they can follow the link to the study, explaining the interactions of the mTOR pathway with various systems. This document is being written so that the common man can understand the systems on a level that is useful to them. This is not being written for someone that has a degree in biology or organic chemistry. That being said, the key takeaway is that the mTOR pathway is what regulates the synthesis of myofibrillar muscle protein, and is therefore what we should aim to turn on. As you can see in the chart below, mechanical stimulation is what is believed to be the main driver for hypertrophy.

Mechanosensors detect the amount of mechanical tension that is being exerted upon the muscles and then begin a “signaling cascade” of events that turn on the mTOR pathway which is then directly responsible for the synthesis of new muscle. Fatiguing a muscle in a localized area will ensure that it has been properly stimulated. You cannot turn on the mTOR pathway any more than it already is. It is either on or it is off. It is binary in this regard. More sets and more reps will not lead to more growth because you provided them with more stimulus. The initial stimulus is what sets in play the events that eventually lead to synthesis and it only needs to be provided a single time.

>mTOR as a Key Regulator in Maintaining Skeletal Muscle Mass

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2017.00788/full

(FIGURE 1. The summary of the regulation of mTORC1 activity in skeletal muscles. Multiple factors and pathways affect mTORC1 activity to regulate skeletal muscle mass. mTORC1 is activated by IGF-I/insulin, mechanical stimulation and amino acids (blue lines) and inhibited by glucocorticoids and myostatin (red lines). Activated mTORC1 increases protein synthesis in skeletal muscle.)

A more simplified version below

Mechanosensors/Mechanoreceptors

Mechanosensors are specialized proteins that are attached to the surface of muscle fibers and detect changes in mechanical forces, such as tension or stretching. These proteins, also known as mechanoreceptors, play a crucial role in regulating the contraction and relaxation of muscles in response to various stimuli.

There are different types of mechanosensors that are found in muscle fibers, each with its own unique function and properties. For example, some mechanosensors are sensitive to changes in muscle length, while others are sensitive to changes in muscle tension.

Mechanosensors are important for maintaining proper muscle function and coordination. They help to regulate the contraction and relaxation of muscles in response to changes in the body's position and movement, allowing us to move smoothly and efficiently. Dysregulation of mechanosensors can lead to muscle stiffness, weakness, and other problems.

There are many different types of mechanosensors that are found in muscle fibers, each with its own unique function and properties. Some of these specific mechanosensors include:

Stretch receptors - These mechanosensors are sensitive to changes in muscle length and help to regulate the tension of the muscle. Stretch receptors are also present in arterial walls
Golgi tendon organs - These mechanosensors are located at the junction of muscle and tendon and are sensitive to changes in muscle tension. They help to regulate the force of muscle contractions and protect against excessive forces that could cause injury.
Muscle spindles - These mechanosensors are located within the muscle fibers and are sensitive to changes in muscle length and velocity. They help to regulate muscle tone and control the reflexive responses of the muscles.
Osteocytes - These mechanosensors detect changes in the load and strain on bones and send signals to the bone-forming cells, called osteoblasts, to stimulate bone formation and growth. This helps to maintain the strength and structure of the bones and allows them to adapt to changes in mechanical loading.

There are many other types of mechanosensors that are found in muscle fibers, and more research is needed to fully understand their functions and roles in muscle function. Muscle adaptations are a result of stimulus being placed on the mechanosensors. After exercising, the mechanosensors in the muscles detect changes in mechanical forces, such as tension or stretching, and send signals to the nervous system. The nervous system then responds by activating a series of biochemical processes that lead to muscle growth and adaptation. Over time, these adaptations allow the muscles to become stronger and more capable of handling the demands of the exercise.

Mechanosensors receive stimulus from strength training and then build up action potential, which is then transmitted to the central nervous system. The central nervous system then activates a series of biochemical processes that lead to muscle growth and adaptation.

Mechanical Tension and Metabolic Stress, Drivers of Hypertrophy. Muscular damage is counterproductive

First, before beginning this section, it is important that we clearly understand what mechanical tension actually is. It is completely fruitless to even begin to talk about the absolute most important factor in the actual training of the muscles before we can get to how it can be used. Luckily, Mechanical Tension is relatively easy to understand and define. Mechanical Tension can be described as the amount of active contractile force produced by the muscles during an exercise. This is to mean that mechanical tension is not something that occurs to the muscles, but is the product of what occurs endogenously within the muscles through their own efforts. You cannot increase peak contractile force beyond what a muscle is capable of creating within itself by utilizing different external stimuli. As contractile force can only really be separated into three types, concentric, static, and eccentric, there are only three ways in which mechanical tension can be visited upon the muscle, but ultimately they are the same thing, as what is occurring at the cellular level is the same in all circumstances. A muscle can move through a concentric range of motion, a muscle can resist a force through a range of motion, or a muscle can contract statically. No matter which method is chosen, a muscle is simply contracting when all of these occur and stops when it is no longer capable of contracting any longer. The same level of mechanical tension can be achieved through all of these methods so long as the muscle is being utilized to its maximum capacity, which is to say that muscle failure has been reached. Mechanical tension is the same in all of these forms of exercise because muscles always produce their maximum level of strength whenever utilized. It is incumbent upon the trainee to push themselves to their absolute limits in order to effectively recruit all of their muscle fibers during an exercise. Failing to do so will net sub par gains. Maximum effort, no matter how it is applied, will lead to maximum mechanical tension. Maximum mechanical tension will lead to all fibers being fatigued.

Henneman’s size principle shows that all muscles can be recruited if a muscle is taken to failure, putting a high amount of stress on each cell. It is currently believed that the primary growth signaling mechanism of a muscle is due to 2 major factors, metabolic stress (as evidenced by the cross educational effect) and Mechanical Tension (Recruitment and fatigue). It appears that muscle damage, as previously believed to be responsible for muscular hypertrophy, is not a driving factor, but a detriment to muscle building efforts entirely. As Mike had stated, deeper inroading simply means that you have more damage from which to recover. It alone does not signal to begin the muscle building process (mTOR pathway). What may have led to this conclusion is the observation of higher rates of acute muscle protein synthesis after a workout that was directly correlated to the amount of damage done to the muscle, but it has been found that this increase in muscle protein synthesis is specifically done to repair muscular damage and does not correlate to an increase in hypertrophic myofibrillar muscular protein synthesis. Inroading, caused by higher volume and greater frequency of exercise, is not the goal of exercise, but the goal is to stimulate growth through mechanical tension. Mechanical tension, through fatiguing all muscle fibers, can be achieved through Henneman’s size principle, when taking a muscle to the point of absolute momentary muscular failure. Fatiguing all muscle fibers alerts/activates mechanosensors attached to muscle fibers, which begins a signaling cascade of metabolic events that result in hypertrophy .

>Muscle Damage is counterproductive, acute muscle protein synthesis is not correlated to hypertrophy, but to muscle damage recovery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzzp3DbAHwA&ab_channel=HouseofHypertrophy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3933567/

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP272472

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-11621-x

>Muscle Damage is counterproductive, Meta Analysis of 111 studies

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339360274_A_Systematic_Review_with_Meta-Analysis_of_the_Effect_of_Resistance_Training_on_Whole-Body_Muscle_Growth_in_Healthy_Adult_Males - “the only single variable that moderates inversely the gains in hypertrophy is the number of sets per workout, showing that an excess of sets per workouts affects negatively the amount of muscle growth.”

>Mechanical Tension as a primary driver of hypertrophy

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00685.2018

Link between strength and size

Many people attempt to debunk various fields of strength training, stating that strength and size are not the same. There is only some minor truth to this statement. Strength and size are OBVIOUSLY correlated to the ability to produce force. You cannot get significantly stronger without getting significantly bigger. Smaller differences in strength can be chalked up to metabolic efficiency differences in mitochondrial output, overall systemic fatigue, current glycogen and ATP stores at the time of lifting, mind-muscle connection, and any necessary skill based components of performing an exercise. Leverages also play a large role in someone being able to lift large amounts of weight in heavy compound exercises. This can be confirmed by measuring the specific muscular measurements of a population and accounting for all confounding factors such as were listed above. Then, with an extremely high degree of certainty, their relative strength can be determined based on that alone. Tests are not performed by seeing how much someone can lift in a given compound movement, as there are too many variables associated with that (skill and leverages). This makes them a poor capability to measure one’s strength. Strength is generally accurately measured in studies by isolating a specific muscle and measuring contractile force isometrically when attached to a machine. This further crushes the idea that there are multiple ways to train a muscle for either strength or size (to any real degree of efficacy) based on a number of rep ranges. The range of strength can mostly be explained by the fact that a muscle can alter its size by more than 16% based on the amount of water, glycogen, plasma, etc. currently being stored in the muscle.

>Muscular Strength and Muscular size are the SAME

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666337621000032

>Mind Muscle Connection and Muscular recruitment as a skill

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26700744/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14998709/

https://themusclephd.com/the-mind-muscle-connection/

Systemic Effect of Strength Training

Training a single body part produces strength growth in the same opposite side muscle despite not training the opposite muscle at all. Training the left bicep will increase strength in the right bicep without training the right bicep at all if the right bicep is not immobilized. This strength increase mechanism may be indicative of a mind-muscle connection neurological pathway overlap in training. Training in one limb may increase the capability of the other limb due to their neurological pathways being linked very closely to one another in the same region of the brain. Increases in SIZE AND STRENGTH have also been recorded in 4 different studies when performing unilateral strength training on one limb and 0 training on the opposing limb. 5 studies were even performed on subjects with a completely immobilized arm, unilaterally training their opposing arm. In all studies, subjects were shown to increase their strength by a significant amount in their trained arm, and lesser increases in strength in their immobilized arm. The control groups saw decreases in strength in both arms across the board. This further indicates that there is a cross-educational effect between muscle groups and that overall growth is systemic, rather than muscle specific, to a certain degree. The fact that there were both increases in SIZE AND STRENGTH lends credence to the idea that overall systemic metabolic stress is a driver of muscular hypertrophy.

>Cross Educational Effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9HA9wCsubs&t=110s&ab_channel=HouseofHypertrophy

In addition to this cross educational effect, it would seem that stimulating a generalized area with overall stress may induce growth in a much larger overall region. When comparing the overall muscle thickness and strength of the biceps when performing lat pull downs only vs bicep curls only, the results were exactly the same. This suggests that Multi-joint exercises and Single Joint exercises will give the same results so long as the same muscle group is included in their training. In this experiment, it was either lat pull downs or bicep curls. There was no group that did both.

>Single Joint vs Multi Joint Exercises produced the same statistical amount of growth

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592763/

When doing both isolations AND compound movements that involve the same muscle groups, it did not appear that this had any effect on increases in size or strength when comparing biceps. Two groups were tested. One group did lat pull downs and bench press. The other group did lat pulldowns, bench press, tricep push downs, and bicep curls. Biceps growth was the same between them. The triceps, for some suspicious reason, were not measured.

>Compounds with added isolations saw no additional benefit in biceps, triceps not measured for some reason

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23537028/

>Compounds only vs compounds AND isolations saw no statistically significant differences

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26244600/

>Review Study

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27677913/

TO BE ADDED: INCREASE IN HGH, TESTOSTERONE, AND REGULATION OF IGF WHEN PERFORMING HEAVY COMPOUND EXERCISES ABC123

Region Specific Growth

While it may be fantastic news for many people that compound movements do provide significant and sufficient growth in many regions that are used in a movement, this does not mean that all muscles are worked equally or effectively during compound movements. Many compound movements do not provide sufficient stimulation to certain muscle groups and therefore must add region specific exercises in order to work them effectively. One example of this would be the squat and the Rectus Femoris. The squat has been shown to drastically increase the size and strength of the quadriceps in all quadriceps muscles EXCEPT for the rectus femoris. In order to get significant growth to the rectus femoris, leg extensions may be required as they are not significantly worked in a compound exercise. Overhead presses do not significantly work the lateral deltoid, therefore specific inclusions of lateral raises may be required for the lateral deltoid in order to stimulate optimal growth. This will also apply to other compound exercises and their sub-groups of muscles. If a specific body part is lacking, an isolation exercise may be necessary in order to get the best growth.

>Squats and Rectus Femoris

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27032805/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31230110/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30293403/

>RDL and Hamstring Curls

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24978835/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34426558/

Variety leads to greater overall development

Variety tends to increase overall growth in more regions of muscles. When comparing 2 groups that performed exercises, the group that performed a variety of exercises on a 3 day rotational basis, compared to a group that only did a single set group of exercises, had the best overall growth in more regions across different areas of the muscle group. The study did not specify or otherwise indicate that the muscle was taken to the point of absolute momentary muscular failure, potentially introducing a major confounding factor to the results of the study.

>Variety leads to better overall development in different regions of specific muscle groups

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33440446/

Any given exercise does not grow all regions of a muscle that it works, even when taken through a full range of motion. Multiple exercises may need to be utilized in order to grow a muscle to its maximal potential at all regions. For example, training the quadriceps with only leg extensions will greatly increase the area of the rectus femoris, but not the other quadricep muscles. Even inside of the rectus femoris head specifically, there was a difference in growth of the muscle in the upper portion of the head, the lower portion, and the middle portion. The study did not specify or otherwise indicate that the muscle was taken to the point of absolute momentary muscular failure, potentially introducing a major confounding factor to the results of the study.

>Region specific growth in the rectus femoris (Must Buy Study Access)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23949789/

SHBG and Free Testosterone

Sex Hormone Binging Globuline (SHBG) is a molecule that encapsulates testosterone in the body. Albumin is another molecule in which testosterone is carried or encapsulated. Testosterone that is not bound by SHBG or Albumin is referred to as free testosterone. Having too much SHBG relative to testosterone will lower the overall amount of free testosterone, which is what is needed in order to effectuate muscle protein synthesis in new muscles.

“Excessively high SHBG is problematic especially for males and athletes because it decreases the amount of free testosterone. High levels of SHBG are associated with infertility, a decreased sex drive, and erectile dysfunction, especially when total testosterone levels are already low [4]. In both men and women, low levels of free testosterone can result in reduced muscle growth and impaired post-workout recovery [5]. Additionally, recent research suggests that high levels of SHBG bind to estrogen and reduce bone mass in both men and women- potentially leading to osteoporosis. Thus, optimal SHBG levels are crucial in maintaining proper bone health and some experts are now suggesting routine measurement of SHBG as a useful new marker for predicting severe bone diseases [6].”

>Article containing the text

https://blog.insidetracker.com/testosterone-action-versus-testosterone-levels-why-shbg-matters

>4: “showed that free testosterone level was significantly correlated with erectile function”

Ahn, H. S., C. M. Park, and S. W. Lee. "The clinical relevance of sex hormone levels and sexual activity in the ageing male." BJU international 89.6 (2002): 526-530.

>5: Testosterone increases muscle protein synthesis. 27% mean increase with a pharmacological dose of testosterone enanthate (3 mg.kg-1.wk-1 for 12 wk)

Griggs, ROBERT C., et al. "Effect of testosterone on muscle mass and muscle protein synthesis." Journal of Applied Physiology 66.1 (1989): 498-503.

>6: Link between SHBG and Osteoporosis

Hoppé, Emmanuel, et al. "Sex hormone-binding globulin in osteoporosis." Joint Bone Spine 77.4 (2010): 306-312.

Overtraining leads to an increase in SHBG

In a 2011 Finnish study, researchers assessed the impacts of overtraining on levels of SHBG and total testosterone (TT). They enlisted 57 males with an average of age of 20 years and tested them during 8 weeks of basic military training in cold, winter temperatures (-13.6 Celsius average). The physical regimen started at 2 hours/day in week one and increased to 7 hours/day by week 8. According to the researchers, these subjects had their first experience of very demanding physical training, eating outdoors, and performing overnight exercises in a forest. As a result, they surmised that these men experienced overtraining and would experience physiological effects such as a sudden decrease in performance. The researchers took blood samples of the subjects after 12 hours of fasting before weeks 1, 4, and 7 where the first blood sample served as the baseline blood levels of SHBG and TT. Researchers revealed that TT remained the same as baseline after the 4th and 7th weeks. While serum SHBG concentrations remained the same after week 4, they increased after week 7 [8]. Because of the increase in SHBG and the same level of TT, the free serum testosterone levels decreased resulting in lower muscle recovery and ultimately poorer physical performance.

>Military Study showing increases in SHGB after several weeks of grueling training

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20543745/

Importance of micronutrients

ABC123 Collectivized research showing drastic decreases in testosterone due to micronutrient deficiencies. The need for micronutrients in force production and metabolic efficiency.

Human Capability to increase muscle mass

Humans have roughly the same capability to put on lean muscle mass, regardless of their training experience, though untrained subjects (0 experience) and subjects with 5+ years of lifting experience have a similar and higher capability to increase muscle mass compared to others with differing levels of experience. However, no statistically significant differences between categories were observed. Statistical application applies to 95% of the population with a high degree of certainty. There is a wide degree of variability when it comes to putting on muscle mass for the experienced lifter. Some are able to put on tremendous amounts of weight, some are not able to put on as much, but they were all able to increase their FFM.

The study was looking at the change in Fat Free Mass, Lean Muscle Mass, and Skeletal Muscle Mass (FFM, LMM, SMM). The meta analysis looked at changes in these factors after 2 weeks or more of Resistance Training (RT). The Confidence Interval was 95% at 2.860lbs - 3.872lbs change in FFM+LMM+SMM, with the median change in muscle mass being 3.366lbs. With a p value of < 0.001, this makes the data reliable to a 99.9% degree of accuracy.

(Values listed below are in kg)

The types of training performed were circuit training (n groups: FFM = 1; LMM = 2), full body (n groups: FFM = 40; LMM = 31; SMM = 4), traditional split routine (n groups: FFM = 34; LMM = 20; SMM = 7), lower limbs (n groups: LMM = 3), and physical military training (n groups: FFM = 2) and not specified (n groups: FFM = 5; LMM = 9) for FFM. The training sessions lasted from 4 to 24 weeks (FFM = 10.4 ± 5.41; LMM = 9.37 ± 4.53; SMM = 10.5 ± 4.01) with a weekly frequency of between 2 and 6 days (FFM = 3.5 ± 0.84; LMM = 3.2 ± 0.81; SMM = 3.3 ± 0.94). The resistance training sessions were carried out with between 1 and 20 exercises (FFM = 7.9 ± 3.13; LMM = 7.3 ± 3.67; SMM = 7.0 ± 1.48), 1 to 50 sets per exercise (FFM = 16.7 ± 11.8; LMM = 14.0 ± 10.1; SMM = 19.1 ± 11.1) and 2 to 15 repetitions per set (FFM = 7.8 ± 3.0; LMM = 9.1 ± 1.9; SMM = 8.5 ± 0.7) with intensities of 50 and 89% of 1RM (FFM = 78.8 ± 5.8; LMM = 74.6 ± 8.6; SMM = 80.8 ± 5.8).

“Considering the overall effects of the meta-regression, and taking into account the participants' characteristics, none of the studied covariates explained any effect on changes in muscle mass. Regarding the training characteristics, the only significant variable that explained the variance of the hypertrophy was the sets per workout, showing a significant negative interaction (MD; estimate: 1.85, 95% CI [1.45, 2.25], p < 0.001; moderator: -0.03 95% CI [−0.05, −0.001] p = 0.04). In conclusion, RT has a significant effect on the improvement of hypertrophy (~1.5 kg). The excessive sets per workout affects negatively the muscle mass gain.”

Ultimately, due to these findings, we can be 99.9% certain that there is a 95% chance that you will put on between 2.860lbs - 3.872lbs (median 3.366lbs) FFM+LMM+SMM training over a period of 4 to 24 weeks. Being any more specific than this becomes extremely difficult due to the overall variability of intragroup differences in the amount of FFM gained. This highlights the importance of individualized training approaches that respect the capability of a person to recover.

Training Categories are the amount of experience in years of lifting a trainee has. 0 years is untrained, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, and 5+ years of experience are the categories. The average person in all of the categories will gain weight it seems. Lifters with 5+ years of experience have the greatest capability to put on mass out of all categories.

>Gains are roughly the same across the board, 111 study meta-analysis

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339360274_A_Systematic_Review_with_Meta-Analysis_of_the_Effect_of_Resistance_Training_on_Whole-Body_Muscle_Growth_in_Healthy_Adult_Males

Metabolic Efficiency and Cardiovascular Adaptations, Cardio does not exist

V02 Max - A commonly used measure of cardiovascular fitness. The measure of the maximum amount of oxygen the body can uptake and utilize during an exercise.

High Intensity Training has been shown to:

Increase mitochondria count
Increase mitochondria efficiency by providing AMPK stimulus
Increase mitochondrial enzyme production
Increase Vascular Strength through shear stress
Increase the number of capillaries
Maximally stimulate the aerobic pathway
Maximally stimulate the anaerobic pathway
Convert type 2x fibers into type 2a fibers
Increase the number of slow twitch type 1 fibers

To begin, many studies regularly use v02 max as a measure for overall health. With an increase in v02 max between sessions, this would show that the body is cycling more oxygen, which has been automatically and wrongly assumed to be related to an accurate marker of cardiovascular health. The problem when using v02 max to measure cardio is that studies have been done comparing max v02 while running or performing various other forms of steady state cardio and then comparing those results of v02 max utilization with weight lifting exercises. The weight lifting exercises use less muscle mass in order to complete the exercise in general. Many labs use the leg extension as the go to exercise for such studies since it’s easy to perform, easy to control variables, comfortable, easy to set up, and most labs have a leg extension machine. Several more muscles are being utilized in other forms of cardiovascular endurance, such as running or even an assault bike. Not only are the legs incorporated, but swinging of the arms, and core stabilization are also majorly incorporated, drastically increasing the absolute metabolic rate as well as drastically increasing the need and utilization of oxygen, showing up as an increased v02 max rating, which confounds any potential studies when using v02 max as a proper marker for increases in cardiovascular health. Using v02 max as a marker for cardiovascular health is an incorrect assumption and it dooms studies before they even begin.

V02 max is increased overall when doing whole body steady state cardio, but training to failure provides a maximal metabolic response to localized cells, which is what actually drives the capability to increase energy output.

“The end products of anaerobic metabolism have to enter the mitochondria, which is the part of the cell that does aerobic metabolism…anaerobic metabolism feeds into it. So even at this other end [of the aerobic ←→ anaerobic metabolism spectrum] when you’re working predominantly (air quotes) ‘aerobically’ as they say, you’ve still got anaerobic processes going on. At the other end of the spectrum when you’re working maximally, anaerobically, your aerobic system will be working maximally as well. The only difference is the proportion of energy that each is providing. So at the end of the spectrum both anaerobic and aerobic metabolism will be working maximally but anaerobic metabolism can ramp up and increase the amount of energy it provides exponentially compared to aerobic metabolism. Aerobic metabolism has a limiter on it basically. There’s an enzyme that limits the amount of this end product from anaerobic metabolism, the rate at which it can enter the mitochondria and therefore the rate at which you can aerobically metabolize and produce energy. So what you have is ehh…working at maximal intensity you have a maximal stimulus to your anaerobic metabolism and a maximal stimulus to your aerobic metabolism and that seems to be limited by this enzyme.”

“What you’ve also got then is…as you start to work maximally, the products of anaerobic metabolism can’t enter the mitochondria as quickly as they’d like to. They start to stack up in the cell and something has to be done with them. So they get converted to lactate essentially through a series of biochemical reactions and that lactate can start to interfere with muscular performance and contraction, so the body has got to try and deal with that otherwise it will start to inhibit the amount of work you can do and another thing that can start to improve your endurance and cardiovascular performance is an increase in your body’s ability to deal with that. This is one of the areas there has not actually been a great deal of research being done on, so some of the stuff we suggest in the paper is speculative and suggest that more research needs to be done on it, but it does suggest that you can start to improve your lactate threshold as we call it, the body’s ability to take those byproducts and deal with them more efficiently through performing resistance training to momentary muscular failure. So all of these different things that we look at on the metabolic side of things are all being maximally stimulated when we work a muscle to fatigue. It doesn’t matter what the mode of exercise is...It’s all the same at the metabolic level and at the physiological level.”

“Now this is a really interesting and recently emerging area of research. In 2005 there was a study done which came up with an idea of what we call the AMPK-PKB switch…essentially what they found out was that there are two different metabolic pathways that stimulate either improvements in the physiology that underpins your cardiovascular fitness or the physiology that underpins your muscular strength and performance in that respect. This study was done on rats…we can extrapolate these findings in humans…One of the problems was that it wasn’t properly controlled. They used really poor representations of exercise. They didn’t control for the intensity appropriately. They compared what they noted was cardio exercise and resistance training exercise and suggested that there was, on the resistance training exercise, an increase in this pathway called the mTOR that increases protein synthesis and increases the amount of muscle that you have and in the (air quotes) ‘cardio’ exercise there was an increase in this AMPK activity, which is supposed to increase/adapt the physiology to induce aerobic adaptations and improvements in cardiovascular improvements.” Steele then describes how the industry uses studies like these in order to bolster their positions that resistance training doesn’t work for cardiovascular fitness and how they were right all along. More papers are written on that paper and then there is a mild body of improperly done research that base their claims on both faulty assumptions and faulty studies. A few months later, a study on humans was released that disproved their findings. The paper done on humans found if exercise is done intensely enough, the AMPK pathway is properly stimulated to maximum capacity. In the first 2-3 hours after exercising, AMPK was drastically increased, showing a considerable breakdown of ATP and ADP stores. The AMPK levels in resistance trained subjects was comparable to the cardio subjects. After about 3 hours, the AMPK started coming down and the mTOR pathway was being activated, so both the metabolic efficiency increasing process and the muscle building process were both properly stimulated with intense resistance training.

The body utilizes ATP as the source of energy for all metabolic processes. As ATP is used up, it is broken down into ADP. As ADP is used up, it becomes AMPK.

In terms of cardiovascular health, there is an increase in blood flow, heart rate, and blood pressure when performing resistance exercise. This effect is both localized and systemic. With resistance training, due to the intense contractions, there is an increase in venous return. Veins have a lower capacity to be pumped by the heart as they are much further on along the line in the cardiovascular system and are not directly connected to the arteries that are pumped by the blood. They are situated between muscle fibers and the muscles themselves act as the pump to force them back to the heart. When a muscle contracts it squeezes the vein and pumps all of the blood within the vein back to the heart. The veins have a series of one way check valves that prevent blood from flowing away from the heart. As enough pressure has been built up, the blood is forced in the correct direction. A simplistic diagram of the venous return mechanism can be found below.

The increase in the pressure in the vascular system creates a large amount of shearing stress on the walls of the veins, arteries, and capillaries. This increase in shear stress is then sensed by the mechanosensors attached to the structures which are then signaling to begin an adaptive response. The peripheral vasculature is what experiences the greatest amount of stress during intense training. The blood pressure in the heart does not change very much or any at all due to the venous return mechanism. As the heart pumps and as a subject trains, the heart gets more and more blood returning to it, increasing its efficiency during intense training. This does not appear to be the case with traditional ‘cardio’ exercise, likely due to a lack of the skeletal muscle pumping action.

(Adaptations to the Cardiovascular system through resistance training exercise)

Steele and colleagues compared results of studies that compared resistance training with a controlled level of intensity that had their participants train to failure. What they found in terms of metabolic responses was that there was an increase in EVERY study in the mitochondrial enzymes. Assuming that these enzymes are not rate limited, meaning that the adaptations that occur as a response to them are not capped by some sort of mechanism, then that means that the more that you have, the more efficiently you will be able to perform aerobic metabolism. These enzymes were traditionally believed to be associated only with long-term steady-state cardio, but now they have been proven to drastically increase with intense resistance training exercise. Molecularly, the failure trained subjects also showed a consistent increase in the amount of mitochondria that they have. An increase in mitochondria directly translates in the ability to increase energy output.

“The Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” -Everyone

Muscle fibers are also separated by fiber type as previously covered in an earlier section. More specifically than fast and slow twitch, there are type 1 fibers known as slow twitch fibers. There are type 2a and type 2x fibers.

Type 2a are both powerful and also more fatigue resistant than type 2x fibers.
Type 2x fibers are powerful and susceptible to rapid fatigue.

Type 2x fibers increase their AMP to ATP ratio more drastically than other types of fibers. This is what stimulates the increase in mitochondria in them. After fatiguing them over and over, they adapt by increasing size, strength, and also the mitochondrial count. This makes them stronger as well as more fatigue resistant. They become more like type 2a fibers when resistance training to failure. There is also the added adaptation of an increase in the amount of type 1/ slow twitch fibers, which additionally increases the amount of fatigue resistance that a muscle has as a whole.

The stimulation in the AMPK also increases the number of capillaries. So in addition to a fiber simply becoming more efficient in terms of its own output and production capability, it also becomes supported by a much larger and robust network of much stronger capillaries. Instead of having one or a few capillaries, the muscle becomes capillarized, meaning that it becomes engulfed in a large highly efficient overlapping network of capillaries that are far more capable in the ability to support the muscle by delivering more blood as needed.

Cardio, ultimately as it has been relayed to us for the better part of a century, is simply extremely low intensity exercise performed for a long period of time. Nothing different is happening inside of the muscle or inside of the cells that power the muscles. By having bigger, stronger, more efficient muscles, one will be able to increase their capability to perform ‘cardio’ activities, which will show up as increased endurance.

By becoming bigger and stronger, someone can increase the amount of total work that they can do and for longer. Someone that is capable of bench pressing 250 lbs only one time, will certainly be smaller and weaker than someone that can bench 500 lbs for reps. If you take the person that can bench press 500 lbs and have them bench 250 lbs, they would certainly be able to do it for a much longer period of time than the other person that maxes out at a 1rm at 250. This is to say that endurance is a byproduct of having bigger, stronger, and more efficient muscles, which can be properly achieved by performing HIT exercise.

After we have reached our genetic muscular capability, at least in all of the muscle groups that are relevant to the goal/sport/activity, we should then seek to train those muscles to the very specific task of what we have in mind. Due to the law of specificity, it is crucially important to train exactly what it is that we need to do. You can be very strong, but if there is a skill component to what needs to be done, it should be trained separately and only after muscular genetic potential has been reached. If the skill and the strength training are happening at the same time then the strength training should take precedence. All skill based training should be done with respect to recovery in mind so that the strength training aspect can continue to see results.

>There’s No Such Thing as Cardio, Phd James Steele speaks on Failure training for metabolic efficiency

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAU_sqHGiYw&t=2902s&ab_channel=21Studios

Specific Research

131 Studies to Prove HIT

A large review of the information available on training data was done by James Fischer, James Steele, and Dave Smith. They reviewed 131 studies, aggregated the information, and attempted to extrapolate general training recommendations. All of their training recommendations fully supported HIT training and they are now outspoken supporters of HIT as a way of training, even going so far as to create a Youtube channel called, “HITuni - The High Intensity Training University”. They found that there were only a few things that actually mattered when it came to muscle hypertrophy. Each of the things that made any significant difference in muscular hypertrophy were well established by Mike Mentzer decades prior. The overwhelming amount of evidence that is provided by these studies now backs up those claims, not just in the principles of basic physiology that we covered above, but now also in hard data. A short summarization of the general recommendations of Fischer, Steele, and Smith are found below. These sentences are taken directly from their study review, which is also linked below.

Intensity of Effort - Persons should aim to recruit as many motor units, and thus muscle fibres, as possible by training until momentary muscular failure.

Load and Repetition Range - Persons should self-select a weight and

perform repetitions to failure. Evidence suggests this is optimal for maximising Hypertrophy. (Rep count/weight does not matter)

Repetition Duration - Persons should perform contractions at a

repetition duration that maintains muscular tension. Performing repetitions too briefly appears to unload the muscle and hinder hypertrophic gain. (Slow controlled reps with minimum jerking, bouncing, etc with good form)

Rest Intervals - Length of rest interval between sets and/or exercises appears to have no significant effect on hypertrophic gain. Persons should self-select rest intervals based on their available time. Single set training appears to provide similar hypertrophic gains to multiple set training. Frequency of training should be self-selected as there appears no evidence which can support any recommendation. (Everyone’s ability to recover is different. Rest as much as you need)

Concurrent Resistance and Endurance Training - The participation in traditional endurance exercise does not appear to hinder hypertrophic gains from resistance training.

Range of Motion (ROM) - Persons can self-select the ROM they exercise through. There appears no evidence to suggest that decreased ROM negatively affects muscular hypertrophy

Contraction Types - We recommend that persons should complete a range of concentric, eccentric and isometric muscle actions as part of their resistance training programme. There appears no evidence to suggest that one muscle action type is more favourable than another, but rather intensity of effort of said muscle actions appears to be the most significant variable.

Resistance Type - Persons should select resistance type based on personal choice. Evidence appears to suggest hypertrophy is attainable using free-weights, machines or other resistance types. However, studies making direct comparisons are minimal.

Non-Uniform Muscle Growth - Persons should perform a variety of exercises/body positions/hand-grips to activate different areas of a muscle in attempt to stimulate hypertrophy. Evidence suggests that non-uniform muscle growth in single muscles within a group, and along the belly of a muscle, is commonplace, and potentially beyond the control of an individual.

Contralateral Effects - Persons cannot obtain hypertrophic increases by training contralateral muscles. However, doing so might cause a reduction in atrophy of an immobilised limb.

Training and Detraining Time--Course - Untrained persons appear able to make hypertrophic increases in around 3 weeks of resistance training.Trained persons performing regular resistance training are encouraged to allow adequate rest between training sessions without fear of atrophy. Brief (~3 weeks) absences from training appear not to cause significant atrophy and potentially promote greater hypertrophy upon return to training.

>Evidence Based Resistance Training Recommendations for Muscular Hypertrophy

http://athlon-esportes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Evidence-based-resistance-training-recommendations-for-muscular-hypertrophy..pdf

One set to failure, the same as multiple sets or better

One set is all that is needed to experience the same size and strength gains as doing multiple sets. “The size principle suggests that it is not the load lifted but rather the stimulation of maximal number of muscle fibers through progressive recruitment of motor units, which optimizes muscular strength development. Indeed, Fisher and colleagues presented evidence that concluded single sets performed to muscular failure provide the same strength gains as multiple sets.”

>High sets vs Single set Growth is THE SAME, 24 studies meta-analysis:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256077719_Beware_the_Meta-Analysis_Is_Multiple_Set_Training_Really_Better_than_Single_Set_Training_for_Muscle_Hypertrophy

Another study performed in 2016 directly compared the results of a HIT style single set training with the addition to dropsets to multiset training. The results showed that both were effective, but HIT was more effective to a significant degree.

>A comparison of low volume 'high-intensity-training' and high volume traditional resistance training methods on muscular performance, body composition, and subjective assessments of training

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4993139/

Rep Ranges

Another meta-analysis indicates that muscle growth results are the exact same when using high reps vs low reps, within the 30%1rm-85%1rm range, so long as the muscles are taken to true muscular failure.

>Rep Range

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW3qkooaqV8&ab_channel=HouseofHypertrophy

>Muscle fibre activation is unaffected by load and repetition duration when resistance exercise is performed to task failure

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31294822/

>Effects of fatiguing, submaximal high‐ versus low‐torque isometric exercise on motor unit recruitment and firing behavior

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5907942/

Concentric and Eccentric Training

Static strength raises dramatically and significantly higher with eccentric compared to Concentric training. Eccentric training rearranges the muscle. Eccentric training may increase muscle length by adding sarcomeres in series.

"The inclusion of eccentric loads not constrained by concentric strength appears to be superior to traditional resistance training in improving variables associated with strength, power and speed performance.

Repeating an eccentric exercise produces a dramatic protective effect on the muscle against eccentric damage. Three sessions of eccentric training produces clear results. For all benefits listed, it appears the first few exercises produce most of the adaptations and that subsequent gains may be significantly less impressive.

“We conclude that Ecc is more effective than Con isokinetic training for developing strength in Ecc isokinetic muscle actions and that Con is more effective than Ecc isokinetic training for developing strength in Con isokinetic muscle actions. Gains in strength consequent to Con and Ecc training are highly dependent on the muscle action used for training and testing. Muscle hypertrophy and neural adaptations contribute to strength increases consequent to both Con and Ecc training.”

Eccentric training elicits greater improvements in muscle strength, although in a largely mode-specific manner. Superior enhancements in power and stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) function have also been reported. Eccentric training is at least as effective as other modalities in increasing muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), while the pattern of hypertrophy appears nuanced and increased CSA may occur longitudinally within muscle (i.e. the addition of sarcomeres in series). There appears to be a preferential increase in the size of type II muscle fibers and the potential to exert a unique effect upon fiber type transitions. Qualitative and quantitative changes in tendon tissue that may be related to the magnitude of strain imposed have also been reported with eccentric training.

Accentuating the negative/eccentric movement as well as the positive/concentric movement in a particular exercise will lead to better overall strength in both forms of movement.

>Concentric and Eccentric strength are different. Eccentric training leads to specialized adaptations

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=0&q=eccentric+training&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5#d=gs_qabs&t=1667958292229&u=%23p%3DSwIPn5Q-J18J

>Eccentric training leads to 3x more isometric/eccentric strength than Concentric training only. Concentric training leads to 3x more concentric strength than eccentric training. Increases in strength after Ecc and Con training were related almost equally to muscle hypertrophy and increased neural activation.

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.1996.81.5.2173

>Improved coordination and reorganization of the contractile apparatus of muscle fibers are the determining mechanisms of this adaptation. 2C fibers. 8 weeks training. Increase in mitochondrial density

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=eccentric+training&oq=#d=gs_qabs&t=1667958837651&u=%23p%3D6qBfrZnqd9gJ

>3x stronger eccentric after training

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=eccentric+concentric+training+both&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&t=1667961497687&u=%23p%3DE_GQRSqVWS0J

Sensitization to P70S6K & Rest Periods

P70S6K, also known as ribosomal protein S6 kinase, is a protein that is involved in the process of cell growth and division. One of the key mechanisms by which P70S6K exerts its effects is through a process called phosphorylation.

Phosphorylation is a chemical reaction in which a phosphate group is added to a protein, modifying its function and activity. In the case of P70S6K, phosphorylation occurs at specific sites on the protein and activates its enzymatic activity. This allows P70S6K to phosphorylate other proteins, including ribosomal protein S6, which is involved in the synthesis of new proteins.

Overall, the phosphorylation of P70S6K is a critical part of the signaling pathways that regulate cell growth and division.

Strength and Size gains are exactly the same over a 24 month period of training when comparing untrained men that did continuous training vs a periodized group that trained for 6 weeks, and then rested for 3 weeks. Continuous training leads to a drastic plateau after 24 months. This study may indicate that interspersed periods of long rest may lead to continual strength gains at a high rate, but this is not 100% clear due to the limitations of the study. The study only lasted 24 weeks, at which point, the gains between the two groups were almost exactly the same. If the study had been continued for another 12 weeks, we would have been able to see if the periodized group would have continued to see linear strength gains beyond the point where the strength between both groups had met at the end of the study. We would have been able to see if the strength gains in periodized groups continued in a drastic linear fashion or not.

Studies indicate that 7 sessions of training is enough to significantly decrease phosphorylation (one can think of this as activation) of P70S6K, which is an important protein enzyme, directly related to the mTOR pathway, which is responsible for muscle protein synthesis. Having decreased levels of phosphorylated P70S6K necessarily means that there WILL be less myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis. Taking a 10 day break is sufficient in order to resensitize P70S6K phosphorylation. 10 Days off may be a sufficient rest period in order to continue to see linear or continual strength gains, assuming that the muscle has fully recovered from previous damage. Longer than 10 days, but shorter than 21 days may be even more optimal in order to reap the benefits of the entire supercompensation period. The 3 weeks period of no training may be too long, as that is around the point when muscle begins to atrophy without exercise. lt is possible that if the subjects in this study had rested for less than 3 weeks that they may have seen even greater increases in strength and size when compared to the continuous group. Research on the supercompensation period has only been conducted on untrained subjects.

>Rest Periods and Phosphorylation of P70S6K

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBzaFBVVs50&ab_channel=HouseofHypertrophy

>Repeated and Interrupted Resistance Exercise Induces the Desensitization and Re-Sensitization of mTOR-Related Signaling in Human Skeletal Muscle Fibers

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/10/5431/htm

>24 Week Study (Must buy to gain access)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-012-2511-9

(Pictured Above: P70S6K and its role in the mTOR pathway)

Subjects in the study that was conducted have their strength training results shown in the graphic above. Both the continuous group and the periodic group trained 3 times per week with 3 sets of bench press for 10 repetitions with a 75% 1 rep max load with 2-3 minutes of rest between sets. The 75% 1RM load was updated once every 3 weeks. The Continuous group trained consistently for 24 weeks. The Periodic group trained for 6 weeks and then took 3 weeks off, not training at all.

Each time the periodized group returned to training, they experienced the same drastic increases in size and strength, gaining 15%-20% of their muscle strength and/or size every 6 week cycle. During the first 6 weeks, the continuous training group saw similar increases in size and strength to the periodized group, gaining 15%-20% size and/or strength, but in the last 6 weeks of training, they only increased their size and strength by ~5%, showing a marked decrease in the rate of gains. The periodized group ultimately trained 25% less and saw the same increases in size and strength when compared to the continuous training group.

It is possible and also likely that if the periodized group took off 10 days instead of 21 days that they would have not lost any strength whatsoever and would have gained strength instead and also continued to increase their strength at a rapid rate, potentially outracing the continuous training group.

“We were able to enclose the time frame in which acute RE-induced phosphorylation of pp70S6kT421/S424 and prpS6S235/236 is blunted in human skeletal tissue and becomes desensitized towards anabolic signaling following RE-induced loading. Interestingly, only seven sessions of repeated RE, when conducted thrice per week, significantly reduced the phosphorylation of rpS6 and p70S6k 45 min after RE”

“Ten days without RE re-increased prpS6S235/236 and pp70S6kT421/S424 at X-T14 to a level comparable to that of T1.”

>Repeated and Interrupted Resistance Exercise Induces the Desensitization and Re-Sensitization of mTOR-Related Signaling in Human Skeletal Muscle Fibers

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/10/5431/htm

>Phosphorylation of p70S6k correlates with increased skeletal muscle mass following resistance exercise

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpcell.1999.276.1.C120

Time Scale of Muscle Atrophy. Maintaining Muscle with Exercise

Longer rest periods will not result in less muscle mass gained. Longer rest periods will not atrophy muscles. Atrophy is based on nutrition and usage. So long as you are not completely immobilized and you are still getting enough nutrition, muscles will maintain their size for up to 3 weeks without significant use. Light exercise or daily activity may be required in order to maintain muscle mass. “Phase 1 resulted in expected gains in strength, myofiber size, and muscle mass along with the typical IIx-to-IIa shift in myofiber-type distribution. Both maintenance prescriptions preserved phase 1 muscle hypertrophy in the young but not the old. In fact, the one-third maintenance (1 day per week) dose led to additional myofiber hypertrophy in the young.”

“Strength levels can be maintained for up to 3 weeks of detraining, but decay rates will increase thereafter (i.e. 5–16 weeks).” Protein levels still need to be maintained in order to keep muscle mass, but so long as that requirement is met, muscle will not atrophy.

“Finally evidence suggests that short (~3 weeks) periods of detraining in trained persons does not incur significant muscular atrophy and might stimulate greater hypertrophy upon return to training. “

>Muscle takes about 3 weeks to begin to atrophy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7nPJyUkj1c&ab_channel=JeremyEthier

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259390281_Evidence-Based_Resistance_Training_Recommendations_for_Muscular_Hypertrophy

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23529287/

>1 day per week required to maintain muscle at extremely low intensity, muscles remain so long as you’re basically not bed-ridden

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2011/07000/Exercise_Dosing_to_Retain_Resistance_Training.7.aspx

>3 weeks of detraining strength is maintained, The Development, Retention and Decay Rates of Strength and Power in Elite Rugby Union, Rugby League and American Football

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-013-0031-3?error=cookies_not_supported&error=cookies_not_supported&error=cookies_not_supported&error=cookies_not_supported&code=b96031e4-a651-4eb3-a860-200e2578060f&code=b35801f7-d2f3-4f0e-942d-bf302d33b322&code=5468a987-4ad0-4a50-b096-c8aaecbe48f6&code=6be1c320-eaf6-4e33-ab38-4b240d12207c#citeas

>3 weeks detraining, no muscle loss, Evidence-Based Resistance Training Recommendations for Muscular Hypertrophy

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259390281_Evidence-Based_Resistance_Training_Recommendations_for_Muscular_Hypertrophy

Recovery time scale, NOT SUPERCOMPENSATION TIME

The recovery curve of muscle induced damage must be taken into consideration in order to properly understand exactly how many days are needed in order to maximize muscle growth. There is a relative time component associated with exactly how long it takes a muscle to recover based on the amount of strength lost immediately following a workout. “There is a temporal association between the extent of loss of muscle strength after exercise and the time required to restore muscle strength back to normal. When muscle strength decreases by ≤20% immediately after exercise, it is usually restored within 2 days after exercise. By contrast, when muscle strength decreases by ∼50% immediately after exercise, especially for the initial exposure to eccentric muscle contractions, it remains below pre-exercise values at 7 days after exercise”

>Time required in order to RECOVER (Not supercompensate)

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00971.2016#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20temporal%20association,exercise%20(21%2C%2059).

(Pictured Above: Days required for recovery dependant upon the amount of strength lost immediately following post-workout)

“Schematic illustration displaying model data for the typical magnitude and time course of changes in maximal voluntary contraction torque of the elbow flexors (maximum voluntary contraction), range of motion at the elbow joint, swelling measured by upper arm circumference, delayed onset muscle soreness assessed by a visual analog scale, and creatine kinase activity in the blood before (Pre), immediately after (Post), and 1−5 days after 30 maximal eccentric muscle contractions of the elbow flexors performed by healthy young men who were unaccustomed to the exercise. Data are derived from separate analysis published elsewhere (23). ●, Strength; ▲, swelling; △, soreness; ○, range of motion; ■, creatine kinase.”

Due to the previously cited study showing that muscle protein synthesis is not correlated necessarily to myofibrillar hypertrophy, it is clear that one must wait until the muscle is completely healed in order to experience the maximal benefit of the resulting growth response. A chart below can be found showcasing the general pattern of recovery and supercompensation following a bout of training.

This is obviously not a data backed graph. It’s just a pattern that follows each time someone trains. A certain percentage of the protein synthesis is dedicated to repair as a first priority. Exercise creates inroading, which is then followed by a recovery period, which is then followed by a supercompensation period. The mistake that many people make is to continue to train even if they are still recovering, taking away from the total capability of the body to be able to continue to repair and supercompensate for trained muscles. The body has a limited capability to synthesize new protein, so it is highly likely that training a completely separate group of muscles will at least somewhat hinder the ability to completely restore muscles in a different portion of the body. Bodybuilders know this very well anecdotally. They often refer to their overall stress level as general fatigue, sometimes also referred to as Central Nervous System (CNS) Fatigue. Even though many of them drastically overtrain, they eventually become aware of the systemic effect of overtraining, but even then they “deload” rather than “detrain.” Deloading means to lower the volume and/or the frequency of training in order to reduce overall fatigue, while still continuing to lift weights for a period of time. Detraining means to rest without exercising for a period of time.

(Source:https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Schematic-representation-for-the-amount-of-myofibrillar-protein-synthesis-MyoPS-rate_fig2_322092302)

Above is a visual representation of the body’s ability to synthesize protein. As you can see, the amount of myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis is directly related to the amount of muscle damage that has occurred during the course of training. More damage, as we already know, reduces the amount of hypertrophic synthesis that can occur in a muscle. The vast majority of the body’s resources are dedicated to repairing the damage that has occurred before they are dedicated to building new muscle. As damage decreases, more resources are freed up so that new muscle can be built. The amount of damage that is incurred during training is quite significant in new trainees. This is evidenced by their severe Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), Swelling, and Pain that new trainees regularly report. Even experienced lifters can get DOMS, especially after training a new group of muscles or after performing an exercise they are not accustomed to performing. The novel stimulus of training new muscles or by training regions of trained muscles that had not been trained before can produce severe damage similar to when they were newer trainees.

Supercompensation period

The total time necessary in order to receive maximal supercompensation following an exercise is not a topic that has much research associated with it. Nevertheless, a study in 2018 was conducted to monitor this very thing. “Strength and muscle fiber cross-sectional area both appeared to follow a pattern of delayed supercompensation. Muscle fiber CSA decreased at first, and then increased until at least 10 days after the last session was completed. Maximal knee extension strength increased until at least 20 days after the last session was completed.” This would suggest that supercompensation can occur for up to 20 days following an exercise, at least in untrained subjects. Untrained subjects are well known to be able to grow muscle when exposed to nearly any sort of stimulus. It has been found however, that nearly 95% of all humans possess a similar capability to increase their muscle mass, regardless of training experience. These timelines naturally align with the resensitization timescale of P70S6K phosphorylation, indicating that following a schedule of lifting with at least 10 days of rest and at max 20 days may produce the greatest potential super compensatory effects from a single exercise. 20 days may only be necessary if the muscle has been exposed to an extreme amount of damage from having done negatives, as they tend to cause the highest amount of damage. Mike advocated for taking a set to absolute momentary muscular failure, going to positive failure, doing forced positive reps with assistance past that, doing multiple negative reps, and then a final forced negative to completely fatigue every single fiber.

>20 days of supercompensation following a workout in untrained subjects

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/supercompensation/amp/

“Muscle protein synthesis (MPS) is stimulated by resistance exercise (RE) and is further stimulated by protein ingestion. The summation of periods of RE-induced increases in MPS can induce hypertrophy chronically. As such, studying the response of MPS with resistance training (RT) is informative, as adaptations in this process can modulate muscle mass gain. Previous studies have shown that the amplitude and duration of increases in MPS after an acute bout of RE are modulated by an individual's training status. Nevertheless, it has been shown that the initial responses of MPS to RE and nutrition are not correlated with subsequent hypertrophy. Thus, early acute responses of MPS in the hours after RE, in an untrained state, do not capture how MPS can affect RE-induced muscle hypertrophy. The purpose of this review is to provide an in-depth understanding of the dynamic process of muscle hypertrophy throughout RT by examining all of the available data on MPS after RE and in different phases of an RT programme. Analysis of the time course and the overall response of MPS is critical to determine the potential protein accretion after an RE bout. Exercise-induced increases in MPS are shorter lived and peak earlier in the trained state than in the untrained state, resulting in a smaller overall muscle protein synthetic response in the trained state. Thus, RT induces a dampening of the MPS response, potentially limiting protein accretion, but when this occurs remains unknown.”

>A Review of Resistance Training-Induced Changes in Skeletal Muscle Protein Synthesis and Their Contribution to Hypertrophy

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-015-0320-0

This is a graph from the 2015 study showing the amount of protein synthesis following a bout of exercise. We can see that there is a large spike that occurs immediately after training. The graph only shows out to 50 hours post exercise, so we can’t see the trend of protein synthesis in the following days. From the study cited in the stronger by science article above along with the researchgate colored protein synthesis chart, we can see the spikes in the initial stages correlate specifically with damage and not with new protein. If this chart were to continue, it would be highly likely that it would continue to show increases in protein synthesis for an additional 18 days at the high end of the timescale. (Citation check: Muscle Protein Synthesis MPS stopped at 36 hours?)

The untrained group has a much higher spike in synthesis as well as a much higher proportion of damage in the other charts. Acute spikes in muscle protein synthesis are due to the damage being caused to the muscles. The continued muscle protein synthesis at a low level, however, is the synthesis of the new muscle. As was discussed in the Concentric and Eccentric Training section, as one continues in their training journey, they are far less likely to incur muscle damage due to their generalized adaptations that protect them from stress. Muscles become thicker, stronger, more efficiently rearranged, and better supported by a more expansive capillary structure. DOMS and other negative side effects decrease following repeated bouts. The fibers even change types. All of these generalized adaptations assist in counteracting future damage. All of these adaptations are so strong and effective, that after training, the muscles may hardly even incur damage at all as evidenced by the rapid decrease in MPS after only 10 hours in trained subjects and the colored chart above showing a drastic drop off in damage. This is all completely overshadowed by the tendency of trainees that only CONTINUE to add more and more stress on their system in the incorrect and mistaken assumption that they need to add MORE exercise in order to make more gains due to the fact that they often feel more fresh and are able to do more without feeling as much discomfort following exercise. This tendency to want to overtrain consistently pushes them into the portion of post training synthesis that accounts only for recovering.

The chart above also shows that untrained lifters had greater MPS toward the end of the 50 hours, but referencing the recovery time chart in the recovery timescale section, we can see that cases of severe DOMS are not resolved sometimes even up to a week after a single bout, almost certainly denoting that this increase is STILL mostly recovery. The lower protein synthesis of the trained individuals is likely almost entirely new muscle protein synthesis and the lower rate shows the rate of addition of new tissue without accounting for damage because there either is no damage or the amount of damage is extremely low. In the section showcasing the human capability to increase muscle mass, we can see that as trainees become more experienced (greatest increases accounted for at 5+ years training), they show an even greater capability to put on muscle mass than the new trainees.

The continued assumption that newer trainees have a much more significant capability to put on muscle mass is likely due to 2 reasons. New lifters are likely significantly underdeveloped in their musculature, which leads to a rapid adaptation to them gaining muscle very fast to a level that is far more normal and natural and closer to what they would have in a state of nature. It would make sense that their bodies would normally want to have several more pounds of muscle on their frame, but simply lacked the necessary stimulus to grow. New lifters can put on muscle simply by walking more every day. The second likely reason that there is a persistent myth that beginners have the greatest capability to put on muscle mass likely comes from the general proliferation of the high sets and reps training approach commonly used and pushed in the fitness industry. While the ability to synthesize new protein remains relatively the same, the ability to damage the muscles in terms of absolute damage increases drastically as more tissue is added. While people may be able to tolerate significantly more training in the beginning, due to how quickly they can recover due to their lower muscle mass, their high volume methods quickly become ineffective when they have a greater absolute amount of muscle on their bodies. They then see their progress stagnate and assume that their “newbie gains phase” is over. Then they add even more reps and more sets, either making very little progress or even losing strength, rather than doing the opposite and reducing their volume and frequency.

Increasing Muscle Protein Synthesis

ABC123

Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy

Training with stretch has often been mentioned by bodybuilders as a technique to maximize gains. Mentzer specifically mentioned utilizing stretch in his Heavy Duty book. Most any bodybuilder will tell you that stretching with weights is an important part of growth. There is some evidence to suggest that stretching does in fact, improve hypertrophy in muscles. Training with stretch also improves cross sectional area in more regions of the muscle than non-stretched training. The benefit of this may be due to a similar mechanism that is activated when training eccentric movements. It may possibly be that pulling on a muscle lengthwise when it is tight adds sarcomeres in series, lengthening the muscle and protecting against lengthwise damage, but this is speculation.

>Training with stretch improves hypertrophy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UTsWafnM0M&t=542s&ab_channel=HouseofHypertrophy

Sleep

Sleep decreases muscle protein fractional synthesis rate by 18% after only a single night of missed sleep. All male, but not female, participants experienced a numerical decrease in protein synthesis in the sleep‐deprived versus control condition. Plasma Testosterone levels fell by 24%. Plasma Cortisol rose by 21%.

In this study, we have demonstrated that a single night of sleep deprivation is sufficient to induce anabolic resistance, reducing postprandial skeletal muscle protein synthesis rates by 18%. This decrease was accompanied by an acute, pro‐catabolic increase in plasma cortisol and a sex‐specific reduction in plasma testosterone. It adds to early results reporting a reduction in muscle protein synthesis following five nights of sleep restriction

In conclusion, poor quantity and quality sleep is linked to a range of metabolic outcomes. Our study demonstrates that total sleep deprivation induces anabolic resistance by reducing postprandial muscle protein synthesis in young males and females. Sleep deprivation also promoted a catabolic environment, providing insights into the possible mechanisms underlying this process.

>The effect of acute sleep deprivation on skeletal muscle protein synthesis and the hormonal environment

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7785053/

Schoenfeld Volume Research Retort

One major critic of HIT training and someone that is commonly cited in order to debunk HIT theory is Brad Schoenfeld. His research APPEARS to clearly show that higher sets are better for optimal muscle growth. This research is heavily confounded with the 111 study meta-analysis cited above that demonstrated higher sets leading to more muscle damage to be the only potential confounding negative factor in muscle hypertrophy. Schoenfeld also clearly does not understand the meaning of training to muscular failure. Schoenfeld demonstrated his idea of muscular failure in a video of himself performing lat pulldowns. Schoenfeld was nowhere close to muscular failure. Given the fact that he does not understand what muscular failure even looks like, it is difficult to assume that his athletes were trained to true muscular failure in any of his independent studies. This strikes a serious blow to the credibility of Schoenfeld. This may also suggest that there are many other researchers that do not understand the concept of total muscular failure, potentially confounding many other studies. Not only that, but 10 of the studies Schoenfeld referenced showed that the gains between volume and failure training were the same, but for some reason the conclusion from the meta analysis was that volume training is superior. Volume is also not clearly defined by Schoenfeld. A rep lasting 1 second would be counted the same as a rep lasting 5 seconds. Time under tension is not taken into consideration. The entire thing is riddled with errors in accounting and inconsistencies. The fact that anyone would consider this is a seriously credible meta-analysis simply has not looked at the data for themselves, or they would reach the same conclusions, assuming they know how to interpret data and think critically.

>Schoenfeld demonstration of muscle failure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q0tuucr80I&ab_channel=GeoffreyVeritySchofield

In addition to his misunderstanding of what muscle failure is, multiple sets to true muscular failure is likely not possible if performed correctly, as a drastic drop in strength can be observed immediately following a set to failure and can persist for several hours or days. A true set taken to the point of true muscular failure can see a drop in strength of nearly 100%, making multiple sets to failure using the same weight in a specified rep range extremely unlikely. Yet, many of the studies cited by Schoenfeld clearly state that multiple sets were performed to failure in a specified rep range. It is either possible to train to true muscular failure, or it is possible to do multiple sets, but it is not possible to do both for multiple sets using the same relative percent of 1 rep max, taken to an arbitrary rep minimum.

Drinkwater et al. 2005, Failure: 4 sets × 6 repetitions, Failure: 80%–105% 6RM, BENCH PRESS

Folland et al. 2002, Failure: 4 sets × 10 repetitions, Failure: 75% 1RM

Izquierdo et al. 2006, Failure: 6–10RM, or 80% 6–10RM, Failure: 3 sets × (6–10 repetitions)

Karsten et al. 2021 , Failure: 75% 1RM, Failure: 4 sets × 10 repetitions

Sampson et al. 2016, Failure: 85% 1RM, Failure: 4 sets × 6 repetitions

Vieira et al. (2019), Failure: 10RM, Failure: 3 sets × 10 repetitions

This is 6 out of 15 studies, meaning at least 40% of all data used was complete garbage. Two other studies in the meta analysis impose arbitrary numerical restrictions on achieving muscular failure, rather than observed muscular failure in and of itself.

Fisher et al. Failure: 80% of maximal torque, Failure: 25 repetitions in as few sets as possible

Pareja- Blanco et al. 2017, Failure: 70%–85% 1RM, Failure: velocity loss of 40%

Producing 80% of maximal torque is quite literally, by definition, not muscular failure. Velocity loss of 40% by definition is not muscular failure. The inclusion of these brings the number of junk studies up to 8 out of 15. Of the remaining 7 studies, 4 of them have participants doing multiple sets to failure with no specified rep range. It is simply stated that they performed with a certain percentage of their 1 rep max and that they performed an arbitrary number of sets. We already know that multiple sets to failure is completely counterintuitive for muscular hypertrophy due to the meta-analysis cited above. If any of these people actually went to failure for as many times as was stated and as often as they had with multiple sessions per week, then their exercise would be positively counterproductive to any significant muscle building efforts. The obvious conclusion of ascertaining data from these studies would be that multiple set failure training is less productive than higher volume non-failure training, because they are creating a deeper inroad that must heal before gains can be realized. These studies were set to fail before they even began. This brings the total studies that can be disregarded to 12 out of 15.

Lacerda et al. (2020), Failure: 50%–60% 1RM, Failure: 3–4 sets performed to failure

Lasevicius et al. (2019), Failure (high load): 80% 1RM, Failure (high load): 3 sets to muscle failure

Martorelli et al. (2017), Failure: 70% 1RM, Failure: 3 sets to muscle failure

Nóbrega et al. (2018), Failure (high load): 80% 1RM, Failure (high load): 3 sets to muscle failure

And we finally have the remaining 3 that performed a single set to failure. Unfortunately, all of these studies had subjects training to failure and also had them performing failure sets 3 times per week. We know that failure training creates deeper inroading that must have a greater amount of recovery time in order to realize gains. 3 days is simply too short of a time to recover optimally if properly performed to failure.

Kramer et al. (1997), Failure: 8–12RM, Failure: 1 set × (8–12 repetitions)

Rooney et al. (1994), Failure: 6RM, Failure: 1 set × (6–10 repetitions)

Sanborn et al. (2000), Failure: 8–12RM, Failure: 1 set × (8–12 repetitions)

Kramer et al found non failure training on average to be better for strength gains, HOWEVER, subjects trained 3 days a week for 14 weeks. It is a known fact that deeper inroading requires more time of rest in order to repair muscular damage. 3 days is not enough time to recuperate and build significant muscle. Given more time, it is highly likely that the athletes would have experienced similar muscle growth compared to the higher volume group if they had time to recover.

>Kramer

https://paulogentil.com/pdf/Effects%20of%20Single%20vs.%20Multiple%20Sets%20of%20Weight%20Training%20-%20Impact%20of%20Volume%2C%20Intensity%2C%20and%20Variation.pdf

The purpose of the Rooney study was to determine how much resting between sets had an effect on strength training. The test was performed over a 6 week period. Sets were taken to failure 3 days per week, which is too much if taken to true muscular failure.

>Rooney

https://europepmc.org/article/med/7808251

In the Sanborn study, subjects exercised 3 days per week. Sets were taken to failure 3 days per week, which is too much if taken to true muscular failure.

>Sanborn

https://paulogentil.com/pdf/S4.pdf

The Schoenfeld meta-analysis was not an effective counter argument in any way to the efficacy of High Intensity training principles. Only 3 of the studies could have potentially been used based on their methodologies, and none of those 3 studies allowed for sufficient recovery of muscular damage in order to realize maximal gains. We know that this is simply not enough time in order to recover from the muscle damage, let alone supercompensate, as we have evidence that shows that taking a muscle to the point of muscular failure produces disproportionately more muscle damage than simply stopping before that point. Those last few reps are both the most damaging as well as the most stimulating in growth. A chart of the time necessary for recovery can be found in the previous section titled, “Recovery time scale, NOT SUPERCOMPENSATION TIME”. In some cases it could take up to a week simply for a muscle to be recovered. This is far more likely to be the case when utilizing a HIT approach. Comparing two different training styles that produce differing levels of muscle damage and then not allowing the muscles of the participants to recover before their next session will absolutely ensure overtraining. In many cases, however, the results of the studies were the same. If the HIT groups trained with the proper protocol and also trained only once per week it is likely that they would see the same or greater benefits from training, as this was the case when comparing HIT to volume training directly, as evidenced in the section titled, “One set to failure, the same as multiple sets”.

>Schoenfeld meta-analysis

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254621000077

Why RIR and RPE are Useless

There are two major terms floating around in the bodybuilding community as of today that reference the amount of intensity to be given in a particular exercise. They are known as RIR and RPE.

RIR means Reps in reserve. This is a subjective measurement of the amount of reps you have left before you reach failure in a given set. Doing something at 4 RIR means you performed a certain number of reps and stopped short when you believe that you have 4 reps that you could potentially do past that point.

RPE means Rate of Perceived Effort. This is a subjective measurement of the amount of effort required when performing an exercise. RPE 1 means that you have barely exerted yourself at all. RPE 10 means that you have gone to failure.

These two terms are meant to be used in order to program a workout for someone. Including these into an exercise plan not only shows how many sets and reps they should do, but how hard they should do them as well. At a glance it would seem that these could be potentially beneficial indicators to include in a training manual, but the issue with these comes with their innate subjectivity.

By definition, the only thing that you can surmise accurately of either of these is 0 RIR, RPE 0 and RPE 10. The only way you can know how many reps you have left is to continue to do reps until it is impossible for you to continue to do reps. You know for a fact that you’re at RPE 0 if you’re not doing anything at all. You know you’ve reached RPE 10 when you can’t move anymore. Everything that lies between those specific numbers is complete guess work.

Most people are notoriously bad when it comes to estimating their capability to perform reps. Often people can push out SEVERAL more repetitions than they believe they are capable of doing while being coached. The only useful thing you can understand when using RIR is how many reps you can do before you just DECIDE to stop. The only way to know the max amount of reps that you can do is to do all of them. How are you supposed to accurately estimate how many more you can do when your strength changes on a day to day basis? How can you estimate how many more are left when the way you feel changes on a day to day basis? You can’t. It’s literally impossible. This makes the RIR measurement useless.

Most people will never push themselves anyway, and if they do, they generally stop at volitional failure, aka being a pussy. They stop when the bar slows down, when they get uncomfortable, when they get bored, when they get tired, etc. They do not push until they get to failure and often do not have a reference point for what that even looks like, making the RPE scale completely useless for the majority of people. Introducing these elements could also be counterintuitive to training in that they may offer an excuse to not push harder, which is already a problem for most people.

Not only that, the difficulty of a given exercise and your perceived exertion will change on a day-to-day basis. There are days when people feel good and their workouts are a lot easier even when taken to failure, and there are days when every single rep sucks, but you grind through it even when you don’t feel like you can keep going on. This makes RPE completely useless. The very notion of relying on subjective, intangible, non-measurable concepts such as these undermines the entirety of the concept of scientific approach to solving a problem. How in the world can you seek to scientifically solve a problem with any sort of accuracy when you have no control, no variable, and no reliable data? You simply cannot. It is literally impossible to get anything meaningful out of something so chaotic and unreliable. Definitionally, RIR and RPE are completely subjective and offer no capability to be scientific or to utilize them in any sort of meaningful way by that fact alone.

People also tend to use these measurements in an effort to understand how they can better reserve themselves to be able to do more volume. If your goal is to get bigger and stronger, you only need 1 set to absolute momentary muscular failure. There is no need whatsoever to stop doing a set in order to accommodate more volume, because this is assuming that you need more than one set, which we know to not be true. The addition of volume in a training plan should only be included in order to split workout sessions into more segments once the difficulty becomes so high that you are no longer able to complete a workout due to the intense difficulty.

Putting it into Action

Considerations of High Intensity Training

High Intensity Training may not be for everyone. Many people have made exercising their lives and enjoy spending lots of time in the gym. For those people, continuing to train using high volume would allow them to spend more time doing what they like the most. HIT is not for those people. HIT is for people that are limited on time, people that want to experience the maximal growth in size and strength for the smallest time spent in the gym as possible and that do not mind pushing to maximum effort every time they go. Other methods of training are completely viable in their efficacy, though they may potentially be suboptimal, confusing, or potentially might not work at all.
HIT is brutal. It is highly unlikely that someone will like HIT unless they have a habit of pushing themselves already and are okay existing in discomfort. HIT is not for pussies.
HIT may lead to burnout if resting is not taken seriously. Muscular fatigue as well as general overall fatigue should be taken into consideration before training each time you begin a session.
HIT is not the best training method to benefit your mind-muscle connection.
HIT is best utilized with a variety of machines at your disposal.
HIT puts less overall stress on your connective tissues and joints, preserving your body over a longer period of time. Using HIT, you will be strong in your youth and maintain your mobility and structure as you age
Using your muscles after a HIT session may be impossible. Anyone that is working in a physical labor job should not do HIT, as they would likely not be able to perform their job correctly or safely when they return to work. The physical labor will also hinder recovery quite significantly, potentially even causing trainees to lose muscle.
You may be asked to leave the gym if you’re yelling. It may be difficult to prevent yourself from making lots of noise if you are pushing yourself very hard.

Safety

ABC123.

Protocol

The only things that are needed to become bigger and stronger are to train to failure, eat enough protein and calories, get enough good quality rest, and to take the occasional training break (optional). By dispelling all of the myths associated with training such as strict rep ranges, programmed sets, tonnage, volume, etc. then you significantly reduce the amount of variables associated with training, allowing you to tweak everything else one step at a time.

Given that most people get enough calories and protein and know that they should eat enough calories and consume enough protein, diet will not be covered in this text. Given that people KNOW to get enough sleep, sleep will not be covered in this text. Next is to simply hit failure. If you’re not hitting failure, then you can’t reasonably expect gains. If you’re not hitting failure on every single set, then start immediately. After that, there are only 2 other variables that you need to address, and they are also fairly easy to program.

The two remaining variables are the amount of rest days that you have and how often you should take a training break following a mesocycle. How many rest days should you take? The answer is simple. Take as many rest days as needed so that you are progressing in every single workout. Gains should be relatively consistent for a period of time. Once they start to taper off or halt completely, take a training break of 10 days or more, but no longer than 20 days. When you return to training, train with the same amount of rest days between sessions. If you are continuing to see progress at a rate that was consistent with your gains from the previous mesocycle, then you know that you simply needed a training break and that you did not need to increase rest between individual sessions. If you return to training and have still halted in progress between individual sessions, then you know that you need to increase the number of days between individual sessions. Add more time and you should see further increases in strength and size.

Defining Exercise

ABC123 Exercise. Explosive exercise. Functional training.

Exercise Selection

Piecing together all of the information, we can reasonably assume what would be an optimal prescription routine for most people. The absolute best routine would be a full body routine, so that the body can be stimulated and fully recover as a unit. Since heavy compounds such as squat, deadlift, etc., increase the amount of HGH, Testosterone, and properly regulate release of IGF, they should be the main focus of any workout. In addition to those benefits, doing a full body routine also simplifies the scheduling of exercises. There are no overlapping timelines between different body parts that need to be recovered at different times, potentially getting more or less rest, especially when accounting for deloads. Compounds have been shown to provide significant growth to most muscles that are involved in them. One example of this would be the biceps in a rowing motion. Adding specific Biceps exercise to a heavy row to failure does not offer additional benefit, since the biceps are properly stimulated in a row. Heavy compounds should be the main focus and only additional exercises for other accessory muscles that are not significantly worked should be performed. The entire body should be exercised all at once. Another alternative would be to perform isolation exercises for every single muscle in the body, but this is very time consuming when compared to doing heavy compounds. For people that don’t want to do heavy compounds for whatever reason, this remains an option that should offer the same growth.

Ultimately, other exercise programs should provide a similar level of growth if recovery is respected, but a severe downside of splitting up a routine is the fact that this will lead to unnecessary overcomplication and more overall time spent in the gym. As a trainee becomes larger, they may be unable to complete a full body workout all at once. No matter how hard they try, they may be completely and totally drained before they can complete the workout. Then, and only then, should they consider splitting their workout into multiple days. They should only increase frequency in order to accommodate the intensity. Intensity should never be sacrificed in order to accommodate more volume. This is backwards.

Exercise Scheduling and Detraining

Taking everything we know about the various time frames related to lifting, we can form a system to be able to know exactly how much rest a person needs in order to continue to see continual strength gains over an indefinite period of time until they hit their genetic potential. Below is an infographic that contains the information collectivized into an easy to understand timing scheme. The infographic was not made with this viewing format in mind. It may be difficult to read.

There are only a few rules to respect in order to successfully form a training schedule. There are only a few things that need to be understood about training in general.

You will potentially continue to see gains for up to 20 days after a session.
If you are not making gains, rest more.
Phosphorylation of P70S6K drops significantly after 6-8 weeks of training
Phosphorylation sensitivity of P70S6K is sufficiently restored after 10 days of rest.
Cycling between training and resting will allow for continual strength gains because of this.
Cycling is no longer required when 10 days of rest are needed to see gains, as your body will be resensitized fully by the time you need to exercise again. Full body workouts allow you to exercise and fully replenish your body as a whole and then be completely fresh every workout when you get to 10 days of rest
After 21 days, muscle begins to atrophy
If you cannot successfully recover within 20 days you have hit your genetic limit
The only way to surpass your genetic limit is through steroid usage

These numbers have good evidence behind them, but each person varies to a degree. You may be exceptionally gifted in your capability to recover or you may be physically stunted. You may require more detraining or less detraining in order to resensitize yourself to training stimulus. Understanding the concepts above and the general timeframes is what is needed in order to begin to form a plan. Logging everything will allow you to plot out your strength on a chart so you can see if you are getting better. This will allow you to accurately estimate exactly when you will reach your potential and you can estimate how strong you will be.

A macrocycle refers to your season as a whole, in this case, over the period of a year
A mesocycle refers to a particular training block within that season; e.g. the training period, or the rest period
By structuring your season with these cycles in mind, you can ensure that you’re building and recovering adequately for optimal adaptation.

Planning your training into these blocks is known as periodization. Each of these periods of training is known as a mesocycle. The entire training mesocycle plus the rest periods over the course of a year is known as a macrocycle. A mesocycle of 6 weeks of training followed by 10 days of rest is 52 days from beginning to end. There are around 7 of these mesocycles in a macrocycle/year. (365/52 = 7.019230769230769). If gains in strength do not return in a linear fashion after resting at the end of a mesocycle, increase the amount of rest on the detraining period on the next mesocycle. Some people may need 12 days of detraining in order to get the max benefits of resensitization to training stimulus.

Aim to exercise the same muscle group no more than twice per week at a maximum. The smaller you are, the less rest you need and the more often you can perform exercise, contrary to what the fitness industry would have you believe. As you become stronger and bigger, you will need to add more rest. The maximum amount of rest you should take before exercising a muscle again is 20 days. To roughly figure how much rest you need after an exercise session, refer to the chart under the section titled, “Recovery Time Scale, NOT SUPERCOMPENSATION TIME.” Depending on how much strength you have lost immediately following the exercise, you can estimate how much time you need in order to recover. Add more time after that in order to take full advantage of your supercompensation period. Some people, depending on how hard they exercised, may need an entire week simply to recover, not accounting for supercompensation.

Remember, it is very forgiving to get more rest. Your gains are not going to disappear overnight unless you take an extended time away from training. It is very difficult to mess up your progress by doing less. It is extremely easy to mess everything up by lifting too much though. There’s no reason to have to walk a razor’s edge when it comes to scheduling sessions too close to each other. If you are ever in doubt with how much time you should spend between sessions, always lean toward more rest, rather than more exercise.

Also, on the topic of scheduling, scheduling can be a detriment to people. If you are scheduling your training without respecting how your body actually feels on that particular day, you can harm your progress. If you get awful sleep, feel weak, are badly sick, etc. then it may benefit you to push off training for another day or two. I am reluctant to recommend this, as the last thing people need is an excuse to skip training. You must pay close attention to how you feel and truly ask yourself, “Am I just being weak today or do I really need a day off?” You may find that you are looking for excuses not to train or you may find that you have a legitimate issue. Deep inside, intuitively, you will know the answer. Scheduling, nevertheless, is an important tool to utilize when approaching strength training. By tracking your workouts on a calendar it helps you to maintain accountability so that you know exactly when you’re going to workout, where, what exercises you’re going to do, how long it will take, etc. People that write down things like this and that eliminate all excuses BEFORE they have to train tend to stick with it. Everyone that trains should keep a training log.

Exercise Performance

Select a weight that will allow you to rep it between 6 and 12 times with a 5 second positive and 5 second negative cadence for a total loaded time under tension of around 60-120 seconds. Total time under tension is not all that important. The purpose of the time limit is so that you may approach failure safely and slowly with low weight. Begin the exercise slowly with no jerking, bouncing, or momentum of any kind. The goal is to keep the muscle continuously under load so that it is effectively fatigued. Slow reps that take 5 seconds in both positive and negative will reduce peak forces, saving your joints and connective tissues in the long run. Pause briefly at the top of a movement for 1 second and at the bottom for 1 second as well. This further reduces the chances that you are moving the weight with momentum and also serves to remove any elastic tension that may have built up in your connective tissues.

Continue to rep the weight until you can’t complete another rep with proper strict form in the positive concentric portion of the movement. Continue to attempt to force the weight past that point for around 5 seconds, as you may have simply reached a mechanical sticking point in your exercise. If you cannot get the weight beyond that point, slowly lower it to finish out the exercise safely.

If you have an exercise partner and you want to be certain that you milk every bit of strength out of your muscles and fatigue them to their absolute limits, you can then begin to do partner assisted reps. You will likely only need 2-3 reps to completely fry your concentric strength. Then, your partner can assist in raising the weight while you do negatives of that motion. You may only need 2-3 negatives to completely drain your ability to prevent the weight from falling. Once you can no longer hold the weight safely, the exercise is over.

Bear in mind that performing partner assisted reps and partner assisted negatives may disproportionately damage your muscles compared to simply going to positive failure, especially if you have not done negatives for more than 3 total negative sessions on a particular muscle group. You may need to increase rest between sessions if you find this to be the case. To roughly figure how much rest you need after an exercise session, refer to the chart under the section titled, “Recovery Time Scale, NOT SUPERCOMPENSATION TIME.” Depending on how much strength you have lost immediately following the exercise, you can estimate how much time you need in order to recover. Add more time after that in order to take full advantage of your supercompensation period. Some people, depending on how hard they exercised, may need an entire week simply to recover, not accounting for supercompensation.

This video shows the difference of why a single set taken to failure can produce more stress on the muscles than multiple sets. The time under tension component performed with a slow rep speed drastically increases the total load that the muscle is moving over the course of the exercise and increases your ability to effectively inroad to a high degree.

>Visual Demonstration of the difference between how people regularly perform sets vs an example HIT set taken to positive technical failure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7pH_V0NOtI&ab_channel=JayVincent

Take note of the slow speed, the use of forced reps, negatives, and forced negatives. This looks easy because the trainee is simply not strong enough to place a significant demand on his metabolic and cardiovascular systems. Even so, his breathing rapidly increases toward the end of each exercise. Imagine doing this if you’re 30 lbs of muscle heavier than him. Nevertheless, this trainee consistently performed exercises to the point of absolute momentary muscular failure.

>Full HIT workout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd-oaoTcwFY&ab_channel=JayVincent

The way Dorian Yates trained is not necessarily the most ideal way to train. He would often sacrifice form and use jerking motions. This led to him being injured during his career. Yates, however, is an excellent demonstration of how agonizingly brutal an HIT workout can be as you become larger. He put every fiber of his being (and his muscles) into every session he did. To truly get the maximal benefit from HIT, the amount of effort that must be given should be on par with or greater than Yates. The video below is of him doing his own form of HIT. Significantly larger people will have a much more difficult time when it comes to failure training. Smaller people may not even become winded when taking a muscle to failure. If you get to be the size of Yates and you are not training as hard as he was in Blood and Guts, then you’re definitely leaving gains on the table. Yates also did not consistently reach failure on every set, so even though he was working as hard as he was, even he was leaving gains on the table.

>Doran Yates doing an HIT training regiment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHymqS5bZdg&ab_channel=DorianYates

Defining Failure

There are various different forms of muscular failure that must be understood in order to effectively utilize HIT. Since everyone has their own idea of what failure is, the terms must be described in no uncertain terms. Without these definitions, it would be impossible to even speak on the subject.

Technical Failure - Technical failure is the point at which an exercise can no longer be performed while utilizing proper technique. Using technical failure as a guide for your endpoint should generally only be used on compound movements using free weights. Going past the point of technical failure is extremely dangerous in these circumstances and there is simply no good reason to do it. Anything performed past technical failure would be a cheat rep.

Muscular Failure - Muscular Failure refers to the muscle’s ability to produce force. If a muscle can no longer finish a rep, you’ve reached muscular failure. Muscular failure is independent of the trainee’s will to perform. If there was a dire situation in which someone absolutely must lift a weight or literally die trying and they simply were not able to continue to move forward no matter how hard they tried, then that is muscular failure.

Positive Failure - A type of muscular failure. When your muscle can no longer complete a positive/concentric rep.

Negative Failure - A type of muscular failure. When your muscle can no longer resist the weight in the eccentric or negative portion of a rep such that you can SAFELY lower the weight. Training negative failure may not always be possible without the assistance of a spotter, since forced negatives on many exercises require assistance.

Static/Isometric Failure - On top of positive and negative strength, there is also static strength. Static failure is when you are no longer capable of holding a weight in the same location in space without it moving. The moment a weight moves, Static Failure has been reached. Static and Negative Strength are more powerful than concentric strength by a considerable amount.

Beyond Failure - Beyond failure is when you have reached muscular failure in a particular exercise and then you use techniques to go to failure once more or several more times. Beyond failure is not useful. All fibers have been effectively stimulated if you reach failure once. Going beyond failure is simply creating a deeper inroad, potentially negatively impacting your development.

Cardiovascular Failure - Cardiovascular failure is a loosely defined term. In order to remain safe while exercising, the heart must be respected. If there are symptoms of dizziness, light-headedness, dark spots in the eyes, temporary blindness, seeing colorful tracers in the vision, inability to breathe, inability to speak, chest tightness, chest pain, etc. Then stop immediately. You may need to consult a doctor before continuing to exercise or you may need to significantly decrease the metabolic stress during exercise. Experiencing any of those symptoms could reasonably be called cardiovascular failure or near cardiovascular failure. If you continue beyond that point, you may pass out, black out, have a heart attack, etc. Never ever go to True Cardiovascular Failure. True Cardiovascular Failure = death.

Volitional Failure - Volitional Failure is when the trainee refuses to continue the exercise due to the amount of discomfort or pain associated with an exercise. So long as the exercise is being performed correctly and there are no anatomical explanations for why volitional failure has occurred, there is no excuse for volitional failure. If someone refuses to finish an exercise, make sure to check their physiology to make sure that they are anatomically designed to do the exercise. A common example of this is when people perform squats. There is a large amount of variation in human bodies when it comes to how much the hip opens up and how the ball and socket joint connects. If someone expresses genuine pain (not muscular discomfort) when performing an exercise, then they may need to change their form.

Volitional failure, by definition, is not true failure. People that quit due to volitional failure without a genuine anatomically related excuse need to grow a set of testicles.

Absolute Momentary Muscular Failure - Absolute momentary muscular failure is when all of the strength possible has been drained out of a muscle at least once in a given session. Positive failure has been reached, followed by negative failure, and any remaining static strength has also been drained. The purpose of HIT is to hit Absolute Momentary Muscular Failure on every muscle exercised, every single time you exercise, for one set. If you are unable to do this in a single set, then you may need to add more. Using a single set is absolutely ideal, but some people (pussies) may stop at volitional failure.

Anatomical Failure - The trainee is forced to stop due to the anatomy completely failing as a result of injury. This can be because of pulling a muscle, pinching a nerve, dislocating a joint, breaking a bone, disconnecting a ligament or tendon, etc. Anatomical failure should be avoided at all costs. Anatomical failure is extremely unlikely to occur when performing HIT properly, so long as proper form is maintained.

HIT Techniques

HIT seeks to hit muscular failure using a variety of specific techniques in order to minimize risk of damage. Perfect form is crucial to strength training as it prevents injury to near 100% effectiveness. Training is of no use if an injury is produced along the way. If you train for 6 months, pull a muscle, and then you need to stop lifting for 6 months to recover, you have wasted so much time and energy that it effectively makes your efforts useless. Use the following techniques to ensure that you stay injury-free and can effectively stimulate all muscle fibers as needed.

Rep Speed - Force is equal to mass times acceleration (F=M*A). The faster a weight accelerates, the more force is applied to the body. The heavier a weight is, the more force is applied to the body. For this reason, both mass and acceleration must be kept low in order to prevent unnecessary forces being placed on the tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissues. It is not necessary to use high weight in order to successfully fatigue all fibers in a muscle group. Remember that anywhere between ~30%-85% of your 1 rep max produces the same hypertrophic results. Pick a weight in that 1rm% range that will take you to the point of muscle failure within 60-120 seconds. Picking a weight that fatigues you before 60 seconds could be potentially dangerous or unnecessarily taxing on your joints and connective tissues. Picking a weight that is too light will lead to an unnecessarily long duration of exercise. The exercise, if lasting too long, may create intense undesirable burning in a muscle and may become disproportionately difficult as time goes on. This can have the effect of dissuading someone from participating in future exercise.

Move the weight in a slow and controlled manner with no jerking, bouncing, or momentum of any kind. Taking 5 seconds to raise a weight and 5 seconds to lower a weight with a short 1-2 second pause at the ends of the movement will ensure that no extraneous forces become applied to connective tissues. The muscle will bear all of the weight and will be under constant load. Sets are far more difficult when performed properly and create lots of metabolic stress and fatigue on a muscle.

Weights, in terms of strength training, are nothing more than tools used to stimulate and fatigue a muscle. The goal is not to move the weight around, but to force stimulation. If your current weight will not allow you to perform an exercise continuously for 60-120 seconds to failure with perfect form, then you need to lower the weight. This can be disheartening for some people, as they may need to drop the weight significantly in order to accommodate proper form and they may feel weaker as a result, but the goal of strength training is to become bigger and stronger, not to satisfy the ego. Form always comes first. If you do not perform an exercise with proper form, you are inviting the risk of injury. There is absolutely no benefit to sacrificing form on any exercise whatsoever. Don’t use too much weight. Don’t use too little. Use the correct amount.

>Visual Demonstration of the difference between how people regularly perform sets vs an example HIT set taken to positive technical failure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7pH_V0NOtI&ab_channel=JayVincent

Time Under Tension - Time under tension is the total amount of time spent under load in an exercise. Time under tension should be tracked for exercises in order to effectively maximize gains. Having more time under tension drastically increases the amount of metabolic stress on the body and very quickly builds up metabolites in the muscle. Ideally, someone should aim to fail at around 60-120 seconds of time under tension. This should make the workout short enough to be able to complete without simply recycling slow twitch motor units while also long enough to build lots of stress. If your time is too long, add weight. If your time is too low, reduce weight.

Rest-Pause - As the name would imply, rest-pause is when you temporarily stop lifting the weight between reps and rest momentarily. As someone gets stronger, the metabolic requirements for weight lifting can drastically increase. Their cardiovascular system may fail before their actual muscles fail.The build up of metabolites in the muscle may also make it significantly harder to lift due to burn as well. Stopping the weight, hyperventilating for no more than 10 seconds, and doing another rep, gives time for the metabolites to clear out and for the cardiovascular system to replenish oxygen as needed. Repeat this until muscle failure has been reached. If you find that you are spending large amounts of time doing rest pauses and other techniques in order to burn out the muscles, you may need to increase your weight.

Drop Sets - In the case of utilizing too much weight therefore not allowing enough time under tension, you can do a drop set. A drop set is when you perform an exercise to or close to failure, and then lower the weight, continuing to perform the same exercise. Dropping the weight allows for more reps to be performed. If your time under tension is not where it should be, then doing a drop set or two could get you to where you need to be.

Super sets - A superset is when you perform an exercise and then immediately move on to another exercise. Super sets can be performed either with the same muscle group or a different muscle group. You can utilize super sets in order to keep your cardiovascular and metabolic stress high during the entirety of a workout. Using a variety of compound exercises will produce a very intense session. Doing super sets with simple movements such as curls will likely only maintain a slightly more elevated cardiac response.

Partner-assisted Reps, Forced Reps, Forced Positive Reps - Forced reps, aka partner assisted reps, are when someone assists you in completing the positive portion of an exercise. By offering a tiny bit of assistance, you can force more out of yourself. Mentzer recommended going to failure, then doing 2-3 forced reps afterward.

Forced Negatives - Similar to forced reps, this is when a partner assists with negatives. After all strength to be able to perform a positive movement has been drained, the partner will raise the weight to its fully extended position, then allow the trainee to lower the weight at a slow pace. Mentzer recommended 2-3 forced negatives or until the trainee can no longer lower the weight safely. Spotters should be on standby ready to catch the weight in case of total negative failure. If the negatives are taking far too long for some reason, the spotter can speed up the rate at which they are burnt out by pushing down on the weight as the trainee resists the movement.

Isometric/Static Training - Rather than using forced negatives, static training can be used in its place or separately as its own main form of training. Simply hold the weight at around the midpoint of the movement until you are no longer able to maintain its position. This is essentially the same thing as a very very very slow negative rep.

If you are using isometric training as a main form of exercise, use an implement that will allow you to hold a position at around the midpoint of the full range of motion where the muscles for that particular exercise are the strongest. Then, start contracting. Start slowly at a low level of intensity, ramping up until you are pulling/pushing with maximum effort. Continue to contract for around 60-120 seconds until you feel like your muscles feel like they are made of jell-o.

HIT Resources

Below is a list of people that either have a good amount and/or quality of information regarding HIT or that have utilized HIT to great benefit in order to achieve some notable feat such as becoming Mr. Olympia, Mr. America, or that have become tremendously strong. This is by no means an exhaustive list, as there are countless high profile people that have utilized HIT to great effect, but these are some of the ones that are more prominent in the public eye and in the world of strength training.

The number one resource to begin with should be Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty book. He takes up far more time than is necessary in order to get his point across, but he still gets it across. Listen to his audiotapes on youtube as well. Mentzer does say things that are complete nonsense from time-to-time. One of his worst offenses is claiming that it takes an extra 16 calories per day to put on 10 lbs of muscle per year, since 10 lbs of muscle contains that many calories. He was not able to realize that the act of synthesizing protein costs energy on its own and the caloric expenditure of synthesizing muscle requires far more calories than that. There are many things like this that Mike said, so be ready to find out what is true or speculation. For the vast majority of things he said, they can be proven in the research section above. If I chose not to include something he claimed, there’s probably a good reason for it. The Heavy Duty book will help you understand philosophically why these methods work and why the science operates the way it does. Most everything that Mike covers, I have already covered in this document, but some people may need to hear the same thing said a slightly different way. I may have also forgotten a few things.

HIT University, on Youtube, is a channel that regularly showcases exercises and hosts discussions with some of the greatest minds in the field of exercise science today. James Fischer, James Steele, Doug McGuff, and many more of the notable scientists that are leading researchers in the field regularly appear on their channel. Perfect demonstrations of full HIT workouts can be found in their videos.

>HIT University

https://www.youtube.com/@myHITuni

Dorian Yates has a few interviews and a little bit of useful information on the topic. Watch Blood and Guts to understand just how brutal HIT should be as you get bigger. Dorian isn’t necessarily a great wealth of information, but more of an example of the effort required in HIT and showing that it works as a proof of concept. Dorian Built his physique using volume training for the majority of his career, but after meeting with Mentzer he switched to HIT. Dorian would utilize HIT to win the Mr. Olympia title 6 (six) consecutive times in a row. At that point, Dorian was spending less than a quarter of the time in the gym compared to the other bodybuilders and was much larger than they were.

>Blood and Guts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIXlXDgdXIo&t=2313s&ab_channel=EXTRIFITCZECH

Jay Vincent is an under armour model, a personal trainer, and an owner of a private strength training gym. He is intentionally polarizing in his speech . Some listeners may find him difficult to listen to. He regularly insults people with other training methods, usually calling them stupid. Nevertheless, his information is generally spot on. He has taken the information that Mentzer used to teach and refined it. It is highly suggested to listen to Mentzer and read Heavy Duty before listening to Jay, just so you have context for what he is saying. He discards what was useless and speculative in Mentzer’s era when they had a lack of science. He plugs the gaps with a modern understanding.

He had allegedly accidentally fired a shot through a wall at his home in Florida and the police were called to investigate. When they searched his home they found steroids. Whether or not they were for him is unclear. He has claimed natural status aside from being on a maintenance dose of TRT. Do not look at Jay’s body as a potential for what you could naturally achieve naturally. He may or may not be natural, but his information is solid.

>Jay Vincent

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIUpUX5UfEwnifbFnXTyTvg

Drew Baye is Jay Vincent’s Mentor. He is also intentionally polarizing in his speech. He may be difficult to listen to. Same thing with him as with Jay. The information is still good.

>Drew Baye

https://www.youtube.com/c/DrewBaye

John Heart won Mr. America as a natural bodybuilder, building his body with HIT. This makes him separate from the likes of Mentzer and Yates, who built their bodies with volume training and then subsequently turned to HIT. He still trains in his 50s and aims his channel more toward the older population, but his information is solid.

>Mr. America, John Heart

https://www.youtube.com/c/MrAmericaHeart

Mark Asanovich is an NFL strength coach that has had tremendous success. He sometimes does speeches to other strength coaches to dispel the myths related to exercise. Here’s a 1 hour video of him talking about HIT.

>Mark Asanovich Lecture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVGob8DrjDg&t=7s&ab_channel=RonMcKeefery

Dr. Shawn Baker, the carnivore diet social media personality and medical doctor purportedly trains using HIT. Most of his information is diet related, so it is unlikely that he will be a good resource for learning anything regarding training, but he is a good example of what can be achieved with HIT, given that he is approaching an older age and still maintaining a phenomenal physique with HIT. I wouldn't be surprised if he is enhanced, but he claims to be a lifetime natural, which is not out of the realm of possibility.

Another Mr. America, Anibal Lopez also trains using HIT. From a cursory Google search, he apparently trains full body only twice per week, once every 72-96 hours.

Mark Chaillet notably won the 1986 World Powerlifting Championship in the super heavyweight class, training extremely minimally, performing only 3 different exercises. He only did each exercise once per week for a total of 3 sessions per week working each exercise and muscle group once per week. He was the first person to deadlift 800 lbs in the masterclass division (40+ years). He had elite lifts in 4 different lifts. Searching for a picture of Mark Chaillet will show you that he was an absolute beast of a man.

Michael Bradley is a 32-year veteran of college strength coaching. He has been the Basketball Strength Coach at FSU since 2002. Previously, Bradley was a Strength Coach at Stanford University (1998-2002), the University of Miami (1995-1998), the United States Military Academy (1994-1995), the University of South Carolina (1993-1994) and Southern Methodist University (1991-1993). He also coached football at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1989-1990.)

Elliot Hulse, a strongman competitor and famous YouTube fitness personality has recently switched to HIT after a series of videos he made with Jay Vincent showcasing how difficult and effective HIT is.

Medical doctor, Dr. Doug McGuff, author of Body by Science has a youtube channel where he explains all of the physiology of how HIT works as well as how it pertains to people as they age.

Tim Ferris, author of The 4 Hour Body, also trains using HIT. He performed an experiment showing how much muscle someone could pack on in 4 weeks under ideal conditions. His results were quite staggering, gaining 34 lbs of muscle in 28 days to be exact, while also losing 3 lbs of fat. As to the question of whether or not steroids were in use, I couldn't really say. Neither would be a surprise. It's Tim Ferria after all. He has spent his entire life performing a variety of experiments on himself for fun and profit.

Dr Ken Leistner is an HIT strength and conditioning coach. Ken is a doctor - a chiropractor. He is a strength consultant to NFL teams and founder of the Iron Island Gym. His wife is a former world class powerlifter. Dr. Ken, as he is sometimes known, also writes for Randall Strossen's MILO Journal and has written for Powerlifting USA in the past. In addition to whatever you may find in his works, he also produced one of the single best training videos ever made when he trained Kevin Tolbert (Director of Football Strength and Conditioning at Michigan from 2015-17 and served as the assistant strength coach for the Wolverines during Lloyd Carr's tenure from 2001-07). The video can be found here

https://youtu.be/yrsBoeUTmNA

Steve Maxwell is known for being one of the top 100 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coaches in the entire world. He had helped popularize the usage of the kettlebell for overall health and wellness in the USA. After he discovered HIT, he stopped promoting the kettlebell and regretted that he had spread its popularity. He still does high intensity strength training as well as jiu jitsu training even though he is 70 years old. He has a phenomenal physique to show for it, despite his age.

Post Text

Steroids

ABC123

FAQ

If High Intensity Training Works, then why doesn’t everyone do it?

Questions that are as of right now, unanswered

Does someone need to stop training entirely in order to resensitize the body to phosphorylation of P70S6K, or is the sensitization regional specific? In other words, can split routines work with 100% efficiency or are full body routines required for the best gains?
Are warm up sets required or even beneficial?
What is the upward limit of the ability to synthesize?
Is the upward limit of protein synthesis a full body phenomenon or is it region specific?
If it is specific, do different regions have a different upward limit?
Can the recoverability of a person increase without steroids? How much?