HIT vs Volume Training

   

 

 

First of all, let me preface this by saying that this essay is based on the following assumptions

1. HIT: brief and infrequent workouts, usually 1 set per exercise.  Few total sets <10

2. Volume training: multiple sets per exercise and many total sets, up to 20 and more.

Im not getting into rep speed here.

     It amazes me to this day how truth can be plain as day in someones face and yet they continue down the dark path of the masses. It is a sad common occurence in America today. Bodybuilding is of course no exception. Lucky for me as personal trainer, makes the results I achieve seem miraculous by comparison. Mike Mentzers physique was ridiculous for his time, Dorian Yates owned the O and he said if he got to do it all over again he would do even less. Fortunately for me, I got seriously into bodybuilding in '93. I read every muscle magazine every month cover to cover than do it again backwards. Dorian was just beginning his mighty reign, The golden days for me, his logic and approach to training is undeniable, and the results speak for themselves. Then when those black and whites came out with the striped spandex shorts......life changing! I feel like crushing a set of underhand rows just thinking about it! . Actually it changed bodybuilding, we had a new image of mans potential. Who in their right mind could deny this mans program? Well seems like 99% of bodybuilders today. Now with almost two decades under my belt as a trainer I know the reasons why. 

    Bodybuilding is underrated as craft.  Adding muscle is not for the weak minded, it requires an ability to deal with severe, prolonged self afflicted pain and the knowledge of anatomy and kinesiology. HIT requires the intense application of both. I realized that most people dont have the knowledge and will to get a bodypart(s) sore with three sets total. Its brutal, you look at the discipline and hunger for knowledge dorian had and you can see hes one of the few who can pull it off. So of all you volume advocates who badmouth a program thats so logically sound and obviously works, realize that you dont have the special combination of knowledge and controlled insanity necessary to make HIT work. I dont know what it is in a person that enables them to go to true muscular failure, it could be anger, love, vanity, religion, rough childhood or some mental predisposition. When you see it, its a sight to behold. Anyone can get sore doing 30 sets of anything, but do you have the mental and physical capacity to do it in 3? If not stick to your marathon workouts, i'll be home at home with a full belly, growing.