Over the course of the last two posts, we’ve covered two very different but very effective means of training for mass gain: high rep and low rep. Today, I want to continue with a brief discussion of some other protocols for gaining size.

I’ll preface this by saying that both of these methods are effective, and among them it would be hard to distinguish a favorite, but I will say this: because of their effectiveness, I would say that on some level these are slightly more advanced techniques.  Not because beginners could not benefit from them—quite the opposite in fact.

However, because of the oft-maligned phenomenon of “newbie gains” I like to save these training methods for later on in the training careers of my clients.

That is to say: new trainees generally make progress with any program, so I like to wait until progress stalls a bit before unleashing these methods to break plateaus.

That said, on to business:

High Intensity Training — HIT for short, is a hot button in the training community.  Developed by Arthur Jones in the 1970s, HIT at its core is a system of training each muscle with one set to the point of momentary muscular failure. The workouts were brief, intense, and infrequent.  In the 70s, when Arnold and Company were advocating training twice per day, six days per week for nearly two hours at a clip, this wasn’t just controversial—it was nearly heretical.

A snippet from Wikipedia to give a bit more insight:

The fundamental principles of High Intensity Training (HIT) are that exercise should be brief, infrequent, and intense. Exercise are performed with a high level of effort, or intensity, where it is thought that it will stimulate the body to produce an increase in muscular strength and size. Advocates of HIT believe that this method is superior for strength and size building than most other methods which, for example, may stress lower weights with larger volume (reps).

As strength increases, HIT techniques will have the weight/resistance increased progressively where it is thought that it will provide the muscles with adequate overload to stimulate further improvements. In HIT, it is known that there is an inverse relationship between how intensely and how long one can exercise. As a result, high intensity workouts are generally kept brief. After a High Intensity workout, as with any workout, the body requires time to recover and produce the responses stimulated during the workout, so there is more emphasis on rest and recovery in the HIT philosophy than in most other weight training methods. In any workout, not just HIT, training schedules should allow adequate time between workouts for recovery (and adaptation).

While many typical HIT programs comprise a single-set per exercise, tri-weekly, full-body workout, many variations exist in specific recommendations of set and exercise number, workout routines, volume and frequency of training. The common thread is an emphasis on a high level of effort, relatively brief and infrequent (i.e. not daily) training, and the cadence of a lift, which will be very slow compared to a non-HIT weight training routine.

Most HIT advocates stress the use of controlled lifting speeds and strict form, with special attention paid to avoiding any bouncing, jerking, or yanking of the weight or machine movement arm during exercise. Variations of HIT will vary in advice from lifting the weights smoothly but at a natural pace, others will time the lift, peak hold and descent.

I don’t want to turn this into a history lesson, but suffice it to say that both traditional volume training and High Intensity Training each had their share of advocates and detractors.  The storm raging around the debate has never really died down, and the lifters (and trainers) of the previous generation tend to have pretty strong opinions that fall one way or the other.

For my part, I like HIT to a degree.

While I there is a certain skeptical streak in mean that instinctively shudders at the dogmatic approach HIT seems to want to inspire in its practitioners, I take a pragmatic approach to things and use whatever tools seem applicable to the job at hand.

It is for this reason I like to use HIT (or modified HIT principles) with clients who can only train once per week. Because you are training to failure on multiple exercises, your recovery is supremely compromised.  So, for someone training once per week, I think this is a great option to allow for continued growth. With the exercises performed intensely and in good form, generally speaking there is an allowance for enough stimulation of muscle tissue to allow for growth.

I wouldn’t really recommend this for people who are able to train or want to train more than twice per week. It’s simply too draining.

For a change of pace or someone with time constraints, I think HIT is an excellent option. For more information on HIT, check out www.drdarden.com, the home of Dr. Ellington Darden, author of numerous HIT books.

Hypertrophy-Specific Training – HST is another training program based around full body training programs.  Like HIT, Hypertrophy Specific Training incorporates training to failure, but only once every two weeks.

With HST, you pre-test your maximum weight for 5, 10, and 15 repetitions.  You then subtract from these, and work up to them over a two week period.  So, for two weeks you are training in a 15 rep program, then two weeks at 10 reps, and then 5 reps.

Although you are going to failure only once every two weeks, you’re working with near-maximal weight the entire duration of the program.

HST differs from HIT philosophically in that HIT maintains that it is the act of going to momentary muscular failure to illicit muscular growth; whereas HST asserts that the stimulation of muscle tissue through the use of near max weight is enough.

I include HST mainly because I have used it with great success.  Its structure makes it somewhat ungainly for use with clients, but for the average guy trying to pack on mass, I think it is a great program.

One of my favorite things about HST is the inclusion of an off week, for Strategic Deconditioning.  The theory behind this is that by taking periods away from the training effect, the return to training will allow for a greater amount of supercompensation to occur.  In this case, more muscle growth.

Even though I rarely find myself going back to Hypertrophy Specific Training, I still schedule myself a period of deconditioning every 9-12 weeks. I believe this single change has done more for my growth than nearly any training program I have tried

If you’re the kind of person who likes a fairly rigid structure and having everything planned out perfectly weeks in advance, HST is a great choice.  Check out www.hypertrophy-specific.com for more information.

These two methods are similar in some ways, vastly different in others, but both extraordinarily effective if used correctly.  Applying each at the right time during your training cycles is a sure fire way to allow for continued growth.

Come back tomorrow for the final installment, where I was share two of my favorite protocols for gaining size.  Definitely meant for more advanced trainees, tomorrows post will bring insights from two of the world’s best (and best known) strength coaches as well as my own opinions on their usage.  Check back!