I won the Natural 2008 Bay Area and placed 3rd in the natural USA that led me to compete in the 2008 Natural Olympia. I was fortunate to have trained with Mike Mentzer years ago and continued consultations for years with him. Less is best. All out intensity controlled monentum and saving your joints
In1979 I joined a i 😊 nautilus gym in NJ Best result using Metzgers Hit workouts Got real strong for wresting At 60 and after many different routines and researching This type of training works best for me. It did then and it does now. Thanks. Everyone is different but for me I needed the recovery and intense failure 🙏
Jay just gave away all his secrets . Amazing how theres countless youtube fitness videos , yet the information in this short 12 minute video is all you need .
So nice to see another HIT dude. I’ve been training like this since the early 90’s. Been a long time follower of Arthur Jones & Ellington Darden. Like some of the high intensity techniques of Mike Mentzer as well. One set to total failure, occasionally adding rest pause, drop set, or finish the last rep with a heavy negative. Maximum stimulation with maximum recovery! Outstanding brother !
@@SouEuMesmoAqui Mentzer recommended 4-7 days between workouts (not body parts) which would have you hitting the same muscle directly every 12+ plus days.
Literally just finished a high intensity leg session after your videos reignited my interest in HIT. Mother of God that was something else. I've been training for over 20 years (all natural) and tried the usual variations of bro split, PPL, upper/ lower split, 5x5, starting strength, beyond brawn and so on and always seemed to hit a wall in both size and strength quite rapidly. Now I'm in my early 40's it's really dawned on me how easy it is to overtrain and not fully recover between workouts, especially ones with too much volume, plus I get adrenal fatigue and feel lousy. I read Mentzers book years ago and applied it to upper body for a while but had a training partner at the time who wasn't game, so we didn't follow it for long. :( Upper body HIT workouts are brutal enough but you've really gotta be psyched up for legs as the lactic acid and the shaking knees etc are off the charts. I practically couldn't stand when I was done. LOVED it. Also started reading Body by Science by Doug McGuff after your suggestions. Again excellent and very logical for the non pharmaceutically assisted lifter.
You're right about the legs. They're a very large muscle group, so they do shake and ache after lifting hard to failure. You're not alone my friend. Use ice packs if it gets real bad, I do everyday on my lumbar/buttocks and it helps. Keep it up, we'll look like Mentzer in no time!
I can see why most people don't believe it...and think it's a crazy idea. I've been doing it for a while and even I still can't believe how it works. It's so counter intuitive...I still can't believe my results.
Never putting the weight down and constant tension is a must. I was taught decades ago to focus on proper form above all else. It works the muscle better and prevents injury. Unless you're going for a one rep max, if you can't get at least six clean reps, then you're using too much weight.
Man I feel like an idiot all these yrs and I've never tried it cause, well I thought it just can't b right but after seeing this and feeling beat up, I'm ready!! Taking 3 wks off to heal first.
i been doing this style of training for 6-7 years now, ill never go back to hours of endless sets every 2-3 days. Add in Carnivore diet and fasting, and you have solved one part of lifes mysteries
I'm 61.5 years old and starting week 3 of HIT. First week was mostly test week to find the exercises for me. Week 2 was in which order and what my preference is. I'm loving it and getting bigger and stronger already.
@@steelphantom9105 upper lower; but I'm doing 4 upper days and two lower days. Lots of upper imbalances and injuries so trying to work on that. But starting in a couple of weeks I'll be going back to 3 upper and 3 lower days.
Found ur chanel recently av to say for me as 60 year old and trained for years and tryed many styles of training this is brilliant i av plenty muscle mass but this type of training is for me always trained to failure for years but now realized been overtraining for years doing ur method i avnt lost any size or strengh i can train like this for years to come without beating myself into ground and still get results ur philosophy is so true wished i found this years ago i think wud be even bigger and stronger but ill keep going now in this style for rest of my days everything u teach is so right love ur vidios intensity is key not time in gym not sets and reps more peaple are brainwashed with bro science i see it all the time in gym obsessed with numbers but numbers are for accountants thanks for everything now i can train till old man and still make gains
I sort of stumbled on this on my own not having enough time to work out, yet I also was still kind of rushing through 3 sets old school. Can't wait to try it now will a clearer vision.
A lot of what Jay says rings true. The importance of slow and controlled reps and working to failure makes a lot sense. Also I like how he places the emphasize on diet for fat loss and generally states that nothing happens over night. When you think about it long term if you shelve your work out yourre gonna decondition and if you need to maintain a process you can't over train. Great stuff👍
Just started this workout yesterday. Aiming for mon/wed/Fri workout days. Added a couple of leg movements to make it total body. Holy hell I felt it!! This workout is intense! Time to grow!
Consider 1 or 2 extra rest days when you don't feel fully recovered. You'll see more results and avoid overtraning or feel fatigued during the rest days. You want to feel good, all of the time. Except when you shred those weights in the gym ;)
Incredible my progress ☺️ is evident using this advice training slow with machine and doing one set . Been doing it for 3months and it beats all the things I tried this past 10years.. Thank you Jay
Everyone is different but for me I just started doing this about two weeks ago and it's really easy to go until failure cause it's only one set than having to do more sets I do feel the difference and I have been told that too, you work your body more hard too but like he said until failure with perfect form not swinging that makes the difference
2x a week. I do a spilt routine between upper and lower body. My routine pretty much looks like this, with rare tweaks depending on equipment, and how I’m feeling.
this is also a great system of training to stick with training for years, i always trained then quit for a while, but with this Hit system i been training now 7 years straight, and love it
I love High Intensity Training workouts because they give me zero excuse. The workouts are so short that the only thing limiting me is my mindset. I will almost always have half an hour two to four times a week to workout like this. Also correct me if I'm wrong but it also creates more efficient muscle mass by training the body to recruit a higher percentage of your muscle fibers, which is how Bruce Lee could be so small but so powerful. Scale that effect up to someone who isn't avoiding hypertrophy (because agility and weightclass aren't as much of a concern) and you get real freaking strong.
Literally just did my first proper upper body workout in this style Set 1 and 2 warmup sets going up to 75% of my working weight then set 3 all out giving no shits around 8 secs per rep , obviously too early to speak about results but I knew I just had a hell of a workout 💪🏴
I just tried this workout today, and it was much harder than I thought it would be. I tried to basically do it thinking "if I was being mugged at gunpoint and the only way to stay alive would be to do one more rep", and I kept doing it until I wouldn't have a choice, I eventually failed of course. It is a challenging workout for sure. It has been 30 minutes since I finished and I can still feel little twitches in my chest and triceps, shoulders, and even forearms. Obviously your comment was from a few months, have you kept it up? What do you think? Any changes or adjustments you've made? Progress? Injury free?
High Intensity Training has relieved the pain of my chronic elbow tendinitis and my shoulder arthritis. You CAN train through injuries and come back stronger
@@JamesFeey I’ve been doing a full-body workout every 3-4 days. The tempo is 5 seconds lifting, 5 seconds lowering; I use a metronome app. The slow tempo really helped me recover
Just started hit about two months ago. Been going to the gym for 3 years averaging 3.5 sessions per week. I noticed every time I was sick or just to busy working and for whatever reason missed a week or two I would have massive gains and increase of strength. How is that possible? I always thought I need to go MORE i need to increase volume MORE. I have grown about 3x faster in the two months doing HIT than the last 3 years! I started thinking and looking around the gym....You know those handful of people you see literally every time you go to the gym? I figure they have to be going even more than you if you see them every time you go right? Well none of them are big. They are all toned well and probably in great shape. The jacked dudes I see are once in a blue moon these freaks come out and crush it lol! Its true HIT is for real I love it! I dont see a huge wall with it bc you can only hold max weight for so long right? Even if you have to hold all the plates in slow reps for 2 mins you will always hit failure and thats the point. I now do every 72 hours sometimes a 100 or 5 days if im real stressed so I stick to 2x a week sometimes even still faintly sore at 4 days. Great video man that will help a bunch of people out. New subscriber here bro!
@@jaymatthews5014 i train arnold split Day1 shorder arms Day 2 .9sets back 9sets chest Day3 leg Rest Day4 .3 exercices shorder 4 exercices for armes Day 5: 3 exercices chest 3exercices back Rest all sets to failure
@@ahmedmido-pb8fi . Dont see anything wrong with that I dont like doing anything back to back or even going to the gym back to back. Even though your doing arms one day then chest the next you gotta figure your still using some of those muscles overlap just with stabilization. If you were worried about not getting enough with 2 to 2.5 days then try 3 and just smash the hell outta them. Id do just for instance monday wed fri and get you 72 hours rest by taking sat sun completely off. Try to focus on heavier weight each time with a little less volume. I bet if you didnt change anything but just dropped 1/3 of the total sets but did them way slower you would be significantly and suprisingly more sore the next day which is good. I think the genius of metzer and hit in general was getting the adequate rest. Its hard to do bc we get used to our gains and figure more time off from gym that cant do anything but fuck up my training. Im a believer bc I cant explain the times i took off a week bc of work vacation etc and came back able to do more weight its a mindfuck. Id try it mane. Get a day atleast between everything and every now and then take 48-72 hours off. Just make sure your work is quality and that should make up for it! Cheers
I'm doing a similar program, but since I'm blessed to have an old school Nautilus gym, I'm substituting 40° CHEST and rowing torso for incline press and row and doing torso-arm and decline press for curls and pushdowns.
I do one muscular contraction (less than one rep) and leave the gym. One full rep (imagine one set!) is already overtraining. My workouts last 10 secs each
THIS. Plus having someone these to help you with 2-3 assist reps and or negatives after you've failed feels like I get the best results. Very challenging to truly push myself to total failure alone. Especially on Dumbell presses. Machines it's a little easier. Can you explain the drop sets for the arms portion and why you did drop sets there vs the others?
He explains in some videos that most people cannot go to true failure when they first start. It’s like a skill that takes time to mentally develop. I’ve even heard of hit guys doing mental exercises to help push their ability to go to failure. So for beginners you can do drop sets, assorted sets, myo reps, etc… Since you have a hard time really going to true failure in the beginning. As far as him doing drop sets. Looks like he was hitting some sticking points, maybe having trouble actually going to failure without the weight pinning him. Since even the best machines don’t have a perfect resistance curve. So he did a drop set to really push to true muscular failure. I do that too sometimes. If I feel like I failed without spending a solid amount of time really grinding hard Af and getting a sick pump.
I believe he picks one exercise per workout to do a drop set. It looks like he picked biceps in this video because it seemed like he died out quicker than he wanted to on that set so he dropped the weight two more times to really go to complete failure. If you do a drop set just make sure you only do it for 1 exercise per workout or you may overtrain.
I’ve been doing rest/pause + drop sets to go beyond failure. Getting stronger each and every workout plus it’s fun Drop-Set Rest-Pause This approach, which has been successfully used by many bodybuilders, is probably the most demanding of the rest-pause variations. It combines rest-pauses and drop sets. You lower the weight when you hit failure to continue on with the set. Think of each set as having two rest-pause episodes. The second episode being lighter than the first bout of rest-pauses. This type of rest-pause allows you to place far more demands on each muscle fiber, leading to more growth stimulation. As you might imagine, it’s also very demanding and nobody should need more than two such sets per exercise. In many cases, one will be enough. Each set is made up of four mini-sets: two rest-pause episodes of two mini-sets each. The pauses between all the mini-sets - including the drop - are 10 seconds long. Start with a weight where you think you’ll hit muscle contractile failure at around 8-10 reps. Work until you know that getting one more rep would be an absolute impossibility. Rest for 10 seconds keeping the same weight and resume the set, once again going to muscle contractile failure. Rest another 10 seconds while you decrease the weight by roughly 20% and continue the set, reaching failure with the new lower weight. Rest for a final 10 seconds and perform one last mini-set, going to failure.
HIT training makes perfect sense on paper, but virtually everyone else in the fitness industry abandoned it ages ago. Well respected and highly successful experts like Brad Shoenfeld, Dr. Mike Isreatel, Jonni Shreve, Jeff Nippard, Scott Herman, Greg Doucette, the late great John Meadows, and literally countless others, seem to agree with more current research that indicates roughly 7-20 sets per body part per week is the ideal workload to promote growth and with rare exception, going to failure is not necessary and can actually be quite detrimental to progress. On a side note, I have a good friend that was lucky enough to have trained extensively at Gold’s Gym back in the day and he found it interesting that when the cameras were off, the Mentzer brothers almost always used the same high volume workouts everyone else was using at the time. In fact, they often trained together. I’ve seen many interviews from famous Golden era bodybuilders that have said the same thing. As for the Casey Viator Colorado Experiment, it’s common knowledge that Casey was coming off a life threatening infection and was down about 60 lbs in body weight before those famous training sessions began. Clearly, genetics, diet, muscle memory, his improving health, and most likely performance enhancing drugs played a very significant roll in Casey’s rapid weight gain during these workouts. While he did in use HIT training during this time period, he had already built his physique to amazing proportions using a more typical high volume approach over previous years. Rumor has it he also snuck around and did additional, high volume workouts because HIT wasn’t cutting it on its own but we’ll never know for sure. Regardless, I suspect under the same circumstances, Mr. Viator would’ve achieved similar results regardless of the training style(s) implemented. I don’t say all this to crap on HIT. I have all of Mentzer’s books and I’m actually using HIT now as I have periodically for several decades now. In my own experience, I’ve found that HIT can actually be effective… for a short time. While I’ve achieved more using traditional methods, there’s nothing in the world like HIT to liven things up a little once complacency has reared its ugly head. Again, I love the brutal simplicity of HIT. I enjoy the time saving aspect even more. I just find that no matter how careful I am in regards to volume, I find myself getting burned out and/or stagnant faster and way more often than I do with more typical routines. Once you dig past the whitewashed history of HIT training, there are plenty of red flags that seem to conflict with what we’ve all been told is the ultimate training program. It’s just hard to believe that if HIT was as effective as we’re told it is, 99.9% of bodybuilders still won’t touch HIT with a 10 foot pole despite what such a training break through could potentially do for their careers. I get that it’s hard and many people don’t have what it takes to consistently follow through with the training, but make no mistake, if HIT training really provided a significant performance advantage, a hell of a lot more pros would be all over it.
@@willsmith82 Unless you’re a physical anomaly, you wouldn’t. All the latest research shows that volume plays a pivotal role in making gains. Obviously, HIT is better than doing nothing at all, but science has proven time and time again it’s not the most effective way to train.
@@rtobin1374 problem is With a lot of those studies Failure is when they tap out Brad Schoenfeld even said that most people in his studies will quit way before they even go to failure. I don’t think you need you be an anomaly to do this physically. You need to be an anomaly mentally. Most people these days are complete beta males, and couldn’t handle going to complete failure. So personally I think most people would be better on another program. And if for some reason it wasn’t intense enough. You could always add more workouts or sets to increase the stress. Everyone is different as far as recovery goes.
Haha😂 great stuff! for an older guy, such as myself, 63, who trained most of my younger years and on and off the last 30 years. I’m seeing the enormous value of HIT. It gives my muscles enough time to recover and see muscle growth at my age👍🏻 Good diet and hi protein a must😊
I’m 53 and I’ve never even seen a Nautilus pullover machine. As for Nautilus equipment, I’m surprised anyone can find it. I’ve heard good things about it. Basic 5 in machines Leg press Cable row Cable chest Pull down machine Machine overhead press Sub free weights at your discretion.
My great friend Rich Putnick in the St. Louis area taught me about H.I.T. in 2003 in college. Rich has been using HIT now for 30 years and I consider him a world class trainer. Why wouldn't I do an exercise routine that allows me to lower my weight, thus not injuring my joints, allows me to keep proper form throughout the rep, and exhausts more muscle fibers using time under tension, thus creating more growth... AND YOU CAN WORK OUT LESS FREQUENTLY! That's a win win win win in my book.
I'm a newly Father. The only time I have to train is 3 times a week 30-40 mins a week. Full time job and some. This is great Vincent ! Thanks for the wisdom! Giving this a try. Keeping it raw and basic. 🔥💯
Twice a week or every five days is enough for a natural. I regret spending too much time in the gym when my kid was young. Time is precious, and I wish I had that knowledge back in the day about muscle growth.
@@binchili one highly intense set to failure is more effective than multiple sets with 80 /90% intensity. That’s my experience. I’m not saying volume training is ineffective. It’s time consuming and lease beneficial due to less recovery and overtraining.
I have been doing it for one year, two days a week, a week off here and there. Maybe im not doing the sets intensely enough, i feel like i am and im shaking and sore after every workout, maybe im not doing enough volume because i do take time off here and there for various reasons not just recovering. I like HIT as a philosophy and i like the workouts, BUT, i have not gotten super great results. Could easily be my fault. I feel like im following jays “less is more” philosophy pretty much. Doesnt seem to be working that great for me . I do notice the high weight high volume guys being the bigger stronger ones in my experience, and also , i am the only person in most gyms that trains slowly with intensity. Everyone else uses momentum and does the opposite of what jay says and they are for the most part pretty shredded. But in theory, i still agree with jay. In practice and in my experience, i have seen the counter argument to HIT work better
Although I got stronger with Hit, with slow cadence, I lost muscle mass with the 1 set workout. So I switched back to 5 to 6 sets per muscle, leaving 1 to 2 reps in the tank. I've been training like this for 44 years and at 57 I still have 46 cm arms and 12% body fat. Muscle failure training over time leads to failure. Nothing was as unproductive for me as 2 full body workouts in the week after HIT. Lost 3 kg of muscle mass in 6 months.
Jay, on July 25, 2017, you posted a full body workout video entitled "FULL HIT Workout. Amazing fitness results in 20 minutes of training." Then about 2 years ago in response to a comment written by a viewer of that video, you responded that you "...train about once a week now because each workout destroys me for days." Your physique certainly wasn't lacking in that video, so why now do as many as 3 workouts a week, split or otherwise? If 8 exercises once a week gets you there, then why add more work?
I think he explained this in one of his previous videos. For most of us, we can start with full body twice a week and progress fine. Then there's a point where we are able to damage our body in one workout more than the body is able to recover within the next few days. So we progress to breaking up our workouts to 2 workouts (upper body & lower body etc) So if I'm not mistaken, it's not that he's adding more work, but instead is splitting his work into 2 workout days. He definitely did mention that he doesn't workout 3 times a week though, only twice.
@@AdamIzzy,everything you said is correct. He said at some point you are going to push yourself so hard that a full body workout will become too hard so he does his legs on another day. He also said everyone recovers differently . So train when your body feels recovered. Hit it hard and train when you feel recovered. Their is no benefit training more than twice a week.
Ok. I understand the concept, but the HIT is probably good to "maintain" the gains. I do heavy to failure and it has worked for me. For example, 6 months ago I weighed 150lbs. Now I am 167lbs, no clothes, no urine, and no waste. Usually, when I eat and drink fluids my weight is 171lbs. So my method has worked. I do T.I.T. training. H.I.T will work for me when I reach 200lbs in next 16 to 24 months. Any input, is greatly appreciated. Thank you
So 4 to 5 days rest before you do upper body again, would you train legs the day after this?! And do you swim, row, jog, ski erg or anything in-between?! Cracking video
That was exactly my point. I think this works for size especially if you are a big guy naturally big I mean and you don't do any other activities. But I am wondering how healthy it is if all you do is lift and not do anything else just to get big. I would say maybe do this monday... Then do your activities tuesday... Then maybe legs wednesday. Then maybe a rest day thursday Activities Friday, Do your upper body again on Saturday. Rest Sunday Activities Monday Legs again Tuesday.. Etc.. This way it is more of an all around cycle and you are still having fun and being healthy doing you fun activities. Plus you are working everything twice a week and changing up your excercises is also good.
Why do drop sets on bicep curls but not on a row or incline press? If you train this workout once every 4 or 5 days, when do you hit legs? Lastly, the research you talk about is yours alone or peer reviewed?
I wish my gym had a pullover machine. It does have that same type pec machine. I like the kind with pads better. I sometimes feel like I'm getting shoulder joint fatigue in the kind that uses the handles.
@@thesaurum7944 Recently I make sure to adjust it so the starting point is maybe 2nd hole from the front, which does help. So I think it works pretty well. The kind with pads can also be used by someone with hand/wrist issues, whereas the handle kind cannot. But I'm not sure I've seen any gym with a pullover in a long time.
it's hard to watch because i'm exhausted already half way...i guess i won't have to go gym tomorrow 😂 also i need my protein shake cause i feel like i'll be growing some muscles just watching this video
Delayed onset muscle soreness typically lasts between 3-5 days when you first start training so isn't that a good indicator that the muscles aren't fully recovered for the amount of days doms lasts to a particular person right? Good knowledge jay honestly my number 1 go to coach I've just started personal training and this is the path I'm heading down for sure
Glad to see people continue Mentzer/Jones’ methods…. Worth mentioning that Mentzer only ever promoted straight bar curls, never use the EZ bar (his book/videos explain why).
It's an ok workout for maintaining or even getting better if have good genetics or on steroids. I like it and definitely will use it for short periods when I'm too tired or fed up of regular training volumes and want something easier for a while.
Sinds 2024 starting hit training got some pretty good results so far, diet not on point yet, but still pretty solid results overall. I am still fine tuning my structure learning more about hit everyday day, I do like the pre exhaustion exercise. But what for advice pull over straight to row or an other exercise first like chest. Because in this vid you do the pull over first then 2 chest exercises then back again.
Make another video on your legs and did u not get your anterior delts on purpose? But ya hit us with another. Your inspiring me cause I've been wanting to do H.I.T. but am not sure but wut u just showed me wow! I can't wait to hit H.I.T. on this coming monday!!!
Question. I'm 51, 220lbs, 5'11, good health. Very sedentary lifestyle, work a lot. I've never been able to commit to a long workout schedule so I think this will work for me. I'm not looking to get ripped but want to get in best shape of my life. I've tried to live by Keto diet (roughly, for past 2 years) but have fallen off the wagon. I've done P90X in past and really enjoyed it but takes too much time commitment. Would this be good program for me and can it be done at home? Is this too intense for a beginner, non-athlete? Thanks for all the comments
Everything can be "too intensed" esp if its your first time. If you don't have the time in the gym then this type of training is for you. If you love spending hours in the gym then multiple sets + close to failure is what you need.
Hey this is awesome, love this style. Question: do you keep a detailed training log with all of your numbers for lifts? And are you aiming to make progress on every workout? And what if you don't? Or is it just the failure focus that's key. For example, say your incline press was the plate+quarter for 8 reps, what if you do that 2 or 3 weeks in a row, and can't get to 9 reps? Is that still fine, or would you change something up? Thanks.
Keeping a journal is the key to progressive overload training... especially with this type of trainin. You need to know what your weight is that allows you to the proper amount of HIT reps. Then as you progress every workout or 2 or 3 or whatever you can add as little as a couple of large washers but continue to increase your weight over time and document.
Could dips replace lat raises, incline bench machine press and the tricep exercise? I’m curious why you chose to do all three instead of just dips for all that
Continuing the genius & Legacy of Mike Mentzer & Arthur Jones. Thank you man, keep showing the world the truth that Mike tried to show us but was called crazy for going against the $.
