If HIT works… Why doesn’t EVERYONE do it? 

This is so true. I see exercise as a task to be done, not some fun hobby. I go in there, do the work, and leave. Gym “culture” really has nothing to do with effective weight training.

I'd argue that no-one is doing it because EVERY other muscle gaining protocol is also claiming to be the most effective and also claims to have science behind it. So we're incapable of discerning between them. Except for those who are willing to dig through all of the data, we follow guys based, not on the science, but on on how much we like a certain fitness guy, or who has the most muscle, or who seems to have the most girls and social proof etc.. Just like everything else in the world - money flows to the best marketers, not the best products.

Ive been doing 5x5 for about 8 years. In the beginning I was seeing big gains in strength and muscle. In recent years ive been mostly going through the motions with no real gains except for discomfort. 3x10 has never done anything for me. Started doing HIT and I feel the same way I did in my muscles and mindset as I did when I first began 5x5. Excited to see the results after honing in on the training.

You've nailed this one exactly!I started HIT Training in 95 after talking to Mike Mentzer on the phone.This approach is logical plain and simple.Although nothing you say is brand new,I'm glad someone is carrying on the teaching of Jones,Darden and Mentzer to this new social media generation.

Just like what he's saying, Im convinced it has to do with economic marketability. Volume sells. More is always better in people's minds. I fast 16-22hrs and i am more fot and muscular than i have ever been. People think im crazy, but they just want to buy a solution. Trainers can push more and more suppliments so they won't push fasting. HIT training doesn't sell convoluted training tools and programs. Volume in every regard sells, but the truth is less in more in many regards. Also he's also so right on pain. HIT is painful, fasting is initially painful, commitment is painful, having principles and thinking is hard and can be painful if you hate dissonance from all the lies. Anyways, great video!

An old castellano dictum to do with literature late 1890s is very aplicable to true hit training. As this young man and mike mentzer thought it. - what is popular is not good, and what is good isn't popular - This kind of training is the very best and so popular it will never be.

I've just started HIT training, and I'm definitely going to miss working out every day. I'm still trying to figure it out. I think a lot of the things I've done are actually better classified as skills or recreation, so I can keep doing them more often. Early days.

You changed my life dude. Thank you.

I use the old Mentzer Heavy Duty pre exhaust training system. I like it, it works for me and since I only have a barbell, bands and body weight its easy for me to adapt to it. Easier on my joints as well....I'm 68.

The main reason, in my mind, more aren't doing it is because of ego. Gym bros in particular want to be seen to be chucking big weights around, regardless of form and using a lot of momentum for lifts. The exact opposite of what you prescribe.

Great content. Thanks Jay!

I've just started doing HIT and I've been working out for over 30+ years. HIT is hard as hell. Training to failure whoops my azz. I'm sticking with it, but I kinda dread doing it.

Hi Jay, I only discovered you a few weeks ago and I am a long time Trainee ( 65 years of age ) but as passionate about resistance training as ever. You talk an amazing amount of sense and I have introduced a great deal of your principles into my training. Also I have started with the age related joint problems and they have started to improve with your methods. I had almost given up on Upper Body "push" movements but using your methods I am able to do them again. Keep up the great videos, thankyou 👍

I do a modified version of HIT. Each exercise gets 4 sets, the fourth set goes to failure, I then wait 10 seconds and do negative failure. At this point I can’t imagine my workouts with out my last HIT set. My workouts would be a waste of time without them. People stare at me when I am on that fourth set, they can see the intensity and pain I put myself through, and probably know they will never push it like that. I’m 42 and jacked, been reading Mentzer books for 20 years. A guy at the gym thought I was 33 the other day.

Most honest and common sense fitness professional I have come across so far. Thanks, Jay.

Hit somehow and sometimes work. It's strange how an experienced lifters does not understand it. The main idea is body adaptation to the stress. That's why hit works after volume training. But doing the same hit routine inevitable get you to plateau. Check the HST training to understand all stress and growth mechanics.

My friend owns 4 super slow studeos all the machines are custome designed by my friend we did an experament with leg press chest press and torso arm one day a week took messurments and in 8 weeks i gained 25lbs my waist didnt change at all i got super strong and gained inches on every body part

Very good analogy.

Jay, this is golden. Keep posting wisdom like this👍

Because its hard af, at the end of my work out I just want to get out of there as I pushed myself so hard in the Gym.

Why people don't do HIT? Because people either don't exercise at all or go for a walk at best - you know, the people that get fitness info once a month randomly from a radio snippet...all they hear is "just be active, walk a bit, maybe wear a pedometer, do some gardening, every bit counts". Other group of people feel the need to start exercise because of deteriorating health in some way or another. They might firmly believe doctors, which is good, but doctors often aren't that knowledgable about exercise and also have to adhere to official recommendations and guidelines which require insane amount of evidence to be changed - and in the past, such evidence was acccumuated only about LISS - low intensity, steady state "cardio". And you can hardly accuse your doctor that you got injured while walking and it's his fault. But if your neck is crushed in a gym? Then there are fitness enthusiasts - but they often also follow social media trends, or do not investigate much, so they might pick-up running, swimming, biking or anything that is available to them and popular. Maybe then they go hardcore in their given mode of exercise, might get injured etc. Only small subset correctly identifies resistance training as the best choice for general exercise. It is very difficult and "unnatural" to understand compared to walking, running, swimming or biking. There is a high cost of entry - gotta book the gym or buy equipment, learn the technique, the progression etc. And among the lifters who chose lifting for hypertrophy and health (in itself subset of lifting), many will still choose the predominant shiny books by Brad Schoenfeld, the glute guy Bret Contreras etc. Which are kind of ok, but unnecessarily complicated. To even find HIT/Doug McGuff or Drew Baye is probably quite random and happens only if you dig deep into resistance training methods and physiology specifically because you are unconvinced by the complex multi-set, multi-equipment methods and you just see there is lot of unfounded crap involved in the prescriptions. One manistream guy that could have changed that is professor Gibala with his popularisation of HIIT intervals, but for some reason he uses lame "air squats, burpees, push-ups" as his resistance exercise and they are done in interval, not HIT manner. It seems he doesn't wanna upset his colleagues who focus primarily on resistance training and doesn't wanna investigate in a lab if indeed HIT resistance training covers it all, because it threatens all of their fragmented business models with different training modalities. Maybe he is just really fascinated with "aerobic" adaptations only and willing to leave most of the muscle potential on the table, who knows.

Since training raises cortisol and adrenaline, it can have a mildly addictive effect, so people tend to overdose for the mood boost.

Simply put, not everyone has the will power to go past failure. It's more fun to pump train.

People are used to watching elite bodybuilders who have superior genetics and are high responders to exercise! On top of that they have an extensive medicine cabinet which further enhance their results. For most normal people their routines will not work and will be dangerous and physically and psychologically damaging in the long term. High intensity exercise once (or maybe twice a week if you are seeing results) will suit most of the people better. Use machines to put full effort into controlling the load and you will not have to worry about the skill required in balancing a barbell around.

Great video

The shortest amount of work ( to failure ) in the shortest amount of time. That's how you build muscle! Plus feel good the next day.

I’m 53 years old, I practice an intense HIT program, I’m on track to being in better shape than I was in my mid 30’s. I do 4 workouts a week, 30-40 minutes per session, minimum of 3 days recovery, Monday workout repeat Thursday, Tuesday workout repeat Friday. Not rocket science!

I think the brainwash from the fitness industry is also a big thing why people don't do hit. Many people don't believe in a shorter and still more effective way of anything. I have some digestion-issues and therefore my energy isn't stable. I train Jeet kune do and weight training (at home)...i always have to listen to my body and 1 heavy set always worked best for me. (Years already) I was also brainwashed and feeling down because i also believed i have to do multiple sets for best progress, but i can only recover from one heavy set. So i started researching it and tadaaaa apparently training one heavy set is a thing, and apparently I'm not crazy 🤣

I do a variation of HIT. Not one set to failure. But 3 sets for each exercise, with only 15-25 seconds pause between sets. So that it becomes kind of a extended set. I might even make the third set into a dropset, to make sure that I have drained it enough. I started getting great results when I started doing this. But comfortable? Not at all. But worth it.

I don't disagree with your HIT regimen. I think it's great. However, your logic is flawed here: - 1st point. Not everyone does the right thing. You are right that not everyone invests in stocks, and eats healthy, but it's COMMON KNOWLEDGE that it is to do so. It's NOT common knowledge that HIT (your ver.) is the most effective way to train. - 2nd point. Intensity. HIIT is pretty popular, so I don't think your point is valid. -3rd point. People think that going to the gym should be a big time commitment. This is one I completely agree with you on. I myself have a hard time finding "time-efficient" ways to train. Unfortunately, it's not popular. IMO I think your system is a combination of well researched methods to increase hypertrophy (slowing your reps, pushing past failure, increasing intensity), which is new. HIT resistance training is not new, but everyone has their own definition of it. The only thing that binds them together is pushing to failure or going past it.

Alot of people stop when yhey feel discomfort and think.thats failure....

The main reason HIT isn't popular is it's too hard. Some people give it a go, but it's brutal. It's far easier to do almost high intensity more often

High intensity gives you a high, after the insane burn.

Hi Jay😊 I just discovered this peinciple through your videos a few days ago, and I tried it withpushups in rings and t-bar rows. Felt amazing in a painfull way 🙊 I am going to try this out combined with a pullup/ dip day (can't do pullups with 5 sec up/ 5sec down just yet), and a HIT upper body and HIT legs. Upper, lower, dip/ hangup, restday. Then go again. Thanks for bring this to my atention Jay 😊

This sounds like the banded X3 bar workout..1 set, to failure, slow reps, not locking out, 2X/week. The bands make it more challenging and are hardest at the strongest range of motion, right before lockout, no momentum etc..

Moving is better than 0 , intense is better than moving 💖

HIT works, as does high volume, 5x5, 8x8, 10x10, full body, bro split. All routines work as long as you are dedicated and consistent. The fact that not everyone does HIT is because not everyone finds this a pleasant way of training.

just on here to help out the algo. stay up Jay!

They work, brother. The issue is who has the money and who looks like a monster. I say let them eat cake as the queen did in the past. Do you and let it be. Author Jones and Mike Mentzer knew it required hard work. Most people do not want to get out of a comfort zone. You have to be uncomfortable to grow both mentally and physically. Thank you brother and keep on keeping.

Before I start, this is not an attack, but a suggestion from someone that thinks similarly about training. I have been a coach and competitor for 30 years. I have primarily used HIT training. That being said, you lose people with your ad hominem attacks. When you call others opinions stupid or people idiots because they believe differently, you make yourself look bad and people that support HIT. This my way is the only way, and your stupid if you don't agree is not benefiting any reasonable discussion on the topic. Perhaps if you overlapped your attacks with the research you refer to then you may have more standing, especially since there is research to refute your arguement. Obviously, we can agree there are limitations to that research, but without providing your own where are we?

It's because "lifting weights = muscle, therefore, more lifting = more muscle." It's just intuitive thinking.

Yeah, companies want you to train more often so you use their products

People are ignorant thinking their way is better. Plus they dont like the effort it takes to do this

Found your channel. Heard your speech at 21 (I’ll get it wrong) on Apple Podcasts . Like the approach even the comments about finance as a comparison.

Just discovered ya Vince, im in the HIT List forum as well, love that you come from there and are spreading the word. Keep it the great work!🙏

Amen, brother. I'm glad you said it. P90x philosophy was a gamechanger for me. Everything else was measured to that standard. And not only that, but Dorian Yates, mike mintzer (heavy duty), Frank Colombo (I think?) While training Sylvester Stallone in the 80's, speaks on it as well.

Ex: saving for retirement Hahaha couldn't have picked a better one

I think people don’t do it because they have been lied to, but also because it is hard and it’s easier and move weights up and down, people seem to like spending time in gyms probably perving at the ladies.

I see these errors in logic in all the workout fb groups I'm in and popular YT channels. Even the smartest guys in there make every excuse in the book to write off HIT. The handfull of people who try it quickly realize it's very hard and give up. What's popular is not always right and what's right is not always popular. You are making a dent out there tho I see more and more people talking about you and arguing about it lol

There's more than one way to skin a cat. HIT isn't the be all end all. I've noticed with discussions in regards to this modality the emphasis seems to be on muscle building...What about strength? How effective/"optimal" is it from a strength building perspective?

Because it’s easier to do two or three sets, not to failure, and get just as good results. Lifting weights should be a challenge. It doesn’t have to make you vomit.

The answer is some what simple, yet complicated. The simple answer is most people follow tradition ( training 5 to 6 days a week) when it comes to working out in the gym. The complicated answer is, what is HIT? HIT means different things to different people, and how its performed in the gym. Currently, l only train 2 days week (upper and lower body days). However, l lift very "heavy weights" to positive failure! HIT to me is hard training!

Most gyms don't have good machines either so it's hard to find a safe way to do hit while taking it to the max.

Exactly. It's uncomfortable. And painful. And taxing. And that's why many avoid it. Too bad they won't reap all the benefits from it though...

You said hit may be harder to stick to.. For those who actually do hit its not harder to stick to once you do it the results make it far easier to stick to than traditional training. So I'd correct yourself next time in saying hit is harder to stick to ! It's way better and doable long term

I’m going to start HIT training this week. I plan to start with 2 full body workouts per week with 3 days rest in between workouts. Will this be sufficient?

Because for many the gym is their social time. For others, they believe more sets are better.

Arthur Jones > Mike Mentzer > Dorian Yates > Jay Vincent…in that order. This is the holy grail of training.

Another thing that people base their choices on is ego And numbers. If you ever went to a gym, to these arrogant guy's its all about how many reps and how many sets you perform. Oh and how much time and hours in the gym. In reality that means ZERO and is a terrible thing to base your decisions on. It's quality and muscular stimulation. Not numbers These guys look like 😱 when I say that

Is this high intensity? Decline press - 135x12, 200x8, 265x8, 285x5, 310x3 Incline press - 245x7, 235x5, 225x4 Incline flys - 66x8, 66x6 Bentover rows - 135x10, 250x6, 250x 7, 230x6, 220x6 Pulldowns - 180x7, 190x5, Barbell shrug - 220x8, 220x8

the link for the home hit program isn't working

Does this work for purely strength oriented training? I'm not interested in growing more muscle, but I am interested in increasing strength.

Hi Jay Did you build your body purely using HIT?

I don't think the question is why doesn't everybody do it... should really be, "why doesn't ANYONE do it? By everyone I mean championship BB. Name me 10 top bodybuilders who developed their physiques from soup to nuts by HIT alone. Also, I find the excuse that "people don't like it because it's "uncomfortable" or "hard" rather insulting. Have you watched a Kia Green workout? Nothing about that appears comfortable or easy. I always felt like this HIT approach was a way to simply tell someone they aren't going hard enough. Volume lifters go to failure ALL THE TIME. A "stupid" argument is to say volume lifters don't want the discomfort of HIT. Really? I've watched Yates, and Mikes workout videos before. They aren't going at it any harder than than the next guy. Forced reps, assisted reps, drop sets to multiple failures are done ALL THE TIME in volume training. There are some decent arguments for less volume and proper recovery times, but when you come to the table and essentially say highly committed BB don't do HIT because their too pussy to go thru the "discomfort" is B.S.

Good video

Sometimes people have just found other stuff works better.

People in my country go to the gym frequently simply cause the gym membership fees are exorbitant.So they rather over-train to justify feeling that their money is not wasted.Now that I found you I enjoy working out 3 days a week cause anymore days and I feel it's unnecessary,especially with HIIT incorporated into my schedule now.By the way I am literally the only person doing these in the gym.I LooK Alien 👽 to everyone else's training regimen. 😀 😄 😊 Feels good not to be a follower.

Because this type of train make you more slowly

Does HIT work for getting an athletic build... That's my primary mission... More male track athlete Olympic gymnast look as opposed to bodybuilders look.

Feast or famine/fight or flight.

I agree with you but I feel like you missed the #1 reason, which is that MOST of the people advocating for HIT do a really poor job communicating what makes HIT workouts different. Especially Mentzer. I love Mentzer and I mean nothing harmful but every video I've seen from him, he makes a ton of controversial claims but leaves a lot of questions unanswered or he goes off on rabbit trails. For example, nearly nobody explains how to warm up the joints properly, or if those warmup sets are counted in minutes towards the workout time. So many advocates make it sound like they walk into a gym and go balls out, one maximal set beyond failure, three or four exercises, then they leave. Every is left wondering if they warmed up.

Hit is not popular cos its hard work from finish to end .

If Chris Weidman muscled it...

Hi. New to your channel, came here following drew baye what are ur thoughts about him im asking because im starting to resonate towards u even though you do have same principles (he uses tsc and does at home training which i prefer) . He knows its different equipment from home and gym. Your thoughts.

I am an old Mentzer guy. Been doing this 45 yrs. I have seen 1000 different workouts, times, rep ranges, etc. Point here is well taken. I never believed you have to do tons of different angles to hit this head and that head of the muscle. However, there is a distinct difference in training to look decent/get healthy, etc. than contest training. I think many of these mehods were born out of pros doing contest training, but just as much 'coaches' trying to be relevant/make money/sell some product. [as you mentioned]. If you hire a coach and he told you to just do HIT, never anything 'new', one would probably not be their coach for long. This distinction should probably be made. As an ex competitor and still train folks for contests, I do think that variations are indeed necessary. You have to be ready for a contest by a certain date, so some unorthodox [blanket statement of HIT is best needs to be re examined] things may well be needed other than HIT. The contest will not move its date to when you are ready.

Jay do you take any steroids or testosterone?

Hmmm well lets see, why can’t 90-95% of the people do HIT. Maybe it’s because none of them are doing gear like Casey, Mike and Dorian did so they go to those limits of failure AND recover better. 🤔 You might have some results but if your not taking a lot more time to recover and rest you only get so far just like any other natural bodybuilder.

Are you natural though?

Training like Jerome Pina would be sick.

Fighters are slim and fit not bulky. Hiit

Because i want to squat twice my bodyweight.

simple it doesnt just ruined my CNS

Well the real question is why every pro doesn't do it?

I do HIT everytime I go on the treadmill. NFL players do it all the time

It would be fun to do multiple sets to failure on the same exercise and go to the gym every day, but HIT makes logical sense and gives me better results.

Because people would rather do the juice and train easy lazy

Everyone understands you can't do HIT Cardio for example Sprinting every single day. Why do they stumble applying that same common understanding to weights? It's baffling. 🤣

So HIT puts gym membership out of business?

There, you nailed it at about 4:30 in. People don't like to be uncomfortable and HIT is uncomfortable.

Honestly, HIT is very boring for me. Why rep out 135's when I can do 275 at a faster pace? This style of training will probably be enjoyable as I get older in my 45-50's

cause its tooo hard

I'm a long distance runner. To easy for me.

What is your job Jay? Are you already a billionaire and doing this just out of passion? I take it that you are criticizing the entire exercise/fitness field, which includes you. Which means we should be skeptical even when listening to you. Information and advice can still be accepted when supported by logic and evidence, no matter who presents it. But that would be very bad from marketing standpoint. Maybe your strategy is betting on the controversy between HIT and mainstream?

One reason it's hard second doesn't work for everyone

Is HIT a good way to train? Yes. It's a time efficient and effective way to train. Is it the best for muscle growth? Maybe. It's the minimum amount, and thus the best starting point, from where you can try adding either rest days or volume based on the results. Is it the best way to train for strength and/or explosiveness? Nope. Strength requires practice with high loads/explosive concentrics. Is it the only thing that counts as exercise? Nope. Where did the HIT crowd get that exercise is only HIT training - who decided that? While there's a lot of good in HIT and yes lots area wasting time in the gym, HIT really has a cultish vibe. HIT is not the ultimate solution for all training goals.

i did hit and it only wrecks my cns. the gains are little. science also says 1-2 reps shy of failure is almost same gains with much less fatigue. so no "ppl dont do it becaues its too hard" bs

never buy apple products

This is only good for people to get there noob gains if this was so good than why are the best not doing this we set most records in every sport from 2000 to now and most of the best athletes train 6 to 7 days a week u put jj wat on something like this he would laugh I mean nodisrepct but I thank it's a lazy and now doing this gives no work capacity to now u need to be doing shit loads of cardio

Are you natty bro? What gear are u running?