"One Set to Failure is All You Need" 

BaseStrengthAI is more reliable than a coach, cheaper than an Excel template!👇👇👇 www.BaseStrength.com/the-app Bromley Merch from Barbell Apparel only available HERE! 👇👇👇 barbellapparel.com/Bromley

I've taken the Mentzer plan to the extreme, I've been doing one rep per body part, I'm in and out of the gym in about 30 seconds.

Personally HIT is the best program I've ever used to make progress. I'm less injured, more motivated, and stronger using this system. That being said I think you need to train 2 to 3x a week to get the proper benefits not 1x a week. 7 days off is just too long. I think 2x a week could be a sweet spot with things like yoga in between on your off days. It's fantastic for martial artists, race car drivers, action sports athletes like skateboarders/skiers, endurance athletes and other athletes where lifting is just an adjacent skill and you don't need to be sore all the time. Slinging heavy weight around 5 to 6 times a week destroyed my body and HIT is fixing it.

Dorian Yates didn't really do just one set. He did "warm up" sets too, and they were actually pretty heavy compared to how other people warmed up

another thing to consider for newer lifters is the learning curve for performing exercises properly AKA developing a skill. squats and deadlifts are not that easy to get right!! performing hundreds of sets over time helps build that confidence to really go heavy in the first place.

Comment section proving Alex just how much of a cult HIT is 🤣 🤣

Doing HIT is the best decision i’ve ever made

i agree, i don't train with one set because dorian yates does it, i tried because i was sick of high volume, he recommended it, i tried it, i got acceptable results, so i continue to do it, i encourage people to try things on their own and see how they respond. i would recommend it to everyone, and encourage people to test new things out.

Getting way quicker gains doing HIT, plus all the issues I was having with tendonitis and chronic fatigue have disappeared because I'm giving my body so much time to recover.

I found more success from one set per exercise than standard protocols but that is mainly due to how much easier it was for me to stick with. It has value and merit but it isn't the "only" or even best way. It has just been the best for me.

The funniest part about that Jay Vincent guy is he posts “testimonials” every few days that are literally just a wall of text that he could have typed up himself. It’s ofcourse always about how the person used HIT training and gained 15 pounds of muscle in just 3 weeks lmao.

Fazlifts did a video on this, and it was excellent. Both Dorian, and Mentzer were getting volume from their warm up sets. They were doing more warm up sets, and those sets were hard sets. All that is really happening with that is they did their top sets after, while most people do them before. They were quite literally just going all out on their last set just like hundreds of bodybuilders. Everybody just looks at that last set as the only set. Biological systems require a consistent signal to adapt volume gets people there very efficiently by supplying that signal more times. This shit shouldn't even be on the table for debate anymore.

Training one set to failure on select lifts over the course of the week, isn't in and of itself a bad thing. It needs to be taken as a part of an overall program. The warm up and back off sets on the day of, plus a volume routine with that lift or an associated lift on an off day.

Had 3 high intensity workouts in my 1st year. Failed me in my second year after realizing it’s limitations in expanding overall work accumulation. You’d be burnt out and under practiced. Performance skyrocketed after addressing weaknesses ( higher volume & progression through controlled effort vs high intensity and go all out)

So I watched a few of Jay's videos... And here are some misconceptions that some people think about his training method... He doesn't recommend powerlifters Olympic lifters train like this unless in their off season to help give their joints a break... He also recommends drop sets or a second working set I you haven't achieved actual failure with your first set... Anyone who has done super squats knows what can be achieved with one set too... I hope this helps

The bro In his car is hilarious

I will cycle HIT periodically in my routine. It is another tool in your drawer. When competing in the late 80s in BB I used HIT (not Dorian’s level) but drop sets and lots of super sets. My workouts took about an hour, and I won my third show. I also had good success in using conjugate and strongman in the early 2000s.

I do two sets per exercise, two exercises per muscle groups. It has worked great for me. Less sets force me to push each one. I do single set training during Ramadan to avoid sweating too much.

I’ve been doing one set training for a couple years now. Been successful in gaining weight, muscle, strength. At first I was doing mostly compounds and full body, so I was leaving a rep or two in the tank. But upon reading about DC training I started using rest pause, and more machines intermixed. Gained even more muscle even in my legs which was surprising. Now I’m doing the “Heavy Duty” experiment and seeing how going to beyond failure and adding rest days according to my body’s needs. So far so good. I’m letting my program write itself based on how my body reacts, and my own time schedule. Most of the people that detract from HIT don’t seem to have ever even tried it for any significant amount of time. Here’s what I know: if you’re getting stronger, over long periods of time, in a slight caloric surplus, then you are building muscle. If you run a program, and you accomplish those metrics of progression, then the program is successful. So far, HIT has been successful for me

Despite the fact that your blood was boiling I thought your response was delivered in such a measured, thoughtful, common sense way that I took my 3 sets of blood pressure readings while watching your video (all 3 readings were in the “normal” range). I have only recently commenced training with weights to combat age-related sarcopenia and have been getting information from various fitness content channels and now I am going to take a look at some more of your video content. Thanks for posting.

My best gains came from 5-3-1 style workouts. Whatever style you use, just make sure to track it so know you are maintaining progressive overload and celebrate your progress along the way.

Arthur Jones, Mike Mentzer and Dorian Yates gave RECOVERY the space that it needs. I am 58 and the reduced stress on joints and prior injuries makes it the best approach instead of volume. Also, let's not underestimate the TIME that you are getting back. I have plenty to do that bumps a volume approach workout down the to-do list. Now, I can do a workout and immediately put the next workout on the calendar and know that 30 minutes is enough. I also do HIIT sprinting and bike sprinting. I am not a cultist, I just know that for me, this works for the reasons I have given.

I am currently using HIT a la Jay Vincent describes and I can say that I am on a bro split training each muscle once per week. I am making gains on the weight and/or reps each week which is surprising to me. That being said, I 100% respect the approach taken in this video. Very based response thoroughly covering the topics and making sure everything is apples to apples. No one brings up the fact that Dorian (and Mentzer) trained with heavier loads with nasty grindy all-out reps. That is NOT how Jay recommends to train. Jay is definitely a Henneman Size principle guy which makes sense scientifically. Now that being said, I am not sure if this is all optimal. What I do know for sure it is safe and I have no pretentions of winning strongman records I just want to reach my own genetic potential. I do not care how much weight is on the bar.

1 set for every man, woman & child in existence for every exercise for all goals - this is also apparently the best scientific, anecdotal and evidence based approach 🤣 Amazing how it's all so simple! Take notes Schoenfeld 🤣🤣/s On a serious note I think this is actually a really interesting case study of human belief systems, as HIT Jedis also seem to share quite a lot in common with other fringe groups...

My only contention is that most people arguing for RPE/RIR have a background in strength sport where it is FAR easier to get a good estimate of RIR in those low rep sets. Once you're doing stuff > 8 reps per set, I feel like it is just ridiculously hard to get that RIR estimate right. Maybe its just me.

Dudes will look in the camera so matter of fact and just tell you something they think they know “you’re doing it wrong” … and the unspoken part is “and im doing it right because i ‘know’ something everyone else doesnt” and meanwhile they are just wrong the whole time 😂

I pride myself on training hard. But if I had needed to train as hard as Dorian did there at his peak all of these 34 years I've been training (in order to get the results I've gotten), I probably would have quit long ago and never reached my potential. Likewise, if I had to train 6 days a week, twice a day, two hours each workout, 20-40 sets per bodypart all of these years to get my results, I would not have stuck with it very long. I think a middle of the road approach is better for most people - particularly those of us not on PEDs, and not trying to be an IFBB pro or world champion powerlifter. After several years of experimentation in my college years, I realized that I got better results from training 4 days a week than I did from training either 3 days a week or training 5-6 days a week. And that I generally got better results training 45-60 minutes each session than I did training less than 45-60 minutes, or much longer than 60 minutes. I just make sure that I train very hard, know what I will do ahead of time, and waste no time during that 45-60 minutes. I have long noticed that I will see a serious dip in performance after much more than an hour of weight training, and I end up just doing "junk volume". As for how hard to train, I have always generally stopped work sets just short of needing assistance. Where the last rep is tough but manageable - very rarely actually "failing" to complete a rep. I can measure what I have done when I squat 405 for 10 reps with perfect form, full ROM, no pauses at the top, and no assistance. But I cannot measure what I did if someone grabs ahold of me and helps me complete a couple more reps. Furthermore, I find it distracting and potentially dangerous. As well, if one is deliberately using some degree of "cheating" on some or all reps of sets of an exercise (think bent-over rows, lateral raises, pullups, etc), isn't that technically going somewhat beyond failure? Does anyone here actually do lateral raises and bent rows, t-bar rows, etc 100% super strict? This all becomes difficult to quantify if one allows themselves to get too caught up in the minutiae. As for rep speed, I also agree that slow reps are inferior to more traditional rep speeds. As long as I am controlling the weight, I see no need to do these ridiculously slow reps I have seen Mentzer advise people to do in those old videos he was training people in 20+ years ago. I don't see the benefit in generally lifting lighter weights than I am capable of, and in training in such a way that will limit future strength gains.

Always makes me laugh when people bring up Yates and Mentzer for proof of why HIT works. Those guys looked the way they did because of heavy gear use and amazing genetics. Yates specifically was one of the first to abuse insulin which is why he had so much more mass than his competitors, it had nothing to do with how he trained. Mentzer was also a heavy drug abuser of all kinds which ended up killing him. At the top level of bodybuilding the best “coaches” are just the guys who have the best drug protocols. It’s all about who has the best genetic response to drugs and who can actually blast the most drugs without ending up dead. It’s a sick, sick sport.

you can keep your 3 to 4 or 5 set training a muscle 2 to 3 times a week , 1 set does me better I've noticed it helping me to grow, more is not better, it only takes me 30 minutes to do my workout, all the sets I was doing I realized I was overtrained after going to the 1 set program 3 times a week after I had rested for a week before starting the 1 set program my joints began to show me the hidden aches that were unaware and didn't come to light till after I quit the 3 to 4 set program ! personally I have better things to do than babysit and nurse hurting and plagued joint problems from 2 many sets, 1 set maybe 2 if I feel like I didn't go to failure on the first set, then rest the muscle for at least 4- 7 days before I work it again, I believe this is best for anyone older or a beginner!

I don’t do HIT traditionally, but I do much lower volumes. 4 sets per muscle per week, split between 2 full body workouts. I like to train to failure. Remember, the best training style is the one you will be consistent with.

Since January I’ve been working out at planet fitness and have been doing Mike Mentzers workout that you can find here on RU-vid. I do chest/triceps, rest 4 days then do back/shoulders/biceps, rest 4 days and do legs. Then restart the program. The same workout, every time, I don’t even count reps even though Mike was very outspoken about keeping a log of your reps. I have gone from 150 to 175 in 8 1/2 months! And am now close to maxing every machine there. I super set every exercise. I also get about 5 hours of sleep and I’ve not payed attention to my diet at all. HIT absolutely works

I’ve been a competitive powerlifter for 14 years, but I have always been attracted to HIT philosophy since Dorian Yates was Mr. Olympia (before I even started lifting for real). I wished HIT worked for strength. 😄 But since I don’t have any competitions on the horizon, and time has been very tight for me in recent months, I’ve been training that way lately. I think it’s viable for muscle building, but under one condition: you MUST push yourself beyond your initial threshold for “failure”. I think that’s why it worked for Dorian, and why DC seems to work well. If you can get another rep or 2 after a 20 second rest, then that first “fail” didn’t empty the tank.

Well here is my experience, I was doing 5/3/1 but I didn't know what I was doing at first and didn't use boring but big part of it, that basically means 1 heavy set to failure and that's it. Well shit, hit the wall faster than a 2019 crypto investor. Started doing BBB which upped the volume and made me do all of the big 4 twice a week, I fuckin started to PR all over the place after one cycle(4 weeks). This is where I saw that volume can drive strength like a MFer...

Non of these people train anywhere near as hard as Yates did, and guess what? Even Yates got fucked up from his training.

I like H.I.T but I have always responded well to all out set to failure. Do keep in mind I have done 3-5 warm up sets before that 1 all out set and train my body twice in a week with every 5th week being a deload. It really comes down to what works for you.

I’ve run HIT. Worked great for me. Better than multiple hard sets? No, but probably equal and in less time. It makes no sense at all for competition lifting, only for muscle hypertrophy

The only reason I have ever done 1 working set to failure. Is when time was an issue and I didn't have time even really warm up. I just wanted to get something in to not waste a day. Can't say if it could be effective. It was more a mental thing to feel like I did something.

Seen a lot of guys who did Dorian training and get great results i did to. However adding volume and not training so hard worked much much better for me. Thats what every great bodybuilder I ever met did.

One could also argue that Dorian got injured because he at times was using explosive movements during training just like you said he did. Which the more modern approach to HIT is using strict form with a slow cadence until failure which would help negate injury. Also, Yates has said the times he got injured was because he was preparing for shows and was to lean and dehydrated while still trying to push heavy weight to build muscle, when he should have just been trying to maintain what he already had and keep conditioning himself for the show.

Remember how Kevin Levrone went from not working out to top level Olympia competitor in a few months with PEDs? That was crazy to see. Guys like Dorian and Kevin would look huge and ripped even if they swapped training routines. The genetics, diet, and ability to survive truck loads of PEDs (hgh, slin, testosterone, diuretics, etc.) go a long way. I have trained with 5 top level drug tested bodybuilders including Phillip Ricardo Jr. and 2 teen national bodybuilding champions. We weren't using HIT.

From what I understand on why no one uses HIT and it not being popular is simply as even Mentzer said "it's just too hard to do sustainably for most" or something along those lines. As someone who tried HIT and did it for a month, I can attest it develops PTSD like response to the psychological system as it is very demanding of focus and intensity. Albeit the main mistake I made was trying to do it almost like a regular exercise by doing it more than 2 times a week. Granted personally it is the best out of all in my 20 years of lifting experience. Not only do you have to go to the gym once a week/every 2 weeks, the gains are long lasting and keep building long after the exercise. Not to mention you put on a lot of mass fast. The one key aspect to take away from HIT that Jay and his interview with Drew was the intensity. You are trying to reach peak intensity of your muscle to get the result. So if you are doing it through multiple reps by spending 4 hours a day to get it finally versus 20 minutes then that's what it is or how you are built I guess or w/e. In which case sucks for you that you have to spend quarter of a day for 4-5 days a week trying to get muscle growth. It's important to get that intensity in the shortest time possible to get the most out of the growth.

I have tried training like Dorian did and although it was extremely fun I could not recover from it. After roughly two weeks I could barely sleep and had to back off. I think it can absolutely be helpful as a tool in the toolbox. A lot of people get good results from HIT.

This reminds me a little bit of the Bulgarian method and help although it’s absolutely amazing methodology 99% of the population would just fail at it. And yet, especially in CrossFit gyms where they don’t even really know how to lift people like to throw it around like it’s the ultimate secret. Yeah it’s the ultimate secret to injuries and failure to mastering or even honing in the technical aspects of lifts.

My n=1 study of a hard gaining natural athlete was that greatest responses to training (hypertrophy) where when sessions were varied in movement, but still full body, while maintaining higher frequency 🧐

This dude charges $2,500 a month for coaching and is definitely not a charlatan. Nope. Nothing to see here.

In my opinion, everyone should try an HIT Training system like DC Training once in their life. The reason being is learning how to train very hard and adding load while training at RPE9-10 at all time. You can only go RIR3 if you know absolute RIR0. People trash themselves with very high volume but are not getting any gains because they are saving themselves too much so they can survive the insane volume. Quality first, quantity second.

I have done extremely well with HIT although I have a slightly different style than Mentzer. I do Chest/shoulders, rest, back/rear delts, rest, arms, rest, legs, rest and repeat. I do usually around 3-4 sets per muscle group except for quads I only do 1 for quads so I’m ready to go by next leg day otherwise I’d be sore for a week and a half. But I’ve gained 40lbs with losing fat (not very much fat loss but a noticeable amount to me) in a year and a couple months. I’ve been accused of using steroids by virtually everyone close to me 😂. But I think everyone has a different response to training, so you have to find what works for you. I think your response to training has a huge amount to do with your muscle fiber composition. I think hit style training works very well for people who are made up of more fast twitch muscle fibers, I’m 19 and used to run track in high school doing the 100m maybe that’s a dumb conclusion but Jusy a thought I’ve had

Great video. I think people can really gravitate toward "esoteric" ideas and high intensity advocates certainly exaggerate the idea that it's some forbidden training technique that the volume establishment is trying to cover up. I have used mentzer style training when I had some serious time constraints and it really refreshed my training. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't discover fire and suddenly make more progress with less time with the magic of HIT. It's amazing the conviction these self proclaimed experts speak with. In a few years history will have already forgotten them and they'll be onto their next internet marketing scheme.

"Dorian Yates did it." 1: You ain't Yates. 2: You don't have a criminally insane *Brummie* screaming in your ear.

I legitimately just had this stuff come up as well, I had someone claiming that 3 sets of 10 reps is the same as 10 sets of 3 reps for your body and that there is no such thing as a “set” just pauses between reps

Great talk and better understanding thanks

HIT has worked for me as a bodybuilder: I usually get one more rep than the previous week. When 10 reps are achieved I add 5lbs and then the new target is 6-7 reps. I appreciate that powerlifters have to do things like 5x3, 8x2 etc.

Really good points. Ive listened to Mentzer's audio clips, and he talks about how his methods are not for weight lifting or powerlifting competitors and especially for anything related to cardio.

Good video Alex 👍 Although I have great respect for guys like Dorian and Mentzer, but most people can't push themselves anywhere near to what these guys did. So most of us need a bit moderate approach where intensity is reasonably high and volume is also just optimal. Secondly, HIT is best done on machines where you can actually maintain proper form at and beyond failure. This is why this approach doesn't work for powerlifting and weightlifting because all competition lifts are freestanding and exponentially dangerous when pushed to failure during training sessions.

So I’ve been training using Greg Nuckols’ Bulgarian Manual as a guideline for about three months consistently (before that I’ve flirted with it for small cycles). I can say with certainty that there isn’t a lack of volume at all when you train 6x per week-you actually handle obscene volume at the required intensity range, all without ever having more than 2-3 working sets for any main lift. Dorian also said this in interviews: he trained each muscle several times a week, meaning the volume added up very quickly

I started HIT this month via an old(2004) book by Ellington Darden. I am really liking the change of pace and progress I am seeing. During the past 2 weeks I have consumed an insane amount of HIT content. I had not come across Jay Vincent but I see a lot of characteristics from the interviews I watched from Arthur Jones and Mike Mentzer. Not sure if that is intentional or coincidence. I have a feeling it is intentional. Would be curious to go back and see if Jay's style of presentation has always been this absolute. Also notice similar verbiage which make it feel almost parroted instead of owned. It is understandable that many of the HIT followers are zealots. You almost have to be in order to follow something that is so fringe.

To be fair, DY did say he injured himself while in a caloric deficit preparing for a show, and it was completely avoidable. He was after all pioneering something relatively new/novel to bodybuilding.

Thank you for posting. I liked your assessment. You didn't refute various training styles and laid out good perspective. Well done.

I trained for 8-10 years using HIT style early on in my training. Probably about 4 years after started lifting. Made some good initial gains. I believe that novices could benefit from a short bout of HIT training because it is a very different stimulus and can have benefit for those who do junk volume/mindless high set pump work. It also trains you to realize your limits and push them-which most novices are not used to as well. Most beginners feel like a 10 rep set at rpe 8 is actually rpe 10. If you build your mindset to push hard you may realize that you could actually push your average set 5 reps higher. This obviously provides a strong acute stimulus and can lead to strength or hypertrophy gains in the short term. Doing 'true' HIT style for prolonged periods of time can lead to EXTREME burnout, much like some crossfit athletes. I was able to push myself to a point where I almost needed to go to the hospital once or twice. A couple weeks of training like this consecutively you will see that that 10 rep squat or leg press set will not only go down to like 7 reps but it will feel HORRIBLE. Another downside is after any initial gains of increasing strength or rep capacity your muscles don't have the same kind of thickness and glycogen capacity that comes from performing higher volume. You get definition yes but you will end up looking like say, Kinobody. I have been training for 25 years and after HIT I have done both more frequency AND more volume to an extent to keep making gains. The bigger the strength base the more your work capacity increases and ability to handle doing more work. This is of course also related to sleep, job, lifestyle habits but to a point you will have to keep building the 'engine' to eek out more horsepower. Besides Mentzer and Dorian I can't say I have ever seen a natural lifter who has an impressive physique or strength levels as a result of dedicated years of HIT training.

I think the reason more people don’t do HIT is because they have a low tolerance for pain. It burns like hell pushing that lighter weight at an 8 second rep cadence. One set of ten will have your muscles under constant tension for 80 seconds! Compare that to the normal quick 2 second cadence that amounts to only 20 seconds. And in that 20 seconds probably 30% of the movement is momentum not actual muscle contraction.

Short summary of the actual amounts of sets, based upon Dorian Yates' info from Blood n Guts and Mike Mentzers books. I am in no way defending any training styles, just trying to clarify what might be the actual amount of training volumes they did: Dorian Yates blood n guts routine had "one working set" but when you actually think about it he didnt only have 1 set of 10 rows. The first exercise would usually have 2 warmup sets, working up to your working weight. If the last set of pullovers (usually first in his regiment) truly was getting close to an RPE of 9+ in a rep range of 6-8, then atleast one of the warmup sets would atleast be 6+ RPE. So there you have 2 sets of 6-8 which stimulate hypertrophy, closer to 3. Next few exercises would usually only have one warmup set which would have to be sligthly close to the 9+ RPE set, so these might actually also be useful working sets when considered from a regular volume training approach. Dorian Yates would have 4-5 back exercises once a week. So he would have about 6 working sets atleast in reality, once a week. If you also consider an extra set of negatives, assisted reps and drop-sets he would probably have another 2 counting sets. Meaning he would be closer to 8 working sets. Dorian Yates had fewer sets than his competition, but in no way did he have extremely low volume. Mentzer on the other hand would warm up then almost always superset two exercises and then not train that muscle for a week or more. He would usually alternate intensity techniques. Meaning Mentzer would usually have 1 heavy enough warmup before his working set on an isolation. If we look at his back day for example: 1-2 warmup sets, if he was to hit an rpe of 9+ he would likely have one of the warmup sets be heavy enough to stimulate hypertrophy. So he would likely have something like 2 sets of pullovers that count, immediately supersetted with chinup grip pulldowns, then every other week have assisted reps, a hold or a dropset here. Meaning Mike would have 3-4 sets for back in that day. Mike did have quite low volume for large parts of his career.

Yes, one top all out set with several ramping sets and then several exercises. It sounds remarkably similar to moderate volume training.

I think body building and mental health go hand in hand. If you spend a lot of time working out, but if you don't focus on your mental health, then you won't get the results you want. If you are always stressed out and worrying about little things in your personal life, then number of hours at the gym won't give you the results you want. This was a big part of Arnold Schwarenegger's success. He said in his film Pumping Iron that he never let anything bother him or stressed him out. He didn't even let his father's death interfered him from focusing on Mr. Olympia.

Mr América Heart, John Heart ia also a proponent of HIT but he has a more open mind. He says that if you want to get as strong as possible you should learn from powerlifters.

It would be cool if you interviewed Doug Mcguff to see this style of training with a more scientific view

100% agree with your points. High intensity techniques work. High intensity training overall as a system, may work for some with varying results. I am not against it, but I am with you about being against "The Best Way," or ""Only Way." to train.

HIT works well for me very well, but I swap out routines every to higher volume lower intensity every 3 weeks. But I always go to failure on any set. I will add negative reps if I feel I didn't get enough out of that failure, sometime holding and really slowly releasing the last contraction.

lol dorians warm up sets were mental heavy those still accrued tons of volume through that, his top set was basically an AMRAP

I go to the gym as “therapy”,,,,,not looking to get in and get out. I look forward to spending time there,,,getting some volume in.

The reason HIT works for people (and I use the term "works" very losely) is that 90% of gym goers are very lazy and they don't have any concept of RIR. So they used to come to the gym and do 5 useless lazy sets with tons of gas still left on the tank and they didn't progress. Now they come to the gym and instead of 5 useless sets they do 2 useless sets (the warmups) and actually try to go hard on the last set because since they only have one chance to make it work they focus more on it. So effectively they went from 5 useless sets to 1 useful set and they finally see some - not much but still 100% better than before - progress. Obviously they could just learn how to train properly but after 2 decades of experience I realized that 95% of the people will NEVER learn how to train properly no matter what happens because they are allergic to hard work. HIT gives them a simple enough template to follow so that they can still make some progress without having to learn how to train hard and manage fatigue correctly.

I had really good results when I first started by having every last set be a limit-set/drop-set past failure, and then I hurt my rotator cuff and was out for 3 years, lol. Dr. Mike says that going to failure has linear improved gains but exponentially higher injury rates and it makes intuitive sense. Even if you're using lighter weights and moving slowly, the bar slows down because something in the chain hit its limit and failed. If you keep going, either that failed muscle is stressed past its limit or another muscle has to pick up the slack. Bingo bango, recipe for injury. Oh and hey Alex, I did a meta analysis of all the program reviews in r/weightroom. Not as scientific as I'd like, but I think you might enjoy it either way. Got a bunch of likes so it should be easy to find in the sub, but holler if you need a link

I'm training for powerlifting (usually) thrice a week, and my workouts takes anything from 1hr and 30min to 2hrs and 30min, sometimes a bit longer (depending on my energy levels on any given day). I don't ever feel like I "sacrifice" anything due to spending that time at the gym. I rarely have days where I feel like I don't want to train, or wonder "if it's worth it". It's become so ingrained in me that I just "do it". I'm seeing good progress. So, thank you very much, cultists, but I'll continue to "approach training wrong". And no, I have not hurt myself training. Am I open to the possibility that it can happen? Yes, certainly. The only times I've really hurt myself have been some elbow and shoulder tendinitis -- and that came from clapping push-ups with too poor bracing, and reckless form on cable lat raises. Both of which used (relatively) light weight. There is no style of training which leaves you immune to injury. Just gotta be careful and tactical about it. I don't go and bench my 1rm every damn session. Use varying degrees of load and be sensible, and you'll be fine. Why this fear-mongering? (Oh yeah, cause cult)

I tried hit this week. I even bought Jay’s program. My workout was ok. I think to get the most out of this one would need a coach or partner to help you do forced reps. I had to resort to drop sets and still had a hard time getting to “absolute failure”. I expected to be sore the next day, but wasn’t even though the single set was intense. How am I suppose to determine this? With volume training you are getting a continuous stimulus. I also don’t feel like one exercise fully covered a muscle group. I did a machine ohp and felt my delta working, but my traps definitely were unfazed. So at the very least this method definitely will require customizing. For me and I think most people, volume training is better.

My theory as to why there are many HIT Zealots around....Based on Alex's excellent book "Base Strength"! Future Hit zealot goes to the gym and does your typical, high-volume bodybuilding routine. Future HIT zealot grows and get's stronger because....beginner. This goes on for months and months. Anytime the gains slow, FHZ simply ups the volume or swaps out some lifts and goes hard, hammering the body with 20-30 sets/bodypart a week. But then....o wonder! Future HIT Zealot hits a major strength and size plateau (like everyone does, on ANY plan, eventually). His joints hurt. He's not that motivated to train and he's not getting stronger or bigger. Future HIT Zealot reads up on training and comes accross this contrarian training philosophy that makes huge promises. Future HIT Zealot switches from a high-volume, "kill every bodypart with 20 sets a week" to a very low-volume approach and....lo' and motherfucking behold....HE GAINS like a newb again! What happened here? Well, turns out that HIT Zealot simply built a base of work capacity with the volume training. But after a couple of months his body couldn't keep up with the demands. His workload accrued so much fatigue, that his fitness (gains) were masked. Hence the platueau and the feelings of "overtraining." That's exactly where HIT Zealot switched to...well...HIT. And boom! The lower volume gives his body a chance to recover and display the gains, that were worked for on the VOLUME phase. I've seen this pattern play out time and time again. The thing is, in bodybuilding nobody knows about these programming principles, let alone fitness and fatigue. I encourage everyone to read Alex's "Base Strength" book. It will help you understand the principles behind programming, thus making you see "the Matrix" of physical training. Anyway....TLDR.....There's a reason WHY HIT (or low volume training...however you want to call it) works so well...And that is, that you've done VOLUME training leading up to your HIT phase. Again, read Alex's book. Fuckers.

You articulated that perfectly

Ive listened to some Mike mentzer stuff and I have to say I did feel super cult like, especially reading the comments. The thing that high intensity bros do have is effort, a lot of people suck at putting effort into their sets.

The biggest issue with Jay Vincent and Drew Baye isn't that they promote training to failure, but they insist on using very slow repetitions with very submaximal rates for at least 60 seconds of continuous tension. In addition, neither of them will ever respond to hard questions or comments out in the open, but instead, ask you to pay to subscribe to their personal forums if you want to ask any real questions. Baye and Vincent both believe in avoiding training in the stretch range, or using the stretch reflex when reversing directions, and in avoiding high peak forces. People who don't train in the stretch range or with some degree of controlled ballistic tempo end up getting injuries in the real world. Furthermore, no one ever got huge (natural, PED user, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s+) from doing slow repetitions.

Dorian Yates’s partner was definitely the Flying Dutchman form SpongeBob

What Jay also says though is in the one long, intense set, you actually put your muscles under a longer duration of load that you do with 3 short sets with fast reps. So more effective volume than multiple sets.

Have tried it all, and for me, volume is king

I always thought that John Meadows training found the best hybrid of when to use HIT techniques and when to use high volume.

Though I really enjoy a lot of HIT principles I think that it can't be your whole approach. I've found that including a failure set at the end of a exercise affords the benefits of intensity while also getting some volume sets in. I do think the approach to finding your personal timeframe for proper recovery is probably it's most important benefit.

There are many systems that "work" ( in different ways ). The Russian Smolov training which is used for forcing strength adaptation requires a high loading and volume. It makes use of deload weeks after stressing the body and forcing it to adapt.

Train to create a demand

One set to failure to rule them all.

HIT has been working fine for me, and doesn't require me to live in the gym. In addition zero injuries or problems anywhere. But the key is, you MUST take it to DEEP failure. What people mean when they say failure is not even remotely close to failure, much less deep failure. One set to failure has been working great for me, especially after I adjusted my diet to be more nutrient dense (carnivore/primal).

I think ever influencer in the community has a responsibility to disclose the use of PEDs before every video. To the point of this video yes no one blanket approach is the end all be all. We are all different individuals. My method is walk thru the door and move some metal. The focus that provides for the length of the set is my Zen. The gains will come you just need to focus on how you respond and adjust accordingly.

Personally I stumbled across DC training some months ago and started training this way some months ago. Besides the main lifts I was setting PR's on every excersise every week.

I would just like to say us Mentzer disciples do not only do 1set. It’s more like 4-6 sets for smaller muscle groups and 8-12 for larger. Ideology and philosophy > literal Program (especially later in life program, in contrast the program he ran when he was competing was considered middle of the road volume by todays standards) And the shit works. Look at Jeff Alberts, Ben Howard, AJ Morris, Mitch Jarvis, Mr.America Heart, plus a whole new wave of kids on tiktok. Everything works that’s the beauty of training and the sport. Do what you love and stick with it for a long time. Peace, love and Iron.

I can tell you why people don't use HIT w/ attention to tempo: *because it's incredibly challenging & tedious & sucks much of the fun out of training. + you have to reduce the weight.* People don't want the tedium of lifting a modest weight slowly & counting cadence, so there aren't many people that have earnestly tried it for any period of time for the empirical evidence to exist to demonstrate the efficacy of HIT/lifting to a tempo.

What a great informative video, great information fore and against, hats off to you. I follow HIT training principles and mix in higher volume and it works for me. Its crazy what some RU-vidrs sell and say just to make money, glad you called him out. So many ways to train, find out what works for you I suppose. Crazy to say one way only works.

I tried H.I.T. training for a month or so years ago. Was great moving a little bit heavier weight on exercises for a single set, but when I switched back to slightly more volume I noticed my work capacity actually decreased.

Franko Columbo trained like a powerlifter and was literally one of the strongest bodybuilders of all time idk why people are so set on selling nonsense

Old video so doubt this get seen. But Dorian did a lot of volume. He would sometimes do a set of 12 at a 3 rir then a 10 at like a 2 rir then a set of 6-8 with a -2 rir haha

At around 15:30 you talk about how gear is held up as allowing being to recover from more allowing for more volume and causing each dose to result in more gains so not much needs to be done to see results. I don't see this as a contradiction, just two ends of the same spectrum. To use the RP terminology, gear increases the max adaptive volume and max recoverable volume through increased recovery in addition to a decreased minimum effective volume through an amplified stimulus. A similar effect happens when anyone enters a caloric surplus.

I have been training for more than fifty years years now, and in those fifty years, I have done it all. Lately, I have been doing a variation of HIT training. I do three sets two exercises per body part. When I say intensity, I mean super intensity. Because of my work schedule I can train two times a week sometimes three. There are even times when I can't train for a week. And let me tell you now in my sixties I am actually making gains. Also note I take no PED'S, not even natural supplement. Folks it works.

I am a “recreational lifter”. I tried the one set thing when my first kid was born due to time crunches. I went backwards.

Beautiful rebuttal and very professional. I appreciate your attitude when having disagreements!

If you follow Mikes advice of using: A. Heavy Weight B. A 4-2-4 cadence (positive, static, and negative motion) C. Train to absolute failure, which, if you dont have a spotter or partner, would be failure on the positive (lifting the weight) Then i can assure you that you will reach a level of fatigue that is unbeknownst to you. That you wont go back to the gym for 4/5 days, not because he said so, but because you physically cant/ dont want to. And in that time of recovery, one should focus on diet and nutrition to give the body what it needs to recover.

I've done HIT routines in the past and NEVER got satisfactory results with any of them. The HIT advocates/cult adopt an unfalsifiable position. If HIT seems to work for someone they point to that as validation that it works. When anyone says that they tried it and found it lacking the response is typically “You just didn’t do it right because when done right it always works.”. Another good example of this is the X3 bar (a form of HIT training using resistance bands) and it’s buffoonish creator John Jaquish. Jaquish actually capitalizes on the cult like behavior that exists within the bubble of the X3/HIT community by encouraging an us vs. them mentality where the X3 users/HIT advocates know the “real truth” about exercise and sneeringly mocks everyone else who is “wasting their time lifting weights” (or doing more than one set) despite the abundance of evidence to the contrary.