Why HIT is not the best way to train
by Chris Thibaudeau
Virtually any training program will work to some extent given the proper situation and execution.
This mean that everytime you put a certain level of stress on your body, regardless of the tool used, it will react. Depending on it's present state it will either adapt positively to the stress, negatively or homeostatically.
Positive adaptation mean that the body will adapt to make himself stronger against the stress (in our case the muscles will become stronger and bigger).
Negative adaptation on the opposite is when the stress ''win'' and your body is weaken (in our case that would be the catabolisation of the muscle tissues).
Homeostatic adaptation mean that the body regain it's previous status, no gain, no loss,
Of course positive adaptation is what we're after. And given the proper parameters and variables, any weight training program will provide some.
Those propers parameters are:
- A non-habituated state ( your body is not accustomed to a form of stress)
- Proper rest and nutrition
- Progressive overload
If any of these is overlooked you wont achieve positive adaptation.
A non-habituated state
The body is made in such a way that it's not incline to change it's present state (homeostasis). To adapt itself it must be stimulated by a type of stress that it's not used to encounter. This will alarm it and force it to adapt. If the body is accustomed to a type of stress, no matter how intense the stress, it will not change an iota.
So, if you want to have continous progress you have to change the type of stimulus you impose on the muscles.
Proper rest an nutrition
That I can't stress enough. It's not in the gym that you build muscles, it's at the diner table and in your bed!
Stressing your muscles and don't providing them with the proper building blocks to repair themselves is a sure fire way to see all the efforts you put in the gym. I don't care if you have the best program in the world, if you don't eat or sleep you are not gonna progress.
Progressive overload
Progressive overload refer to the fact that to force the muscles into overcompensation they must be overloaded (receive a stress that it's not used to). And to keep progressing one must use progressive overload.
It might sound scientific and complicated but it's not. Progressie overload simply mean that you follow a patern of the evolution of the stress you put on your body.
There's two way to increase/decrease that:
1) Increase/decrease the volume of training (training load)
2) Increase/decrease the intensity of training
The training load, or volume, is the total of the work accomplished in a given unit of time.
The intensity level have two defenition it can be either:
1) The level of difficulty (quantifiable. % of 1 RM)
2) The perceived difficulty of the work (qualifiable. Personal sensation)
Since personal sensations are not quantifiable and can hardly be described in an article, and for the sake of precision I'll stick with the first, most scientificaly recognized definition.
Since the definition of training load would be something like:
Training load= Total number of reps (sets x reps) x weight lifted/ Time
And that the slower the tempo is the higher is the load. You can increase/decrease the load by:
1) Increase/decrease the number of sets
2) Increase/decrease the number of reps
3) Increase/decrease the total weight lifted
4) Reduce/increase your rest between sets
5) Decrease/increase the tempo speed
And to increase/decrease the intensity you simply use an higher/lower percentage of your 1RM to do the exercise.
You have to play with intensity and training load to avoid the body's habituation process. In strength training variation is the key to success.
Stressing all the fibers
A muscle is not one-sided. Since they have to perform in many type of activities, for differant time periods and differant intensity levels the muscles have to possess differant types of motor units (fibers) to adapts to as many situations as possible. A universal fiber that can do it all would be great and much more efficient, unfortunately such thing don't exist.
So since our muscles are made of differant type of motor units, and that stressing those motor units to their fullest cause muscular adaptation then you have to stress as much fibers as you can. Again since we don't have a universal fiber type we simply cannot fully stress all the motor units with only one type of exercise.
Slow twitch fibers (Type 1.) are endurance-type fibers and don't have a good growth potential. Their strength of contraction is low and speed of contraction slow. These are stimulated with endurance training.
Fast twitch fibers A (Type 2a.) have a better growth potential already. Their strength of contraction is average and so is it's speed of contraction.
Fast twitch fibers AB (Type 2ab.) have an high growth potential due to their strong nature. They have a very high strength of contraction and a high speed of contraction.
Fast twitch fibers B (Type 2b.) are the power fibers, this is due to their extremely high speed of contraction, high strength of contraction and short life-spend (activation time). They are extremely growth-prone fibers.
So where does HIT fail?
Ok, after all that rambling he's finally gonna get to the point! Indeed I will!!!
According the the (in) famous HIT FAQ and other HIT material, here is the three founding principles of HIT:
- Train at a high level of intensity all the time.
- Train briefly, 1 to 3 sets per bodypart.
- Train infrequentely, no more than three times per week, often two times or one.
These are the basic three as I call it. Plus some other "rules" stapled themselves to the HIT mentality:
- Never use ballistic movements.
- Always use proper form.
- Use machines as they are more effective then free-weights (!!!).
To quote a few.
Well that sound good and well but what does science, and more importantly common sense have to say about this?
1-Always train at a high level of intensity
That's probably one of the most popular catch phrase among the bodybuilding crowd! Lift the weight until you can do no more! In fact it does sound logical doesn't it? I mean if you want to overload your muscles you have to go to failure right?
Hmmm....Not so sure. Here's why.
Like I said earlier you can either change your training load or your intensity level to give variation to your training (which is a must for continous gains). Now those two are complementary from one another. You can't change one without changing the other. If you increase your load you have to decrease the intensity somewhere. And vice-versa. It's impossible to continue a full intensity workout for 90 minutes without dramatically lowering the weight you use and risking injuries and overtraining.
So if you must train at an high level of intensity all the time what happen? Right, you can't change the nature of your training program. You can't give as much variance as you would if you weren't emprisonated by such a gimmick.
And since your body need variation to avoid habituation, or getting used-to a type of stress, then by always training at a high level of intensity you are doomed to HIT a plateau sooner or later...more likely sooner.
Then when you hit that plateau you feel frustrated (obviously) and being sure that the HIT way is the only true way you plunge even deeper in that plateau. When you see it doesn't work you start to use more intensity techniques like drop sets or supersets, still no budging. Then you read what Mentzer say about frequency of training, so you start to train only once a week...still no results. Than, disgusted by weight training you drop it completely, which is not hard at this point since you are only training once a week anyway!
You see nobody can keep making gains forever on one type of training program. Any program, that's why you have to give variation to your training.
Plus, by always training to failure you expose yourself to those dangers:
Poor exercise form
If you read carefully the articles by HIT jedis you will see how much they emphasise that last rep...push with all your strength, go for any extra inch etc.
That encourage sloppy form, and by sloppy form I don't just mean poor synchronism and jerking around. According to Charles I. Staley, B.Sc., MSS proper form can be defined as this:
Good form will be defined as 'exercise performance' which is consistent with pre-determined objectives concerning range of motion, tempo and control of the resistance.
So the instant you stop to respect the predetermined range of motion and tempo you are using sloppy form and thus you make your training less effective according to your goals, not to mention a higher risk of injurie. So training to failure will undoubtably lead to sloppy form. Which is funny because good form is supposed to be a ''rule'' of HIT!
Increase of injuries potential
According to exercise scientist Paul Ward training to failure lead to a momentanous oxygen depriation (extreme lack of oxygen) quickly followed by a surcompensation of oxygen. This state of opposites can, and will lead to damage to the cell membranes, which may not mean much to you right now but could cause troubles in your future.
Plus there's numerous studies that support the fact that training to failure might be dangerous for muscular injuries due to an imbalance in actual resistance and potential strength.
Psychological conditionning
The numerous studies of Pavlov and Watson about mental conditionning clearly proved that when a comportment is reinforced (positive or negative responses from the repetition of a movement) this comportment can become an automatism and lead to the acceptance and repetition of such type of comportment.
In simpler words if you train until you cannot complete a rep, when you fail to complete the task at hands, you might develop certain negative attitudes toward that task in the future. And even worst such attitudes could be carried over to other activities.
HITers laugh at that, they say that training to failure don't lead to the repetition of such comportments. They seem quick to rule out any psycological effect of weight-training. Yet I don't see any of them refute the fact that visualisation lead to better performances. The two phenomenon are not that far appart to rule one of the two out while accepting the other...
2- Only do 1-3 sets per bodypart
HITers claim that 1 to 3 sets per bodypart is enough, when carried to muscular failure, to stimulate muscle growth.
According to Charles Poliquin this is asurd. 1-3 sets might be enough to develop effective fiber recruitment but it is just to little of a work load to lead to proper muscular hypertrophy.
Numerous studies confirm his point of view by stating that muscular hypertrophy is better accomplished through higher working loads. Fewer sets at high intensity seem to be more beneficial to neural-adaptation.
And still the fact remain that you can't stimulate all the muscle fibers with 1-3 high intensity sets, it is physiologically impossible. If we had universal fibers than maybe it would be possible...and even then! The only way to fully stimulate every fiber is to use an higher volume and variation in your training.
3- Train infrequentely
HIT is build to avoid oertraining at all cost...at the cost of optimum muscle growth.
HIT Jedis recommand training no more than 3 times a week, often 2 times or even 1.
In their desire to avoid overtraining they forgot about one thing: overreaching. That's when your body as adapted itself to the stress and now it's starting to sense the dissuse of the muscles. That will lead to atrophy (losing the muscles). Overreaching happen about 48-72 hours after training on the type of training.
So I should wait 72 hours to train again? No no no...See that's the limit, after 48-72 hours the muscle start to degrade itself. And since HITers use such a low volume of training than they proably require even less time to enter an overreaching state, proably closer to 24-36 hours. Yet they almost never train before the 72 hours mark, more often than not waiting over 144 hours to train a bodypart again.
That put them in an overreaching/atrophy state for about 110 to 120 hours! While that might not be enough to plunge the muscle in deep atrophy it is sure to slow the growth down.
Waiting that long between training sessions are okay to get you out of an overtraining state but once your out of it you should immediately increase the frequency of your training.
What is more usefull in strength training/bodybuilding is to find out when's the sooner you can train again, not what's the later. Yet HITer look at when is the later you should train...then wait some more!
To achieve the best gains possible you have to find out when your ody is ready to train again. Because the more often you can train without overtraining the best and fastest gains you 'll have.
4- Never use ballistic movements
Ah those HITers. They are quick to dismiss explosive lifting yet you seem them jerking the weight to squeeze that last rep.
They claim that explosive lifting is potentially more dangerous than slow lifting.
To take an exemple by Charles Staley, lifting heavy weights is potentially more dangerous than light weight. Yet so many bodybuilders, powerlifters and athletes use them instead of light weights...ARE THEY CRAZY?!!! They're gonna pull a muscle, torn a joint...COMMON!!!
The fact is if you want the best gains possible you should you the best techniques possible. If that mean lifting heavy weights, lift heavy weights. If that mean lifting explosively, lift explosively!
Well, that having been said. Are explosive movements effectives? Let me putt it this way: They are the best exercises to stimulate the type 2b. muscles fibers. Other techniques don't even come close!
And not only does type 2b. muscles fibers have a great growth potnential they contribute a lot in good athletic performance.
Not fully stimulating the type 2b. fibers considerably slow your muscle mass and strength growth. Yet HITers, who risk many injuries by always going to failure, refuse to do explosive training robbing themselves of precious growth because it is potentially more dangerous!
Hurray for double standards!!!
But explosive training, like going to failure, can be a little risky (especially at first) so you should do it in cycles, not all the time.
5- Always use proper form
Well, I wont spend to much of your time on this one... If you read the part about the danger of going to failure you already know that doing so will undoubtably lead to sloppy form on the last rep.
And going by Charles I. Staley's, B.Sc., MSS definition of proper form a well executed explosive lift does not constitude a "bad form" as the HITers like to say.
6- Machines are better than free-weights
Well, okay to the defense of some HITers not all of them use only machines. So I guess it's not a HIT ''rule'' then. But since it is still a heated debate between the HIT and periodization crowd it thought I'd slip a word or two on the subject.
It is an accepted fact among exercise scientist that compound multi-joints movements are better mass and overall strength builders than ''isolation'' exercises.
It was proven by electro-magnetic impulses technique that those movements (multi-joints) stimulate a greater overall mass and recrute an higher level of muscle fibers.
It was also proven that those type of movements are better neuro-muscular connections stimulator. More NMC stimulation and adaptation lead to better muscular adaptation and efficiency.
Now, the main advantage of machines is adapting the resistance curve to the strenght curve in an non-linear axis of movement.
E.g. In a curl the movement is non-linear, you don't always move the weight against the full resistance because the biceps muscle has an axial or rotary movement.
But in the main mass builders, the multi-joints movements, the resistance is always perpendicular to the ground. That mean that even if you use a barbell you will be under direct resistance throughout the whole range of motion. And since free-weights are better than machines to stimulate stabilizers and NMC it would be stupid to use machines (that would bring no advantage here) instead of more efficients free-weights.
Conclusion
Yes, to some extend, given the proper situation HIT might work. Like any other programs. But in the long run all that you can expect from it is stagnation or at best slow progress. The best way, the scientific way to train is periodization. Variation is the key to constant progression, remember that...
References
Bompa, T.O. Theory and Methodology of Training - The Key to Athletic Performances. Kendall/Hunt Publishing: Dubuque, Ia (1983)
Bompa, T.O., Periodization of Strength, Toronto, Veritas publishing, 1993
Baechle, T.R., Essentials of Strength and Conditioning, Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, 1994
Chernyak, A.V., Karimov, E.S., Butinchinov, Z.T., Distribution of Load Volume and Intensity Thoughout the Year. Soviet Sports Review, 14(2): 98-101 (1979)
Fleck, S.J., Kraemer, W.J., Designing Resistance Training Programs, Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, 1987
Fleck, S.J., Kraemer, W.J., Periodization Breakthrough, Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign 1997
Gilliam, G.M., Effects of Frequency of Weight Training on Muscle Strength Training. Journal of Sport Medicine. 21 (1981) 432-436
Gross, J., Fetto, J., Rosen, E., Musculoskeletal Examination, 1996. Cambridge, Blackwell Science
Hatfield, F.C., Power: A scientific Approach. Contemporary Books: Chicago (1989)
Hamill, B.P., Relative safety of weightlifting and weight training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning. 8(1) 53-57.1994
Komi, P.V., Strength and Power in Sport (1992) London
Kraemer, W.J., Newton, R.U., Muscle Power. Muscular Development. March, 1995 p.p 130-131
Poliquin, C., The Poliquin Principles, Napa, Dayton Publisher's Group, 1997
Spector, R., The HIT FAQ, Cyberpump, Internet document.
Staley, C.I., The Final Rep: Re-evaluating the Practice of Training to Failure. Internet article, 1997
Staley, C.I., Slow Versus Explosive Lifting: The Controversy Continues. Internet article, 1997
Stone, M.H., O'Bryant, H., Garhammer, J., A Hypothetical Model for Strength Training. Journal of Sport Medecine 21: 342-350, 1981
Body a écrit:je rappele les facteurs de l hypertrophie
negative
positive
tps sous tension dans la série
brulure
congestion
je ne vois pas cité le volume ?
tout ce que je sais c est que plus je vais loin dans ma série plus je prend de muscle alors .....
Fab tu prends l exception mais c est meme pas sur si Gros sechait que lui resterait il? 39-40 de bras ?
pour l instant MDG c est le seul au monde a avoir eu un Awards
Fab tu prends l exception mais c est meme pas sur si Gros sechait que lui resterait il? 39-40 de bras ?
Nicolas Delporte a écrit:................................
j'écoute mon corps, je préfère faire une bonne séance légère qu'une mauvaise séance lourde, je sens quelle orientation va prendre ma séance dés les premières séries d'échauffement, ainsi je n'ai pas réellement de mauvais entraînements, parce que je n'ai rien de déterminé à l'avance............
le niveau d'intensité obeït selon moi à certains paramètres, le stress d'une mauvaise journée, le temps, etc... plein de petits détails comme ça qu'il faut gérer et qui sont imprévisibles.
Lanvin a écrit:ou es que l'on peux voir des photos de MDG ??
Body, MDG dit que l'echec est nerveux et qu'il est impossible d'arrivé à l'echec musculaire donc à quoi ca sert d'allé à l'echec ?
Le volume sans echec travaille plus le muscle que l'echec sans volume. non ?
Jean Larrue a écrit:petit copier-coller de mon site :
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Ce dont il faut avoir conscience c'est que l'échec nécessite (en plus de diminuer la fréquence) de diminuer le volume d'entraînement. En effet sur un travail à l'échec en deux séries, on va faire par exemple 10 et 7 reps avec 50 kg soit : 10*50 + 7*50 = 900kg. Sans échec on peut faire 2*10*47 kg soit 940 kg. Avec 3 séries : 3*10*44kg soit 1320kg (chiffres indicatifs). Le tonnage n'est pas tout en musculation mais c'est un paramètre à prendre en compte.
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