HIT training frequency
An often misunderstood ingredient in a bodybuilder’s training program is the correct dose of exercise needed for optimal muscle growth. In other words, the question of the number of sets and repetitions and how often to train. The temptation is to follow the belief that more is better… if “x” number of sets and reps are working, then more will work better, right? The goal should be to find the optimal amount of training needed to get the best results in both muscle growth and conditioning.
There are two points to consider, the first is the frequency of training for an individual muscle group and the overall rate of training and the effect it has on the CNS, the central nervous system.
If your program is based on the high-volume approach, and you are a natural bodybuilder, a small muscle group such as the arms should be trained intensively once a week, with a more moderate session several days apart. This is due to the fact that your arms are involved in training every upper body, and they get a lot of work as a result. Larger muscle groups like the chest, legs, and back can handle a much more rigorous workload due to their size. Therefore, they can train quite hard twice a week with the high-volume approach.
When using a high-intensity HIT protocol, which is the type of training I specialize in, we need to shift gears substantially. This method trains the muscles with maximum intensity most of the time. About the only time it isn’t is during intensity cycling, a period where sub-failure training is used to confuse the body and make maximum intensity efforts more effective.
There are various stages of training, beginner, intermediate and advanced. During the initial stage, small muscle groups such as arms are trained with 3-4 sets in total and large groups such as chest, legs and back are trained with 4-5 sets in total with training of sub-fault. At this stage, it’s more important to learn proper form on all exercises and not worry about making gains.
As soon as the exercises are mastered, you move on to the intermediate stage, where the number of sets is reduced to 2-3 sets for small groups and 3-4 sets for large groups. The number of sets used depends on the student’s ability to generate maximum intensity. It’s best to train harder with fewer sets. All sets are taken to the point of momentary muscular failure, that is, until no more full repetitions can be completed. In all exercises, use smooth form with no momentum.
After 4-6 months of training, you advance to the advanced program. Small muscle groups are trained with 1-2 sets, while large muscle groups are trained with 2-3 sets total.
All sets must be carried to the point of momentary muscular failure. After that, a high-intensity variable, such as forced reps, should be used every other set to push the effort past failure.
Now that we have established the outline for HIT progression, we will focus on the proper training frequency. Since HIT demands so much of the muscles and the central nervous system, it is often necessary to reduce the number of times each muscle group is trained.
The level of recovery of the apprentice must be taken into account since each person’s body has its own capacity for work. Much depends on the conditioning of an individual and the intensity of the effort expended during training. There will have to be some trial and error, but the general guidelines are to train each body part once every seven to ten days.
After resting your muscles for seven days, try another session. If you’re dragging a bit or the weights used during your exercises have decreased, try adding an extra 2-3 days between workouts. Since you will be training each group once every 7-10 days, your body should be able to fully recover. Depending on your training split, the entire body should be trained in 2-3 sessions over 7-10 days. This is enough to keep your conditioning high and your muscles growing and getting stronger.
Now, let’s look at some examples of training programs. The first is a great leg program.
Leg extensions, 1 set of 15-20 reps to failure
Without a break, get on the leg press machine and do:
Leg press, 1 set of 12 reps to failure
Leg press only negative. Load the weight about 40% heavier than you normally would in this exercise. With the help of a partner or your own arms, press the plate to the point of full extension. Using only your left leg, lower the plate back to the starting position. Repeat this with your right leg and keep alternating legs until you can no longer safely control the downward movement of the machine.
The following is a great arm routine:
Incline dumbbell curl, 1 set of 8-10 reps to failure
Without rest, grab a pair of dumbbells for the following exercise:
Standing single negative dumbbell curl, 1 set of 8 negative reps until you can’t control the downward movement. Use a set of bells heavy enough to allow you to get a maximum of 8 negatives. Have a partner lift the weights for you or cheat, then lower them to a count of 8, repeat.
Cable triceps curls, 1 set of 8-10 reps to failure.
Be sure to keep your elbows against your sides throughout the exercise to keep tension on your triceps.
Close grip bench press, 1 set of 10 reps to failure. After you complete 10 repetitions, ask your partner to give you just enough assistance to allow you to complete an additional 3-4 repetitions. These are forced reps and give you the ability to push your set past the normal failure point, which is a great way to push your triceps into new growth!
Seated wrist curl with barbell or dumbbell, 1 set of 12-15 reps to failure, followed by 1 set of inverted wrist curl, 12-15 reps.
You should have a real burn on your forearms after completing these two sets.
These workout routines are a great example of productive HIT programs and give an example of a typical scheme for a large muscle group and another for a small one. Other large muscle groups are the chest and back. They should follow similar routines to the ones you did for your legs, just insert the appropriate exercises for each one. Abs, lower back, traps, and neck are examples of small muscle groups and should have routines that are similar in structure to the arms program.
Planned training layoffs
After you’ve been training for months, it’s a great idea to take a break from training to allow your body to fully recover from the intense training. Many bodybuilders will tell you that you will lose strength and size, but in most cases you will not. In fact, most, if not all, will gain some size and strength after a 1-2 week break. This is because many people are overtraining and need to rest their muscles to give them a chance to grow and recover. Another by-product is that your body will no longer be used to intense training and will start to respond very positively once you resume training.
Your body is very efficient at adapting to the stresses placed on it and quickly gets used to training at maximum intensity. By taking a short break from his training, he disrupts the status quo and his body quickly adapts to his lack of training. Resting also allows your muscles to fully rebuild and recharge with glycogen, creatine, and other energy enhancers.
After the break, when you resume hard training, your body will no longer be used to training and will start making gains again, just like when you started training.
Alteration of volume and intensity
As mentioned above, your body quickly gets used to high-intensity training, usually within 4-6 months of consistent training. When this happens, gains in muscle size and strength will cease or at least be greatly diminished.
To restart the gains, we must lower the intensity by bringing our sets to the point of sub-failure, in other words, finish our sets one rep before momentary muscle failure. We will also need to slightly increase our number of sets to reflect the lower intensity of effort.
An example of arm training is as follows:
Dumbbell Curls: 1 set of 8 reps
superset with
Dumbbell Concentration Curl: 1 set of 12 reps
Do two complete supersets
Lying barbell triceps extensions: 1 set of 10 reps
superset with
Cable Triceps Kickbacks – 1 set of 8 reps
Do two complete supersets
Do both supersets with no rest between exercises and take them to one rep before muscle failure.
Continue training your arms on this program for 3-4 weeks and then cycle back to maximum intensity taking the sets to failure.
In future articles, I’ll go into more detail on how to properly cycle intensity to stimulate new muscle growth after reaching a plateau or plateau. Until then, keep hitting the iron!