Consolidated ( HIT ) training 10/07/10 ( with `rest pause` )

[dehyrkas]

Thanks for your sight! Still a "HITer" after all these years.(20) Always get questions about my workout protocol at 67. When I tell them what I do, they get that "cow looking at a new gate" look! Looking good from the neck down! LOL

[ttraynor1]

Nice work. In sharp contrast to the lard-y fellow doing chrome dumbell flyes in background--then mostly sitting there. He will report he "does some weights" for about an hour and a half 5 days a week. Plus you get points for simply tolerating that damned music. Take dumbell to sound system and drop abruptly onto system......100's of times. It must be stopped.

[tinslatee]

@ttraynor1 yes agree, music like that is for people who come to the gym to socialize or train at 20%. If you are hit training, the searing pain in your muscles and ringing in your ears eliminates any need for music.

[2uge]

Terrific stuff! Mike would be proud of you. Keep up the great work.

[pugnax]

thanx for reply,

me too don't have access to machines as i train alone in my own gym (a powerlifter bench with rescuebars,dumbells&barbells and a trapbar for legs&lower back),i always done flat bench and my upper pecs are simply *absent*, think to build a dips and swift to it for a while.

[pugnax]

keep going m8, right way!

wonder why you use dips instead of bench,dips could be dangerous under severe failure imo

[Cragails]

@pugnax Thankyou . I perform dips simply because they ( in my opinion ) activate more muscle function thru greater range of motion than the conventional press ( even decline ). I do like the `Hammer` press or `nautilus` , but unfortunately I do not have access to such machines. I do intend to employ `rest pause` to some heavy partial bench presses sometime in the future.

[torque122]

@Cragails I agree dips are superior to Bench. Mentzer always thought so too-much greater range of motion which always is the only choice

[mctradewind]

i thing i wanted to add, it was the most fun i ever had during training, you feel amazing

[mctradewind]

also something isnt right with this method.

it is proven that you recruit your maximum number of muscle fibers at about 80-85 percent of your 1rm, everything more is just nerveous system adaption.

so by doing 1rm you lower your time under tension without having higher fiber recruitement.

this simply isn't an effective way of training

[Cragails]

@mctradewind Thankyou for your post. Fast twitch fibre recruitment ( being dependent on the intensity of effort employed & not TUT ) initiates at around 80-85% effort & optimal FT fibre recruitment is realised the closer one gets to optimal effort. FT fibre recruitment ( unlike slow/intermediate fibre type ) is not dependent on TUT and since the FT fibres exhaust quickly ( 1st max rep ) the intermediate fibre type are then recruited for further effort ( rep 2/3 ) . Yes , its fun !

[mctradewind]

@Cragails

if you look on the net you will see that ft recruitment doesnt go up after 85 percent, it peaks at 85percent

and it depends on tut. only the type 2b burn out really fast, after about 10 seconds, but your type 2a fiber can last a minute

[Cragails]

@mctradewind LOL. So how does one measure 85% effort ?

Stopping short of maximum effort ? ( thats haphazard guess work )

85% of your 1RM to failure ? ( thats still 100% effort at that resistance ) We can only truly measure 0% effort & 100% effort . If by training in a `rest pause` fashion ( max effort ) I only stimulated 85% of recruitable FT fibre , then at least I can calculate my effort with a degree of certainty ( through the intensity of effort employed .... ie; failure )

[mctradewind]

@Cragails

i ment 85percent of 1rm

sorry but my english is not the best

[mctradewind]

i tried this also for a period

my 1 rep max went way up but my muscle endurance went down

so i could do a much heavier 1 rep but i lost weight in higher reps, even in 6 rep max i lost weight

[Cragails]

@mctradewind That is understandable as you would have maximised your FT fibre recruitment responsible for explosive/intense effort of short duration but negated somewhat your slow/intermediate fibre count ( responsible for less intense effort but of longer duration ) due to the brevity of the rep/set .

[mctradewind]

@Cragails

are you still using this method? did you gain any mass on it?

as i said before, i tried it but stopped after 2 months i think

i gained fast in the first 2 weeks ( my type2b got some work they never hqd before) but then seemed to stall and or even regress.

i did full body 3 times a week 1 working set per muscle

the volume was way to low imo and the tax on my nervous system was huge.

so i got back to 5x5

[Cragails]

@mctradewind yes , I am still using the rest pause method and have gained steadily over the months where I am now using some 25-30lbs more resistance on the dip . I still train only x1 every 7-9 days , and lately have been employing some less demanding exercises interspersed with the rest pause ( now every 3rd workout ) in order to maximise recovery ( as you say the demands on the CNS is huge when intense training method such as rest pause is used )

[Wrestle235]

what is your rate of gains with your training style?

[Cragails]

@Wrestle235 rate of gains ? ... Being a lifetime drug free lifter ( & now at age 44yrs ) I find it best to cycle my efforts , so I train in 6- 8 week blocks/cycles , each week with increasing intensity/resistance and each cycle I attempt to surpass that which I had done previous. I usually add around 5 lbs per workout to each exercise giving considerable gain over the cycle. Such gain means hopefully that some adaptation ( hypertrophy ) is taking place in the involved musculature as a result.

[Wrestle235]

@Cragails

Gains of any sort, strength, size, lean body weight. pretty simple bud.

Do you see any gains? you look similar in size in all of your videos.

[Cragails]

@Wrestle235 In terms of gains , ( as per previous post ) I add approx 5lb resistance for upperbody work each workout ( at failure ) over some 8 weeks (as evidenced in my previous 7 videos of an 8 week training cycle) Appearance ? `Natural` gains do not come in 20-30 lb lean bodyweight increments . My Last 8 week cycle saw a gain of 4 lb in bodyweight but of visibly leaner appearance. I could of course eat well above a maintenance level of cals and gain some 20lbs of fat. LOL.

[HypnoHeron]

Excellent effort on the rest-pause training! Cannot wait for next video.