I find it funny when someone says HIT training is easy. Either they've never attempted it before or they just don't know how to do it. Go read up on the CAsey Viator colorado experiment training articles that are out there. Go get a couple of Metzers earlier books or even ellington dardens latest HIT book. the workouts if done the right way are very, very hard. Do they produce results? Of course they do in most cases. It comes more down to the things you do outside of the gym that dictate what type of results you're gonna have, eating, resting etc. all play a much bigger role. Volume training works for some people, depends how the program is set up and how heavy and intense they are going to go releative to thier recovery ability.
I've done every type of training in the world you can think of. Back in the late 80's early 90's everybody was about "feeling" the muscle. Nobody trained super heavy-that I knew of-what most guys I knew did was follow more or less what Haney and Gaspari were preaching. Medium wieghts, medium reps for 4-5 sets of each exercise, 4-5 movements per bodypart on a push-pull rotation. I remember doing 4 sets of flat, 4 sets of inline, 4 sets of pec deck and 4 sets of dips for my chest. I weighed about 165lbs, up from 140 a few months earlier-this was the weight I wrestled at throughout highschool. This guy I knew came in and wanted to know why I trained so light, I told him what I was doing and he told me to come train with him. The next day I came in and he had me going nuts moving weight that I never thought I could move. the sets were down but still high by todays standards. I ended up being about 185-190 a few months later-no roids, no supplements just heavy training. I decided to start to get ready for the jr. michigan which my buddy was doing, I was just toying with the idea but 3 weeks before the show I had alot of guys telling me I was gonna win. I got really, really sick 10 days out from an infection that was airborn-I worked with the public alot and the doctors thought someone must have had it and coughed on me without me knowing it. I sepent about a week in the hospital and went from a pretty ripped 175 down to 132lbs by the time I could go out of the house. I was on bedrest for about 4-6 months. To get back up in weight once I started training I did the "dorian type" of training and got very, very strong. I got back up to 190ish.
Since then I've been an on again off again trainer. I went to school fulltime so I cut waaaay back on my training to concentrate on school. In that time I've done a ton of different types of training just to experiment and see what works, I've done tons of reading on different types of training etc. I love to research this type of stuff. I've done HIT, max-ot, volume, double pre-exhaust, push-pull routines, powerlifting type of BB training..you name it.
it's my opinion that a program that is most effective for a natural guy is one that focuses on getting in the gym, going nuts for a short period of time with heavy ass weight and getting out so you can recover. The natural guy must train as heavy as possible always trying to progress, there can be no backwards momentum in terms of training effectiveness. You must learn to let yourself recover and you must learn what works best for you from a dietary standpoint-something I'm still trying to figure out but I have issues that I've had to work aroiund so my situation is a little different than joe average in terms of what I can eat and what I can't.
Volume works for some guys but most natural guys will find that following a HIT type of training routine or at least looking at the protocol with an open mind can get them some great results.
max-ot training is very well laid out, heavy ass weight, sort intense workouts and allowing the body to recover. I used this for awhile and really enjoyed it. I think I did some things wrong in terms of allowing myself to accimilate to the training and maybe my warm ups were not all they could have been.. I would like to try this again in the future if I get a chance.
I'm an advocate of DC training bacause I feel it's a system that is set up almost perfectly for a natural guy. If you take the time out to read up on it and follow it to a "t' you really can't fail. You're weights are always progressing and once they stop you switch movements so you never go stale. You cycle your training so you really can't overtrain on a consistant basis. You limit your number of movements so again you can't overtrain...I could probably write a book on the pro's of this type of training. I can't do the diet as it's laid out for the most part...even though the diet itself has never been posted on the net the basics are high protien etc. I have digestive issues that I have to work around so I have to diet a little differently but the program is still damn effective. I'm not saying I'm gonna win the natural mr. o using this type of training but for what I put into it and what I want ot acomplish at this point in my life this is a great routine.
I'd love to try Trevor Smith's BFT training one day and maybe re-address volume at a later time.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that HIT is not better than volume and volume is not better than hit. it all depends on what you can mentally and physically put into your training that will determine what works for you. If you do volume for 6 months nd it ain't working, switch it up but read about what you are planning to do cause-for instance-most guys who fail at DC say something like "I tried DC and it didn't work for me" Ok, well what did you do? "well I followed the program but I added a couple of movements here and there and I added a training day...I didn't do any cardio and I didn't even read up on the diet...I kept my reps a litttle higher and didnt' bother following the blast and cruise techniques" hmmmmmm....wonder why you failed. Same with max-ot, I wouldn't say I failed using it but I didn't follow it to the letter and that's where the problem probably was.
anyway...that's it for now.
