Dorian Yates has no idea how to train…naturals that is.
The Internet is filled with clips of him trashing volume training, but the reality is painfully different, if you’re natural, of course.
Here are (high IQ) reasons why Dorian Yates’s H.I.T. methods are nothing but pretentious nonsense that doesn’t work unless you’re blasting a glorious amount of anabolic steroids that functionally “bribe” the cells of your body to synthesize more protein.
If you’re natural, the only things that you will gain from HIT are weird grimaces while you train and a destroyed CNS.
Let’s hit it.
H.I.T. Is Too Easy On The Body
HIT-brahs always brag about how HIT is really difficult. Yates does the same, but the reality is painfully different.
What is it?
HIT = EZ on The BODY, Hard On The Brain
You see, the brain is the smartest organ in your body, allegedly, but it can be tricked.
So, here’s what’s happening.
During a hard set, the CNS signals to the brain that the organism is under fire. So, you naturally conclude that you’re working hard.
And that’s the case, but only for 1 set.
Then you rest…way too long.
The body is hit (lol), but each muscle group does not receive enough stimulation throughout the entire week to grow.
However, since every day is CNS day, you conclude that you’re working hard when in fact, the overall BODILY fatigue is quite low.
To grow muscle, you need to do more WORK. It’s that simple.
Back in the day, some guy asked Mentzer why his calves weren’t growing, so Mentzer told him that he was overtraining them and advised a reduction of calf training frequency to once every 14 days. (I read that in a magazine.)
This isn’t very intelligent advice on Mentzer’s part.
Why?
Doing a few hard sets for the calves (one of the toughest muscles in the body) and then going for a 2-week vacation is akin to expecting to raise your IQ by reading for 40 seconds a day.
In reality, if you have a lagging muscle group, you have to do the exact opposite, namely – increase the frequency and volume.
In other words, you must train it HARDER.
And harder does not mean one look-at-me-I-am-puking set, but multiple “money sets” done more frequently.
This is true for unnaturals and even truer for naturals.
Dorian’s HIT contains slightly more volume, but the frequency will not be enough unless you’re genetically gifted everywhere.
“But have you watched Blood n’ Guts,” says the dreamer.
Yes. I have. If you mute the annoying screaming, the training doesn’t look as tough as you think it is.
I’ve been to gyms where average people who have regular jobs train just as hard and with even more frequency.
Everyone Tries HIT and Quits Not Because The Program Is Hard…but
HIT has been here a long time. Virtually every serious muscle constructor has tried it.
And yet the methodology is still not popular. Why?
The HIT fetishists will say “Because it’s super hard and people can’t handle it”.
That’s incorrect. The true answer is:
Because it’s not as effective as other methods.
Don’t you think that if HIT was all that effective, the pros would have switched a long time ago?
Professional bodybuilders and other hypertrophy-addicts are doing everything in their power to get bigger.
The sacrifice includes the following rituals:
Daily injections of known and unknown steroids. Some compounds are literally designed for horses and yet people introduce them to their bloodstream.
Growth hormone injections
Insulin injections (you can get into a coma and die as a result of this practice)
Training 6-7 days a week
Following expensive and complicated diets
Paying glorious amounts of money to personal trainers
Don’t you think that individuals who are willing to do all of that in the name of the Hypertrophy God are afraid of HIT?
Think again.
Harder.
The painful truth is that a muscle addict will go all the way to add muscle to his frame.
And if HIT was the difference between being average and the KING, everybody would be a HITTER.
Injuries
Here’s a questionnaire for geniuses:
When do you think you are more likely to tear a muscle?
A) When you perform a set until you know that the next rep will require you to break form.
B) When you perform a set to total failure, and then some sweaty fella with raisin-like balls lifts the weight all the weight for you so that you can get 3 more reps with extremely slow negatives?
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how effective your training is when…you can’t train due to an injury.
If you want to tear a muscle, go ahead and HIT it hard.
Not Practical
HIT forces you to jump on the machines because applying it to compound exercises is often dangerous.
Do you think that it’s a coincidence that HIT was heavily promoted by Arthur Jones, the inventor of the Nautilus machine series?
A wise man once told me that —-
there is no such thing as a coincidence.
HIT Treats You Like a Machine
High IQ training realises that humans are not robots. Hence smart programming comes with carefully engineered deload phases (one step back, two steps forward type of thing).
HIT could have this sophistication too but more often than not doesn’t because the teachers are too focused on squeezing your CNS until you vomit.
They think that it’s awesome to feel like you were just HIT by a car after a workout.
Additional Hard-Hitting Facts
Mentzer and Yates both built their bodies with volume before allegedly switching to HIT. (According to many mentzer was doing higher volume than advertised.)
Yates already had a pro physique when he switched to lower volume and that was to MAINTAIN the mass he'd already built.
During the so-called Colorado experiment, Casey Viator didn’t build any new muscle. He simply regained what he’d lost before.
Hit is a myth.
