Sunday...light jump workout
4 star drills x10x10
Low Ankle Squat Jumps x30x30
Lunge Jumps - x12x12
1,2,3 Jump x25mx25m
25 metre sprint uphill x5
Pistols x8x8
Yesterday...
Box Squat (15" Box) - 135x5, 220x3, 315x1, 365x1, 405x1, 430x1. With a belt only.
Incline Press - 135x12, 220x5, 242x5x5. Groove was better this time.
Dimel Deads - 220x20x20.
EZ Curls - 90x12, 130x6, 150lbsx3
Tate Press - 50'sx12x10
It's great to be back squatting!
Nick
Mike asked this question...
"Nick, can you please describe HIT training in a posting, or can you redirect me to a posting you may have already done on it? Thanks!"
As some of you know I was doing HIT workouts recently in a bid to lose weight but maintain strength. In the past I have used HIT style training intermittently and have always found it a great change of pace in my training.
HIT is a HUGE subject and one that I am not going to delve into too deeply. My friend, Jay Trigg, could tell you much more about it's origins and who espoused it's use over the years but this is not a history lesson. This is my take in HIT.
The way I began doing HIT was from the writings of Dr. Ken Leistner. Dr. Ken, as he is fondly known, would write accounts of brutally hard workout in his articles in Hard Training, HIT Newsletter, The Steel Tip, MILO and Hardgainer. At the time I discovered Dr. Ken's training methods in 1990-91 I had already been training for 5 years. My routines were not great and I really knew very little. What I learned over the next few years was how to train truly hard. During this time I put together brief, intense routines of 4-8 exercises twice per week and trained - HARD! All that I knew back then was the harder the better. I pushed others through such ferocious training sessions too. Some stayed but many went. This is not a training method for the weak of mind or body.
Here's a quote from Dr. Ken from the 1994 edition of HIT Newsletter (Vol 5 No1+2),
"Training has to be purposeful to be effective. Every rep and every set has to count for something. I believe that one can make progress on almost any type of routine if he or she works hard at it, but training should be efficient, providing maximal gains in the briefest period of time."
I believe that HIT training is about getting the most bang for your buck. Read the quote above again and then simply pick the best compound movements you can to achieve the results you desire. Now go to the gym. Warm up with a light set of each exercise. Then start your workout. Go to failure on each exercises. If you can do a few forced reps or negatives. This will increase the intensity and the overall difficulty of the routine. Go through each exercise like this. Rest MINIMALLY. Ideally there should be no rest but this is hard, if not impossible, if you are not conditioned for it. It is better to take an adequate rest than to not have anything left in the tank to correctly and safely perform the next exercise(s).
One exercise you will find throughout the history of weight training and gym culture is the king of exercises, the squat. Indeed the squat has been written about time and time again and for good reason. It truly will make you into a better athlete no matter what your sport or goals. Dr. Ken writes about the squat so often and has performed the exercises even more often that you will find it in 99% of his routines. I am no different.
I recently was performing my exercises in superset fashion for two and occasionally three sets. I like to pick groups of exercises that either appose each other or compliment each other. For example, I may choose a squat and a leg curl and a calf raise to fry my legs with. Or, I may choose a bench press with an apposing muscle group exercise such as the dumbbell row. I would do these two or three exercises back to back with only the time it takes me to get from one exercise to the next. I would already have the dumbbell or bench or whatever I need ready.
The first workouts are extremely difficult. You may feel sick. You may feel dizzy. Your muscles will cry with pain. You may even want to sleep as soon as you finish. So, why would you do this to yourself? It is nothing more than a challenge and a way of conditioning your body and mind to withstand extreme amounts of physical discomfort. I think the reason that HIT was so popular with training teams of players is because it forced them into nasty places they wouldn't normally go. The athlete will not want to give up in front of his peers or his coach and so he pushes himself to the limit. The workouts are usually over within 30-40 minutes too which is another bonus of this type of training. Again, go and read the quote above and you'll see just why HIT and this type of training is worth doing from time to time.
However, I also believe you can do too much HIT training. Due to the ball busting, mind numbing nature of HIT, you can and will get mentally and physically worn out if you do too much HIT. If you look back I did less than 3 weeks of HIT recently. I would have loved to have done more. My weight was dropping and I was getting better conditioned. However, I was also beginning to feel tired a lot. You must be careful of doing this too much, especially when you are a 37 year old trainee trying to lose weight and working long hours like I was during that period.
For me HIT is exactly what Dr. Ken says in the quote above. It's not about exercises or machines verses barbells or one set to failure any other specific thing to do with training. HIT is about brief, intense and purposeful HARD WORK.
Nick
I did train on wednesday and decided to try the leg press machines out in the gym. As expected I hated them!
Leg Press (Sled type) - 200kgx12, 240kgx10, 280kgx8, 320kg/705lbsx6
Leg Press (Hammer H Squat) - 140kgx12
Both felt odd. The sled type aggravated my hips and the H Squat caused some pain in my lower back. Maybe I was doing it wrong!?! Anyway...back to squatting for me.
Leg Curls - 1platex20, 2px15, 2 1/2px10x10
Toes to Bar x12x12x12
Superman's with 15lb Db'sx10x10x10
Donkey Calf Machine - 145x15, 175x10
Today...after much thought!
Speed Box Squat - 135lbsx2, 220lbsx2, 275lbsx2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2. All good.
DB Bench Press - 80'sx12, 100'sx10, 110'sx5x5. Easing in to these.
Dimel Deadlift - 200lbsx20x20. This is basically a Romanian Deadlift done for high reps and in rhythmic fashion.
Seated Press - 180x5x5
Chinsx15x15
I hit my target weight this week of 95kg or 210lbs. I am probably fluctuating between 95-97kg but that's ok. I will have another diet burst in a few weeks and try to get under 95kg.
Nick
The HIT workouts were great. I felt I lost weight because of the high intensity but maintained 99% of my strength. Top end strength suffered the most with such a drastic drop in calories but that was expected.
At the moment I am trying to get rid of all the niggles. My left elbow is really giving me pain all the time, mainly when straightening. The right one is not so bad but it does ache so there is some tendonitis there too. My hips and back feel pretty good although they are sore so I really need to do more stretching. The rest isn't too bad.
So at the moment I am maintaining. I have two scheduled gym workouts a week containing a little of everything.
On friday last week...
Military Press - 135x8, 180x3, 200x1x1x1. These felt hard. So I have lost about 20-25lbs off my pressing.
Squat - 180x10, 265x10, 370x10. Felt fine.
Curls - 90x10, 110x8, 135x5x5. Felt ok.
Calves - 2px20, 4px10x10x10
That's all I had time for.
Today...
Incline Press - 135x12, 220x6, 242x3, 265x2, 220x5. Would be nice to get this up over 300lbs.
Chins - plus 35lb platex10x10x10, sternum chins x6
Speed Box Squat - 135x2, 220x2, 242x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2.
Standing Calves - 6px15, 8px12, 10px8x8
Cable Crunch - 125x20, 155x15, 200x6
Pretty basic stuff. A push, a pull, a squat and some accessory work. I do my box squats with the stance I use for jumping rather than the wide Westside Barbell style. This also takes the stress off my hips and puts it on the quads.
If you haven't already checkout Steve's Parallel Grip Deadlift article. It's a very well put together piece and covers everything you need to know about a very versatile bit of equipment.
Finally, checkout this INSANE video of Mikael Koklyaev. That is 160kg he is literally having fun with!
NickAlthough I was unable to make the competition Mike Betty promoted another great competition at the Severn Valley Strongman competition on Saturday. This is fast becoming one of the best amateur competitions in the Uk and with over 30 competitors it is probably the most popular event on the calendar.
At just 18, Harry Shahlaei won his first competition in style, beating out tough competition from all over the country. Harry follows in his older brother's footsteps by winning in the sport of strongman.
Harry with the 1st place trophy and promoter Mike Betty of the Whey Consortium (Photo courtesy of Steve Gardner of the Whey Consortium)
Nick
The truth about training is that once you know what to do the only 'secret' is that of knowing how to work hard. For those of you who don't read all the Blogs at Beyond Strong, checkout Theo's latest for some ways in which he is testing himself and his body in new ways.
I'm finding that I don't have the time or the access to the equipment I would like sometimes. This means I have to be innovative in getting the training I want into my routine. The following video is a simple way to implement jump training into your routine no matter where you are. The 'luxury' p1 I have is a small fitness gym in the basement of our apartment block. I also have stairs, kettlebells and a weight vest. Here's what I came up with.
Goblet Squat Jumps with a 28kg KB and a 30lb weight vest or around 90lbs in total. The idea is that it takes the arms out of the movement. I squat below parallel mainly to take the full impact with maximum cushioning. This will save your knees. I like sets of 5 but anything from 2-10 reps will work well. This puts most of the stress on the legs rather than the back and legs as the Goblet Squats force you to stay upright.
Plyometric Pushups. Hand speed and power in the triceps and chest will compliment the work you put in on the pulling muscles. Without the weight vest I can do triple clap pushups but for a change of intensity the weight vest is great. There are lots of variations so be creative.
Jumping up stairs. Jumping and indeed running up stairs is a fine exercise. Be careful and know your limits. Adding a weight vest is an advanced exercise. Depth jumping is not something I would do often but once in a while is fine. Again, know your limits. Start lower and build up the height and only add a weight vest if you can squat double bodyweight.
Finally I rowed a fast 500 meters on the concept 2 rower (about 1min 30 secs). After the jumps and with the weight vest this is tough. My legs were fatigued and the weight vest builds up on you throughout the whole workout. Anaerobic work like this is a great finisher.
This is a simple, effective and rapid (25 minutes) workout. There will be more...
Nick
Unfortunately due to work commitments I was unable to make this years British Championships and see my friend and training partner Laurence Shahlaei compete. I was lucky enough to get hourly updates from Big Loz though and I was super happy to hear he made the final.
After day one he had won the Farmer's Walk, blitzing some of the best strongmen in the world at their favourite event and managed to secure 2nd place overall behind the impressive Jimmy Marku.
On day two the big guns pulled back some places. The wrestling event saw almost everyone get injured in some way leaving the final event the stones as the decider for many. Laurence managed a fantastic 4th Place overall and this should earn him a place in this years World's Strongest Man.
The overall placings were as follows.
1. Jimmy Marku
2. Terry Hollands
3. Mark Felix
4. Laurence Shahlaei
5. Mark Westaby
6. Oli Thompson
7. Eddie Ellwood
8. Darren Sadler
Congratulations to everyone and especially our main man Laurence Shahlaei for what I feel is his break out performance after his magnificent win at the Midland's Strongest Man.
Nick
Big Loz against the talented Mark Felix in the wrestling event at BSM 2008
Pretty busy week at work which meant I couldn't get to the gym until today. Having blitzed myself recently with HIT based routines I took a 'break' and went to a more traditional routine for today. I should tell you I have a near nude part in a film coming up on monday where I will be covered in body paint and prosthetics. This meant I want to train with some emphasis on the showy muscles and to eat with that in mind too. I will be consuming lots of water today and tomorrow. The nothing tomorrow evening onwards. I'll be dropping my sodium intake and carbing up somewhat as well. This should make me look nice and full on monday, tuesday and wednseday as my body will continue to suck out water. This is a tip I got from Justin Harris at Troponin Nutrition who, along with Shelby Starnes, know more about getting into great shape than anyone I know.
Today...
DB Bench Press - 80'sx10, 100'sx10, 120'sx5
EZ Curls - 100lbsx10, 110lbsx10, 135lbsx5
DB Tri Ext - 55'sx10x10
DB Conc Curls - 55'sx9/9
DB Hammer curls - 55'sx6/6
Seated Inc Rear Delts - 35'sx15x15
Side Lat Raise - 35'sx10x10
Toes to bar - 15x12
Calves - 2px15, 3px12, 4px10
All done in about 45 minutes and without the sicky, drained feeling of a pure HIT workout.
Nick
2nd killer workout of the week completed.
Burpees and pushup - 20
500 meter row - 1-52
Burpee and pushup - 20
500 meter row - 1-50
Burpee and pushup - 20
500 meter row - 1-49
Burpee and pushup - 20
500 meter row - 1-49
Burpee and pushup - 20
500 meter row - 1-48
TOTAL TIME: 22minutes 46 seconds
The burpee pushups are brutal and trying to beat my times each round on the 500m rows is a real mind buster. Anyway, that's my hard conditioning done for the week.
Nick
Another killer HIT workout of my own design again today.
Calf Raise - 6 plate warm up, 8 plates x18
Hip Belt Squats - 145lbsx10 warm up, 231lbsx30 reps!
Seated Leg curl - 2 platesx6 warm up, 2 platesx20
Lunge - 45lbsx6 each leg warm up, 135lbsx10 each leg
That was hard but what was interesting is that it was my lungs rather than my legs giving out on me. One circuit of this was enough.
Knee Jumps - x2x2 plus 15kg platex2
Plyo Pushupsx3x3x3
Toes to bar - x15x10
This was a nice interlude. Interesting to do the knee jumps with my legs feeling like jelly.
DB Alt Press - 70'sx11
Chins with 35lbsx12
Dips with 35lbsx15
Whilst I am getting to the gym at quiet times I will continue with these HIT workouts. They are short, very intense and very draining but done twice a week I can cope with them.
The truth about HIT is that to make it work you must learn the ins and outs of your own body and be honest enough to know when to push hard and when not too. This is especially true when training alone like I do. Pushing to failure all the time would lead to staleness and mental destruction. This is detrimental. It's far better to set individual targets within the circuits and see how you feel when you are close to hitting them. Sometimes you set a goal of 15 reps and it is too easy so you push on and do 18 or 19. However, there may be a trade off with the reps you can manage in your next set. You have to weigh it up and see which exercise is worth giving the most too.
Nick
