- Oct 31, 2012
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I've been getting back into Mentzer heavy duty stuff, DC, and blood and guts training this year. By getting back into I mean I'm reading and re reading stuff these guys have put out.
As I've been coming along in my rehab for my acl I've been experimenting with my own HIT workouts (upper body anyway).
Today I did chest/delts/tris and I swear it was the best workout I've ever had dor these muscles. Read on if you're interested in the techniques I used.
Low volume, fast pace/little rest, training to failure using pre exhaust.
First up I warmed up my arms and chest on bench press up tp 225.
Then I grabbed 55lb dbs and put 315 in the bar. Laid back with the 55s and did flys slow and controlled. Not exaggerated but down to a deep stretch and then up with no jerking or momentum. At the top of the rep I rotated the bottom of the bell in to really contract the pecs.
I managed 12 smooth reps to failure and set them down. I immediately with no rest went into bench press. Stopping with upper arms parallel to the floor and stopping just short of lockout. I could only do 3 reps lol! So I then repeated the process with 45lb bells and only 225 on the bar. Got 13 reps and 6 reps on the bench. Chest was DONE.
Wanted to give the tris a little rest so I went to shoulders. There is a beautiful little exercise from Vince Gironda called a dumbbell swing. Look it up, its awesome. I did 2 sets of that with 35 and 25lbs for 14 and 12 reps. Nice and smooth with a very brief pause at the top.
Next up was a tricep super set. Triceps pressdowns followed immediately by dips. 2 sets of that and tris were fried. I did the stack for like 14 reps and 8 bw dips then I dropped 20lbs and got 11 reos and 6 dips.
Last up was rear delts. Hit them with higher reps. 3 sets pyramid up in weight to 12 reps.
This whole workout took me 33 minutes from start to stop including warm-up.
The key things here are this.
Keep the volume low and the pace quick. Do your reps smooth and controlled, don't use any momentum. Use a rom that keeps you under constant tension. Take each set to positive failure.
Every once in a while you can throw an intensity modifier in like a static hold or negatives. But don't do that every workout.
I'm being very instinctive with my frequency. I'm finding that I'm recovered enough to train most muscles every 4 or 5 days. If I don't hit last workouts numbers I know I'm not recovered enough and I up my rep ranges that workout.
I also have been eating the anabolic diet the last 2 weeks. Strength is not an issue and I'm leaning up nicely. I'm down down 8lbs scale weight but visually I'm much leaner in only 2 weeks. Cant wait to see what 8 weeks brings.
As I've been coming along in my rehab for my acl I've been experimenting with my own HIT workouts (upper body anyway).
Today I did chest/delts/tris and I swear it was the best workout I've ever had dor these muscles. Read on if you're interested in the techniques I used.
Low volume, fast pace/little rest, training to failure using pre exhaust.
First up I warmed up my arms and chest on bench press up tp 225.
Then I grabbed 55lb dbs and put 315 in the bar. Laid back with the 55s and did flys slow and controlled. Not exaggerated but down to a deep stretch and then up with no jerking or momentum. At the top of the rep I rotated the bottom of the bell in to really contract the pecs.
I managed 12 smooth reps to failure and set them down. I immediately with no rest went into bench press. Stopping with upper arms parallel to the floor and stopping just short of lockout. I could only do 3 reps lol! So I then repeated the process with 45lb bells and only 225 on the bar. Got 13 reps and 6 reps on the bench. Chest was DONE.
Wanted to give the tris a little rest so I went to shoulders. There is a beautiful little exercise from Vince Gironda called a dumbbell swing. Look it up, its awesome. I did 2 sets of that with 35 and 25lbs for 14 and 12 reps. Nice and smooth with a very brief pause at the top.
Next up was a tricep super set. Triceps pressdowns followed immediately by dips. 2 sets of that and tris were fried. I did the stack for like 14 reps and 8 bw dips then I dropped 20lbs and got 11 reos and 6 dips.
Last up was rear delts. Hit them with higher reps. 3 sets pyramid up in weight to 12 reps.
This whole workout took me 33 minutes from start to stop including warm-up.
The key things here are this.
Keep the volume low and the pace quick. Do your reps smooth and controlled, don't use any momentum. Use a rom that keeps you under constant tension. Take each set to positive failure.
Every once in a while you can throw an intensity modifier in like a static hold or negatives. But don't do that every workout.
I'm being very instinctive with my frequency. I'm finding that I'm recovered enough to train most muscles every 4 or 5 days. If I don't hit last workouts numbers I know I'm not recovered enough and I up my rep ranges that workout.
I also have been eating the anabolic diet the last 2 weeks. Strength is not an issue and I'm leaning up nicely. I'm down down 8lbs scale weight but visually I'm much leaner in only 2 weeks. Cant wait to see what 8 weeks brings.
