It's been an exciting week for me.
On Sunday morning I had my workout filmed at a friends training studio in downtown Orlando, a workout that defies conventional "fitness" wisdom.
Sunday evening I uploaded the content to my YouTube account. By Monday, most subscribers saw the video.
On Tuesday I officially released the videos to my Dream Vitality newsletter list along with bonus details and explanations.
By Wednesday morning, I had a $#!+ ton of messages stacked up in my various e-mail and messaging accounts, from YouTube and my convention forum, to Yahoo, and even my FaceBook account.
So, this is a post that will reveal to you-if you haven't seen them already- the exercise protocol I've been using for over 3 months now. If you have seen it, and have questions that need answering, this post should also prove helpful.
But first, what is High Intensity Training (HIT)?
In short-and I say this with no caution whatsoever- exercise that actually works. There is no "one way" to do it, but all styles follow certain principles that coincide with real exercise physiology.
Simply put, exercise that works is brief, intense, and infrequent.
When you violate these rules of thumb, the value of exercise-any form for that matter- diminishes dramatically and rapidly.
For a longer explanation of HIT check this out.
What type of exercise have you tried in the past Dream?
Nearly everything conventional, from all types of aerobics-such as group exercise- and "cardio" (half marathons for example), to your typical high volume weight training and power lifting.
You could say I've always been "all about" my health, and ready to do whatever is necessary to maintain it. Fate never seems to be without a sense of irony though considering I've gone from working out 12+ hours a week, to usually less than 12 minutes a week, and I've experienced better results faster than I ever have before in 7+ years of consistent exercise.
12 minutes a week?! Alright Dream you're losing me here, sounds like some 7 minute abs crap for lazy people...
Quite the contrary actually. High Intensity Training with resistance machines is the hardest and most grueling type of exercise I know of. It takes a lot of mental discipline to push your muscles to positive failure, and even more patience to say NO to the angst to train before you are fully recovered.
HIT, properly performed, is enough to make most people vomit-right on the spot. And it's nothing short of a spectacle in a commercial gym-even when properly performed which dictates a relaxed face and no valsalva (holding your breath/screaming etc).
The intensity is so obvious it's hard for most people not to stare or even comment like my room mate did during the workout.
"Jesus"
You mentioned "better and faster results" Dream, can you elaborate on your personal results?
Of course-nothing less would suffice for this blog post. And for the record, I do not have superior genetics. As stated in the recent newsletter, I have never met a family member even close to as lean as I currently am, or as strong.
HIT works on a grand scale because it doesn't ignore basic physics and exercise physiology- which unfortunately most of the fitness industry does.
So...
I started training HIT back in January of 2009. I weighed 171 pounds, and my body fat was around 12%.
February 19th, I weighed 176 pounds, and my body fat had dropped to 10.4%-measured via a 3 site skinfold test at the University of Central Florida.
Re-read that if you missed it, my weight increased while my body fat % dropped.
At 171 pounds I was working out 12+ hours a week, running half marathons, swimming for an hour straight, doing group ex classes, etc...
That change was from working out once per week, ~12 minutes at a time, and doing next to nothing in the way of "cardio" style exercises. I ate exactly the same.
But it gets better, wayyyy better.
Eating the same, less than 2 months later-this past Monday- I weighed in a 173 pounds, while my body fat was measured again at UCF. It came in at a record low 8.8%. The guy taking the measurements couldn't believe how much it had dropped since my previous measuring- he even re-measured just to make sure he was accurate.
I can not express how psyched I was to hear this measurement.
Meanwhile my strength has increased dramatically since starting. As you'll see in a moment, my leg press is now nearly triple my body weight at over a minute and a half- and this is directly after performing a seated leg curl to positive failure to "limit" my leg press Time Under Load (the machine is maxed out).
Okay enough chit chat, let's take a look at this workout-which Im sure you're curious to see at this point- and continue on with the FAQ after the videos.
Viewing times/stats
*Scroll to the final larger video to see the entire workout in real time.
Chest Press- ~1 minute 200 pounds, 53 seconds to positive failure
Lat Pulldown- ~1.5 minutes 185 pounds, 57 seconds to positive failure
Overhead Press- ~1 minute 127.5 pounds, 52 seconds to positive failure
Seated Leg Curl- ~1.5 minutes 135 pounds, 58 seconds to positive failure
Leg Press- ~2 minutes 502.5 pounds, 96 seconds to positive failure
Entire Workout in Real Time (exercises back to back)- ~7 minutes
These 5 exercise worked all major muscle groups to positive failure. "Severely uncomfortable" would be an accurate description, even months into the training like I am.
Performed properly, the chin is supposed to be slightly down, the face ALWAYS relaxed, and breathing consistent-if not rapid (but don't go into panic mode).
A core theme behind HIT is to build strength, not demonstrate it. Holding your breath is not only dangerous-spiking your blood pressure to unnecessary levels for example- but prevents inroad of the muscle being used.
Or in a simpler light, holding your breath/screaming like many people do in the gym-while helping you lift more- is not only dangerous, but counter productive since it helps you lift weight by side stepping muscular contraction.
Another important part of the form for HIT is using the intended muscle group, and little else. You'll hear the trainer tell me to keep my feet relaxed on the chest press for example so I don't use my legs-and back- to move the weight. Watch how many people do this on a barbell bench next time your in a gym.
Okay so back to the Q and A...
Is it safe to workout at such a high intensity?
Yes. As long as you continue to breathe during the exercise, your blood pressure actually remains quite low considering how strenuous the demand is on your body (also notice I am never gripping machines unless I have to, so on the leg press and leg curl my hands are relaxed, a major factor in keeping blood pressure at normal levels)-unlike power lifters.
Also, ALL HIT styles that I know of mandate not building momentum during the exercise-which means a minimum of a 3/3 cadence (3 seconds up, 3 seconds down). Some use cadence counts of 10/10 or more, I personally like to stay around 5/5 if possible-this particular workout being close to that but perhaps a little fast.
Any cadence faster than 3/3 will build momentum, delay muscle inroad, and decrease the safety of the exercise by increasing the force (mass x acceleration=force). Too much force on your muscles and their connective tissues is what causes damage, not exerting yourself to positive failure through a carefully controlled full range of motion.
Also on that note, the last rep is always the most productive, and ironically the safest. Why the safest? You muscles have been aggressively fatigued by the last repetition, and hence you are moving the slowest-and by default producing the least amount of force on your body.
Simply put, you are to weak to hurt yourself at that point (in good form).
Why are you using machines instead of barbells/dumbbells?
The Nautilus equipment I'm using provides a different level of resistance at different parts of the exercise-unlike dumbbells/barbells and cheaper brands of equipment. At the strongest point of the contraction, the resistance is the heaviest, and at weaker points of the contraction, the resistance is slightly less.
This allows you to hit positive failure without being cut short due to a "weak point". Similarly, I use hooks on the lat pull down to take stress off of my forearms and allow more direct work for my biceps and back muscles. If I were to perform the lat pull down without hooks, my forearms would weaken far sooner than my biceps/back muscles would, and hence they would not be worked nearly as well.
So are dumbbells/barbells still effective? Hell yes, but if you have access to Nautilus/MedX/Hammer Strength machines, use them instead.
Cheaper brands of machines are often counter productive, so if they feel "weird" to any degree, use a barbell/set of dumbbells instead.
Does that workout leave you feeling REALLY sore?
That's a tough question to answer. When you get done, you should feel as if you've moved a mountain. Long run, it's not that simple.
I'll tell you straight though that initally, yes. The first month of performing HIT left me sore, very sore. Currently though, both the degree and timing of soreness is entirely hit and miss.
Sometimes I'll be sore THAT day, or the next. Sometimes it will take a few days for it to hit me, and the degree can flucuate. Muscle soreness is something that still NOBODY really understands.
What's with the once a week frequency?
This is something I will likely get into in a later individual post, but in short, working to positive failure tears deeper/faster twitch muscle fiber. Fast twitch fiber produces the most strength, fatigues the quickest (because of how much strength it produces), and takes the longest to repair.
But, it also has-by a long shot- the most potential for growth.
Once every 7 days isnt a law, but it is what works best for the majority of the population IMO. I may increase my frequency to once every 4 or 5 days once jump rope class ends, but I will do so with caution. Even at a young 20 years old, working out HIT requires a lot of patience and recovery time.
Remeber, exercise causes muscle growth, it does not produce it. Rest is what allows the muscle to grow, exercise is what tears it down.
I want to stay "healthy", does HIT stimulate my "cardio"?
First and foremost, not only does HIT stimulate your cardio respiratory system, but it does so infintely better than aerobics and traditional "cardio" style exercises.
Notice how I move from machine to machine in the video. On my non-filming days, it's even faster. I do not wait for a camera woman to get ready or (usually) forget my hooks for the pulldown on a nearby table.
I get done with one machine, and move to the next. Im not sprinting, but there is literally no rest time bewteen exercises. Get done with one, and effing move!
I think the biggest misconception people have about "cardio" is that duration is the key, instead of intensity.
A ~6 minute HIT workout as demonstrated in the video is the equivalent of a 6 minute all out sprint for the cardiovascular system, without the added side effects of joint wear/tear and the risk of injury.
The only things your heart/lungs are concerned about is supplying oxygen and blood to your muscles. They do NOT care what type of exercise you are doing, just getting the required nutrients to the muscles.
When you workout HIT, your aerobic system is pushed to its max, and post workout-for hours and hours afterwords actually- your aerobic system is busy refueling your muscles with glycogen, of which you just aggressively depleted them of.
On the flip side, HIT increases insulin sensitivity in your muscles-unlike aerobics which decrease it. What this means is that on the opposite end of the spectrum-that is in your skeletal muscle instead of your organs- your body becomes more efficient at using the supplied nutrients. In short, most peoples focus on the aerobic system and cardiovascular system is misplaced. The majority of potential positive adaptations lies in MUSCLE not the heart/lungs and everything in between.
See this video for more info.
Is HIT effective for fat loss?
Not only is it effective, but absolutely necessary. Attempting to burn calories through exercise is largely a waste of time-although HIT does burn an enormous amounts of calories in an remarkably short amount of time, and the following few hours lots of calories are burnt while your aerobic system begins to refill your muscles with glycogen.
Fat loss comes from an increased resting metabolism via muscular hypertrophy, and eating the right foods-which in turn will result in a daily calorie reduction.
Currently overweight-like I used to be- or relatively lean like I was (~12% bf), HIT works wonders for everyone.
There's no way around it-and while this is an oversimplification- gain 5 pounds of muscle and your body will eat up 250-500 extra calories per day, multiply that by 7 days a week and a slight calorie reduction and BAM, rapid weight loss.
You don't have a choice in the matter, the human body works in certain ways, always has, and always will. Trying to maintain that calorie expenditure through aerobics is dangerous-long and short term- and will eventually lead to a loss in muscle mass, and resting metabolism as a result.
Think about it for a second, aerobics is of such low intensity that it doesnt stimulate positive muscle adaptations, but it does tear muscle. Take a good look at the next triathalon/marathon participants next time you get a chance and see for yourself how the body respons to lots of "cardio".
Muscular hypertrophy-whatever your potential may be- and the process of achieving that through high intensity training, is directly related to your level of health-now and 40 years from today.
99% of the fitness industry is completely oblivious to this, ignoring strength training, and focusing almost entirely on "cardio" for health, and drugs that do little to nothing for you.
Muscle is the most metabolically productive tissue in your body, and HIT is the safest and most effective way to build it. Wear and tear on your joints is an absolute minimum, and growth stimulation from attempting to reach positive failure through a full range of motion is astounding.
I know there is more you guys want to know-and I will put out more info soon so stay tuned- but that's all for now. Comment and I'll be happy to answer individual questions.
Also, check here and here for more HIT information.
-Dream
