**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[TRA]

Yes sir. It works pretty good for a rough idea. If your hemoglobin is running high, it will throw you off a tad. However, a great rule of thumb!

Agree, so pretty accurate if you don't do cardio coughkelkelcough.

[TRA]

Off to the gym for back. Will post up when done. Still a little queasy in the tummy, but need a w/o mentally if you know what I mean. Will change routine in 2 wks. Was going to change every 4, but since I implemented HIT (or trying to) I think 6 wk should be good and I want a solid 4wks of HIT in current routine. Hope everyone is having a good day.

[almostgone]

Agree, so pretty accurate if you don't do cardio coughkelkelcough.

LMAO, yes sir. I've always had high octane hematocrit unless very ill or if I have tapped off some extra RBC.
I do have a clotting disorder (Leiden Factor V), but I've not seen anything that associates high Hct and Leiden Factor V. I do try to keep my vitamin K intake reasonably low. Think I'm just a overproducer of RBC?

[almostgone]

Off to the gym for back. Will post up when done. Still a little queasy in the tummy, but need a w/o mentally if you know what I mean. Will change routine in 2 wks. Was going to change every 4, but since I implemented HIT (or trying to) I think 6 wk should be good and I want a solid 4wks of HIT in current routine. Hope everyone is having a good day.

Go by how you feel, Trail, IMHO. 4 weeks of HIT is about it for me before I jump into a pullback (higher volume and no beyond failure tools).

[almostgone]

So the little voices are conversing now?

Yes sir, fvckers are living in my head rent free.

[TRA]

Okay, back from gym. Not sure how I feel about today. Dropped tris from back day so was much shorter, especially with the HIT routine. Felt the residual from the illness but needed the gym today so just gave myself time to catch my breath between exercises as I was sucking wind. Could use comments because I felt spent but just seems like there should have been more volume. My lats felt more pumped than on many days prior but it was just so quick!

Back
Close grip pull downs
W/u x 12
Feeler set x 12
W set x 1 with r/p x 3 to hit 11 - concentrated on pullung shoulders together with good posture and felt it big time upper back; 20 s rest between reps

Seated cable rows, straight bar should width grip
W/u x 12 @ 120
W set x 12 @ 150 w r/p x 2

Standing bent over cable rows, straigh bar, shoulder width grip
Feeler set 42.5 x 12
W set 67.5 w/ r/p x 3 to 13 - really concentrated on pulling shoulders together, a little more upright than usual and felt laser focus in lats. Was sweating like a pig when done.

Can't help but think I should have added one more routine but I swear I gave it everything on each exercise. I even imagined Marcus yelling in my ear to get one more rep and it helped on the halfs and quarters for sure! Knee was too sore or would have considered a dead lift session but I think still fatigued from yesterday so felt good enough to maintain, just not sure if good enough to get gains - hate to waste even one day on go juice. Could really use some comments here guys.

This is only wk 2 of the HIT application so will hit it for another 2 wks per ag's suggestion and change up routine then also.

[almostgone]

Okay, back from gym. Not sure how I feel about today. Dropped tris from back day so was much shorter, especially with the HIT routine. Felt the residual from the illness but needed the gym today so just gave myself time to catch my breath between exercises as I was sucking wind. Could use comments because I felt spent but just seems like there should have been more volume. My lats felt more pumped than on many days prior but it was just so quick!

Back
Close grip pull downs
W/u x 12
Feeler set x 12
W set x 1 with r/p x 3 to hit 11 - concentrated on pullung shoulders together with good posture and felt it big time upper back; 20 s rest between reps

Seated cable rows, straight bar should width grip
W/u x 12 @ 120
W set x 12 @ 150 w r/p x 2

Standing bent over cable rows, straigh bar, shoulder width grip
Feeler set 42.5 x 12
W set 67.5 w/ r/p x 3 to 13 - really concentrated on pulling shoulders together, a little more upright than usual and felt laser focus in lats. Was sweating like a pig when done.

Can't help but think I should have added one more routine but I swear I gave it everything on each exercise. I even imagined Marcus yelling in my ear to get one more rep and it helped on the halfs and quarters for sure! Knee was too sore or would have considered a dead lift session but I think still fatigued from yesterday so felt good enough to maintain, just not sure if good enough to get gains - hate to waste even one day on go juice. Could really use some comments here guys.

This is only wk 2 of the HIT application so will hit it for another 2 wks per ag's suggestion and change up routine then also.

Maybe add in a replacement exercise for back since you gutted out triceps? Everyone has their own little preferences, but I like:

Crunches to get things warmed up
Either Wide grip or close grip pulldown. ( I vary the grip width from lift to lift. Also the grip orientation; overhand one time, underhand the next lift).
Parallel grip pulldown w/ the short straight bar that has a "D" handle on each end.
Tbar rows or Kel's hack of spider rows by doing supported rows in the Smythe machine. (Excellent exercise. Doesn't take much weight when you start either. Also, Kel has mentioned how convenient of an exercise it is for rest-pause, and it really is).
D'bell rows
Seated rows- Close grip w/ the V-shaped handle or wide grip using the cambered bar with "D" handles at the end.
Hyperextensions
and/or
Deadlifts from shins or rack pulls.

Keep in mind my preferences are based on what equipment I have, so you may have many more options. Just kind of play it through your head in advance and when you get there, jump in and hit it.
If I notice my close grip seated row weights getting towards the limit of my cable system, I'll superset d'bell rows (simultaneous) with seated close grip rows.

Edit: You're doing fine, Trail. It just takes a bit to find your groove, mentally and physically. I see your comment about knee pain knocking out deads as an option. How about hyperextensions?
Anyway, I just prefer to start at the top of the back and work the muscle groups from top to bottom of the back. By the time you get to the lower back, you should defo be filled with blood and fairly fatigued which keeps the dead lift or rack pull weights down.

Later on, after you get settled into HIT, try stuff like getting down to partial reps w/ a long 10 count hold on the contraction of the last partial rep and then let it ease into a very slow negative out to a good stretch. That will f-in set your mid and upper back on fire. However, I never would do something like that on deads. Too risky, or at least for me.
Another option would be maybe a slow 5 count positive, slow 5 count hold, slow 5 count negative on every rep for just one exercise out of all your exercises. Again, I wouldn't do these on deads either.

[almostgone]

^^^ Sorry for all of the edits in the post above, Trail.

Also, that's just one person's take. I think everyone in here has their own tweaks/hacks of the way they like do things/what works well for them. That makes it really easy to pull lifts from different routines and come up with your own favorite. It takes a while to try so many versions, but it is f-in fun, and there's always new stuff being implemented by someone.

[marcus300]

All great point's AG.
I can't type at the moment but trail I'll get back to you soon with some comments but sounds like your getting there. Back is hard work hitting it correctly and you did. Give me couple of days I'll be back

[TRA]

Maybe add in a replacement exercise for back since you gutted out triceps? Everyone has their own little preferences, but I like:

Crunches to get things warmed up
Either Wide grip or close grip pulldown. ( I vary the grip width from lift to lift. Also the grip orientation; overhand one time, underhand the next lift).
Parallel grip pulldown w/ the short straight bar that has a "D" handle on each end.
Tbar rows or Kel's hack of spider rows by doing supported rows in the Smythe machine. (Excellent exercise. Doesn't take much weight when you start either. Also, Kel has mentioned how convenient of an exercise it is for rest-pause, and it really is).
D'bell rows
Seated rows- Close grip w/ the V-shaped handle or wide grip using the cambered bar with "D" handles at the end.
Hyperextensions
and/or
Deadlifts from shins or rack pulls.

Keep in mind my preferences are based on what equipment I have, so you may have many more options. Just kind of play it through your head in advance and when you get there, jump in and hit it.
If I notice my close grip seated row weights getting towards the limit of my cable system, I'll superset d'bell rows (simultaneous) with seated close grip rows.

Edit: You're doing fine, Trail. It just takes a bit to find your groove, mentally and physically. I see your comment about knee pain knocking out deads as an option. How about hyperextensions?
Anyway, I just prefer to start at the top of the back and work the muscle groups from top to bottom of the back. By the time you get to the lower back, you should defo be filled with blood and fairly fatigued which keeps the dead lift or rack pull weights down.

Later on, after you get settled into HIT, try stuff like getting down to partial reps w/ a long 10 count hold on the contraction of the last partial rep and then let it ease into a very slow negative out to a good stretch. That will f-in set your mid and upper back on fire. However, I never would do something like that on deads. Too risky, or at least for me.
Another option would be maybe a slow 5 count positive, slow 5 count hold, slow 5 count negative on every rep for just one exercise out of all your exercises. Again, I wouldn't do these on deads either.

Very helpful, thank you very much! Confirms my intuition in that there was room (and need) for more volume. I agree with deads at end of lift so they are taxing but not as heavy for reduced risk of injury. I have avoided hyperextensions because of the inability to straighten my knee out in the set up, but now it's actually indicated to get it into full extension and the hypers should do just that. I will add that for sure. Do you do same rep range (after I do some high volume to get low back used to movement) as other - shooting for 8-12 and failure? I have done them in the past holding plate if needed.

So I think I may have hit some HIT but just incompletely so for the whole back. Better than nothing so will do it up next time. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

[almostgone]

Very helpful, thank you very much! Confirms my intuition in that there was room (and need) for more volume. I agree with deads at end of lift so they are taxing but not as heavy for reduced risk of injury. I have avoided hyperextensions because of the inability to straighten my knee out in the set up, but now it's actually indicated to get it into full extension and the hypers should do just that. I will add that for sure. Do you do same rep range (after I do some high volume to get low back used to movement) as other - shooting for 8-12 and failure? I have done them in the past holding plate if needed.

So I think I may have hit some HIT but just incompletely so for the whole back. Better than nothing so will do it up next time. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

On the hypers, I started off with bodyweight and worked the higher reps until I felt like I had built up some endurance and quick recovery in that area (previous low back injuries led me to do that) and then I graduated to higher rep hypers followed by relatively light deads and have slowly been working my weights up on deads. I don't do deads every lift because the hypers really do the trick. Hope that makes sense; I'm not the best at explaining via writing.
As far as my post, no problem. We all help each other in here and we all suffer together.

[almostgone]

Marcus has some really useful info/write ups he'll post up that will give a lot of insight and food for thought. Once you apply some of it, things just kind of progress from there.

[TRA]

On the hypers, I started off with bodyweight and worked the higher reps until I felt like I had built up some endurance and quick recovery in that area (previous low back injuries led me to do that) and then I graduated to higher rep hypers followed by relatively light deads and have slowly been working my weights up on deads. I don't do deads every lift because the hypers really do the trick. Hope that makes sense; I'm not the best at explaining via writing.
As far as my post, no problem. We all help each other in here and we all suffer together.

Yep, I get it perfectly. I think you explain things in a very straight forward manner. That answers my question exactly on the hypers and I like that idea with low back, especially at my age. I have had no significant low back problems (knock on wood!) but my lumbar xray looks like a train wreck. This means that if I'm reckless I could buy some issues, but based on history I can also thrive, so again I like the idea of low weight volumes. Thanks!

[almostgone]

OK, guys and gals, time to get horizontal. Catch up with y'all later on.

[almostgone]

Now that was some decent sleep! Think I'm going for a early walk in the country while it is still dark.

[songdog]

Good morning Marcus Cape Nach Ag Clarky!

[NACH3]

Good morning Marcus Cape Nach Ag Clarky!

Morning/afternoon AG, Marcus, Cape, TRAZ, Clarky, Kel, and everyone whose apart of this thread!

Chest is still trashed... still hurts to the touch at the top delt Pec tie ins(moreso on the chest side obviously) shoulder is right big looking to get some back or arms done depending on the contraction for back if I can bring the elbows and pull the shoulders all the way back in a deep ROM!

Hope you all are having great day and a good w/e

[GirlyGymRat]

My invite must have gotten lost....again....

I wasn't in charge of inviting

[GirlyGymRat]

Just finished the annual hearing test. Pretty sure the trailer they give the hearing tests in is used for porn on the side or something. Every trailer they've sent for the last 15+ years has smelled the same; a very strong odor of urine, sex, and regret.

NFW. I'ld be throwing up...or dry heaving!

[GirlyGymRat]

Guess my invite got lost in my spam folder?

I wasn't in charge of the invitations. :/

Definitely need men on a pedal trolley....for the uphill grades. Lol

[GirlyGymRat]

Off to the gym, grocery shopping then meal prep! Report back later!

[almostgone]

I wasn't in charge of the invitations. :/

Definitely need men on a pedal trolley....for the uphill grades. Lol

You sent out invitations?

[TRA]

Off to the gym for shoulders. Getting in the right frame of mind to attack it. Busy weekend so going to try and dial in and just right up in my head for good mind/muscle connection and give it everything I've got for the duration. Will post up later.

[NACH3]

I wasn't in charge of the invitations. :/

Definitely need men on a pedal trolley....for the uphill grades. Lol

You know I'm in

[TRA]

Better session on shoulders than last time for sure. Took the advice I was given and did isolations first, really made a difference. I know the focus is intensity but man, there are some big boys where I go to work out and I was a little disappointed only throwing up 25#DB side lateral raises. I do them seated so get concentration right on the delt - when I stand up even without the swing that some guys do I can get 30 -35s up so I know it's not hitting all delt, therefore I choose the seated. It was really hard not standing up so I could throw more weight, haha, but I want results.

Seated front raise, alternating DB, palms facing in
1 w/u x 12
1 feeler x 12
1 w set x 8, failure with halfs/quarters
1 w set x 11 w r/p
Not sure why, but I love front DB raises and front cable raises. Ever since I started bring hand more to center at an angle that hits anterior delt better I have loved them

Seated side laterals
1 w/u x 12
1 feeler set x 12
1 w set x 9
1 w set x 13 w r/p

Seated rear delt rows, Body Master plate machine
1 w/u x 12
1 w set x 8
1 w set x 11 w r/p

Seated Body Master shoulder press
1 w/u x 12
1 feeler set/w set x 12
1 w set x 13 w r/p

Seated decline Body Master shoulder press
1 feeler x 12
1 w set x 13 2 r/p x2 then drops to hit 13

I did half/quarter reps after failure on all sets. Rest time between sets 30 s, 15 s r/p. I feel like I can more if I extend rest time but I was able to manage it and felt pretty decimated. I think it was decent but not what I want yet. Focus a little off, lots going on. Took my son to his flag football game before lifting and fiancé went along, ex was there and this was first time both present at same place so that was fun. I think next time I'll just stay home and slam my scrotum in a drawer for 45 min to get the same experience.

[GirlyGymRat]

Decided on this

Warm up crunches and side Mountain climbers

Overhead pull downs
Assisted pull-ups
Incline row
Rear delt fly
Lat pull downs
Incline row
dB row
Roman chair back ext, weighted
Alternating Hammer curls
Bicep curls
Concentration curls

Done.

[songdog]

Decided on this

Warm up crunches and side Mountain climbers

Overhead pull downs
Assisted pull-ups
Incline row
Rear delt fly
Lat pull downs
Incline row
dB row
Roman chair back ext, weighted
Alternating Hammer curls
Bicep curls
Concentration curls

Done.

About time we thought you forgot where the gym was

[Capebuffalo]

Decided on this

Warm up crunches and side Mountain climbers

Overhead pull downs
Assisted pull-ups
Incline row
Rear delt fly
Lat pull downs
Incline row
dB row
Roman chair back ext, weighted
Alternating Hammer curls
Bicep curls
Concentration curls

Done.

7 back movements? All today?

[GirlyGymRat]

7 back movements? All today?

I like pain. Lol. I'm not in beast mode...yet.

[almostgone]

Fvvvvck! I think I may have been suffering from burnout. I just slept another 8.5 hours. Going to stretch and watch a movie with Mrs. AG.
Plan to waddle down to the shop in a few hours. My legs are still woefully wrecked.

[almostgone]

Drawing my TRT+ shot, maybe that will do the trick.

[marcus300]

Very helpful, thank you very much! Confirms my intuition in that there was room (and need) for more volume. I agree with deads at end of lift so they are taxing but not as heavy for reduced risk of injury. I have avoided hyperextensions because of the inability to straighten my knee out in the set up, but now it's actually indicated to get it into full extension and the hypers should do just that. I will add that for sure. Do you do same rep range (after I do some high volume to get low back used to movement) as other - shooting for 8-12 and failure? I have done them in the past holding plate if needed.

So I think I may have hit some HIT but just incompletely so for the whole back. Better than nothing so will do it up next time. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

I think reading back AG really put some great points forward regarding your back session. With back workouts its extremely hard to do HIT straight away because many will use to much weight which will result in yours arms being more involved than the back and your positioning being off ie like a rounded back or swinging. I know I bit of swing at certain times is needed coming to an end of a set but not from the first rep. Its all about mind muscle with the back and that's very hard to get so go light or use a weight were you can feel your back contract and not your arms pull, use a weight were you can feel your back open up and contract and concentrate on crushing that walnut between your blades. Once you got the mind muscle tied in you can start adding more and more weight but even the negative part of the pulldown or rows need to be triggering your back muscles and not just release of a rep. The back needs to feel the negative part of that rep and the positive this will increase your ability to fix in that mind muscle connection.

Also if something feels easy its probably not doing you any good regarding muscle growth, every bit of tissue ive built as been hardwork to build. I don't just sit at easy movements repping out I hit hard arsed movements what take your breath away and you know why, because its one or two sets to failure and beyond for around 30-45 seconds of hell and I know that's it. Its in my head all I've got to do is recruit every fiber possible on this set and I am done, there is no point in anymore because its been worked to it fullest.

Good tip like AG said know your limitations regarding how long you can attack your body in this fashion done overtrain and go on for weeks on end. feel and know were your limit is. I was around 8 weeks but its come down the older I've got and also the rest days have increased. I was before I had these health issues was doing one body part every 7-10 days and I was still holding and maintaining size which was around 270lbs without cycling, just trt.

Your mind set is key, never under estimate what your capable of doing. There are only weights and your only lifting or pulling them so feel the mind think about that working set, feel the weight, release the aggression inside for that working set, make sure your fully warmed up and do what your there for to train and build something what most cant even think about

[marcus300]

Better session on shoulders than last time for sure. Took the advice I was given and did isolations first, really made a difference. I know the focus is intensity but man, there are some big boys where I go to work out and I was a little disappointed only throwing up 25#DB side lateral raises. I do them seated so get concentration right on the delt - when I stand up even without the swing that some guys do I can get 30 -35s up so I know it's not hitting all delt, therefore I choose the seated. It was really hard not standing up so I could throw more weight, haha, but I want results.

Seated front raise, alternating DB, palms facing in
1 w/u x 12
1 feeler x 12
1 w set x 8, failure with halfs/quarters
1 w set x 11 w r/p
Not sure why, but I love front DB raises and front cable raises. Ever since I started bring hand more to center at an angle that hits anterior delt better I have loved them

Seated side laterals
1 w/u x 12
1 feeler set x 12
1 w set x 9
1 w set x 13 w r/p

Seated rear delt rows, Body Master plate machine
1 w/u x 12
1 w set x 8
1 w set x 11 w r/p

Seated Body Master shoulder press
1 w/u x 12
1 feeler set/w set x 12
1 w set x 13 w r/p

Seated decline Body Master shoulder press
1 feeler x 12
1 w set x 13 2 r/p x2 then drops to hit 13

I did half/quarter reps after failure on all sets. Rest time between sets 30 s, 15 s r/p. I feel like I can more if I extend rest time but I was able to manage it and felt pretty decimated. I think it was decent but not what I want yet. Focus a little off, lots going on. Took my son to his flag football game before lifting and fiancé went along, ex was there and this was first time both present at same place so that was fun. I think next time I'll just stay home and slam my scrotum in a drawer for 45 min to get the same experience.

Good session and don't worry about weight doing laterals. Also go to a minute rest between sets but it shouldn't be of big concern because your only doing one working set! the other warm up sets and feeler sets go with how you feel, sometimes you may need more feeler sets to get the weight just right to hit your rep range and finish with half's and quarters. By the way love doing those the pain is extreme and love do it to complete totally failure of the positive side well done

[DCI]

Rest day for me hear. Been doing some cardio this week and will try and continue with it next week too but work is gonna be hectic.

The latter end of the week is now my time to train really.

[clarky.]

Afternoon fellas/ ladies.

[NACH3]

What's up fellas ladies

Great lift Girly!

Got in there late last night but did some delts and tris thinking legs today

Hope your all habing a great w/e and enjoy your Sunday's all!

[Capebuffalo]

Well I have found myself at work for the 7th day in a row. Go ahead and add another 5 to that for this week. Maybe next weekend?

[GirlyGymRat]

Chest and tries today. More than a tad sore from yesterday and I love that

[GirlyGymRat]

Warm crunches and broom sticks
dB flies
Seated press
Machine flies
dB press
Tri extensions
Seated tricep dips
OH cable tris

30 min incline treadmill tabata 20 sec run 10 secs walk Killer!

[TRA]

I think reading back AG really put some great points forward regarding your back session. With back workouts its extremely hard to do HIT straight away because many will use to much weight which will result in yours arms being more involved than the back and your positioning being off ie like a rounded back or swinging. I know I bit of swing at certain times is needed coming to an end of a set but not from the first rep. Its all about mind muscle with the back and that's very hard to get so go light or use a weight were you can feel your back contract and not your arms pull, use a weight were you can feel your back open up and contract and concentrate on crushing that walnut between your blades. Once you got the mind muscle tied in you can start adding more and more weight but even the negative part of the pulldown or rows need to be triggering your back muscles and not just release of a rep. The back needs to feel the negative part of that rep and the positive this will increase your ability to fix in that mind muscle connection.

Also if something feels easy its probably not doing you any good regarding muscle growth, every bit of tissue ive built as been hardwork to build. I don't just sit at easy movements repping out I hit hard arsed movements what take your breath away and you know why, because its one or two sets to failure and beyond for around 30-45 seconds of hell and I know that's it. Its in my head all I've got to do is recruit every fiber possible on this set and I am done, there is no point in anymore because its been worked to it fullest.

Good tip like AG said know your limitations regarding how long you can attack your body in this fashion done overtrain and go on for weeks on end. feel and know were your limit is. I was around 8 weeks but its come down the older I've got and also the rest days have increased. I was before I had these health issues was doing one body part every 7-10 days and I was still holding and maintaining size which was around 270lbs without cycling, just trt.

Your mind set is key, never under estimate what your capable of doing. There are only weights and your only lifting or pulling them so feel the mind think about that working set, feel the weight, release the aggression inside for that working set, make sure your fully warmed up and do what your there for to train and build something what most cant even think about

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to reply and give good info. AG's was good too. Hard to lack motivation with you guys here. Still working on the mind/muscle connection. I spent a lot of time getting the aggression guy mellowed, haha, so thinking of new ways to approach and what to channel for the lifts. Moving towards quiet mind with detachment from the pain, like the "still water" mind in martial arts where there is pain on the outside but the mind is calm without a ripple. I started this on the last back exercise and it worked pretty well.