**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[Hazard]

Drugs only go so far. I so have a script for ambien but it doesn't really work anymore unless I take 2 and then I have a hangover. I've tried everything trust me. drugs are for acute cases. Mine is chronic. I've learned to live with it.

That sucks man..... I've been havin trouble lately. Can't sleep till 2:30-3am

[Java Man]

That sucks man..... I've been havin trouble lately. Can't sleep till 2:30-3am

Nyquil actually works better than ambien for me. I've never tried zzzquil but the formula is basically nyquil without acetaminophen. Should work as well.?

[Capebuffalo]

Shoulders and Tricep today

I am sick and nauseous. I want to throw up. That means only one thing...
I had a fantastic work out. It brings these words to mind

Palm trees bad bitches and wanna bees
O.G.'s like me eatin on polyseeds
Now laters, jellybeans, and wallabees

Shoulder

DB Shoulder Press 2 warm 1working
10/10 45x12 70x8 100x failed to press 3 attempts. Sucks
10/16 45x10 75x7 90x5 drop

Side Lateral Raises 1 warm 1 working
35x10 45x6. Partials x 4. Drop 30x 3. Partial x 3
35x8 50x8. Partials. Drop

Low Pull Delt Raises 1 working
50x6
60x4 double drop


Reverse DB Flyes 1 warm 1 working
35x8. 50x6
50x5 60x4 drop

Tricep Pushdowns 1 warm 1 working
100x10. 200x6 that's the stack
130x12 200 the stack added quarter plate(225x8) double drop

Lying Tricep Extensions EZ Curl 1 warm 1 working
70x10. 100x4 failure. I pressed weight up and did true negatives x4
80x10 110x5 drop

Seated Tricep Press DB 1 warm 1 working
60x10. 80x6
75x8 85x4

[marcus300]

This is just a reminder how I go about my training, many of you use different HIT approaches which is fine but for me these below work and they will also help some of you have a better understanding what this style is all about. I've seen many training styles being mixed up but I just want to get this out there for the people who are getting confused. It also explains some of the terminology I and others use.

Rep range
The ideal rep range for building size and stimulating hypertrophy is the 6 to 12 reps. Less than 6 reps will more or less increase strength and a degree of size, performing more than 12 reps will help build muscle endurance. Make sure that your reps fall within this range and your hitting true positive failure for the best chance of hypertrpohy. If your implementing one of the beyond failure methods such as forced & negs, rest pause or dropsetting you use a weight what is heavy enough to bring your positive failure at the low end of the rep range. An example for rest pause you use a weight what you will hit true positive failure at around the 4th rep then you would rest for around 10-15 seconds and do another couple of reps, then rest again for another 10-15 seconds and hit another 2 reps with the same weight. In total your doing 8 reps which is within range and your going to failure on each rest pause so you have a high chance of stimulating the right fibers to produce the best gains. As your rep range and strength increases towards a total of 12 reps you simple increase the weight being used so your constantly increasing intensity and overload, the two keys principles of any HIT programme. You use feeler sets to determine what weight you will be using on your working set, as you use different methods like dropsetting always makes sure you don't drop the weight to much so your not going over 12 reps in total. If you are you need to be using heavier weight on the drops so your rep range hits below the 12 reps in total. I always like to use around the 8 rep range in total and increase the reps upwards until I feel i can increase the weight so my rep range falls around the 8 rep range again. We are aiming for maximum muscle fiber recruitment hitting these rep ranges at failure will have the greatest potential for muscular growth. The above advice is for someone who is already advanced and is looking to build bigger thicker muscles, its not for someone who is building a base and foundation because these people can really benefit from using a lower rep range aswell as the above.


Stimulating growth
Remember going to true positive failure like I've describe previously hits the toughest muscle fibers what grow the biggest these are the fast twitch type 2b fibers, you hit these fibers and you will have the biggest chance of increasing in size. What we are aiming for is progression overload so you keep hitting the muscles with an increased weight so they need to change and adapt to the overload its being put under. This kind of continuous stress will have a reaction on the body and it will have no other alternative but to grow. We keep within the right rep range what stimulates the biggest growth and we continuously try and increase the intensity by increasing the reps then once the reps increase you increase the weight to bring the reps down within the correct range again. I can't stress enough about taking your muscle to true positive failure, this takes a lot of mental preparation. Before any muscle contraction occurs it originates from the brain sending signals to the nerves, the stronger the signal the more forceful the muscle contraction, in other words control your mind set pre working set and you will be in the best position to take your body to failure and beyond. I've commented many times how I go about doing my mental preparation but you master the mental side and you will see huge leaps in achieving your goals.Release the aggression by talking to your inner self and you will take your body to places its never been before. Stimulate growth by overloading your body to a state were its screaming for you to stop and no matter what you couldn't do one more rep even if your life depended on it, if you don't train in this fashion your not training hard enough.

Advanced training techniques
Forced and negatives
When your going to be implementing forced and negatives you need to be using a weight what your going to be hitting around the 3-4 rep range at true positive failure, then your spotter with help you with another 2 reps. I say 2 reps because its about the limit you can do once you have come to true positive failure and your partner is taking some of the weight off you, these forced reps will dig very deep into your muscle fiber recruitment. Once you have finished the forced reps the weight will be at the starting position and you start to complete negatives by lowering the weight very slowly, make sure you resist and fight the weight coming down and once at the bottom your partner will assist you to get the weight to the top of again and you will do another negative and you keep going until you cant do another negative, usually its around 2 negatives. Negatives done at this stage of a working set after positive muscle failure causes serious trauma to the muscle which will stimulate the release of growth factors. Your also 40% stronger on the eccentric part of the lift so once you hit failure in the lifting part of the exercise by yourself and adding forced with your partner the negatives will take you beyond and recruit further fibres like nothing I've experienced with any other training routine. Once this as been hit there is no need to do anything else because the damage has occurred and no more can be recruited only burn out and exhaustion. If we add the reps up you would be doing around 3-4 reps on the positive then 2 forced and then around 2 negative so in total your hitting around the 8 rep range. You have 3 strengths you have the positive, static and negative, the negative causes the most damage to the muscle and is the biggest cause of DOMS, you master negatives and you will see a huge improvement in muscle size and fullness.

Rest Pause
Again use a weight what you will be hitting true positive failure around the 3-4 reps range, put the weight down and rest for around 10-15 seconds which should give you around another 2 reps, then repeat and rest again and hit another 2+ reps again. Your completing a set of around 8 reps than you would normally use but your rest a couple of times within the set for around 10-15 second so you recover just enough to complete another 2 reps each time. This will recruit those tough type 2b muscle fibers and if you use your feeler sets correctly you can really cause some serious damage to your muscle and create an extreme amount of over load your body isn't use to. I like the 8 rep total mark but this isn't set in stone, you may prefer 10 reps in total or even 6 but just try and makes ure your in the 6-12 rep range and work from that to increase the intensity and overload.

Drop sets
This method needs a bit more thinking about but first lets explain what a drop set is. If we use DB curls for an example you would pick a weight again were you would be hitting around 3-4 reps at true positive failure and then get a set of lighter DB's and rep again for another couple of reps and then drop the weight again and curl another set of lighter bells for another 2-3 reps. You have to make sure you drop the weight enough to make sure you get around 2-3 reps out at failure but make sure you don't drop the weight to much, if your repping loads of reps out remember your trying to be hitting around the 8 rep range so when your doing your feeler sets its crucial to make the lighter db set just enough so you keep within the total rep range.

Halfs/quarters or partials
With partials you are doing a standard working set to which will involve you conducting a strict full range of motion to true positive failure, at this stage you would carry on doing half reps until its impossible to complete another half rep then do a quarter reps right down till you cant move the weight. A fine example would be DB side laterals were you would do strict reps till failure then carry on doing half reps so the DB's are only coming up half way then keep going till your hardly moving the weight from the side. There will be a bit of body assistance and sloppy form come into play towards the end but at this stage its fine just to get those deep muscle fibers working by going beyond failure. Extremely effective way to recruit those tough fibers we require with a constant tension approach.

Hit Supersets
Hit supersets entail you doing one exercise right after another with very little rest as in-between the two movements. With these types of supersets your still hitting the 6-12 rep range so your not doing anymore than 12 reps over two exercises, this is very important. Example you would go to true positive failure lets say on DB shoulder press and be at failure around the 5-6 rep then go straight into db side laterals for another 6 reps at the most which would be failure again. You have to make sure you use the right weight to hit the correct rep range so you don't go over the 12 rep ceiling otherwise you will trigger the muscle endurance and exhaustion and you wont tap into the tough fibers we require. Great examples is coupling compounds movements with isolation.


Combination
This protocol would consist of a combination of any of the above methods, you could use rest pause and on the second rest pause you may not be able to do anymore reps so you could go straight into a drop set to finish the working set of to failure and beyond. You could even use drop sets with partials on the last drop set to really increase the burn and intensity. The combination is endless, its how you feel to complete the workings set and what you need to do to make sure its a productive one. These are great for a back up plan if your working set starts to go wrong for any reason.

Rest
Using the above protocols is extremely tasking on your body and CNS so you need to make sure the training session are short but intense enough to stimulate growth. You also need to make sure you rest enough and have a good solid diet to suit your requirements. There is one thing for sure its impossible to train like this correctly for weeks on end, no matter how anabolic you are your going to need to pull back on the above movements and decrease the intensity and let the body fully repair and heal. This doesn't mean you have to stop training in this style just take a pullback training routine for a few weeks and lower the intensity and increase the rest days. Cortisol will fight against muscle growth so if you experience any over training symptoms its time to change things around to help your body repair and heal.


Feel sets
The feel sets are sets what you will do previous your working set, these sets are done so you can determine what weight you will be doing on your working set. Sometimes on my first feeler set it feels light and I'm very powerful so the next feeler set I will put some poundage on and see how that feels, again if that feels easy I know I can go heavier on my working set. I also take in consideration what I am going to be doing whether its forced and negs or rest pause or drops, I just judge a weight what I will be hitting failure around the 4th - 6th rep mark or less and then incorporate the beyond failure protocols. I also remember what I did last time I did that movement because in the back of my mind I know I have to overload my body. I am always pushing heavier weights or trying to increase the intensity.

Nutrition
Food is a major player when we are building muscle tissue or shredding bf. We need to eat enough energy releasing foods to fuel our workouts and also to promote muscle building. Nutrition is a very individual thing and nothing is set in stone no matter who tells you it is, its not. We are all different and have different levels of activity and we need to establish a baseline diet and work off this to suit your needs and goals. Make no mistake if you want to grow bigger thicker muscles than your going to have to eat big, train big and be consistent with everything you do. Once you establish your maintenance diet you can put a strategy together to add muscle and body weight or shred body fat. Learning how your body responds to different amounts of calories will be one most beneficial things you can do because this will open a plan to determine how you go about attacking and achieving your goals.

[kelkel]

palm trees bad bitches and wanna bees
o.g.'s like me eatin on polyseeds
now laters, jellybeans, and wallabees

wtf?

[kelkel]

Great summary above Marcus.

[Capebuffalo]

wtf?

Feeling full of myself. Quoted Snoop Dogg Lion whoever. Lol.

[kelkel]

Feeling full of myself. Quoted Snoop Dogg Lion whoever. Lol.

Ah, don't have him in my 8-track collection.

[Capebuffalo]

Ah, don't have him in my 8-track collection.

Thought you'd have reel to reel.

My back is still pumped from yesterday. I'm pleased.

[DCI]

Ah, don't have him in my 8-track collection.

8 tracks are great don't skip or anything on a bumpy road

[Hazard]

My back is sore from Mondays workout.... I'm very pleased

[Igifuno]

Nice.. My back is on fire today as well. Contemplating taking the day off. Shoulders next.

[RipOwens]

Ah, don't have him in my 8-track collection.

What's an 8-track? Lol

[DCI]

My back is sore from Mondays workout.... I'm very pleased

Same lol didnt feel great the next day but still sore, rest tonight just wrecked tired today and yesterday

[kelkel]

What's an 8-track? Lol

The nerve.

[Fcastle357]

Just catching up on some of the posts here. Marcus and cape I like that you guys tell of your struggles and your off days as well as the good days. I gain a lot of info on how you fight through the "off days" and keep going. Its easy to lift when things are going well and you have lots of energy but when things start to grind a little it can be tough to push through. For me I have to remember where I came from and where I want to go. I'm a perfectionist whos never done anything perfect and need to remember that a shit day isn't going to ruin me. I'ts good to hear that even monsters have bad days.

[Capebuffalo]

Just catching up on some of the posts here. Marcus and cape I like that you guys tell of your struggles and your off days as well as the good days. I gain a lot of info on how you fight through the "off days" and keep going. Its easy to lift when things are going well and you have lots of energy but when things start to grind a little it can be tough to push through. For me I have to remember where I came from and where I want to go. I'm a perfectionist whos never done anything perfect and need to remember that a shit day isn't going to ruin me. I'ts good to hear that even monsters have bad days.

Training, dealing with a significant other, work or even a nap, some days will be better than others. And some will be great.

Funny you shoulder post that. I didn't get the 100 lbs db up for shoulders for the second week in a row. I didn't even mention it today. It's the first thing I did and mentally set me back for a few minutes. But I had a lot more to do and was going to stimulate every fiber I could at that point. I had a great work out. Even wound up adding weight to the stack for tris. No PB for shoulders but a huge one for tricep. Glad to help

[kelkel]

Legs today. Knee still a little sore.

Vertical leg presses: One set with RP then drop
Squats: One set with RP. Underestimated the weight today. Normally I stay a bit lighter on the days I squat second as a way to give myself a break. Got under with my target weight and after a handful of reps though wow, much easier than normal, not stopping now and cranked out 15 or so.
Extensions: Two sets. Double drop on last.
Curls: Same as above
Standing and seated calves.

Brief, hard and heavy!

Knee felt much better after I got going and I was very happy with the workout. Based on how I feel now I'll be sore the next couple days.

From the dungeon today:



DMSO and Aleeve already injested and on!

[Capebuffalo]

Legs today. Knee still a little sore.

Vertical leg presses: One set with RP then drop
Squats: One set with RP. Underestimated the weight today. Normally I stay a bit lighter on the days I squat second as a way to give myself a break. Got under with my target weight and after a handful of reps though wow, much easier than normal, not stopping now and cranked out 15 or so.
Extensions: Two sets. Double drop on last.
Curls: Same as above
Standing and seated calves.

Brief, hard and heavy!

Knee felt much better after I got going and I was very happy with the workout. Based on how I feel now I'll be sore the next couple days.

From the dungeon today:



DMSO and Aleeve already injested and on!

Man I love hating you. . Those legs are sick. Looks like you had a damn nice session. Good job Kel

Please take that as a great complement.

[Cuz]

Legs today. Knee still a little sore.

Vertical leg presses: One set with RP then drop
Squats: One set with RP. Underestimated the weight today. Normally I stay a bit lighter on the days I squat second as a way to give myself a break. Got under with my target weight and after a handful of reps though wow, much easier than normal, not stopping now and cranked out 15 or so.
Extensions: Two sets. Double drop on last.
Curls: Same as above
Standing and seated calves.

Brief, hard and heavy!

Knee felt much better after I got going and I was very happy with the workout. Based on how I feel now I'll be sore the next couple days.

From the dungeon today:



DMSO and Aleeve already injested and on!

Let me borrow some of that road map you got there bud lol, a small metropolis down there.

[Capebuffalo]

Let me borrow some of that road map you got there bud lol, a small metropolis down there.

I said it the other day he wold be Rand McNally's nightmare with all those roads. Lol

[Cuz]

Shoulders and Tricep today

I am sick and nauseous. I want to throw up. That means only one thing...
I had a fantastic work out. It brings these words to mind

Palm trees bad bitches and wanna bees
O.G.'s like me eatin on polyseeds
Now laters, jellybeans, and wallabees

Shoulder

DB Shoulder Press 2 warm 1working
10/10 45x12 70x8 100x failed to press 3 attempts. Sucks
10/16 45x10 75x7 90x5 drop

Side Lateral Raises 1 warm 1 working
35x10 45x6. Partials x 4. Drop 30x 3. Partial x 3
35x8 50x8. Partials. Drop

Low Pull Delt Raises 1 working
50x6
60x4 double drop


Reverse DB Flyes 1 warm 1 working
35x8. 50x6
50x5 60x4 drop

Tricep Pushdowns 1 warm 1 working
100x10. 200x6 that's the stack
130x12 200 the stack added quarter plate(225x8) double drop

Lying Tricep Extensions EZ Curl 1 warm 1 working
70x10. 100x4 failure. I pressed weight up and did true negatives x4
80x10 110x5 drop

Seated Tricep Press DB 1 warm 1 working
60x10. 80x6
75x8 85x4

amidst all the chaos on my last set I don't why I couldn't think to just press the weight up and do negs. Dang, will do next time. Workout looks smooth and simple. What kind of pushdowns are you doing that is some crazy ass weight. The machines at my gym must be different because 120 is hard as hell for me to do and even harder to stay balanced?

[Cuz]

I said it the other day he wold be Rand McNally's nightmare with all those roads. Lol

Aint that the damn truth lol

[MajorPectorial]

amidst all the chaos on my last set I don't why I couldn't think to just press the weight up and do negs. Dang, will do next time. Workout looks smooth and simple. What kind of pushdowns are you doing that is some crazy ass weight. The machines at my gym must be different because 120 is hard as hell for me to do and even harder to stay balanced?

Yeh some cable machines seem light for this too. Like 80kg. Use lat pull down the rack usually got more on it. Dunno what 80kg in lbs is tho like x 2.4 I think

[Rusty11]

Awesome post, marcus. Read it this morning and been thinking about it all day. Came home and destroyed my legs.

Let me add that this is info that I'll be re-reading again and again.

[kelkel]

Man I love hating you. . Those legs are sick. Looks like you had a damn nice session. Good job Kel

Please take that as a great complement.

And I do.

[kelkel]

Awesome post, marcus. Read it this morning and been thinking about it all day. Came home and destroyed my legs.

Let me add that this is info that I'll be re-reading again and again.

Awesome!

[Capebuffalo]

Feeding time.

[marcus300]

Awesome post, marcus. Read it this morning and been thinking about it all day. Came home and destroyed my legs.

Let me add that this is info that I'll be re-reading again and again.

Glad it could help

[marcus300]

Legs today. Knee still a little sore.

Vertical leg presses: One set with RP then drop
Squats: One set with RP. Underestimated the weight today. Normally I stay a bit lighter on the days I squat second as a way to give myself a break. Got under with my target weight and after a handful of reps though wow, much easier than normal, not stopping now and cranked out 15 or so.
Extensions: Two sets. Double drop on last.
Curls: Same as above
Standing and seated calves.

Brief, hard and heavy!

Knee felt much better after I got going and I was very happy with the workout. Based on how I feel now I'll be sore the next couple days.

From the dungeon today:



DMSO and Aleeve already injested and on!

Those are ripped quads Kel, the natural way your body holds low bf is amazing. I have to fight very hard to keep my levels lows and even when I was under 10% my quads were still not that ripped.

well done

[marcus300]

Nice.. My back is on fire today as well. Contemplating taking the day off. Shoulders next.

If you feel the need to you should, a great back workout really is tasking

[Capebuffalo]

Listening to my body today. I am beat. I'm taking the day off from the gym. Get fueled back up and go hard tomorrow.

Then leave for a 4 hr drive so we can ride Thomas the Tank Engine with hundreds of other children. Good times. Not complaining my son will go crazy. So it's worth it.

[Igifuno]

If you feel the need to you should, a great back workout really is tasking

Glad I did.. Feel great today and looking forward to crushing shoulders/traps/ today.

[Igifuno]

Listening to my body today. I am beat. I'm taking the day off from the gym. Get fueled back up and go hard tomorrow. Then leave for a 4 hr drive so we can ride Thomas the Tank Engine with hundreds of other children. Good times. Not complaining my son will go crazy. So it's worth it.

Smart.. I did that yesterday and my body thanks me today. Ready for battle.

[kelkel]

Listening to my body today. I am beat. I'm taking the day off from the gym. Get fueled back up and go hard tomorrow.

Then leave for a 4 hr drive so we can ride Thomas the Tank Engine with hundreds of other children. Good times. Not complaining my son will go crazy. So it's worth it.

Miss those type days with my son. They go by so damn fast.

[kelkel]

Those are ripped quads Kel, the natural way your body holds low bf is amazing. I have to fight very hard to keep my levels lows and even when I was under 10% my quads were still not that ripped.

well done

Much appreciated big man! I wish I could take responsibility for it but it just seems to be how my metabolism is (natural ectomorph, sorry Cape.) One day it'll take a shiat and slow down. Then maybe I can gain some more weight! I thought this was cool though. Was getting ready for bed last night around 1130 and veins were jumping for unknown reasons. I swear I can feel them at times:

[Hazard]

Lmfao its cool hating you.


Shave those small guns

[Capebuffalo]

Kel that second picture looks like you put a regulation football under your skin.

There's no tie in its just there. Kel is running 23's y'all.

Holy hell man. Haz is right it's fun hating you.

[Rusty11]

Glad it could help

So, marcus talks about a 4-2-2 rep scheme. For the past couple months, I've been doing reps at 8-2-2-2 with DS included sometimes. A 4-2-2-2 setup is something I'm going to start. Change is good. Never done reps this low. I assumed that reps in this range would be more of a strength oriented routine, as opposed to size. Guess I'm wrong again.

[kelkel]

Lmfao its cool hating you.

Shave those small guns

Just glad to help.

Kel that second picture looks like you put a regulation football under your skin.

There's no tie in its just there. Kel is running 23's y'all.

Holy hell man. Haz is right it's fun hating you.

Now that's funny.