**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[Igifuno]

Are you keeping a log? So you remember next time if the weight was light or good?

No I'm not.. I suppose I could for a few weeks to remember the weight and reps...good idea cape

[marcus300]

Repost for someone


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.

..........

[Capebuffalo]

Quick check in. Abs today that's it. Mentally shit but a good workout. Weekend off back at it Monday. Not only am I mentally weak I've broken out all over my chest and shoulders. I know it goes with the territory not bitchen just updating. I can live with acne til it clears. Staying focused on the goal. This thread helps.

What's going on mentally?

[marcus300]

Quick check in. Abs today that's it. Mentally shit but a good workout. Weekend off back at it Monday. Not only am I mentally weak I've broken out all over my chest and shoulders. I know it goes with the territory not bitchen just updating. I can live with acne til it clears. Staying focused on the goal. This thread helps.

?
What's your cyvle and injection protocol. Explain feeling weak with training?

[Fcastle357]

?
What's your cyvle and injection protocol. Explain feeling weak with training?

One week into pct from a 12 week test c cycle
Torem and clomid basic protocol

[Cuz]

Chest for me tonight. Shit I just cant train like I can without the testosterone . Geatting weaker and smaller I can see even though I am eating better and actually more. it doestn matter, without the gear my body just don't process the excess macros....gotta wait till January to go back on.

Im already planning my next cycle. Just gonna cruise and see if I can get my diet down right for the offseason and my training split perfected in the mean time until I go back on.

[Rusty11]

6 -12rep range is good to go. Read my repost and it explains why. Sometimes you can go over if you have judged it wrong doesn't matter so long as the structure of the workout is hitting the right muscle fibers.

Since finally getting my head around this and doing 10 to 12 total reps(which includes DS), things are really growing again....except my stupid chest. Really annoying.

[Igifuno]

Since finally getting my head around this and doing 10 to 12 total reps(which includes DS), things are really growing again....except my stupid chest. Really annoying.

What's your chest routine look like Rusty?

[Rusty11]

Hey bud...
Incline db press. 6-2-2-2
Decline db press. 6-2-2-2
Flat fly. 6-2-2-2
Weight and or reps are increasing. Feels sore next day. But, still semi flat. Maybe my 52 yr old body just ain't gonna grow a chest.
Same order each week. If it was rest, diet, training, other body parts wouldn't be growing. They are. Maybe my chest needs lower weight and more reps.

Give me a new chest routine... I'm getting pissed lately.

[Hazard]

6 -12rep range is good to go. Read my repost and it explains why. Sometimes you can go over if you have judged it wrong doesn't matter so long as the structure of the workout is hitting the right muscle fibers.

I always try to shoot for 10-12 on my feel set. Then I try to go heavy enough to squeeze out 6-8 reps on working

[Hazard]

Since finally getting my head around this and doing 10 to 12 total reps(which includes DS), things are really growing again....except my stupid chest. Really annoying.

Hah! I've got chest issues big time lol!

What's really helping me is incline smith presses and heavy flys.

Smith presses I'm getting 6 hard reps. My chest gets pumped as shit. Then I'm doing heavy flys at a different incline angle. 65-70lb dumbells.

[Hazard]

I'm concentrating on the stretch part of the presses and flys.

When the bar hits my chest I make sure I have a good stretch and then I can feel the muscle contract and work.

[Sfla80]

Hah! I've got chest issues big time lol!

What's really helping me is incline smith presses and heavy flys.

Smith presses I'm getting 6 hard reps. My chest gets pumped as shit. Then I'm doing heavy flys at a different incline angle. 65-70lb dumbells.

Thats whats ive been confused on is angles on incline...too high too low...I use a pre set incline bench that stays at an incline at lowest point and highest is 90 degrees

[Capebuffalo]

Hey bud...
Incline db press. 6-2-2-2
Decline db press. 6-2-2-2
Flat fly. 6-2-2-2
Weight and or reps are increasing. Feels sore next day. But, still semi flat. Maybe my 52 yr old body just ain't gonna grow a chest.
Same order each week. If it was rest, diet, training, other body parts wouldn't be growing. They are. Maybe my chest needs lower weight and more reps.

Give me a new chest routine... I'm getting pissed lately.

Are you saying you're doing 1 set with 3 drops?

[Hazard]

Thats whats ive been confused on is angles on incline...too high too low...I use a pre set incline bench that stays at an incline at lowest point and highest is 90 degrees

I try to vary the angles week to week. But when I do 2 incline movements I try to hit 2 different angles

[Java Man]

41
5-11
Weight? Haven't stepped on a scale in a while.

I do know with my busy week I have not eaten like I should have and this picture will show size loss. I plan to put it back on ASAP. I have to figure this out. Can't be wasting time.

Attachment 146010

Arms

Last day of Light Workouts.

Incline DB Curls
30x10. 35x10 drop 25x8

Preacher Curls
50x10 50x10

Drag Curls
50x10

Straight Bar Cable Press superset Reverse Grip
100/50 x10. 120/60x10

Rope Pulldowns
50x15

What's a drag curl?
Attachment 146032

Seriously, what is it? I've never heard of it.

[kelkel]

What's a drag curl?
Attachment 146032

Seriously, what is it? I've never heard of it.

Think of curling the bar up with it never losing contact with your body. Your elbows are pulling back to do this. You can make it up to about your lower chest level. Old, old school exercise that's still effective, just pretty much forgotten except by us old fvcks....

[Java Man]

Quick check in. Abs today that's it. Mentally shit but a good workout. Weekend off back at it Monday. Not only am I mentally weak I've broken out all over my chest and shoulders. I know it goes with the territory not bitchen just updating. I can live with acne til it clears. Staying focused on the goal. This thread helps.

I had acne really bad on my upper arms for a few months. I tried just about everything. What finally worked is showering immediately when I get home from the gym and 10% benzoyl peroxide (I'm using zapzyt) three times a day.dried my arms up within 2 weeks. Its almost completely gone now.

[Java Man]

of course, you know I appreciate it and find it very valuable. Its a long term learning process..

Now that you mention it, I do tend to select weight where I'll get 6-10 reps on a drop set. I'll make a point to reduce weight only slightly going forward and see how that works

That's basically a 2nd set with no rest. The idea with the drop is that say your working with 205 and you fail at rep 6. I mean utterly fail, cannot do another one no matter what... So you drop the weight a tiny bit to 185 and can now do 2 more reps, then you completely fail again on rep 3@185 so drop another 20lbs and get 1 more. Total failure again. This all happens very fast as the goal is to take all 9 reps as one set which you actually went to complete failure on 3 times.

The drop is not another whole set at lighter weight. That's what I've been doing as that's how I've understood drops with this style of training.

[Giggle]

Question please, Marcus -
After reading and really studying your writing I understand the advanced techniques and have been using them consistently.
I may be overgeneralizing, but it seems that in addition to stimulating the Type 2b fibers, all of these techniques extend the set and increase the TUT.
Do you think that could be part of the benefits and why it leads to growth?

[Java Man]

Think of curling the bar up with it never losing contact with your body. Your elbows are pulling back to do this. You can make it up to about your lower chest level. Old, old school exercise that's still effective, just pretty much forgotten except by us old fvcks....

I remember in the early to mid 80's larry scott was often pictured in M&F in an ad for the arm blaster. An aluminum belt with curled depressions for the elbows to rest in. I'm sure you remember the thing I'm talking about.

This sounds sort of like what that belt would force. I found some links on it too. The actual drag curl I mean. I love finding new exercises. I know its not new but new to me

You also turned me on to the one armed cable curl which has really improved my bicep peak. Thanks kelkel.

[RipOwens]

Hah! I've got chest issues big time lol! What's really helping me is incline smith presses and heavy flys. Smith presses I'm getting 6 hard reps. My chest gets pumped as shit. Then I'm doing heavy flys at a different incline angle. 65-70lb dumbells.

I'm going to try adding these in Haz especially the flys. It'd be a nice change for me, since chest is a weak spot me.

[Capebuffalo]

Think of curling the bar up with it never losing contact with your body. Your elbows are pulling back to do this. You can make it up to about your lower chest level. Old, old school exercise that's still effective, just pretty much forgotten except by us old fvcks....

Wait. What? Who? What? Old?

[Capebuffalo]

I remember in the early to mid 80's larry scott was often pictured in M&F in an ad for the arm blaster. An aluminum belt with curled depressions for the elbows to rest in. I'm sure you remember the thing I'm talking about.

This sounds sort of like what that belt would force. I found some links on it too. The actual drag curl I mean. I love finding new exercises. I know its not new but new to me

You also turned me on to the one armed cable curl which has really improved my bicep peak. Thanks kelkel.

No the blaster just kept good form doing curls.
Drag curl you hold the barbell with your arms fully extended. Instead of keeping your elbows tight at your side and use your elbow as a pivot point to curl in an arch, you basically drag it up your thighs ,stomach and sternum to the lower chest. It is in constant contact with your front side. Your elbows will come up and back. One set you will feel it hit a part oft he bicep you have never used.

[Rusty11]

Hah! I've got chest issues big time lol!

What's really helping me is incline smith presses and heavy flys.

Smith presses I'm getting 6 hard reps. My chest gets pumped as shit. Then I'm doing heavy flys at a different incline angle. 65-70lb dumbells.

Thanks. I workout at home. Never done incline flys. Currently doing 50# db flat flys. I'll try those. Maybe start with it.

Btw, I'm doubting the notion of you having chest issues. Ur huge.

[AD]

No the blaster just kept good form doing curls.
Drag curl you hold the barbell with your arms fully extended. Instead of keeping your elbows tight at your side and use your elbow as a pivot point to curl in an arch, you basically drag it up your thighs ,stomach and sternum to the lower chest. It is in constant contact with your front side. Your elbows will come up and back. One set you will feel it hit a part oft he bicep you have never used.

does it feel like incline db curl?

btw, what happened to the "cycles gone wrong for the young" thread? can't seem to find it.

[Rusty11]

Are you saying you're doing 1 set with 3 drops?

I do a warm up, feel set, then a "heavy" set with 6 reps, rest 20-30 seconds, 2 more reps, rest 20-30 secs 2 more, then repeat . 12 heavy reps total.

[Capebuffalo]

does it feel like incline db curl?

btw, what happened to the "cycles gone wrong for the young" thread? can't seem to find it.

No the stretch is better wit incline curl. Try a couple at the gym tomorrow. Let me know what you think

[Capebuffalo]

I do a warm up, feel set, then a "heavy" set with 6 reps, rest 20-30 seconds, 2 more reps, rest 20-30 secs 2 more, then repeat . 12 heavy reps total.

Ok you only listed your working set. Got it.

[AD]

No the stretch is better wit incline curl. Try a couple at the gym tomorrow. Let me know what you think

do you use the same weight as a standard standing curl when you do the drag version?

[Capebuffalo]

do you use the same weight as a standard standing curl when you do the drag version?

Oh no. 135 lbs would be hard. Less. Much less. It's hard to explain till you do it and feel it. Go grab a broom right now and do it. Pull it slowly up till you can't go any higher.

[AD]

Oh no. 135 lbs would be hard. Less. Much less. It's hard to explain till you do it and feel it. Go grab a broom right now and do it. Pull it slowly up till you can't go any higher.

i understand the motion. just need to see how much weight i put on for the first go. dont want to embarrass myself by putting too much and squirming.

[Capebuffalo]

i understand the motion. just need to see how much weight i put on for the first go. dont want to embarrass myself by putting too much and squirming.

Warm up with an unloaded bar. Get the feel and add.

[AD]

Warm up with an unloaded bar. Get the feel and add.

sounds good.

i remember the pic you posted earlier of the reverse grip db rear raise. it should look like that, but with a bar right?

[Capebuffalo]

sounds good.

i remember the pic you posted earlier of the reverse grip db rear raise. it should look like that, but with a bar right?

At the finish position it will be very close.

[kelkel]

No the stretch is better wit incline curl. Try a couple at the gym tomorrow. Let me know what you think

Most guys screw this exercise up royally.

[AD]

Most guys screw this exercise up royally.

What are the common mistakes, Kel? I imagine the motion in my mind, it doesn't seem difficult. Although obviously I haven't done it in the gym yet. My usual biceps routine is standing db curls, bent over concentration curls, and incline db curls.

[marcus300]

One week into pct from a 12 week test c cycle
Torem and clomid basic protocol

Chest for me tonight. Shit I just cant train like I can without the testosterone . Geatting weaker and smaller I can see even though I am eating better and actually more. it doestn matter, without the gear my body just don't process the excess macros....gotta wait till January to go back on.

Im already planning my next cycle. Just gonna cruise and see if I can get my diet down right for the offseason and my training split perfected in the mean time until I go back on.

I fully understand its a mind fuk when you come off and have a drop in androgens, it does effect you in many ways. I wouldn't smile for weeks when I came off infact I think I went all the way through my 20's and 30's not smiling lol
If your will need more rest, your body wont be able to push like it did and remember its not a building phase anymore, ITS A MAINTENANCE PHASE. Increase cals over baseline and adjust weekly over the following wks of pct.

[marcus300]

I always try to shoot for 10-12 on my feel set. Then I try to go heavy enough to squeeze out 6-8 reps on working

My feels sets depends on many things what rep range, sometimes I pick a fair weight and start feeling how I am throwing it around and I will stop under 5 reps because I know I have far more power and the working set is going to be a big one, so I wont waste my strength grinding out further reps, I will up my feel set and then start again and think this feels good and I will break from failure hoping to hit around 10 reps, now I know how to judge my working set to hit 6+ reps and what protocol to use to dig in to those tough fibers

[marcus300]

Thats whats ive been confused on is angles on incline...too high too low...I use a pre set incline bench that stays at an incline at lowest point and highest is 90 degrees

Never go too high otherwise more of the front delt will take over the power of the movement, play around with angle's and also pre-exhaust really works amazing with chest for stubborn areas what are not developing well