**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[Cuz]

Gotta luv Murica'.

Have u tried any bench press routines specifically designed for strength?

[kronik420]

yea 5x5 ^^

[hawk14dl]

I had pretty good success with 5/3/1 for strength. It was slow but steady. Consistently going up.

Also the reason I have a chest flatter then a 12 year old girls, and maxed at 235 (lbs)

[Roger11]

Hey Marcus, or anyone else.

Anyone have any idea on the sorta cycle Dorian would be on it that video?

[marcus300]

Marcus, you mentioned dealing with lowT, loss of muscle, and the depression that seems to accompany these. How long did it take you to recover a.good amount of muscle? Did you have a certain mental approach to cope with all of this?
Many thanks, Marcus.

I started to feel symptoms of low T in my lower to mid 30's every time I recovered from a cycle I felt things just didn't feel right and my blood work numbers were heading south. In fairness I didn't give myself long enough off cycle when I started to feel this way but when I started to get a few health issues because I was pushing the limits of everything a little to far I knew something was going to break. When I decided to come off cycle for a long time I started to feel the symptoms of low T and for me this was a living hell. The feelings and thoughts I started to have affected my whole life in a negative way, I truly hated everyone and everything. The problem is when your cycling with the amounts I use to do I felt like superman infact I was superman, I was huge and everyone watched me train, asked me questions and women were all around me the feeling of well being was off the chart.


The feeling of being on cycle at the levels I were taking I was invincible and felt amazing in everyway. Everyday I woke up and I was bigger, stronger and more ripped. So when your use to feeling like this having normal test levels or low test levels felt like being ripped apart. Depression sets in and the feelings and thoughts get multiplied and the body starts to change which really is hard to cope with mentally, the mental sides of things is immense and you become very low. Weight started to drop off me, I was getting weaker every week and my drive and will power was none existent. I started to wear more layers of clothes to try and deceive myself and others that I was still big. My whole drive for everything in life had gone and I lost around 50lbs due to not training as much, not eating like I use to and my test levels were of a 85 old man it was a huge vicious circle and all I wanted was to feel normal again.


It took sometime to get some test therapy going and to find the right product and dosage but in the end I ended up on TRT and things instantly felt better, I mean it was like a light switch everything started to turnaround. Once my BW was stable I decided to stay off cycle because I was getting concerned with my AAS use so I had 4yrs off steroids all I had was my TRT. This is when I started to really concentrate on building what I use to have back. I trained and ate like a monster and things slowly started to regain. I found the ideal training routine to suit my body, I found I had to eat a lot of food and I had to work harder than ive ever had before. I started to look really good but without that steroid fullness, I got up to around the 235-240lbs mark with pure hardwork, determination and a lot of food. All what was different was I wasn't cycling within this 4 yrs period but I did swap and change a few trt treatments. I decided to go back on cycle for once or twice per year with small dosages and seeing that my body was super primed when I went on cycle it was like when I was taking my heavy short burst cycles again, I blew up and I made gains like I use to.


One of my strengths going through low T was my mind set, even though I had my low times I soon got my mental focus back by reading books and educating myself on mind control and awareness approaches. The mind can play horrible tricks on you and when your a bodybuilding with body issues it isn't hard to start feeling the low side of life but a lot of this is in your mind and getting use to feeling and being normal whether that's with normal test levels or TRT you have to do this, you cant stay on cycle forever with only short breaks eventually something will break either your body, mind or your whole life will breakdown. You have to take a step back and look at this and what is really important in life. I had to take my foot off the accelerator otherwise I would of crashed hard and you can do amazing things naturally and on trt if you have the right tools to hand, you have to have the will power and determination to not fail.

[marcus300]

I've made great progress with my bi's but I find it extremely difficult to push that mental barrier with biceps. The burn is just so intense it's easy to not do another rep. I think it's the hardest mental push through of all the muscles for me personally. Delts aren't fun either when ur going balls heavy lol

The pump feels fvcking amazing tho......

Maybe your at true positive failure Haz and you can go beyond it?, try drop setting and concentrating on releasing anger/adrenalin pre working set

[marcus300]

Hey Marcus, or anyone else.

Anyone have any idea on the sorta cycle Dorian would be on it that video?

I posted a video were Dorian talks about his steroid use , take what you want from it but I knew someone very close to Dorian when you was up and coming on the UK and pushing for his pro card and this guy was also advising me and his theories were hard heavy for short periods of time.

[marcus300]

Hey Marcus, just curious what you opinions are on masteron dosing?

Depends on the person but 400mgs-600mgs is a nice sweet spot. Masteron is a great ADDITION to a good solid cycle it gives you a nice edge if your bf is low enough otherwise you wont see much at all. If your bf is low you will get am excellent granite appearance to the muscle and a hardness what is second to none. Its ideal for competition and also after a cutting phase when your lean and want that edge. You wont see any gains from masteron its more of finishing compound.

[almostgone]

Appreciate your posting up/sharing that info, Marcus. It really does hit home...and helps with motivation. Many thanks!!!

[almostgone]

Man, it is hot and humid here! Believe I may get 1 more fan for the shop soon.

RC w/u and broomstick stretches
D'bell shoulder press-2 w/u, Work-5-drop-2.5-drop-1-.5-.5. New weight
Seated side lateral-2 w/u, Work-3.5-drop-3-drop-2.5-.5-.5
Rear lateral-2 w/u, Work-5-2-.5-.5-drop-4-.5-.5
B'bell shrugs-2 w/u, Work 1(front)-6-drop-7.5-drop-failure, Work2 (rear)-8.5-3-.5-.5

Nice burn all the way around delts and middle of upper back.

[Dpyle]

Legs are shot today. Hurts to even stand, it's a beautiful feeling knowing that something is growing. I'm quickly outgrowing everything I own. Even the larger shirts I bought just a few months back have become almost too tight to tolerate.

[kelkel]

Even the larger shirts I bought just a few months back have become almost too tight to tolerate.

But you're wearing them anyway aren't you? Fess up.

[RaginCajun]

Legs are shot today. Hurts to even stand, it's a beautiful feeling knowing that something is growing. I'm quickly outgrowing everything I own. Even the larger shirts I bought just a few months back have become almost too tight to tolerate.

maybe you ordered a smedium? glad to see you are getting bigger there d.

[Dpyle]

But you're wearing them anyway aren't you? Fess up.

Got little choice. The wife put her foot down and finally said we can't afford to keep buying me new clothes. Think next go round ill have to buy 2 sizes up so I can wear them longer

[Capebuffalo]

Incline Press
Incline Flies
Cable X overs

Db side raises
BB standing military press
Machine side laterals

192.2 lbs. summer slim down
Beach in August.

[Black]

Depends on the person but 400mgs-600mgs is a nice sweet spot. Masteron is a great ADDITION to a good solid cycle it gives you a nice edge if your bf is low enough otherwise you wont see much at all. If your bf is low you will get am excellent granite appearance to the muscle and a hardness what is second to none. Its ideal for competition and also after a cutting phase when your lean and want that edge. You wont see any gains from masteron its more of finishing compound.

I appreciate your input buddy. I read something similar a few times that anything over 600mgs doesn't yield much (if any) better results. Thanks man.

[marcus300]

shoulders

I know I hear you all calling me pu$$y because this workout I didn't do any shoulder pressing, I know this is the first time in a long time I haven't done any pressing which is the bread and butter of big delts but I decided to take the pressing out this session due to my delts really hurting during the pressing movement so this session was all isolation.

RC warm ups

seated side laterals
3 warm up sets
2 working sets to failure

db front raises
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

seated bent over db rears
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

BB shrugs
2 feels sets
2 working sets to failure

Con entreated on the contraction and made sure my side/front and rear delts were isolated by each exercise, had a serious pump and couldn't lift my arms above my head but I missed pressing but needed to rest what was giving me pain, even though pain is good for me this wasn't

[Hazard]

shoulders

I know I hear you all calling me pu$$y because this workout I didn't do any shoulder pressing, I know this is the first time in a long time I haven't done any pressing which is the bread and butter of big delts but I decided to take the pressing out this session due to my delts really hurting during the pressing movement so this session was all isolation.

RC warm ups

seated side laterals
3 warm up sets
2 working sets to failure

db front raises
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

seated bent over db rears
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

BB shrugs
2 feels sets
2 working sets to failure

Con entreated on the contraction and made sure my side/front and rear delts were isolated by each exercise, had a serious pump and couldn't lift my arms above my head but I missed pressing but needed to rest what was giving me pain, even though pain is good for me this wasn't

You know...... I really didnt shoulder press much. I sporadically did them but I built my delts with extremely heavy side laterals.

With that said...... I now do presses on the smith. It doesn't hurt my cuff like dumbells do. I've seen a difference in development.....

[DCI]

Wow marcus the long post really shows you a different but even more awe inspiring light great read and the determination is epic to read esp when you get knocked down

[almostgone]

shoulders

I know I hear you all calling me pu$$y because this workout I didn't do any shoulder pressing, I know this is the first time in a long time I haven't done any pressing which is the bread and butter of big delts but I decided to take the pressing out this session due to my delts really hurting during the pressing movement so this session was all isolation.

RC warm ups

seated side laterals
3 warm up sets
2 working sets to failure

db front raises
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

seated bent over db rears
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

BB shrugs
2 feels sets
2 working sets to failure

Con entreated on the contraction and made sure my side/front and rear delts were isolated by each exercise, had a serious pump and couldn't lift my arms above my head but I missed pressing but needed to rest what was giving me pain, even though pain is good for me this wasn't

Lol, pretty sure you won't hear that. Being tough enough to keep lifting and smart enough to know when and how to work around injuries is pretty damn dedicated.

[marcus300]

You know...... I really didnt shoulder press much. I sporadically did them but I built my delts with extremely heavy side laterals.

With that said...... I now do presses on the smith. It doesn't hurt my cuff like dumbells do. I've seen a difference in development.....

That's amazing to hear you built those fukers without pressing. For me I had to press and press hard intense and heavy. Ive had 2 RC injuries since I've been training and they always take time to heal and repair. Its my own fault for not totally resting them and going through rehab with them but this week I decided to train without pressing. I'd love for my delts to grow without intense pressing that would be a good world for me

[Hazard]

That's amazing to hear you built those fukers without pressing. For me I had to press and press hard intense and heavy. Ive had 2 RC injuries since I've been training and they always take time to heal and repair. Its my own fault for not totally resting them and going through rehab with them but this week I decided to train without pressing. I'd love for my delts to grow without intense pressing that would be a good world for me

Yea my delts were always balled..... Even at 175lbs they had shape. When I started lifting heavy they grew and grew.

My arms and my chest were small as hell. I fought for every centimeter of growth. I had to SLAM my arms every damn week to get them to grow. It hurts to scratch my face after and arm workout lol.

Chest is my focus right now...... What I'm doing is working but it's slow going. Just recently switched to barbell incline. It used to hurt my shoulders but I'm focusing on form and its been going good.

[UrbanMammoth]

I've always wondered how some guys (assuming with aid of some type of AAS) get those massive cannonball delts.

Because trying to build my shoulders naturally is a b*tch.

Any info? Does it have to do something with the injection site?

[BG]

That's amazing to hear you built those fukers without pressing. For me I had to press and press hard intense and heavy. Ive had 2 RC injuries since I've been training and they always take time to heal and repair. Its my own fault for not totally resting them and going through rehab with them but this week I decided to train without pressing. I'd love for my delts to grow without intense pressing that would be a good world for me

I only intense shoulder press once every third week. The off weeks I will press, but lighter/slower on a machine. It takes my shoulders a long time to recover from hard pressing, I feel it when I train other body parts.

[marcus300]

I've always wondered how some guys (assuming with aid of some type of AAS) get those massive cannonball delts.

Because trying to build my shoulders naturally is a b*tch.

Any info? Does it have to do something with the injection site?

It doesn't have anything to do with injection site. Read the whole thread and you may learn some important things theres to many to mention in one post

[marcus300]

I only intense shoulder press once every third week. The off weeks I will press, but lighter/slower on a machine. It takes my shoulders a long time to recover from hard pressing, I feel it when I train other body parts.

That wouldn't work for me at all my body doesn't respond well to lighter weights. I guess its all about finding how what works best for you and designing a routine around that. The two RC injuries ive had have been through bench press either flat or decline, not done decline for yrs and I wont be doing decline anymore either.

[BG]

I hear you, i only do lighter weights because i have to ! Im so worried about another injury its sickening. No decline for me either, tears my shoulders up. Sucks getting old.

That wouldn't work for me at all my body doesn't respond well to lighter weights. I guess its all about finding how what works best for you and designing a routine around that. The two RC injuries ive had have been through bench press either flat or decline, not done decline for yrs and I wont be doing decline anymore either.

[marcus300]

I hear you, i only do lighter weights because i have to ! Im so worried about another injury its sickening. No decline for me either, tears my shoulders up. Sucks getting old.

I think this day is coming or something is going to break

[hawk14dl]

Had a pretty awesome session tonight.

Spent the weekend at the river. Ate as decent as I could and drank as little as I could get away with. Yesterday was spent putting things away and cleaning.

So today was arm and chest day.

Normal flat bench to start. Then I added in incline because the top part of my chest was lagging. Finished off with decline and then flies. everything was rest pause+ 2 drops except flies, 3 straight sets of 8.

Followed that with tris, push downs with drops and then overhear tricep press, 3 straight of 8.

Typical bicep routine, my forearms started giving me fits, tendon pain. It's happened before and I wasn't able to train biceps for 3-4 months. I'm going to skip bis for a couple of weeks to try and let them heal.

chest feels great. Arms not so much

[marcus300]

Had a pretty awesome session tonight.

Spent the weekend at the river. Ate as decent as I could and drank as little as I could get away with. Yesterday was spent putting things away and cleaning.

So today was arm and chest day.

Normal flat bench to start. Then I added in incline because the top part of my chest was lagging. Finished off with decline and then flies. everything was rest pause+ 2 drops except flies, 3 straight sets of 8.

Followed that with tris, push downs with drops and then overhear tricep press, 3 straight of 8.

Typical bicep routine, my forearms started giving me fits, tendon pain. It's happened before and I wasn't able to train biceps for 3-4 months. I'm going to skip bis for a couple of weeks to try and let them heal.

chest feels great. Arms not so much

Try taking yourself to failure on your working set then you can compact all those working sets. Learn how to go to positive failure first before using any beyond failure protocols.

[Times Roman]

I think this day is coming or something is going to break

it's not as bad as you think. I'm there already. Unfortunately. But I'll be damned if my arms/chest/legs are almost back to where they were a year ago when I was much heavier.

...but then again, my diet is tracked a lot better.



Funny. Your face on your avi reminds me of someone....

....I think i'll go eat nine raw eggs!

[marcus300]

With HIT training we are specifically trying to stimulate a certain type of muscle fiber. We have different muscle fibers in the body and once you know how to train certain ones and the importance of making these grow you can design the ideal training routine to suit your goals. We are all aiming to add muscle tissue and we have to put ourselves under stress by progressively overloading our bodies so they have no alternative but to grow. All muscle contraction starts by nerves being activated, the stronger the nerve signal the more forceful muscle contraction can be applied to the lift. The nerves first get activated by the brain and this is where the mind muscle connection comes into play. I am always saying that you must get yourself in the right mind set for the working set, there are many ways to do this and ive explained many ways in my thread how I go about doing it, but the stronger the mind before the working set the better contraction and force can be applied to the muscle fibers. We can all do 10 reps with a certain weight but you can also really think about those ten reps and really activate the contraction in the muscle and work that muscle to the max and those reps will feel completely different. This is what separates a lot of people so before I move on really think about how you do reps and work that particular muscle to its max. I've seen many members saying they are doing so many reps with a certain amount of weight but I can say I bet a lot aren't really activating that muscle group to the max. Remember everything starts from within your brain, your inner self and how you go about attacking that working set. You have seen how I describe the zone I get myself into just prior to my working set and this is the zone you need to be in to fully work those muscle fibers to the max.

We are after activating the motoneurons within the network of nerves which is the signal for the muscle to contact, we have many different sizes but we are only interested in the large motonerurons which activate the large muscle fibers. We have slow switch and fast twitch fibers within the body and we are all made up of different amounts, that's why some of us grow bigger and faster and others struggle growing big thick muscles. Usually the guys who struggle with adding slabs of tissue on their frame are the guys who have more slow twitch fibers than fast, and the guys who are more genetically gifted with bodybuilding are the one who have more fast twitch. But either way you need to activate the fast twitch fibers and give yourself the best chance of building bigger larger muscles.The slow twitch ones are the ones what are more suited for endurance and are very resistant to fatigue the aerobic type athletes have a higher amount of these fibers over fast twitch.

Fast twitch muscle fibers are the ones we are concerned with activating and working. There are two types 2a and 2b. The type 2a ones are fibers which get activated when doing higher reps ranges lets say more than 12-15 reps, they are also the fibers what come into action around the 6-12 rep range. Type 2a fibers when activated correctly can grow in size and this is what many people tend to activate and see growth from when they start training. The type 2b fast twitch fibers are the ones what I adore lol these babies are the foundations of building bigger thicker muscles, if you activate these correctly they can grow tremendously in size and grow about 4 times the size of the 2a fast twitch fibers can, so you can see these are the ones what make the difference, but stimulating both type 2a and 2b fast twitch is getting the best out of both worlds but my personal aim and priority is to stimulate the type 2b fast twitch fibers and seriously breakdown these to get me some serious size on my frame.

What's the best way to stimulate the 2b fast twitch muscle fibers I hear you asking, well ive described it all the way through my thread but let me go over it again so you understand how important it is to have the right mind set what I speak of all the time and what kind of stimulation is needed to activate these tough fibers. Usually during a set of about 6-12 reps the type 2a are activated, you know the sets were your repping away and start struggle a little bit and rack it and move on. In basic terms your not going to true positive failure (I can go on and on what true positive failure is but trust me it takes along time to push your body to this limit and a lot of mental dedication its an advance training protocol) now if you took your set to true positive failure and you cant do anymore this is the time when the type 2b fast twitch fibers are activated, once you activate these fibers this is the best potential to really make your muscle grow bigger and thicker.

You will grow with normal sets and reps with modest intensity but if you want serious growth than you have to take your working set to true positive failure, this means using a weight what is heavy enough to make that working set very difficult and then going past true positive failure. Remember the type 2a fast twitch do all do all the work until you get to true positive failure then the type 2b come into play and these are the ones what produce the biggest gains in muscle size. You have to progressively overload your body each time you train, this means add more weight (or reps until you can add more weight) to stimulate growth, you also need to make sure your activating the type 2b fast twitch fibers which only get involved when you go to true positive failure. Your rep range needs to be between 6-12 reps at the failure point, I prefer around 6-8 reps range at failure. This is why its wise to have a partner when trying to activate the type 2b fast twitch fibers because you may think your going to positive failure but you wont be you need that reassurance of a partner who can just take that small amount of weight of the bar at true positive failure so you can mentally get past this sticking point. There are many advance protocols what you can use to get yourself to true positive failure which I've discussed in my thread.

HIT training will activate the tough type 2b muscle fibers and going to true positive will recruit all the muscle fibers which will give you the best chance of some serious tissue growth. Using advance training protocols like drop sets, rest pause, forced, negatives, supersets and even partials can be used to further your beyond failure training to help you activate the type 2b fast twitch fibers.

[hawk14dl]

Try taking yourself to failure on your working set then you can compact all those working sets. Learn how to go to positive failure first before using any beyond failure protocols.

We've talked about this before. I train alone, so with a barbell achieving positive failure is dangerous for me

[marcus300]

We've talked about this before. I train alone, so with a barbell achieving positive failure is dangerous for me

If you read the whole thread you will learn how to train to failure whether training alone or with a partner. If you want to train HIT you need to understand and take your body to failure. This can be achieved with barbells, db's or machines

[clarky.]

shoulders

I know I hear you all calling me pu$$y because this workout I didn't do any shoulder pressing, I know this is the first time in a long time I haven't done any pressing which is the bread and butter of big delts but I decided to take the pressing out this session due to my delts really hurting during the pressing movement so this session was all isolation.

RC warm ups

seated side laterals
3 warm up sets
2 working sets to failure

db front raises
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

seated bent over db rears
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

BB shrugs
2 feels sets
2 working sets to failure

Con entreated on the contraction and made sure my side/front and rear delts were isolated by each exercise, had a serious pump and couldn't lift my arms above my head but I missed pressing but needed to rest what was giving me pain, even though pain is good for me this wasn't

No pressing you pu$$y

[almostgone]

We've talked about this before. I train alone, so with a barbell achieving positive failure is dangerous for me

Same here, Hawk...do.you have a squat cage or Smith machine? I use them to hit failure, rack. 15 breaths, and go again. Employ drop setting, rest pause, whatever tools you can to hit absolute d!ck in the dirt failure and beyond. With unilateral d'bell exercises, use your free hand to assist on positive portion, and then shoot for the painfully slow negative. What kind of setup do.you have now? ...it doesn't have to be "pimp/fancy", just functional. Maybe if you list what you have some of us that train alone @ home could offer some suggestions...
I thought I was doing a.good job of hitting failure until I tried the biceps routine Marcus posted up for Clarky recently....I learned a whole new level of failure from it....shooting for failure and then partials and then negatives.... it was a real no sh!tter. I was doing all of these before, but deepened the level of failure that I can work to.

[almostgone]

On a side note, this evening will be back session. Probably will be 85°F+ and over 80% humidity. Going to be sweating like a madman.

[hawk14dl]

No Smith or cage. Cage is going to be my next investment. I know when i get a cage, true positive failure can be attained. All I have is a bench and rack. Very limited dumbell selection (been keeping an eye on CL but no bargains yet).
Also have one one machine that allows me to do pulls and rows, flies and chest presses.

Thought I should add, I'm fairly confident my forearm problem is due entirely to heavy curls with a straight bar. So ez curl bar is also on my radar

[almostgone]

One thing you might want to try is stacking up cement block on each side of your bench @ a height that would be just slightly higher than your chest when lying on bench. Use the blocks as a form of spotter arms/safety pins. I did this for years when I was younger... just make sure you stack your blocks so they are in a stable position and maybe put some C clamps, bar clamps, or even closet rods through the cores to keep the bar from rolling off when you rest the bar on the blocks.

[almostgone]

No Smith or cage. Cage is going to be my next investment. I know when i get a cage, true positive failure can be attained. All I have is a bench and rack. Very limited dumbell selection (been keeping an eye on CL but no bargains yet).
Also have one one machine that allows me to do pulls and rows, flies and chest presses.

Thought I should add, I'm fairly confident my forearm problem is due entirely to heavy curls with a straight bar. So ez curl bar is also on my radar

Think I mentioned this, but buy your bells in 10# increments and use platemate magnetic weights to hit the 2.5# and 5# increments in between. Of course hit the second hand sports store.... maybe you'll luck up and get a deal on some Power blocks.???? Should be able to find a used Olympic EZ curl bar fairly easy...