**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[Iceberg]

Old school one-arm dumbell fly for upper-inner chest: Two sets 12 reps. These are working. Just started cycling them in. Kel how are these done ?

Lie down on a flat bench with a dumbbell in one hand resting on top of your thigh. The palm of your hand with the dumbbell in it should be at a neutral grip.
By using your thighs to help you get the dumbbell up, clean the dumbbell so that you can hold it in front of you with your lifting arm being fully extended. Remember to maintain a neutral grip with this exercise. Your non lifting hand should be to the side holding the flat bench for better support. This will be your starting position.
Your arm with the weight should have a slight bend on your elbow in order to prevent stress at the biceps tendon. Begin by lowering your arm with the weight in it out in a wide arc until you feel a stretch on your chest. Breathe in as you perform this portion of the movement. Tip: Keep in mind that throughout the movement, your lifting arm should remain stationary; the movement should only occur at the shoulder joint.
Return your lifting arm back to the starting position as you squeeze your chest muscles and breathe out. Tip: Make sure to use the same arc of motion used to lower the weights.
Hold for a second at the contracted position and repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
Switch arms and repeat the exercise.

[almostgone]

Yip it really does target that upper in side chest area good AG just tried what you said. I will defo be doing these at the end of each chest session. Another great tip kel thank you.

X2 on the thanks to Kel. I had almost forgotten this movement until Kel posted up about it. I'm excited to try it @ the close of my next chest superset lift. It will be perrfect to end with and make absolutely sure everything got properly punished.

[marcus300]

legs today and it was amazing, just standard pyramid style training while I get back into thing during this week,
hit v squat machine hard and heavy
squats
lunges
leg extension
lying leg extension
standing calfs
seated calfs and ;leg press calfs
totally fuked and was breathing heavy,.

just short of 260lbs at the moment and started to prime myself because will be doing as tiny cycle soon, just prepping myself and trying to open a growth window

[almostgone]

Lie down on a flat bench with a dumbbell in one hand resting on top of your thigh. The palm of your hand with the dumbbell in it should be at a neutral grip.
By using your thighs to help you get the dumbbell up, clean the dumbbell so that you can hold it in front of you with your lifting arm being fully extended. Remember to maintain a neutral grip with this exercise. Your non lifting hand should be to the side holding the flat bench for better support. This will be your starting position.
Your arm with the weight should have a slight bend on your elbow in order to prevent stress at the biceps tendon. Begin by lowering your arm with the weight in it out in a wide arc until you feel a stretch on your chest. Breathe in as you perform this portion of the movement. Tip: Keep in mind that throughout the movement, your lifting arm should remain stationary; the movement should only occur at the shoulder joint.
Return your lifting arm back to the starting position as you squeeze your chest muscles and breathe out. Tip: Make sure to use the same arc of motion used to lower the weights.
Hold for a second at the contracted position and repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
Switch arms and repeat the exercise.

That's a different movement from the one we were referencing, but useful none the less.

[clarky.]

Guys trying to find the info the big man wrote out on different tri ex a wee while back does anybody know the page number pls.

[almostgone]

legs today and it was amazing, just standard pyramid style training while I get back into thing during this week,
hit v squat machine hard and heavy
squats
lunges
leg extension
lying leg extension
standing calfs
seated calfs and ;leg press calfs
totally fuked and was breathing heavy,.

just short of 260lbs at the moment and started to prime myself because will be doing as tiny cycle soon, just prepping myself and trying to open a growth window

Awesome and inspiring, big man!!

[almostgone]

Guys trying to find the info the big man wrote out on different tri ex a wee while back does anybody know the page number pls.

Was it the lying d'bell extensions, Clarky?

[marcus300]

Guys trying to find the info the big man wrote out on different tri ex a wee while back does anybody know the page number pls.

what do you want to know my wee friend

[clarky.]

Was it the lying d'bell extensions, Clarky?

No mate but they are amazing will be going these from now on

what do you want to know my wee friend

I asked you how i target the dif heads of the tri and you posted up the different ex that do this. It was very good information.

[marcus300]

No mate but they are amazing will be going these from now on


I asked you how i target the dif heads of the tri and you posted up the different ex that do this. It was very good information.

Triceps
DB lying tricep extension - incline or flat really targets the long head and once you get your groove and move up in weight the size and thickness what starting coming is amazing, this is making my arms bigger without any tendon pain and I am also shifting some serious bells.

Pushdowns either bar, rope or v bar, singles or doubles with focus on the outer head, I prefer single arms becauise of the natural flow and I can concentrate on moving some weight and also incorporate some forced with my other arm, lovely movement if done correctly.

seated overhead db extension, nice

dip for overall size

I have a very bulking long head and hangs down when doing double bicep, this was created on the above movements, always push the weight, also go to your limit, triceps are worked regular so you really have to work hard on them to make them grow, give them something different to think about.

incline db curls kills your biceps, really works the lower part of the bicep which makes your bicep look big and bulgy when relaxed and straight, illusion

seated db curls

bent over concentration curls either cable which keep the tension on the bicep and really burns, or with a db hanging down and not moving your elbow, this gives peak to your arm like nothing else.

straight bar curls, cant beat them if your wrists don't hurt if they do swap to db's

What size are your arms? do you need overall size or just peak?

Do you have separation form the tricep


Swap and change movements around and see which give you the best gains, check out some of my arm routines and remember its a small muscle so you can really isolate them and give them direct pain which will make them grow, don't fail when the pain comes into your arms, this is were many fail, this is the time when your going to cause the most damage, when the pain tells you to stop carry on, growth will occur.

[clarky.]

YEEESSSS big man thank you.

[almostgone]

^^^^ mega- like for Marcus' post and Clarky's question.

[marcus300]

YEEESSSS big man thank you.

What ive done in the past is really concentrated on all heads but the long head does give you an amazing visual effect when doing a double bicep, if you pack on as much mass as possible and change the angle of the bench when doing the extensions you can target the upper end and mid and lower parts of the long head, this will make the fuker hang down just like the bicep peak, so when doing a double bicep you get the height of the peak from the bicep and you get the hanging peak of the long head in the tricep which gives the illusion of a freaky arm. I was told this many yrs ago by a coach to the pro's in the UK and ive really concentrated on bringing the peak of the bicep and the mass and thickness of my tricep out and the end results is the illusion of a super huge arm in the double bicep pose. Little tiny adjustments can make a whole difference in the appearance. You create the thickness and mass of the long head and you will master huge arms and without doubt you will stretch shirts sleeves which is something I adore because when ever I bring my arm up in a shirt the sleeve tightens so tight it feels like its going to rip and I see the people around me look at me in amazement lol, makes my day. So stick with the mass building movements and rips those tris and bis's to bit

[Hazard]

Sounds like a job I would've quit lol

Yea..... It pays the bills tho. I'm also very good at what I do. The company is huge but because of some shitty employees its in a rough spot. Once we're back on track my hours will reduce and a raise will be in sight. A few bad apples fvck it up for everyone.

[AllKindsOGains]

Hey marcus I apologize if this has already been asked somewhere in this thread. When doing HIT with 1-2 working sets, can you substitute drop sets with rest pause sets? For example: instead of leg press-failure+3 drops
could you do leg press-failure+3 rest pauses? (failure, rest 15 seconds, failure again with the same weight)

Also, if this is the case, could you also mix them together?
AKA failure+1 rest pause+2 drops?
Thanks so much!

[marcus300]

Hey marcus I apologize if this has already been asked somewhere in this thread. When doing HIT with 1-2 working sets, can you substitute drop sets with rest pause sets? For example: instead of leg press-failure+3 drops
could you do leg press-failure+3 rest pauses? (failure, rest 15 seconds, failure again with the same weight)

Also, if this is the case, could you also mix them together?
AKA failure+1 rest pause+2 drops?
Thanks so much!

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
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]

Heading down for legs in a minute. Going to skip squats today just cause I think I should take that break now and then. At least that's the tentative plan but that can change due to my squat addiction...
Has anyone watched the "Day in the Life" series with Jay Cutler? Just watched episode 1 & 2. Good stuff, imho.

[marcus300]

Hey marcus I apologize if this has already been asked somewhere in this thread. When doing HIT with 1-2 working sets, can you substitute drop sets with rest pause sets? For example: instead of leg press-failure+3 drops
could you do leg press-failure+3 rest pauses? (failure, rest 15 seconds, failure again with the same weight)

Also, if this is the case, could you also mix them together?
AKA failure+1 rest pause+2 drops?
Thanks so much!

yes yopu can mix the advanced protocols together on the one working set if you require, so long as you go to true positive failure and I mean TRUE failure then add in the protocols to tap into those tough muscle fibers what will grow the thickest and biggest. Use what works you can change things around with HIT to suit your growth and response.

[AllKindsOGains]

yes yopu can mix the advanced protocols together on the one working set if you require, so long as you go to true positive failure and I mean TRUE failure then add in the protocols to tap into those tough muscle fibers what will grow the thickest and biggest. Use what works you can change things around with HIT to suit your growth and response.

You have been the single most helpful person in regards to bodybuilding advice marcus. Thank you so so much, I can't even tell you how grateful I am. I have been holding back. My last two workouts have been some of the most painful I have experienced. 1-2 working sets with triple drops each one. I'm making some noise in the gym now (grunting from EXTREME pain) so I hope that doesn't become a problem. Again, thank you brother.

[marcus300]

You have been the single most helpful person in regards to bodybuilding advice marcus. Thank you so so much, I can't even tell you how grateful I am. I have been holding back. My last two workouts have been some of the most painful I have experienced. 1-2 working sets with triple drops each one. I'm making some noise in the gym now (grunting from EXTREME pain) so I hope that doesn't become a problem. Again, thank you brother.

Going to positive failure is very hard to do and its something what cant just happen over night, its a learnt process to get your body use to the pain zone and the attack your going to put it under. One of the main reason people fail to go to failure is they are thinking about the next set or the next dropset, rest pause, negatives, halfs, quarters, superset etc but all those need to be out of your mind and you need to train your mind to be strong to push to total failure in the positive movement of the rep once you have reached this that's when the magic occurs. Trust me not everyone can get to this stage that's why many use other programs because its to extreme but I believe in my heart its one of the best protocols for building thick set muscle and make heads turns, without doubt just look at the pro's who use these methods and you will see the difference.

I'm glad your finding a direction and really glad this thread is helping you

[clarky.]

Heading down for legs in a minute. Going to skip squats today just cause I think I should take that break now and then. At least that's the tentative plan but that can change due to my squat addiction...
Has anyone watched the "Day in the Life" series with Jay Cutler? Just watched episode 1 & 2. Good stuff, imho.

Yes watched his stuff it's good eh.

[Hazard]

NYBB blue w/ Victor Martinez is good too

[marcus300]

Heading down for legs in a minute. Going to skip squats today just cause I think I should take that break now and then. At least that's the tentative plan but that can change due to my squat addiction...
Has anyone watched the "Day in the Life" series with Jay Cutler? Just watched episode 1 & 2. Good stuff, imho.

yeh man watched it a bit ago, really interesting

[AllKindsOGains]

Going to positive failure is very hard to do and its something what cant just happen over night, its a learnt process to get your body use to the pain zone and the attack your going to put it under. One of the main reason people fail to go to failure is they are thinking about the next set or the next dropset, rest pause, negatives, halfs, quarters, superset etc but all those need to be out of your mind and you need to train your mind to be strong to push to total failure in the positive movement of the rep once you have reached this that's when the magic occurs. Trust me not everyone can get to this stage that's why many use other programs because its to extreme but I believe in my heart its one of the best protocols for building thick set muscle and make heads turns, without doubt just look at the pro's who use these methods and you will see the difference.

I'm glad your finding a direction and really glad this thread is helping you

When you mention halfs and partials, every working set that I go to failure I go to that point. I go until I literally get no positive movement from the weight. That is how it should happen on every working set correct? On every drop, every rest pause? That's what I am striving for every time anyway.

[marcus300]

When you mention halfs and partials, every working set that I go to failure I go to that point. I go until I literally get no positive movement from the weight. That is how it should happen on every working set correct? On every drop, every rest pause? That's what I am striving for every time anyway.

You sound like your on the right path

[AllKindsOGains]

You sound like your on the right path

Awesome! Hey marcus, I'm a huge James Bond fan. Is he as big/more so in England as he is in the U.S?

[marcus300]

Awesome! Hey marcus, I'm a huge James Bond fan. Is he as big/more so in England as he is in the U.S?

Yes we love our Bond, amazing films and true escapism

[Hazard]

Yes we love our Bond, amazing films and true escapism

Who's your favorite?

I liked Sean Connery and Roger Moore but Daniel Craig is by far the best IMO.

[Mp859]

Who's your favorite? I liked Sean Connery and Roger Moore but Daniel Craig is by far the best IMO.

pierce brosnan?

[clarky.]

NYBB blue w/ Victor Martinez is good too

Just watched the first one Haz it's good. Bad arm break he had there i'll watch the rest ta.

[Hazard]

pierce brosnan?

Fvck Pierce Brosnan lmao

[Mp859]

Fvck Pierce Brosnan lmao

lmfao

[AllKindsOGains]

Who's your favorite?

I liked Sean Connery and Roger Moore but Daniel Craig is by far the best IMO.

Daniel Craig for sure. He brought gains to the Bond franchise, and made it acceptable to wear short shorts at the beach
only studs can do that

[almostgone]

Finally I can donate blood again today. Going to do a double donation if they don't reject me due to high hematocrit. If all feels well this evening, I'm aiming for a back lift.

[almostgone]

Heading down for legs in a minute. Going to skip squats today just cause I think I should take that break now and then. At least that's the tentative plan but that can change due to my squat addiction...
Has anyone watched the "Day in the Life" series with Jay Cutler? Just watched episode 1 & 2. Good stuff, imho.

Just added those to my list of things to watch...they finally upgraded a cell tower up the road and I now get a semi-regular 4G signal.
No more dialup for me...
I politely told AOL to go p!ss up a rope....but I kept the free email addy.

[clarky.]

Tri's for me today just going in a wee while looking forward to it as i've had two days off.

[marcus300]

Killed shoulders today, will update soon. RC wasn't to bad

[almostgone]

^^^ excellent! Glad to hear the rest did you well.

[zempey]

Did a light basic leg workout today, pre exhaust with extensions then some presses, leg curls and standing calves. Didn't want to push it, lungs are still tired and my knee started out achy, did get a nice pump though. Going lighter is allowing me to really focus on squeezing the muscle through the who;e rep range. Shoulders tomorrow, should be ok, just wish my lungs would come back to life.

Keep killing it boys, holiday season is just around the corner.

[Hazard]

Woke up with a sore throat, stuffy nose, and achy joints. I feel like shit.....