**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[DCI]

Legs tonight.

Was cold so a good few warm ups where needed. Did two feeler sets and two heavy sets with a dd was very sore. Loaded the machine up completely which didn't add up as much as I hoped tbh but its not a bad machine.

Then hack squat which is new to me lashed not much weight sore from leg press but did 2 sets and dd but slow controlled reps which felt great was very intense workout we were all pushing each others limits.

Then lunges again same as above hard and pushed through a lot of pain which was epic.

The supersetted quads and hams together was in bits after it all.

Have a new love for legs again the new machines hit a slightly diff part of the muscles which is nice.

[clarky.]

Legs tonight.

Was cold so a good few warm ups where needed. Did two feeler sets and two heavy sets with a dd was very sore. Loaded the machine up completely which didn't add up as much as I hoped tbh but its not a bad machine.

Then hack squat which is new to me lashed not much weight sore from leg press but did 2 sets and dd but slow controlled reps which felt great was very intense workout we were all pushing each others limits.

Then lunges again same as above hard and pushed through a lot of pain which was epic.

The supersetted quads and hams together was in bits after it all.

Have a new love for legs again the new machines hit a slightly diff part of the muscles which is nice.

Sonds like a good session mate.

[DCI]

Yeh decent now I have to say clarky. I could feel my legs needed the change so its good to attack them again

[almostgone]

I've been slow cooking my flank in a crock pot man. One peice with a head of cabbage vinegar some garlic and onion . Comes out awesome. But just have to time the cabbage right....depending on your crock pot....1.5 hrs before meat is ready.

Crock pot is a good way too cook a good amount of meals at once also....especially if u r strapped for time.

I'll file that away for future use, Sfla. Thanks! The wife cooked a couple of pieces in the slow cooker last week because neither of us felt like firing up the grill. It cooked really well.

[AllKindsOGains]

Say your doing a straight set to failure at 6 reps. This means youd do 6 complete reps and then be at partials for the 7th rep correct?

[marcus300]

Say your doing a straight set to failure at 6 reps. This means youd do 6 complete reps and then be at partials for the 7th rep correct?

You pick a weight which you know is going to be in the lower rep range but don't think I will do 6 reps and fail, your body will tell you that you have failed not the amount of reps you are doing. You could fail at the 7th rep or even 5th rep who knows but all you do is make sure you give it everything and don't think about further sets or reps or beyond failure protocols, you keep going until your have totally failed and you cant complete a proper full rep.

[AllKindsOGains]

Hell of an interview Marcus, very good read, well done.

You pick a weight which you know is going to be in the lower rep range but don't think I will do 6 reps and fail, your body will tell you that you have failed not the amount of reps you are doing. You could fail at the 7th rep or even 5th rep who knows but all you do is make sure you give it everything and don't think about further sets or reps or beyond failure protocols, you keep going until your have totally failed and you cant complete a proper full rep.

So even if you get to say 14 reps for the whole set because you slightly misjudged the weight, still productive?

[marcus300]

So even if you get to say 14 reps for the whole set because you slightly misjudged the weight, still productive?

If you have done your feel sets correctly you wont be that far out with your working set weight. If you are then your not really doing the feel sets right.

[Dpyle]

You pick a weight which you know is going to be in the lower rep range but don't think I will do 6 reps and fail, your body will tell you that you have failed not the amount of reps you are doing. You could fail at the 7th rep or even 5th rep who knows but all you do is make sure you give it everything and don't think about further sets or reps or beyond failure protocols, you keep going until your have totally failed and you cant complete a proper full rep.

I'm at this cross road with a couple of guys at work that wanted to train with me this week. It's hard for some people to wrap their head around the fact that you only have one set to give it everything you have and then some. They end up moving up in weight, but when I push them that working weight turns in to more of a feel set.

For some it's hard to get past that 3 sets to positive failure mentality. They keep trying to leave something in the tank for the next set, and it's holding them back for now. The one guy doing the best is the smaller of the group and either he's really watching how I attack things or he's just trying to keep up weight wise, but so far he is the only one that's managed to really HIT things the right way.

[AllKindsOGains]

If you have done your feel sets correctly you wont be that far out with your working set weight. If you are then your not really doing the feel sets right.

Sounds good. With drops and rp probly better to err on the heavier side to stay below 12 reps ya?
sorry this has totally already been answered
in ever HIT post lol sorry

[almostgone]

I'm at this cross road with a couple of guys at work that wanted to train with me this week. It's hard for some people to wrap their head around the fact that you only have one set to give it everything you have and then some. They end up moving up in weight, but when I push them that working weight turns in to more of a feel set.

For some it's hard to get past that 3 sets to positive failure mentality. They keep trying to leave something in the tank for the next set, and it's holding them back for now. The one guy doing the best is the smaller of the group and either he's really watching how I attack things or he's just trying to keep up weight wise, but so far he is the only one that's managed to really HIT things the right way.

So, they came back for more after the first session?

[marcus300]

I'm at this cross road with a couple of guys at work that wanted to train with me this week. It's hard for some people to wrap their head around the fact that you only have one set to give it everything you have and then some. They end up moving up in weight, but when I push them that working weight turns in to more of a feel set.

For some it's hard to get past that 3 sets to positive failure mentality. They keep trying to leave something in the tank for the next set, and it's holding them back for now. The one guy doing the best is the smaller of the group and either he's really watching how I attack things or he's just trying to keep up weight wise, but so far he is the only one that's managed to really HIT things the right way.

Its a mental pressure that we have to over come if you want to train HIT style. Many think they train to positive failure in all 3 sets but in reality they don't

[marcus300]

Sounds good. With drops and rp probly better to err on the heavier side to stay below 12 reps ya?
sorry this has totally already been answered
in ever HIT post lol sorry

Re-post

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

[marcus300]

I'm sore and feel I need to rest so going to take at least 3 days off from training to let my CNS recover. It will suit my priming because I will be going on my 3 days low so it all should fall into place.......

[RaginCajun]

I'm sore and feel I need to rest so going to take at least 3 days off from training to let my CNS recover. It will suit my priming because I will be going on my 3 days low so it all should fall into place.......

sounds like it is time for some latex!

[marcus300]

sounds like it is time for some latex!

Or a small calf walking over my lumber region may help

[kelkel]

Guess what day it is?

It's leg day! Yeah! Fueling up, feeling strong.

[AllKindsOGains]

Im headed in for legs too brotha! I had too much coffee again. My hearts racing. Oh well, if i pass out i can say i hit failure lol 2 and a half cups shouldnt be too much right?

[AllKindsOGains]

Or a small calf walking over my lumber region may help

A small calf? Like a cow calf? Lmfao

[marcus300]

^^^yes

[Sfla80]

Legs this morning with the wife....she does my exact routine with me. But just told her about Mrs MArcus routines and GGR routine we might try that for her next week.

Started warm up on smith squats, (wanted to do leg press today but too much taking 8 45's each set with me and her)
During warm ups noticed body was aching a little..sore joints and lower back so kept the weight down but got a good burn. 2 warms, 2 working sets of 12 each, no drops.

Walking lunges, 3 sets (first time in a long time for these...usually do my lunges on smith also)

Extensions 3 sets slow contracting movements, holding at top of movement for as much as I could.

Lying curls same as above.

Seated calve rasies.

Funny after the warm ups on smith a feeling achy I thought it was going to be a day like marcus asked the other day of just going through the movements. Although this wasn't much of HIT style day, still got a really burn and legs feel like jelly now.

[kelkel]

Arm's looking real good in your avi Sfla!

[Dpyle]

Rest day for me. Hammered chest and back so far this week and I'm in pain. May slide in for a little cardio after work but that's still undecided.

[DCI]

I'm getting sorer as the day goes on ha. Recovery tonight will be welcome some steak I think and potatoes

[Sfla80]

Arm's looking real good in your avi Sfla!

Thank you kel!!

Just need to get back on some cardio and lose some of the extra bf I'm carrying now :/ .....hate cardio lol

[paddy155]

Wish this damn flu would disappear. So much inspiration and motivation in this thread.

[hawk14dl]

Im headed in for legs too brotha! I had too much coffee again. My hearts racing. Oh well, if i pass out i can say i hit failure lol 2 and a half cups shouldnt be too much right?

Lol, no not too much. I typically drink a pot a day.

[hawk14dl]

Just got an email that my cage was delivered. . 2 days early!

Freakin awesome!

[kelkel]

Some thoughts about leg training...

Warmed up on the bike, then heavy extensions. My point today isn't so much what I did but how I feel doing it. All my warm up's went well. Got up to the set where it can either be a feel or a working set. I usually decide after a handful of reps and either rep out of rack it and go up. Ended up doing an easy ten with a weight that would crush many guys and racked it as a warm up. Added more weight. A minute or so passed, got the right song on my ipod, cranked it up and got under the bar. The first rep is always painfully slow to feel my depth and make sure all is well. After that I'm in my groove and just pound them out. After 6 or so and it's getting hard something always just takes over in me mentally. I don't know whether it's simply an inner drive, a fear of failure or just not wanting to die alone in my basement.

That said, whatever "takes over" inside me just keeps pushing me not to fail. My eyes get watery at times as if it's some emotional moment (no shit.) I't must be just massive amounts of endorphins (look it up, you'll understand) being released causing this in combination with the feeling of success that I did what I wanted to do with the weight. I won, it didn't. I'll often let out a yell as I rack the weight. Of course, no one hears that. Anyway, to me it's a feeling like no other and very hard to put into words.

Anyone else have these type moments? Or am I just a big pvssy?

[clarky.]

It was a rest day for me as well today. My back is really sore today and even my tri's are still fried from the weekend i think it was the weekend lol. Busy the mora so think i'll miss the gym so it will be bi's on friday happy days .

[DCI]

At kel I've something similar but never that emotion. Always felt like after a really good session in the gym I was having a outter body experience as in I'm looking at myself from another persons perspective feel like im walking on air its weird.

Good man clarky the best thing I do is my mid week break from the gym I love it

[marcus300]

Some thoughts about leg training...

Warmed up on the bike, then heavy extensions. My point today isn't so much what I did but how I feel doing it. All my warm up's went well. Got up to the set where it can either be a feel or a working set. I usually decide after a handful of reps and either rep out of rack it and go up. Ended up doing an easy ten with a weight that would crush many guys and racked it as a warm up. Added more weight. A minute or so passed, got the right song on my ipod, cranked it up and got under the bar. The first rep is always painfully slow to feel my depth and make sure all is well. After that I'm in my groove and just pound them out. After 6 or so and it's getting hard something always just takes over in me mentally. I don't know whether it's simply an inner drive, a fear of failure or just not wanting to die alone in my basement.

That said, whatever "takes over" inside me just keeps pushing me not to fail. My eyes get watery at times as if it's some emotional moment (no shit.) I't must be just massive amounts of endorphins (look it up, you'll understand) being released causing this in combination with the feeling of success that I did what I wanted to do with the weight. I won, it didn't. I'll often let out a yell as I rack the weight. Of course, no one hears that. Anyway, to me it's a feeling like no other and very hard to put into words.

Anyone else have these type moments? Or am I just a big pvssy?

I know how you feel I've written about that feeling a few times. For me it feels like adrenalin surge and guides me slightly more to the side of aggression than emotional but I do think it releases emotion deep inside of us. What that emotion comes out like can vary but for sure that failure moment and the feeling you gave your all is an immense feeling.

Welcome to the world of true failure brother lol we love this shit done we. ...

[almostgone]

Chest is still crapped up, but heading to the shop to hit back.

[hawk14dl]

Cage was indeed delivered! Got it all assembled, just gotta tighten down the bolts.

Looking at it, I should have gone for the taller version. But it'll work

[kelkel]

Welcome to the world of true failure brother lol we love this shit done we. ...

For sure. We've lived in the same neighborhood for years now....

[RaginCajun]

Some thoughts about leg training... Warmed up on the bike, then heavy extensions. My point today isn't so much what I did but how I feel doing it. All my warm up's went well. Got up to the set where it can either be a feel or a working set. I usually decide after a handful of reps and either rep out of rack it and go up. Ended up doing an easy ten with a weight that would crush many guys and racked it as a warm up. Added more weight. A minute or so passed, got the right song on my ipod, cranked it up and got under the bar. The first rep is always painfully slow to feel my depth and make sure all is well. After that I'm in my groove and just pound them out. After 6 or so and it's getting hard something always just takes over in me mentally. I don't know whether it's simply an inner drive, a fear of failure or just not wanting to die alone in my basement. That said, whatever "takes over" inside me just keeps pushing me not to fail. My eyes get watery at times as if it's some emotional moment (no shit.) I't must be just massive amounts of endorphins (look it up, you'll understand) being released causing this in combination with the feeling of success that I did what I wanted to do with the weight. I won, it didn't. I'll often let out a yell as I rack the weight. Of course, no one hears that. Anyway, to me it's a feeling like no other and very hard to put into words. Anyone else have these type moments? Or am I just a big pvssy?

It's like another gear!

I don't think everyone has one, or he/she can't find out how to shift in it!

[kelkel]

It's like another gear!

I don't think everyone has one, or he/she can't find out how to shift in it!

Another gear. That's a great way to put it.

[almostgone]

Tonight started off a little bumpy, but turned out semi-decent. While I was stretching and hitting crunches, my brain was arguing with itself the whole time. Believe, I may have too many versions of myself living up there rent free sometimes.
Played mental point/counterpoint thinking about the years I was away from lifting w/ the health crap and how long it is going to take to get back to/surpass where I was. Kind of disappointed with being off/lifting less often that I want due to work, life, etc.
Finally, a voice with a decidedly British accent told me to quit fvcking about and look to the task at hand, so that got my mind out of the counterproductive mood and into where it needed to be. Ended up being a decent lift.

Lower body and back stretches and 2 sets of crunches

WG overhand pulldown- 2 w/u, Work-6,drop,3.5,drop,2.5. Very slow negatives on these.
CG pulldown w/ stirrup handle- 1 w/u, Work-4,drop, 2.5, drop, 2.5. Again, very slow negatives.
Straightjacket stretches and toe touches
Tbar rows- 1 w/u, Work-6,drop,2.5,drop,3.5. Just a tad stronger on these today.
Low pulley row w/ V handle- 1 w/u, Work-5.5,drop, 3,drop,2.5. Slow negatives, of course.
Toe touches
Deads- 2 w/u, Work1-6 good reps at a heavier weight. Dropped weight back to my first w/u weight for a second set. Work2- 10 nice smooth reps.
D'bell rows- 9.5 reps per side.

Back feels like it has been flailed with a chain.
44 minutes not including the crunches and stretches.

[AllKindsOGains]

It's like another gear!

I don't think everyone has one, or he/she can't find out how to shift in it!

Happens after leg press. I get done with my set, stand up, and all of the things i was thinking about during my set to drive me forward, like how im going to become what and who everyone thought/still thinks i wont, it all bubbles up after i stand up. Almost like im going to cry for a second because in that moment, i know i took another step towards proving them wrong.

[Dpyle]

Off day today so here I am on the treadmill remembering just how much I hate cardio.