**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[NACH3]

If you hold the weight while someone takes some weight off then you start again repping, that's not a rest pause that's a drop set. Rest Pause is were you rest for around 10-15 deep breaths then repeat the same weight again, you never drop the weight with rest pause. If you drop the weight that's a drop set

Yeah I kinda answered my own question lol - what I meant was that when I mis gauge my working set(w/amount of weight is too light) I'll keep constant tension on the muscle while I take my 10ish deep breaths and that'll help drop the reps while holding RPing the same weight(takes more outta me and I don't want to go over 12 to much) so that was a lil tweak that's helped if the working weight wasnt on par

Thx for the breakdown tho big man!

[marcus300]

Yeah I kinda answered my own question lol - what I meant was that when I mis gauge my working set(w/amount of weight is too light) I'll keep constant tension on the muscle while I take my 10ish deep breaths and that'll help drop the reps while holding RPing the same weight(takes more outta me and I don't want to go over 12 to much) so that was a lil tweak that's helped if the working weight wasnt on par

Thx for the breakdown tho big man!

You said that the spotter dropped the weight while you was holding the bar, that's a drop set Nach, rest pause is the same weight but waiting around 10-15 deep breath before starting again.

[marcus300]

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 that you would normally use but your rest a couple of times within the set for around 10-15 seconds 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 sure 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 until failure 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 8-12 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.

To name a few

[Hazard]

Chest and bi's went great


Smith press 315 x 3 set of 8. Drop to 225 on last set for 6.

I felt great going into it and 315 just felt heavy. Wasnt going to push it so I drop set the last one and took it to failure.

On another note..... My sis is now in prep again for a November show. The goal this time is I have we come in more full.

[cttoasn]

Love this thread.

Anyone who's read a post of mine will know that I frequently point out that I train for Olympic weightlifting and not bodybuilding.

But I love the ****ing intensity and aggressive passion for lifting that is in this thread.

Almost makes me want to do some bicep curls or something.....almost ha ha.

[marcus300]

Love this thread.

Anyone who's read a post of mine will know that I frequently point out that I train for Olympic weightlifting and not bodybuilding.

But I love the ****ing intensity and aggressive passion for lifting that is in this thread.

Almost makes me want to do some bicep curls or something.....almost ha ha.

Stick around and post up some workouts. I did power lifting for the first 5 years of my training and still do bits now ..nice to hear from you and thankyou for the compliments. The HIT crowd in here are hardcore to the max

[DCI]

De load week this week was away at the weekend so only catching up on the posts here.

Sfla man we are all thinking of you man.

Haz your a fcking beast jealous of the mass you have and height unreal man.

Chest tonight gonna be med weight and lots of streching

[kelkel]

DSfla man we are all thinking of you man.

Most definitely.

[clarky.]

Just back from a good back session
Pull back

WG PD 1 working DD

CG PD 1 working DD

Rope PD 1 working 1 drop

Straight arm PD 1 working DD

Bent over bb rows 1 working DD **new weight**

Deads 2 working 1 drop Usual just below the knee

Cardio 20min

Great session really great back/lats are fried lats are popping and got some good muscle going down each side of the spine.

[cttoasn]

Stick around and post up some workouts. I did power lifting for the first 5 years of my training and still do bits now ..nice to hear from you and thankyou for the compliments. The HIT crowd in here are hardcore to the max

Wont train until this afternoon....But here is what today looks like.

Everything based off of 1rm of the specific lift. Been loading up into a couple Heavier weeks lately with less tech work, more big efforts. I am sure coach will have a sweet De-Load week coming soon. I hope!

Front Squat
5@70%.....5@75%....3@80%.....3@85%.....1+ (until failure)@90%

Push Press
5x3 @ med-heavy

Clean + Jerk
2@65% / 2@70% / 2@75% / 1@80% / 1@85% / 1@90%

Clean pull from 6" deficit w/ 10sec descent on last rep of set. *Think clean grip, explosive deadlift with a shrug. Pulled from a deficit.
5x3@110% of Clean 1rm

Weighted back extension on GHD
3x12

Strict dead hang pull ups
3x15

Box jump
5x5 @ high as possible. Singles, not rebounds. Be explosive.

Strict hanging leg raises
3x15

[DCI]

Tonight was international chest monday in the gym.

Started with light machine flies 3 sets of med weight just to get a blood flow.

Then onto the seated press machine same as above.

Then flat db pressing heavish 2 sets only low reps.

Incline same as above.

Flies to finish same as above. Need the de load week really was tired. Feel good.

Just finished eatting here.

[clarky.]

Tonight was international chest monday in the gym.

Started with light machine flies 3 sets of med weight just to get a blood flow.

Then onto the seated press machine same as above.

Then flat db pressing heavish 2 sets only low reps.

Incline same as above.

Flies to finish same as above. Need the de load week really was tired. Feel good.

Just finished eatting here.

Lol mate chest was due for me as well but i never do it on a monday lol i'll do it the mora.

[DCI]

Lol mate chest was due for me as well but i never do it on a monday lol i'll do it the mora.

Lol, I probably shudda done that too but sure was on me own so no hassle got through it handy enough.

[Sfla80]

Shoulder tonight! !

Warmed up with the treadmill...20 mins normal routine.

All sets hit 12+ reps some hit failure but definitely not all. Still feeling it out. All had 3 sets.

Behind the back cable lats

Seated military press

Leaning one arm db lats

Palms up front raise with short straight bar

Pec dec machine palms down

Front and back shrugs

Felt good. Never really had "syptoms" for my issue so not really sure how far to push or what to look out for. Just got my Omron monitor. Should I measure right when I get home from the gym to see where I am at??

[Sfla80]

Couple of pics here.

This one maybe only AG can appreciate lol. So my one beta blocker is freaking 40$ a month with insurance. The second med (newest one) is 1.67$. So she told her dad about it...and this is what he brought home.

He said it's a two year supply lol. Not sure exactly but it is a butt load of money saved either way.



Second pic is...as if I did not have enough shit going on in my life right now. Came about an inch away today at work from taking my middle finger off. This is the after math...

[Hazard]

Couple of pics here.

This one maybe only AG can appreciate lol. So my one beta blocker is freaking 40$ a month with insurance. The second med (newest one) is 1.67$. So she told her dad about it...and this is what he brought home.

He said it's a two year supply lol. Not sure exactly but it is a butt load of money saved either way.

<img src="http://forums.steroid.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=159465"/>

Second pic is...as if I did not have enough shit going on in my life right now. Came about an inch away today at work from taking my middle finger off. This is the after math...

<img src="http://forums.steroid.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=159466"/>

Preaching to the choir here buddy.....

My ex had to go on Suboxone for her pain killer addiction. It's a non covered medication..... $800/month. I legit hated my wife for that..... Ill never forget it. Divorce was one of the happiest moment of my life lol

[Hazard]

Also..... I can't swallow pills. So when I get sick I have to take liquid medications. Azithromax in liquid form after the insurance is $137 :-( I've had to do that a few times

[Sfla80]

Preaching to the choir here buddy.....

My ex had to go on Suboxone for her pain killer addiction. It's a non covered medication..... $800/month. I legit hated my wife for that..... Ill never forget it. Divorce was one of the happiest moment of my life lol

Lol...divorces usually always end up for the better. 800 a month is insane though!!

My ex wife was a good woman. We didn't fight really. (Well only fights was about porn watching lol...it was the devil to her). Besides that just realized wasn't working. I gave her everything. Took my clothes and asked for 1000$ for savings. And that was it.

[Sfla80]

Also..... I can't swallow pills. So when I get sick I have to take liquid medications. Azithromax in liquid form after the insurance is $137 :-( I've had to do that a few times

Seriously? ? Damn haz. Yeah when I was taking all my supps before (kinda like austinite in his support thread) I could easily down 5 or 6 with water. 3 or 4 without

[Hazard]

Seriously? ? Damn haz. Yeah when I was taking all my supps before (kinda like austinite in his support thread) I could easily down 5 or 6 with water. 3 or 4 without

No idea why lol. I can eat huge pieces of steak but can't take an aspirin lol

[almostgone]

Couple of pics here.

This one maybe only AG can appreciate lol. So my one beta blocker is freaking 40$ a month with insurance. The second med (newest one) is 1.67$. So she told her dad about it...and this is what he brought home.

He said it's a two year supply lol. Not sure exactly but it is a butt load of money saved either way.



Second pic is...as if I did not have enough shit going on in my life right now. Came about an inch away today at work from taking my middle finger off. This is the after math...

Nice!! That will come in handy. D@mn thing that gets me about script prices is the things can change daily. It is like there is some stock market index for pills. What costs $18 today may be $29 tomorrow, or $13. It's always changing.
That is a nice scoop out of the finger. Glad it wasn't worse!

[almostgone]

Shoulder tonight! !

Warmed up with the treadmill...20 mins normal routine.

All sets hit 12+ reps some hit failure but definitely not all. Still feeling it out. All had 3 sets.

Behind the back cable lats

Seated military press

Leaning one arm db lats

Palms up front raise with short straight bar

Pec dec machine palms down

Front and back shrugs

Felt good. Never really had "syptoms" for my issue so not really sure how far to push or what to look out for. Just got my Omron monitor. Should I measure right when I get home from the gym to see where I am at??

Sfla, when I first started tracking my BP regularly, I would measure when I first woke up, whenever I got p!ssed off, and sometimes after lifting. I prefer to measure on the left side, although the nurse @ my Dr. always does the right.
Your lifts are looking good. Just don't push too hard yet and make sure you keep breathing the entire time you are lifting.

[almostgone]

Arms are so sore. Drinking a shake and headed to hit shoulders here in a few.

LOL, I was in the machinery boneyard at work last night, helping another guy hunt for a spare gearbox. Naturally everything is all packed in tightly and one of the the spare vacuum units frustrated me because it was in my way. It's fairly large, believe the motor on it is a 3 phase 25 HP to give you an idea of the size of the thing. Anyway, some of the sheet metal tore through my shirt and scratched my back and I always try to take care of my ink (my back is loaded).
So, I got irked and bulldogged the thing out of the way, cussing the whole time. I looked up and the other guy is watching me, jaw dropped open. I guess my back and legs may be getting a tad bit stronger.

[Sfla80]

Sfla, when I first started tracking my BP regularly, I would measure when I first woke up, whenever I got p!ssed off, and sometimes after lifting. I prefer to measure on the left side, although the nurse @ my Dr. always does the right.
Your lifts are looking good. Just don't push too hard yet and make sure you keep breathing the entire time you are lifting.

Yeah I always knew waking up part. I used to monitor it before but had a wrist monitor and took it with me to the doc and found out it was extremely off. Lol.

I'll measure tomorrow after my workout.

Gonna grab a heart rate monitor also sometime soon. But those things are pretty expensive too

[almostgone]

Yeah I always knew waking up part. I used to monitor it before but had a wrist monitor and took it with me to the doc and found out it was extremely off. Lol.

I'll measure tomorrow after my workout.

Gonna grab a heart rate monitor also sometime soon. But those things are pretty expensive too

They aren't cheap. I have an old Polar, forget the model#, but I got it @ Dick's sporting goods. Think it was in the neighborhood of $50? It isn't real fancy with all of the fancy features but it does the job.
As far as how to know how hard you can push yourself when lifting, that is something that will take some time to figure out. Definitely don't push yourself so hard you are seeing spots or try for any 1 rep max. lifts. Stay conservative and talk it over with your Drs.

[GirlyGymRat]

Tonight was international chest monday in the gym. Started with light machine flies 3 sets of med weight just to get a blood flow. Then onto the seated press machine same as above. Then flat db pressing heavish 2 sets only low reps. Incline same as above. Flies to finish same as above. Need the de load week really was tired. Feel good. Just finished eatting here.

International chest day here also following 55 min cycle class

Flat DB flys
DB wide grip push-ups (need to work on these)
Seated press
Pec flys
Angles press
Cable press
Finished with clean and press

[Sfla80]

Another question for you guys.

I'm going to change up to a 4 day split. Trying to implement more cardio obviously and with my schedule and new routine I think this will be my best option.

My days off the gym have to be Thursday and saturday. So here is what I'm thinking. 4 days straight with this new training shouldn't be too intense right?

Monday shoulders (today) and carido
Tuesday chest and cardio
Wednesday back (or flip with tuesday haven't decided)
Thursday off
Friday cardio
Saturday off
Sunday legs.

Then the next week will start with arms on Monday and go from there in rotation

And that gives me 3 days cardio also.

Would anyone change this? Was also thinking hitting two body parts in one day. But I haven't done that in years.

[almostgone]

Another question for you guys.

I'm going to change up to a 4 day split. Trying to implement more cardio obviously and with my schedule and new routine I think this will be my best option.

My days off the gym have to be Thursday and saturday. So here is what I'm thinking. 4 days straight with this new training shouldn't be too intense right?

Monday shoulders (today) and carido
Tuesday chest and cardio
Wednesday back (or flip with tuesday haven't decided)
Thursday off
Friday cardio
Saturday off
Sunday legs.

Then the next week will start with arms on Monday and go from there in rotation

And that gives me 3 days cardio also.

Would anyone change this? Was also thinking hitting two body parts in one day. But I haven't done that in years.

That's very close to the 5 way split of Macus' that works well for me. Shoulders, back, chest, legs, and arms. I also apply Kel's every other day lifting approach to it and it leaves me time for cardio on the off days, but you could add in cardio on a lifting day? I never have to worry what day it is, just hit whatever is next.

[almostgone]

Pullback lift tonight. Believe it timed out just right because I've been getting the "wee-est" of niggles in my forearms during rowing type movements. Think it is a result of the focus on curls, but it isn't anything bad.
Pretty much straight sets on first work set, then dropped a bit of weight, and hit a second set.

R/C exercises and broomstick stretches.

D'bell shoulder press- 2 w/u, Work 1- 4 good reps. The first rep was shaky, but solid. Drop weight, Work2-7 reps.
D'bell side lateral- 2 w/u on cable, Work1-7, drop weight, Work 2-11 good reps.
D'bell rear lateral- 2 w/u, Work1-7, drop weight, Work2- 8+.
B'bell shrugs- 2 w/u, Work1(front)-7 reps, drop, Work2 (rear)- 11 reps.
D'bells shrugs- started with the 100s and went down to the 40s. Averaged 3-5 reps per drop.

31 minutes.

[DCI]

Ouch on the finger sfla man.

And split looks good to me too. I do something similar some weeks when other commitments make me change up my routine.

[NACH3]

Legs are fried from yesterday's session... Arms today

[clarky.]

Lats and back are right sore the day good stuff. Off work the day have some stuff to sort out so i'll get to the gym a bit earlier for a chest session.

[kelkel]

No idea why lol. I can eat huge pieces of steak but can't take an aspirin lol

So crush them, put them in liquid and drink them. Or even blend them in a drink.

[Sfla80]

Chest

Pec dec

Smith slight incline

Incline smith

Incline db fly

Flat db fly.

Finish with 12 mins stepper (freaking tough) then 10 mins treadmill. Legs were a little shocked by the stepper. As soon as I stepped off treadmill both quads locked up lol. Not dyhdrated ..had little over 2 liters in me at the time.

[Hazard]

Chest

Pec dec

Smith slight incline

Incline smith

Incline db fly

Flat db fly.

Finish with 12 mins stepper (freaking tough) then 10 mins treadmill. Legs were a little shocked by the stepper. As soon as I stepped off treadmill both quads locked up lol. Not dyhdrated ..had little over 2 liters in me at the time.

Glad you're getting that stepper in! You get used to it :-)

[Hazard]

Hafta skip the gym today. Leg day will ensue tomorrow.

We had a doc appointment today - the baby is 7lbs 13oz right now with a head full of hair - the fiancé can't wait for her to come out lol

[kelkel]

When's the due date Haz?

[Hazard]

When's the due date Haz?

9/24

[bigdil511]

9/24

Congrats bro.

[bigdil511]

Marcus thanks for the detailed explanation on all the HIT principles. I've been using mainly drop sets but I'm definitely gonna work some more stuff in, thanks.