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Hey Guys,

You know what I just found very interesting? The main volume and HIT bodybuilding athorities agree on going to momentary muscular failure; crazy huh? The main volume athority, Charles Poliquin (Mike M. arch nemisis), said in a recent CD on his training, "It is pure HOGWASH that bodybuilders don′t take every set to muscular failure". Charles Poliquin is a VERY SUCCESSFUL strength coach who has a B.Sc Kinesiology, M.Sc in Exercise Physiology, has trained Olympic Athletes, and also wrote many articles including his famous German Volume Training (10×10).

T-Nation.com is a large forum that volume trainers write on and follow Chales′ advice religiously along with guys like Christian Thibaudeau who KNOWS THE VALUES of Eccentric and Static Contraction training (that guys like Arthur J. and Mike M. talked about for years) and has written numerous articles on them filled with TONS of scientific studies to back up what he states in his periodicles. One main guy that all the guys like Charles and Christian quote is a guy named Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky and I purchased his book (Science and Practice of Strength Training) to find that he states, "In order to achieve the highest possible changes in size and strength, you must train to momentary muscular failure". This guy is a RENOUNED SCIENTIST who trained RUSSIAN olympic athletes when they were UN-BEATALBE in the Olympic Lifting Games. He is quoted EXTREMELY OFTEN in the t-nation forum by volumists and I read his book and it is ONE OF THE BEST I′VE EVER READ IN MY LIFE! Interesting huh?

Later

Hey Guys,

We also have a HIT supporter who trained Olympic Athletes. Here′s a quote from his recent book High-Intensity Training by: John Philbin:

John C. Philbin is the founder and president of the National Strength Professionals Association (NSPA), a nationally recognized strength and conditioning and personal training certification organization. He has 25 years of experience working with athletes at all levels. He was a strength coach for the Washinton Redskins football organization under the legendary Dan Riley (he was the volume coach that Arthur Jones showed the superiority to HIT in Project Total Conditioning and turned into an HIT strength coach for many pro football teams) for 8 years and was the Olympic head coach and director of sports science and conditioning for the U.S bobsled team from 1988-1992. Additionally, Philbin was the director of strength and conditioning for the U.S Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York, and was the conditioning coach for Fernando Vargas, WBA world junior middleweight boxing champion.

Later

P.S: Fact: OVER HALF THE PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL TEAMS TRAIN HIT!!!

""In order to achieve the highest possible changes in size and strength, you must train to momentary muscular failure". This guy is a RENOUNED SCIENTIST who trained RUSSIAN olympic athletes when they were UN-BEATALBE in the Olympic Lifting Games."

That′s amazing because it′s well known that Powerlifters and Olympic Lifters don′t go to failure.

Philbin′s book was my first exposure to HIT training. I happened to pick up his book at a Barne′s and Noble while killing time before an out of town meeting. His routine advice is based around strength, not size, and frankly seem brutally long to me (12-18 set full body workouts to MMF 3X per week – although they lighten a bit for ′in-season′ maintenance).

I started my first full HIT routine 4 weeks ago based on this, but it was way too much, and I switched to a 3X split after 10 days that was much more abbreviated:

Mon. Dumbbell fly

Chest press

pullovers

close-grip pull-downs

Leg Extensions

Leg Press

Calf Raise

Wed. Lateral raise

Shoulder press

Biceps Curls

Triceps extension

Dips

Fri. Chest Press

Shoulder Press

Deadlift

Hey Vincent,

Ya I know. What the majority of their sets come from is from a lighter weight, and learning to get down the form even better for the snatch and clean and jerk. Back in the 50′s and 60′s they used to just practice the form of the snatch and clean and jerk with just BROOMSTICKS until they perfected the form, and then increased the weight and so on and so on.

Later