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High Intensity Training Techniques
HIT training is not for the feint of heart, it is serious training taking your body to the point of failure and beyond doing sets like partials and forced reps. You are training with 80% to 100% of your 1RM (rep maximum) and that means you need to train no more than 45 minutes or an hour at the most.
The first principal of HIT is the overload principal where you are constantly trying to either increase the reps that you are working or the weight that you are working with. This is best achieved by doing intense movements like negatives where you are already 60% stronger.
The technique used when HIT is static contraction to increase TUT (time under tension). This is achieved by holding a lock-out position as long as you can after the set is completed or holding the weight in a position for a certain time called rest-pause training.
The following is a brief summary of the different HIT training techniques without a long explanation of how to implement them. Overload, negatives and static contraction have been covered above without going into any details. The next important HIT technique is pre-exhaust training, here isolation is used to fatigue and muscle group before doing a compound movement.
Obviously with the specific muscle group required for the compound movement you do afterwards will have a serious effect on how strong you will be doing these compound movements. But a good example would be super-setting lying triceps extensions with triceps pushdowns before doing dips.
Another HIT training technique would be the double pre-exhaust which is exactly the same as the superset done above but this time an extra movement is added by doing a tri-set with another isolation exercise added before doing the compound movement.
Compound plus isolation and then compound is also another HIT training technique. Often this type of HIT can leave you relatively fresh when doing compound movements but this changes quickly as the sets wear on and you feel like you are going beyond the point of failure.
Break-downs are another HIT technique used where a heavy weight that you can only lift for 5 or 6 reps is used and this is done to failure and then quickly reduced by 20% with the help of a spotter and then continue with more reps until a new point of failure is reached.
Partial or burns is another HIT technique where they are done at the end of a set just like negatives in order to keep pushing the pump into the targeted muscle. The idea is to fool your muscles into thinking they are still lifting and t is forced to recruit more muscle fibers.
Pure rest-pause and moderate rest-pause are also two HIT techniques that you can try and see how they work for you. This is done with 90% to 95% of your 1RM doing singles with a 10 second rest between reps. Even if you can only get to 6 reps you rest 10 seconds then repeat.
The modified rest-pause is done with 20 reps where you select a weight that you can only do 10 deadlift or squats with and then doing one rep at a time with as much rest as you want before you attempt to complete another 20 reps. It should be added that all these HIT techniques should never be done on consecutive training days as you need time to recover from this type of intensity.
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Disclaimer: This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read.
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