High intensity training
From Free net encyclopedia
High Intensity Training (HIT) is a form of strength training popularized in the 1970s by Arthur Jones of Nautilus and MedX fame.
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Training principles
The fundamental principles of high intensity training are intensity, progression, duration, and frequency. Exercises are performed with a high level of effort, or intensity, to stimulate the body to produce an increase in muscular strength and size. As strength increases, the weight or resistance used during exercises must progressively increase to continue to provide the muscles with adequate overload to stimulate further improvements. There is an inverse relationship between how intensely and how long one can exercise. As a result, high intensity workouts must be kept relatively brief. After a high intensity workout, the body requires time to recover and produce the responses stimulated during the workout. One's training frequency should allow adequate time between workouts for recovery and adaptation to occur.
Although many stereotype high intensity training programs as being single-set per exercise, thrice-weekly full-body workouts, many variations exist in specific recommendions of set and exercise number, workout routines, and volume and frequency of training. The common thread among these is an emphasis on a high level of effort, and relatively brief and infrequent training.
Most high intensity training advocates stress the use of controlled lifting speeds and strict form, with special attention paid to avoiding any bouncing, jerking, or yanking of the weight or machine movement arm during exercise. While high intensity training is strongly associated with Nautilus exercise equipment, advocates vary in their equipment recommendations.
These methods were initially propsed by a Dr Zander, however to quote Arthur Jones:
"So, in attempts to improve my exercise results, I designed and built a total of about twenty very sophisticated exercise machines, then believing that these were the first exercise machines ever built by anybody. But many years later, I learned that a doctor named Gustav Zander had designed and built a number of exercise machines in Europe nearly a hundred years before I built my first one; I did not copy Zander's work and learned nothing from him, was not even aware of his work until long after I had made the same discoveries that he had made. But if I had known about, and understood, Zander's work, it would have saved me a lot of time and a rather large fortune in money, because the man was a genius; his only problem was that he lived about a century ahead of his time, at a time when very few people cared about exercise and even fewer knew anything about it. "
Scientific Evaluation
According to scientists "the preponderance of research strongly suggests that gains in muscular strength, hypertrophy, power, and endurance are the result of the following [among others] simple guidelines":Template:Ref harvard
- A range of repetitions between three and 15
- One set of each exercise
- After performing a combination of concentric and eccentric muscle actions, working to momentary muscular failure is recommended as this will force the muscle to adapt to the stress more quickly.
- Enough time between exercises to perform the next exercise in proper form.
- Depending on individual recovery and response, a frequency of 2-3 times/week to stimulate each targeted muscle group.
Thus HIT should be an efficient training method.
References
See also
- High-intensity interval training, an aerobic exercise technique.
Writers on HIT
- Rob Spector: The HIT FAQ (www.hardtraining.com)
- Stuart McRobert: Beyond Brawn
- Mike Mentzer: Heavy Duty 2 and High Intensity Training the MM Way.
- Matt Brzycki: A practical approach to strength training