Five Tips For High Intensity Training

High Intensity Training or just HIT is a training method introduced somewhere in the early seventies from Arthur Jones, who was the founder of Nautilus, a company that produces gym equipment.

Several years later, HIT starts becoming popular when famous bodybuilders claimed to achieve great results by associating HIT with their workout. Some of the most known professional bodybuilders which were fans of HIT were: Dorian Yates, Sergio Oliva, Lee Labrada, Mike Mentzer and Aaron Baker.

HIT's main principle is to train your muscles with maximum intensity in a short time period in order to achieve muscle failure.

The truth is that HIT has proven to be a very efficient training method for bodybuilders who want to develop their muscles and their strength in the same time. However, in order to get the maximum out of HIT, I will give you some tips to follow in the gym:

 
1) HIT means High Intensity Training
As long as you have decided to adopt HIT you must insert intensity to your training routine. The days where you went to the gym and completed your workout without even sweating are over. Every exercise, every set and every single rep must hurt.

2) Increase your Weights and Lower your Reps
You have to regulate your weights so that you reach muscle failure somewhere between five to eight reps. Muscle failure means the point where you are not able to lift a single rep more.

3) Take Advantage of the Negative Exercise
Not performing the negative phase of the exercise is a common mistake we often witness in the gym. By saying "negative" we mean the lowering of the weight. Lower the weight slowly and focus on the muscle. The benefits of the negative exercise, especially inside a HIT training are very important.

4) Do not rest longer than 35 seconds
Long resting periods between the sets reduce the intensity of the exercise allowing your muscles to avoid exhaustion. Since your HIT workout will be brief you don't have the luxury to rest for long. Training intensity causes blood concentration to the muscle group you are working on. If you rest too much, the blood concentration which is responsible for muscle development will decrease. 30 to 35 seconds is optimal for muscle growth.

5) Three Sets per Muscle Group
As mentioned above in order to perform HIT training the right way you have to keep your workout intensive and short. Three sets per muscle group are enough provided that you reach muscle failure.
As a conclusion we might say that HIT is a great training method to build muscle and increase your strength.