Limitations of high intensity training

[MikeC]

I don't come across too many intelligent discussions on high intensity training so I thought maybe Muscle And Brawn would be a good place.

I just finished reading Gordon Lavelle's book and he advocates a Dorian Yates style of muscle building. While it sounds very interesting I am left wondering what the limitations are of high intensity training are?

[BendtheBar]

I don't care for training to failure. I've never found it necessary.

[Fazc]

I don't discount it altogether 'cos it obviously works for some, but the problem I have is with it being 'THE WAY' people train. It's a decent thing to do every once in a while with exercises you are comfortable in. But like any change in training, it's usually the change and not the method that is the catalyst for growth/strength. Especially peaking strength by going from high to low volume.

[BendtheBar]

When we began to explore the Steve Reeve's style approach I was struck with how close it was to HIT. Not exactly the same, obviously, but it had only one top end heavy set for reps, and a couple ramped sets ala Dorian Yates.

I don't believe Reeves advocated failure, but I could be wrong.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

When we began to explore the Steve Reeve's style approach I was struck with how close it was to HIT...

I read an account someone gave of Mentzer training back in the 70's, he said he saw him do a heavy warm up of 15 reps, another heavy warm up of 12, another at 10 and then his final set of 8 which he took to failure. The guy approached Mike and said "hey, that's what everyone else does around here; 4 sets with decreasing reps! What happened to your HIT stuff??!" to which Mike replied "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY WERE WARM UPS TO THE FINAL SET!".

Sure looked like a regular drop pyramid to me.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Fazc

I read an account someone gave of Mentzer training back in the 70's, he said he saw him do a heavy warm up of 15 reps, another heavy warm up of 12, another at 10 and then his final set of 8 which he took to failure. The guy approached Mike and said "hey, that's what everyone else does around here; 4 sets with decreasing reps! What happened to your HIT stuff??!" to which Mike replied "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY WERE WARM UPS TO THE FINAL SET!".

Sure looked like a regular drop pyramid to me.

Exactly. Great story.

I tried that exact approach last year at one point and the warmup sets were no joke. We had more than a few people fun the Reeve's routine, and they quickly found that "one working top end set" was much harder than it looked when preceded by high rep warmups.

[BendtheBar]

Reminds me sort of Grimek...I believe he used to do 20 rep sets of squats with "lighter" weight as he worked up to 400-500 with reps.

[Fazc]

Are you a Seinfeld fan Btb?

Newman: "I Nautilus of course!" *puffs out his chest*

Labels become very popular.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Fazc

Are you a Seinfeld fan Btb?

Newman: "I Nautilus of course!" *puffs out his chest*

Yes.

[Fazc]

Yeah, I think labels become very popular with some crowds of people anyway, perhaps those who HIT reaches out to. Maybe? Getting a bit psychosocial there.