book review "The New High Intensity Training" by ellington darden

**carter1990** · 03-06-2011, 02:22 PM

Has anyone read this book?

The author ellington darden had the opportunity to work with arthur jones the late great trainer. Arthur jones the founder of nautilus who trained the likes of casey viator and the mentzer brothers.

First off Arthur jones clearly created a following and I believe he has done many great things for fitness and bodybuilding but I can't help but disagree with some of the theories presented in the book.

Now it wasn't directly written by arthur jones himself but ellington darden one of his colleagues.

I'll speak of one idea I disagree with....

There is a section in the book that based off my understanding says relative to the length between your muscles, bones and tendons will determine your ability to put on muscle. Now there may be truth to that but in my opinion there individuals who have what you call a very small physique who go on to create massive transformations. The determining factor was their drive and ability to work hard with the right type of training not the size of their body at the start of their training.

But there are many great premises presented in the book as well, the book speaks of short intense workouts as opposed to longer duration workouts and its very inspirational to hear arthur jones' story. Here is a guy with humble beginnings who went on to train many great bodybuilders as well as being the founder of nautilus. Ellington Darden writes well and I can say the book is a great read but like I said some ideas I just have a hard time grasping. I'm not here to knock either of them for they clearly know a great deal about weight training and fitness but as I read I was a little drawn aback by some of the premises presented taken as blind fact when I feel the ideas could be dis proven.

**cappo5150** · 03-06-2011, 07:48 PM

I'm in the process of reading it. I busted up on the chapter where arnold when to train with him in FL.

**carter1990** · 03-07-2011, 10:37 AM

what do you mean busted up?

Yeah it explains how arnold was somewhat of a prima donna

Clearly arthur jones was an intense guy but I can't help but think ellington is writing alot about stories of arthur jones. Don't get me wrong I like reading the stories but I think the theories behind the workout could have been presented better.

**ALBOB** · 03-07-2011, 11:09 AM

What's the difference between the new H.I.T. and the old H.I.T.?

**carter1990** · 03-08-2011, 05:15 PM

Well i think H.i.t is a general term that is being used and could mean many different things based off the person saying it.

**ALBOB** · 03-09-2011, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by carter1990

Well i think H.i.t is a general term that is being used and could mean many different things based off the person saying it.

Well in this case the person saying it is Ellington Darden. Did he offer any insights as to how this "new" h.i.t. is an improvement over the old one? Or is he just trying to sell more books?

**Hubauer** · 03-09-2011, 04:35 PM

I read it and I thought it was a decent book overall. However, the first 100 pages or so were just stories of jones and bodybuilders and elephants and things like that.

I like the HIT approach, and that's what I've gained the most weight doing but I don't necessarily agree with all the concepts in the book. It does seem like Darden just throws out alot of ideas without any backing, or justifying it by saying that's what Jones told him. Good workout though. I kind of liked the split, and the slow reps were a good change.

**ALBOB** · 03-09-2011, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Hubauer

Good workout though. I kind of liked the split, and the slow reps were a good change.

Does he ever tell you to take a break from it? I LOVE H.I.T., that's why I'm so interested in whether he offers any new information over the original. One of the things I and a lot of others learned the hard way is to take a break from it every now and then. H.I.T. is incredibly hard on the joints and Central Nervous System. If you don't give your body a chance to recover you'll end up doing more damage than good.

**Anabolic5150** · 03-09-2011, 06:22 PM

Darden is a smart guy, but he is still living off the ideas of Jones.

**Hubauer** · 03-09-2011, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by ALBOB

Does he ever tell you to take a break from it?

I don't have the book, so I couldn't tell you for sure. But he says that after a certain period of time (like 2 months or something) you're supposed to take a week off, or if you stop progressing.

And I think part of his idea behind training with slow reps is trying to get some good work out of a lighter weight and really good form. Might not be too bad on the joints

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