The slower your reps, the more your muscles grow

[Hench]

"is secondary in importance" I have to say that the TUL (time under load) IS very important. In fact it is the bottom line in the high intesity. Without the prolonged TUL then you are simply back to lifting "normally". I will say that when you find you max weight at 4 2 4 lifting (about half of your MR weight) you can play with heavier weights by shortening the TUL as you say. But this is not true HIT lifting...this is of your own design and that is wonderful and a part of my training method. I did a full month of strict HIT lifting and it was an amazing eye opener. I was shaking like a newbe at first. It is a tremendous shock to your nervous system hence the need to stay with lighter weights until you graduate from kindergarten. We started with 3 sets making sure that the last set was just barely 10 reps. I have talked to many people that know of HIT and most all say "that training sucks" because it is not an easy way to lift. But the big boys understand it.

The rule is...there are no rules. However there are specific conditions to each training method of either ballistic or static training. I think where many get confused is that when a "method" of lifting is presented they feel the information is meant to be the "exact" and only way to lift weights. I have been lifting 40 years and it is amazing how much there is still to learn. Especially as you age...EVERYTHING CHANGES and a person has to be able to change along with it or fail. Over training becomes even more critical. The phenomena of maximum size and strength is also an issue. In the beginning you can do virtually anything and do everything wrong or incorrect and as long as you don't hurt yourself you can get good results. But as you achieve your normal maximum muscle level, gains slow to a stand still. It is wrong to think you can simply go on forever gaining muscle. That is why I think it is so critical to learn as many lifting methods as possible so you have alternative tools in your belt to throw at your training. Obviously true size takes weight. HIT is almost an isometric exercise and once a person learns to preform it perfectly and fully understand it...then it is possible to mix it up with heavy weights. Everything is fair game in body building and each form of lifting has its time and place. But the ONE true statement you will hear from EVERY pro is "NEVER GIVE UP YOUR FORM". Form is the number one thing that HIT teaches you and it will guide you in all your other methods of training. IMHO. There are many ways to adjust HIT to allow for heavy weight lifting and they can be incorporated into each work out or exchanged from work out to work out. But the bottom line is to LEARN how to properly HIT train because I believe it will make a tremendous difference in your work outs and especially down the road as you get older because it helps to slow over training and injury.

I think you misunderstood my point slightly, however I agree with most everything you've said. Would love to debate this in detail with you but time is short.

I would like to mention the last point you've made however, being able to perform HIT in its truest form takes months and months of progression and conditioning, both mental and physical. Our minds consistently quit long before our bodies do, particularly in response to pain or lactate build up as opposed to actual fatigue. I have come on leaps and bounds with my own tolerances, and the aesthetic and performances results reflect this. However it is only now becoming apparent how much further I have to go, or to phrase it another way how much of a soft c**t I still am! lol

Also when I do finally get somewhere near my true performance limits I want to play around with training volume, and see to what extent it can be reduce and still maintain or improve performance/appearance while using the HIT model.

 

[LAM]

The study obviously has it flaws however based on my own training and that of clients Im inclined to agree with his conclusions, despite the somewhat random loading comparison.

I feel more important to optimum growth is the removal of all momentum from the movement as well as the increased mental focus on maximum muscular contraction associated with that method of execution. Whether this occurs over a 6 second ecc. & con. period, as opposed to 3 seconds in either direction or even something like 6 ecc. &Y 3 con. is secondary in importance to the two factors mentioned previously.

building bar speed is far more of a factor in power lifting then it is for stimulating hypertrophy. not enough people realize that it's the eccentric portion of the lift where the majority of microtrauma occurs so focus too much on the concentric portion.