The Stanley Hotel - How to Manage High Intensity Training Techniques Without Over Training

This has led me to creating hybrid routines that incorporate low-stress high intensity techniques while incorporating advanced high intensity techniques that are in many cases high-stress but are super effective for maximum progress in the shortest period of time. You must understand how to manage your progress. The body can move quickly into a state of over-training, and beyond, due to the intensity of going to failure. It is the question of maximum progress, if there is one thing that is at the top of the list when it comes to High Intensity Training.

STRESS

. . But first let's set some ground rules. How the body lays down muscle, lets take a moment to understand in a simplistic way. Which affect recovery ability, both good and bad, stress is a major contributor to over-training because most do not take into consideration all the different types of stress the body contends with.

1- The workout must be intense to stimulate muscle growth.

So 100% is a reasonable place to start because we are asking the body to adapt to something it has never done. Which is it? . . Is it 80% or 94%. . . We really do not know what percentage of intensity is necessary to best stimulate muscle growth.

This is why you see people in the gym that never change! There is no need for change, if you do the same thing over and over again.

We must be ever so conscious of what is minimally required to stimulate an increase. . . Yet our recovery ability may only increase 50%. . . Because we have the ability to increase our strength 400% or more. 2- The workout must be brief.

Which can only be considered over-training, is taking away from the recovery and the overcompensation process, while putting the adaptive machinery into process, any more than is minimally required to stimulate this increase. It is only necessary to do it once. It is not necessary to stimulate over and over again with endless sets or an exercise, since the body is very intelligent.

It is not how many you do but how you do it. Once set of an exercise is all that is required.

3- The workout must be infrequent to allow the increase.

They are opposites. Don't get volume confused with intensity. If you truly trained to failure in an intense workout. . . You can feel it as you leave the gym when you are finished. It is no secret that after you train intensely that something has been taken from you.

This is a good analogy and will make sense to you. You dig a ditch in your system's recovery ability, when you take a high intensity training workout. This is exactly what has happened.

Recovery and overcompensation. . . The rest required before you lay down muscle is based on a two step process, which most trainees still do not realize, since the body recovers as a whole and not by body part.

You are short-circuiting your progress and more than likely moving into a state of over-training, if you go back into the gym before you have accommodated both processes.

Laying down muscle, goes into building the mountain or as we say, whatever is left, after the ditch is filled. You must first fill the ditch before you can build on top of it. To as many as 7-14 days for an advanced athlete. . . This process can take as little as 4-5 days for a beginner.

So how do we know when to train? You will not lay any additional muscle down, until you have compensated for the exhaustive effects of the workout, you must first be 100% before you can be 120% or said differently.

THE TWO DAY RULE

Insert two more rest days before you go to the gym to perform your next workout, then and only then, you feel energetic again and you are your great feeling self, once you feel 100%. . . Here it is in a nutshell. This is possibly the most important concept you will learn if you are a high intensity training athlete.

. . Which brings me to my next subject and that is. . . To do this we must pay attention and "Ride the Lightning" without getting burned. We are here to make strength and muscle gains up to our genetic potential, no. We are not here to break even are we, but, at 100% you have compensated? The reason for this is simple.

How to incorporate high intensity training techniques while not tipping the scales on stress which will allow you uninterrupted progress

HYBRID WORKOUTS

We hear a lot about hybrids these days.

But fueled by a diesel generator which allows a greater reserve of fossil energy while propelling the craft efficiently and speedily to its destination, there are hybrid boats that use motors that are electric.

This is not much different then what we are doing here. There are hybrid cars that do the same and allow greater mileage while not hitting the supply of oil as hard as it would if they were running 500 cubic inch monster motors under the hood.

Thus allowing further adaptation and progress, what we are doing here is combining a low-stress high intensity technique with infrequent high-stress high intensity techniques that allow for more intense and longer contractions in most cases.

The more infrequent and brief your workout must become, the stronger you become, as implied above. . . What must be taken into consideration is this. The body requires a more intense contraction to move it past its status quo into a place it has not been, as one grows larger and stronger.

Usually avoid them because they inevitably over train, because they do not understand how to insert these most effective techniques and read their body properly, many athletes.

. . Here are a few I like; there are many types of intensity techniques.

Forced Reps
Rest Pause
Omni Contraction
Negatives
Pre-Exhaustion
Contraction Holds

However there is a couple that is lower stress than the rest. Increase the intensity. . . Each one of these go beyond failure and because of that.

We will be using: I am going to set up an example how you could proceed using a low stress and higher stress technique in a 4 set split routine workout.

Thus pre-exhausting the muscle targeted with isolation then using fresh muscle to push the targeted muscle past the point creating an adaptive response, 1- Pre-Exhaustion (Low Stress) - PE is performed by starting with an isolation exercise and moving without rest directly to a compound exercise.

It is the intense contraction that is the stimulus for muscle growth. We are going to use both here. 2- Contraction Holds (High Stress) - CH focuses on either the strongest portion of the movement and/or the fully contracted muscle.

It is important to note that in most cases you will be using much more weight than you would normally use with a set of reps carried to complete muscular failure. All sets that are contraction hold sets require a workout or two to experiment with the proper weight in order to safely hold in the specified position. All sets that are not contraction hold sets are brought to complete muscular failure.

. . Here it goes.

WORKOUT 1

Shoulders and Arms chest,

Dumbbell Flies (Pre Exhaust) - 6-10 reps
Incline Smith Machine Bench Press- 3-5 reps (no rest in-between sets)

Smith Machine Seated Press Contraction Hold (an inch below lock out) - 7-10 seconds

Do not lock completely out rather just lift off the pins allowing shoulders and triceps to contract against the weight) (These are performed seated with back supported with safety hooks engaged.

Curl Machine Contracted Hold (performed in fully contracted position) - 7-10 seconds

Please get checked by a medical professional first, if you have any question of your health to perform such a workout. This is high stress, please take the time to move safely into this technique and by all means have a good spotter and safety clips in the rack when you do, nOTE: As stated above contracted holds in this fashion employs much more weight than could be used normally for reps.

WORKOUT 2

Legs and Back

Leg Press - 10 - 20 reps

Toe Press (on leg press machine) - 5-8 reps with a 10 second contraction hold in contracted position at top between each rep

Barbell Rows- 6-10

Smith Machine Barbell Row Hold - 7-10 seconds

Bend over and lift off of pins and hold) (Set the Smith Machine pins and safety at mid point between the floor and your waist so that the bar is setting on them before you begin.

WORKOUT 3

Shoulders and Arms chest,

Incline Smith Machine Bench Press Contracted Hold (1 inch from lock out) 7-10 second

Lateral Machine or Dumbbell Laterals - 8-15 reps

Barbell Curls - 6-10 reps

Lying Triceps Extension - 6-10 reps

WORKOUT 4

Back and Legs

Pullovers (Pre-Exhaust with) - 6-10 reps

Pull downs (palms facing you) - 6-10 reps

Leg Press Hold (an inch from lockout) 10 - 20 seconds

Nautilus) - 10 - 20 reps Stiff Leg Dead lifts or Hyper Extensions or Back Machine (i.e.

We are mixing pre-exhaustion with contracted holds which would employ a great deal more weight than you would normally use by just going to failure, as you can see.

Rather you barely move the bar off of the pins and hold, remember that you do not lock the elbows; also. 1 inch from lockout, you could more than likely start with 275 or 300 pounds for Contracted Holds, a good example would be if you can Incline Bench Press 200 pounds normally. Because of this make certain that you experiment with jumps and weights.

It is imperative that when using a similar routine example as I have given here (I have tested this workout routine for the past 2 months with great results in both size and strength) that sufficient rest be provided.

If you are you may need to insert extra rest days (7-10) and/or remove one exercise per workout to bring it down to 3 sets rather than 4. Unless you are extremely advanced, i would suggest training once (not the whole 4 workouts but one workout) every 5 days to begin with until you go through all 4 then start again.

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE: Remove the following exercises:

WO1 - Inclines
WO2 - Barbell Rows
WO3 - Laterals
WO4 - Pullovers or Stiff Deads/Hypers

The Two Day Rule, so manage it as you get larger and stronger and remember to use! You are doing nothing more but managing stress here, remember.