If you are unfamiliar with HIT (High-Intensity Training), you should be. It was invented by Arthur Jones and perfected by Mike Mentzer, Ellington Darden, Kim Wood, Casey Viator, Boyer Coe, and Dorian Yates. The central theme is the training economy—getting more from less. I had the great opportunity to go through a classic HIT workout with James LaValle at his home. If this opportunity ever comes up for you, never pass it up!

Before I go into the actual workout, I want to set the stage a little. I have been fascinated with HIT for some time. Muscle Smoke & Mirrors goes extensively into HIT and its creator Arthur Jones and his impact on the industry of S&C. Other authors such as Mike Mentzer and Ellington Darden have published several books about the execution and mindset associated with HIT. Then you have the primary ambassadors in bodybuilding (Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, Casey Viator, Boyer Coe) and the countless football programs that used it with training such as Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, Army West Point, Cincinnati Bengals, and Baltimore Ravens (trust me there’s more).

There were two primary drivers of my interest: one being my boss Aaron Ausmus (AA) and the other being fascinated with training intensity. I interned for AA at Ole Miss and he put me through a circuit of 15 exercises (all upper body) doing 15 reps with each exercise. AA created this circuit while at USC as a means to get a Thursday lift in without tiring out the legs but still getting a ‘pump’ before game day. The real magic was tied into raw intensity. Several coaches take you through each station counting reps, making you start over if you miss a rep or are used to too light of weight. Essentially you are being pushed to failure through environmental factors – which is the essence of HIT.

The second part of HIT comes from the pure intensity needed and the economy of training created. Get more from less. It is no secret that a large number of the high-frequency training splits (5 plus training days per week) come from magazine publications looking to profit off increased frequency. It is pretty ingenious from a supplement company’s marketing standpoint to say you should train more and therefore take more supplements to support that plan. It is supported by personal trainers stating that more sessions, which they are being paid for, are better than less sessions. This is contrary to HIT principles of less being more, with the one caveat being training with maximal intensity. The only way to make it through higher frequency is to lower your intensity each session to accommodate that high of cumulative stress. This is exactly the opposite of what Jones would discuss with training.

AA talked about his experience in high school with training primarily HIT, which instilled a certain level of value in training intensity over frequency. He always advocated fewer sessions and fewer exercises. The focus should be more on the facilitation of maximal effort with every opportunity you have. For context, AA was exposed to arguably one of the most influential programs in S&C with the University of Tennesee in the 90s with John Stucky and Tommy Moffitt using the Gayle Hatch system with their athletes. AA talked to me often about his ability to handle the training volume from not being genetically gifted but mentally and physically resilient under stress. Getting to the peak of the Hatch Cycle, which is programmed for weight lifters and not football or throwing athletes, takes an incredible level of resolve that most do not have toward strictly strength training. Having a HIT background seemed to give an extra gear during that peak stress. Pushing through a program that was designed to break you down was more mental than it was physical. Understanding tolerable upper limits is a learned skill. When you train with higher frequency you are in effect placing a governor on your training. Athletes lose the requisite mentality to push past their upper threshold based on the premise they will have to repeat within 24 hours.

Let us flash forward to the training session James. It was early, I had a 45-minute Uber to his house, The target start time was 630AM. To be honest, I did not know what to expect. My first conversation with James was about his program and how it sounded like Bill Pearl’s program or a modified HIT. That seemed to make a positive impression because the next thing I knew I was getting asked to come over and work out in his garage. After a couple of pleasantries, we started ‘testing the machines’. James has quite a collection of Nautilus machines in his house. If you are into classic cars, Nautilus machines are the equivalent of a 64 Ford Mustang. Things were pretty casual till he had me ‘buckle in’ for pullovers. After that, James saw red and the rest was history.

A1 Pullover 1xF (3 forced reps + 1 max iso-eccentric)
A2 Elbow Pull Downs (No hands) (3 forced reps + 1 max iso-eccentric rep)
A3 Machine Row (3 positions) 1xF (1 max iso eccentric rep)
B1 Decline Press 1xF (1 max iso-eccentric rep)
B2 Push up 1×5 (stabilize shoulder)
B3 Incline Press 1xF (1 max iso-eccentric rep)
B4 Machine Shoulder Press 1xF (3 forced reps + 1 max iso-eccentric)
C1 Leg Extensions 1xF (3 forced reps + 1 max iso eccentric)
C2 Leg Curl 1xF (3 forced reps + 1 max iso-eccentric)
D1 Machine Scott Curl 1xF (3 forced reps + 1 max iso eccentric)
D2 Elbow supported tricep extension 1xF (3 forced reps + 1 max iso-eccentric)

There are two important considerations here. One is that the workout took 26 minutes, 24 of which I was under tension. The second is that I technically had no idea that this was going to happen, which is 100% my mistake. The first consideration is that the work-to-rest ratio was perfect. Rest is overrated anyway. My compliments to the chef because the intensity was spot on. Easily broke 25 forced reps (reps past concentric failure).  Regardless if I was emotionally prepared or not, the intensity was relative to what I could perform within that given moment. James found my failure point and took me past that. It was autoregulated but pushed to a point where I would get the most value from the time.

The second part of not being ready is important to unpack because it creates an important discussion on the intersection of physiology and psychology, which is the most underappreciated aspect of HIT. In my opinion, most people are not training hard enough. The adage you are not overtrained, you are under-recovered exists for a reason. HIT is a force multiplier. The intensity forces you to focus on the primary objective of training – maximal intensity and intent. Since the training is so intense, you have to increase efforts everywhere else. Your lifestyle and nutrition have to improve because you do not have the luxury of another session the next day. You have to be more conscious of everything because the training is so much more concentrated.

• Lesson 1 – a reminder of the most important lesson in training: what you put in is what you get out.
• Lesson 2 – training intensity is as much mental as it is physical – training partners matter.
• Lesson 3 – technique is foundational to stressing the correct tissues and muscle actions. this becomes more apparent when you are past failure.
• Lesson 4 – contraction failure rates are drastically different. you have a ton left both isometric and eccentric when you reach concentric failure.
• Lesson 5 – James LaValle does not mess around with training.

Should you abandon a more traditional multiple sets with submaximal effort? The evidence says definitively no. This is why HIT died, it did not hold up to objective research. Should you expose yourself to a set of failures intermittently or strategic respite from normal training, yes. Consider it an aggressive recalibration of your three primary systems with training and response: physical, psychological, and spiritual. If you are not thinking about your spirit animal during a workout every once in a while, you are not training hard enough.

My spirit animal currently is a wolf, I saw him that morning with James in his garage. ‘Hello darkness, my old friend’.