There are no shortages of claims made by the “experts” on the best routine. To clarify we can put every routine or training philosophy into two camps at the opposite extremes. All the training programs produced in the last forty years can be place in one of the two extremes or somewhere in the middle of the two.
High Intensity Workouts allowed EJ to do a 100lb pull up
The first is called “High Intensity Training” or H.I.T for short. It has also been called by names like Heavy Duty Training, Power Training and the like. The main feature of this type of training is short bursts of all out effort in lifting very heavy weights for a few reps (3-6) per set with a protracted rest (2-3 minutes) between sets. The focus is building strength at all costs. Each repetition of weight moved should take monumental effort with the last rep of the set resulting in complete muscular exhaustion. The reasoning is simple according to H.I.T. advocates, the stronger you are the more muscle you will build. This is a scientifically sound assumption with many awesome athletic bodies being produced by High Intensity Training over the last 4 decades. To maintain the high level of intensity for every workout, H.I.T. trainees may use stimulates like caffeine or adrenaline producing techniques like visualizing extreme mental images that evoke a strong emotion response like anger or fear. As effective as H.I.T. is in building strength and muscle it has one critical flaw, it is very draining on your system. Since this is the case most “natural” athletes will cycle H.I.T. training once to three times per year at 4 weeks or less per cycle.
Please note: Every effective training system has strengths and weaknesses that you must understand!
The second training philosophy that in essence is opposite of H.I.T. training is volume training. At this other end of the training spectrum the focus is on the volume of work performed. Typically moderate weight is moved for repetitions of 8 to 20 with minimal rest between sets (1/2 minute to 1 minute).
This is a controlled pace where your energy is metered out consistently through the entire work out to log as many reps and sets as possible. This is a more customary approach that is the most popular form of bodybuilding. People of all stripes work out to obtain a muscle pump from their work out in volume training. Volume training reasons that the more reps and sets performed in any workout equals more work performed. More work generates more results which in this case equals more muscle built.
If H.I.T. is like a 100 yard dash then volume training is like the marathon. There in lies the weakness of volume training, the duration of the work out. As you progress with volume training, the tendency for the work outs is to get longer. This is common with the so called gym rats that seem to live in the gym. Since volume training is effective at one volume then more is better is the logical conclusion. This of course is flawed thinking when the work outs approach one hour and more. Keeping your work outs to under an hour and closer to 45 minutes will allow you to maintain volume training progression for several months without over training.
I typically volume train for about 12 weeks then inject 4 weeks of H.I.T. training. Below I will show how H.I.T. and volume training can be applied to pull ups with examples from my personal work out log.
Pull ups with High Intensity Training:
| 42” wide pull ups | |
| with 60 lbs | 5 reps |
| with 30 lbs | 5 reps |
| with bodyweight | 5 reps |
| 35” wide pull ups | |
| with 60 lbs | 6 reps |
| with 30 lbs | 6 reps |
| with bodyweight | 5 reps |
| 28” wide pull ups | |
| with 60 lbs | 6 reps |
| with 30 lbs | 5 reps |
| with bodyweight | 6 reps |
5 or 6 reps per set x 9 sets = 49 Total reps
2 – 3 minute rest per set
Please note: this H.I.T. work out occurs only once or twice a year for 4 weeks or less.
Pull ups with Volume Training:
| 42″ Wide Pull ups | 8 | 8 |
| 35″ Wide Pull ups | 8 | 8 |
| 28″ Wide Pull ups | 8 | 8 |
| 21″ Wide Pull ups | 8 | 8 |
| 15″ Wide Pull ups | 8 | 8 |
| 7″ Wide Pull ups | 8 | 8 |
8 reps per set x 12 sets = 98 total reps
1 minute rest per set
Above work outs can be performed twice a week or every 3 days.
This volume work out is a more typical work out that I follow through out the year.
12BX Fitness Formula 