A couple of months ago I started doing HIT (high intensity training) after reading Body By Science by Doug McGuff and John Little. These writers didn't invent this style of training - it's been around for about 30 years or so - but their book gave me enough information to understand why it works which inspired me to try it. This style of training involves a few exercises done to failure at very slow reps, with several days of recovery in between.

I have a trainer who sets up the machines for me (the facility mostly has MedX with a couple of Nautilus machines) and then coaches me through the session, making sure I keep my reps slow and in good form, helping with negatives (if I hit failure in the middle of the rep) and so on.

I currently work out about once a week and the workout typically lasts about 10-12 minutes (not counting time spent chatting with my trainer, which is pretty minimal since I'm trying to maximize metabolic conditioning effect by minimizing rest during the workout. I try to avoid doing any heavy physical work between workouts because it can interfere with recovery, however I enjoy being active on the weekends. That's for fun though, not for exercise.

I started doing bodyweight exercises at home, just a few. I did two sessions at home prior to moving on to the trainer/facility. All reps are 10/10 cadence (10 seconds up, 10 seconds down, no lockout/rest in between) and the stats are written as weight (or BW for bodyweight)/number of reps followed by (change in weight/reps over last workout)

Session 1
9/23/09
squat - BW/6
pushups on 18" platform - BW/4
assisted pullups - ?/3 - this one I help push up with my feet, and didn't go all the way down because I have a problem with my shoulder and don't have full ROM.

Session 2
9/30/09
squat - BW/8 (0/2)
pushups on 18" platform - BW/5 (0/1)
assisted pullups - ?/3 (0/0) - I anticipate this will be much better on a machine that can control ROM
single leg calf raises - BW/11 - really hard to go to failure on these

Thats it for the home workout. Both times I was quite shaky and sore afterward. Really in lousy condition. But high intensity is all about pushing to failure so I expect if I do it right I'll always be shaky right after.

This was my first session at the facility. They give away two free sessions to get you hooked. Trainer: Jason. This session was extra long because the trainer had to set up the equipment for me and spend some time teaching me how to perform the reps and breathe. The weights were set to a conservative estimate of what I could handle, being very out of condition, and there would not be any going to failure on this workout since it was all about teaching technique. No comparison numbers because I can't compare bodyweight to the weights on the machines since there's no way to account for differences in position and the geometry of the mechanisms.

chest press 70/7
leg curl 80/7
leg press 160/9
row 130/7
lumbar 100/6
lat pullover not recorded
neck 40/7

Trainer: Jason. I developed an EIH on the press and had to take some recovery for that, and Jason didn't let me go to failure on anything. Total time 20 minutes.

chest press 80/9 (10/0)
leg curl 85/7 (5/0)
leg press 180/8 (20/-1)
row 140/6 (10/-1)
lumbar 108/4 (8/-2)
ab 55/7
neck 45/7 (5/0)

Trainer: Mark
Started with the neck machine this time to help forstall headache. Started to get headache on the row a little bit but caught it in time. They're being very conservative on the weights and failure because of the headaches. I'm getting better at detecting them early. Breathing right helps.

chest press 88/8 (8/-1)
leg curl 89/7 (4/0)
leg press 190/8 (10/0)
row 146/7 (6/1)
lumbar 108/9 (0/5)
ab 60/7 (5/0)
neck 49/6 (4/-1)

Trainer: Kathy

chest press 98/7 (10/-1)
leg curl 98/7 (9/0)
leg press 200/7 (10/-1)
row 152/6 (6/-1)
lumbar 116/6 (8/-3)
ab 63/7 (3/0)
neck 51/6 (2/0)

I had my body composition measured by DEXA and bio-impedance and a weight taken. I plan to get a follow up in 6 months or so, and only if it seems I've made some progress (DEXA isn't cheap).

Results:

Fat: ouch. DEXA says 48%. BI says 38%. The technician said I should split the difference, so 43%.

Bone density: here's the good news. Don't remember the number but on the chart my bone density was high for a 25 year old and I'm almost twice that age.

Weight: 170.4. Confirmed that my home scale is accurate enough.

Trainer: Kathy

chest press 108/7 (10/0)
leg curl 100/6 (2/-1)
leg press 210/7 (10/0)
row 160/6 (8/0)
lumbar 124/8 (8/2)
ab 74/6 (11/-1)
neck 53/6 (2/0)

I was surprised to go up on the leg press again (and it still felt light) considering I had accidentally gone to failure on my legs pedaling up a hill in the wrong gear on my new mountain bike on Sunday. It's probably not that critical though, since I'm mostly not going to failure yet, though within a rep on most machines.

Trainer: Jacob

chest press 118 (+10)
leg curl 104 (+4)
leg press 220 (+10)
row 166 (+6)
lumbar 134 (+10)
ab 78 (+4)
neck 55 (+2)

Began with the chest press today instead of neck. I started to get that pre-EIH crawling sensation up the back of my neck and head on rep 5 but concentrated on breathing and was able to get the last rep out without triggering a full on EIH. Gave it a couple of minutes to subside before hitting the next machine and it wasn't a problem after that. Best intensity yet on the WO, nice afterglow

From this point I'm just listing weights, not reps. Target reps is 6. If I make or exceed 6 reps, I go up in weight on the next session, if not the weight stays the same. Also, the sequence of exercise is not the order they're listed in, necessarily. Up until today I have been starting with neck which is supposed to help prevent EIH.

Trainer: Mark

chest press 122 (+4)
leg curl 108 (+4)
leg press 230 (+10)
row 170 (+6)
lumbar 144 (+10)
ab 80 (+2)
neck 56 (+1)

Still up on all weights but the increase is starting to fall off on a couple of them. Intensity was the best yet, near enough failure on the 6th rep for all, so I did a forced rep at the end of each set except chest press and leg press, which I skipped due to EIH coming on. There's no percentage in pushing the headaches.

Checked my bone density on the DXA scan results and it was 1.28 g/cm2. That's high for anyone, much less someone in my race/gender/age demographic. It could explain why my fracture rate has been quite low, despite my hobbies.

Trainer: Mark

chest press 126 (+4)
leg curl 112 (+4)
leg press 240 (+10)
row 176 (+6)
lumbar 154 (+10)
ab 82 (+2)
neck 57 (+1)

Last week I skipped the w/o since I felt like I was fighting off something and didn't want to add another challenge to my system. Whatever it was, it didn't progress beyond a headache and overall achiness.

Didn't seem to have an effect on today's w/o. Weights up on all sets, great intensity. Felt an EIH coming on during the chest press (did neck first) but it didn't seem to progress so I worked through it. Holding my head back in a more extended position seems to help quite a bit, while focusing on keeping jaw and facial muscles completely relaxed while hyperventilating. It's amazing how much focus these very simple, slow movements take.

Trainer: Jacob

chest press 130 (+4)
leg curl 115 (+3)
leg press 250 (+10)
row 180 (+4)
lumbar 158 (+4)
ab 85 (+3)
neck 58 (+1)
shoulder rotator (calibrating)

Felt really good and went past 6 on all reps. Jacob added manual resistance on most of them to push me to failure mid-positive on the last rep. No EIH, though I felt just a little trying to come on after the chest press, it didn't get past the crawly sensation.

After the usual sets, I asked if I could work my shoulder rotators into the workout since I feel they are very weak and easily injured. My left has been a problem for a year or so since a dirt bike accident and my right I tweaked this past weekend and it still feels sore. It turns out they have a Med-X machine that is built specifically for rotators and it could be set up to accomodate my limited strength and ROM so I gave it a try on the minimum weight setting and did a few reps, not trying for failure but just to see what I could manage. Going to give this a try for a few workouts and see if it makes a difference.

Trainer: Marianne

chest press 134 (+4)
leg curl 120 (+5)
leg press 260 (+10)
row 184 (+4)
lumbar 160 (+2)
ab 90 (+5)
neck 59 (+1)

New trainer this time, and a tough, tough workout but no EIH. I started with leg curl and did chest press last. I will not be going up on leg curl or ab next time, having failed just short of my 6 reps on those.

Trainer: Mark

chest press 138 (+4)
leg curl 120 (0)
leg press 270 (+10)
row 188 (+4)
lumbar 162.5 (+2.5)
ab 90 (0)
neck 59 (0)

For the first time, didn't go up in weights on all the sets, but I was able to squeeze out an extra rep or two on most of them. Great intensity but no headache, I might finally be past them. Chest press felt really easy for some reason and I did 2 extra reps, leg press was REALLY hard right from the first rep, had to really focus to avoid jaw clenching, but still got an extra rep in. The leg press weight stack only goes up to 500# so I'm more than halfway there

Trainer: Jacob

chest press 142 (+4)
leg curl 122 (+2)
leg press 280 (+10)
row 194 (+6)
lumbar 166 (+3.5)
ab 94 (+4)
neck 60 (+1)

shoulder rotator L forward 20 ()
shoulder rotator L back 20 ()
shoulder rotator R forward 25 ()
shoulder rotator R back 25 ()

Up on everything, and the sets that I didn't go up on last time felt especially strong. EIH, very sudden on last rep of chest press, but it subsided quickly. We did another shoulder calibration with less weight on the left because of the issue with that one. Still, L-back failed on rep 5. My shoulders, even the good one, have been feeling unstable and "twingey" just doing stuff like getting dressed or reaching behind me, even though I have plenty of strength in the delts/pecs/traps/lats, so hopefully working the rotators will help with that.

Jacob informed me I'm switching to a different set of machines on my next session because I'm starting to "get used to" the current workout. It feels harder than ever to me! But he says we'll hit mostly the same muscles but from slightly different angles.