HIT Training: Determine the Length of Your Workouts.

Ellington Darden, Ph.D

Generally, there are nine parts of your body that are most often subject to training. These nine are listed as follows:

• Hips
• Thighs
• Calves
• Shoulders
• Back
• Chest
• Arms
• Waist
• Neck

HIT dictates that you train your entire body one to three times per week (as opposed to splitting it up), and that you perform one to two exercises per body part. Usually the total number of exercises per workout varies from seven to twelve, with more advanced trainees requiring fewer exercises because of their higher levels of strength.

Each exercise should be performed slowly and smoothly for one set of approximately 8 to 12 repetitions. Each set should take from 40 to 90 seconds. There should be no longer than 60 seconds rest between exercises. Thus, a typical workout should take between 20 and 30 minutes.

The next time you?re in the gym, time your workout from the beginning of the first exercise to the end of the last exercise. How long did it take?

If you?re like most bodybuilders, it probably took you well over an hour, or perhaps two hours. And that two hours may have been for only half of your body.

If you are spending more than 30 minutes in the gym actually training, then you are not getting anything close to maximum growth stimulation. You are probably not working hard enough and you are probably resting too long between sets.

Focus your attention on the fact that your exercise is going to become briefer as a result of your increased intensity.