The New High Intensity Training: The Best Muscle-Building System You've Never Tried

There is a poisonous hypocrisy at the heart of bodybuilding; an elephant in the room so huge: DRUGS. Let's make it clear: all of those famous bodybuilders you've heard of took, or take, steroids. Those huge, muscular guys: took steroids. That is why they are big: not genetics, not diet, not workouts. They are this size because they took shedloads of steroids. Bottom line; end of. It's a hypocrisy rife in the bodybuilding world. They publish books, magazines, and say: do this, get big. What they never EVER tell you in those books and articles is: take steroids; masses of them. Studies have shown that men who do nothing at all will pack muscle on if they are given steroids. More muscle, in fact, than those who train regularly without them. This is well established now in sports science. But not, clearly, in the fairy-tale world of bodybuilding.This book is packed with photos of bodybuilders. Lots of them alleged users of HIT, which the author espouses here. They might or might not have been users of HIT, but what they were users of were steroids: the Mentzers, Tom Platz, Sergio Olivia, all of them, including HIT's poster boy, Casey Viator. Took steroids; took lots of them. That's why they are big. There are outright shocking claims in this book: that men using this system have put 18lb+ of muscle on. I'm sorry, you can't do that without steroids. It's a stupid (I'm being kind) claim that flies in the face of biology, anatomy, physiology; everything we know about the human body.Having said that, HIT is a safe, sensible way to train - for those who don't want to spend too much time in the gym, who have no ambitions further than being fit. It's good for older people, too: safe, slow. But if you are serious, you'd need more than this. This is why every single professional athlete in the world does NOT train like this. If you really want to be strong, train like an athlete, don't train like Casey Viator and think you'll get as big as him (you're not on steroids - hopefully!). All the evidence shows a muscle should be trained at least twice a week (tick for HIT routines there), but there is evidence too that they probably need more volume than HIT recommends.However, if you're over 40, not been to the gym before, this book is a good primer for a safe, efficient, quick way to train. Just ignore everything apart from the workouts, and don't expect to look like Mike Mentzer or anyone else featured in this book. Because it doesn't mention the most important factor in getting these guys huge... and since Darden won't mention it, I will - again: STEROIDS.

I bought this book in hopes of gaining an insight into high intensity training (HIT). Its contents were disappointing. The first 87 pages detailed the origins of HIT, the adventures of its founder, the author’s role in its emergence and his run-ins with some of the famous bodybuilders of the golden era. This information was unnecessary and was a waste of my time. What’s worse is that the author dedicated a chapter of the book to Mike Mentzer, in what appears to be a poor attempt to tarnish his credibility as an author on the subject of high intensity training. The author also wrote an irrelevant story about Arnold, which again, was another poor attempt to defame a legend.The reason why this review isn’t just one star, is because the author does provide some useful advice on how to perform exercises with proper form and gives the reader an insight into the principles of HIT (eventually). However, if you’re serious about bodybuilding, you should consider reading another book. This is not worth the price, and is littered with unnecessary information. The author clearly lost his focus on what this book was supposed to be. At times, I was confused as to what i held in my hands. I wondered if it were the biography of Arthur Jones or Ellington himself.

Purchased this book for my husband: this is his review. Great Book, I have lots of Mike Mentzers books and have read much of Arthur Jones's work. The first part of this book is a history review of some legendary BB's such a Viator, Oliver, Mentzers, Boyer Coe and how they all used HIT to develop great strength an size. This part of the book is worth the money in itself. If you are interested in the golden era of BB in the 1970's and HIT then this a gem of a book. The book then goes further to talk about various case studies performed by the Arthur on clients and their success. It also gives you routines to follow and a good solid HIT protocol, along with a Q&A section at the end. All in all this is an excellent book for anyone interested in HIT for BB

The book is divided into 6 parts. Parts 1 to 4 is written is a logical way. Part 5 of the book totally goes against what has been written in part 3 and 4. The other negative thing with this book is that the author recommends super slow reps, 30 sec positive and 30 sec negative. I feel performing such reps in super slow style is like faking it unless the resistance is so high that it actually takes someone in total 60 seconds to perform a rep but then in that case, they would never be able to perform 8 reps which would take them around 8 minutes. Why would someone use this technique when you can do forced reps and negative reps?However the reason, I give it 2 stars is because of the entertaining stories presented in parts 1 and 2 of the book. For HIT, the best book to buy is the one by Mike Mentzer or Dorian Yates. I have both those books and would recommend them over this one.And finally HIT is not suited for beginners or those new to gym or even for those wanting to lose fat.

This is an excellent, well thought out book, written in a very entertaining way. I loved the stories about Arthur Jones and the body builders form when Nautilus was just starting and the advice on how to do a set of curls was an eye opener. The routines presented are simple but not easy. I wish I had read the author's earlier books when I started lifting 30+ years ago, andd here I go again...

Read this and you wont go far wrong. Realistic ,valuable advice not hyperbole or Bomb and Blitz,rubbish. The author do throw in some asides and anecdotes but these help to reinforce the essential advice that the book contains.

Fantastic book,very informative.

Good read . Just adding to my knoledge and understanding . Good purchase.