How to prepare for a Military Fitness Test
Six years ago at the age of 18 I applied to join the Royal Navy. I passed the initial exams and interviews but what I was most concerned about was the navy’s basic fitness test. The test consisted of a 1.5m run (to be completed in 13 min 10 sec or less), 20 push-ups and 20 sits-up and a swim test that included a 50 meter swim and treading water for 2 minutes while wearing a set of baggy overalls. I felt that the swim test was not an issue as I was a strong swimmer at that point. However …
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Metabolism, in the mind’s eye
In my experience, most high-intensity training (HIT) practitioners don’t focus on metabolism. It’s hard to blame them. Discussion of force, velocity, muscle tension, and momentary muscle failure have real-world applications that clients can knowingly experience. Metabolism is practically invisible and lacks easily accessible realtime metrics that we can share with our clients. However, we would be remise if we didn’t share the truly amazing adaptations that occur within seconds of finishing a HIT session. The energy systems Before we jump into the adaptations that occur from HIT, a basic understanding of metabolism is necessary. Most people are familiar with the …
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Equilibrium
Having recently immersed myself in the methods of high intensity training, a very common trend which has made itself apparent over the last short while is the mammoth disconnect which exists between what the public generally believes about exercise, and what is actually testable, verifiable, and true. Unsurprisingly, this disconnect extends beyond what the public generally considers to be a ‘normal’ exercise routine, and actually flirts with what many consider to be the outer edges of fitness. If we think about exercise in terms of concentric circles, what most people will generally place in the middle – as being the …
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In Conversation with Blair Wilson: Making a success of HIT
Mentored by co-author of Body By Science John Little, Blair Wilson, owner of MedX Precision Fitness, probably couldn’t have had a better introduction to HIT. We spoke to Blair to find out what it takes to succeed in the niche world of High Intensity Training. When Blair was 16 years old, he had to have shoulder surgery due to accumulated strain from rugby, hockey, water-skiing and other athletic endeavours he was involved with. It was a case of “over use” rather than a momentous injury; and in retrospect it was a lucky situation that led Blair to start working …
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A High Intensity Workout with James Steele
In the workout that follows, you will see James performing a High Intensity Workout. It is worthy of note that this was the first time that James trained on this equipment, therefore the loads for the exercises were kept somewhat conservative, hence the length of the sets. This is particularly true of the leg press because James was also recovering from a sacroiliac joint injury at the time of this workout. With that said, here follows a detailed breakdown of James’ workout. The first exercise James performs is a Lower Back movement. The primary targeted muscles are those of the …
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Sean’s High Intensity Workout Explained
In the HIT workout that follows you will see Sean performing exercises from his A Routine, the workout is performed on the HITGYM AIO by David Health Solutions. And so Sean begins starting the routine with a Lower Back movement. The primary targeted muscles are those of the lumbar and thoracic spine. Note Sean takes his time in starting the movement, this is important as we are aiming to take 4 seconds or more for the weight to come off the stack. It is especially important with regards to the lower back (but also with all other exercises) to keep …
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How Will High Intensity Training Impact Your Body In Time
What to expect from High Intensity Training “Exercise is a process whereby the body performs work of a demanding nature, in accordance with muscle and joint function, in a clinically-controlled environment, within the constraints of safety, meaningfully loading the muscular structures to inroad their strength levels to stimulate a growth mechanism within minimum time.” Ken Hutchins giving his definition of optimal exercise. An individual who trains strictly adhering to the High Intensity protocol (as espoused by HITuni, Drew Baye, Renaissance Exercise, Doug McGuff etc.) and combines this with an appropriate diet can expect a variety of physical changes both internally …
Read MoreRealism HITs home
Before my introduction to High Intensity Training with HITuni I (like most) believed I could almost pre order the physique that I lusted for. Thanks to fantastic coaching from the HITuni team and my own researching on the subject of High Intensity Training and including an awesome blog post courtesy of Skyler Tanner, I now have my expectations firmly grounded in reality. (Here is Skyler’s article which highlights the slow gaining of muscle over a training career). I had never been a regular at the gym in fact I made considerable efforts to bypass that route. However, I had dabbled …
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