Zitat:
T-Nation: Your new approach to HIT involves occasional not-to-failure or NTF (not to failure) workouts. Some diehard HITters are throwing fits about this suggestion. Why NTF workouts?
Darden: Jones originally hypothesized that a trainee required from 48 to 96 hours between HIT sessions for complete recovery to occur. On the one hand, training daily never allowed an individual’s body enough time to become larger and stronger, at least not maximally. On the other hand, resting longer than 96 hours between workouts seemed to cause muscle atrophy to some degree.
The tried-and-proved, Monday-Wednesday-Friday workout schedule served Jones well, at least with beginning trainees. But soon, within six to twelve weeks, the trainee reached a plateau. Such an individual was now strong enough to make a much deeper inroad into his recovery ability. The solution to breaking the training plateau was more time between workouts.
At first we tried going from three times per week to twice a week. But that turned out to be too severe of a reduction. We solved this by directing our thinking into two-week schedules, rather than one-week periods. Instead of reducing the frequency from six times in two weeks to four times in two weeks, we went from six times to five times. This produced strength gains for a while, but then the training would plateau again.
Thus, we reduced systematically over time from five, to four, to three, to two times in two weeks, which also helped. After several years of experimentation, however, we found that smaller reductions in frequency produced fewer plateaus and better strength gains. Through multiple trials, we discovered that NTF training filled that smaller-reductions-in-frequency gap.
NTF training means not going to momentary muscular failure in any exercise during a workout. During a specific exercise, you use the same amount of resistance as before, but you simply stop the set two repetitions short of your best previous effort. For example, if you did 245 pounds on the bench press for 9 repetitions on Monday, then on Wednesday, you still use 245 pounds, but you halt the set after the 7th repetition.
NTF training, we concluded, actually facilitated some trainees’ recovery ability. At the very least, it prevented a small degree of atrophy, particularly among beginning and intermediate subjects.
With advanced HIT’ters, I realize NTF training may not be necessary, especially if they’ve been getting good results from consistent all-out efforts. But then again, it may be just the concept that their bodies need for renewed muscular growth. They’ll never know unless they try NTF with gusto!
;) 