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

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I think I've read every single book Ellington Darden has written, and there really isn't anything "new" in this book. I preface this review by saying that I credit Darden with helping me realize over 20 years ago that "less is more" and I do thank him for that. The general principles he has espoused - "train less, work harder" - have definitely helped me over the years.

However, I'm a little put off by the book description here where it states: "there still are no major HIT books in stores". Huh? That's a false statement. Other authors have written excellent HIT books. For example, "Maximize your Training", by Matt Brzycki, contains advice from the most prominent HIT advocates in the world including Dr. Ken Leistner, Dr. Ted Lambrinides and a plethora of other strength coaches and other strength training experts.Stuart McRobert's books have been around for quite awhile.Others have also written books on HIT.Yet Darden would have you think that there's nobody else out there in the HIT training world other than him (and Mike Mentzer). I'm also surprised that when he mentions internet resources he makes no mention of the most popular HIT site on the web - Cyberpump - which has been around for over 10 years.

But back to this book. I enjoyed the historical tidbits that I had never read before. In my opinion, however, the author goes into a bit too much detail about Arthur Jones' non-training endeavors. Perhaps this interests others, but not me.I have zero interest.

As far as the training advice goes, I couldn't find a single piece of advice - excluding the part on creatine which I'll get to in a bit - which hasn't been published in one of Darden's previous books. The "NTF" (Not-To-Failure) workouts are detailed in his Nautilus book back in the 1980s. This isn't anything "new".In my opinion, they are completely unnecessary. If you haven't recovered from your workouts, you don't need to go back to the gym for a "maintenance" workout.Just rest.You don't need to go back to the gym every 48 hours to prevent atrophy.Plenty of folks train intensely every 72-96 hours or so, and enjoy great gains.

I'm also taken aback by the advice on creatine. First, Darden has consistently maintained over the years that the bodybuilding supplements being peddled don't have any legit scientific support for their effectiveness. He's maintained the line that supplements are a waste of money.But NOW he condones creatine.Huh?The scientific evidence behind creatine isn't exactly compelling.There are several prominent strength training authorities who feel that creatine is a waste of money, and can have some dangerous side effects including muscle cramping and dehydration.For example, here's a quote from Mark Asanovich, coach of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars discussing the use of studies that shed a positive light on the use of creatine by athletes:

"You have to take a look at the paper trail," he says. "It's skewed. Small numbers (of test subjects) were used ... and it tested football players, who were told that at the end of the study, they'd be given a free can of Creatine."

I'm also surprised at the dosages Darden recommends. They are quite high. In my opinion, this is not good advice at all and certainly not healthy.What happened to his old refrain that weight training should be about HEALTH first?

Back to the training routines. Every "advanced" specialization routine can be found in one of Darden's previous books. Absolutely nothing "new". I would also add that in my opinion some of these routines are far too much for the average trainee to handle.It's not so easy to go to "regular" concentric failure. I thought Darden points this out with his anecdote on how you're not working "hard" on a set of curls unless you end up on the floor afterwards and/or vomit. So then how likely is it that a trainee can work to failure on THREE exercises back-to-back with no rest? You'll have to lower the intensity if you know that you're doing three exercises back to back.Only very advanced and well-conditioned trainees can do three HARD sets back to back, and be able to tolerate (and recover from) that kind of intensity.And besides, even if you could recover, there's zippo evidence to support the notion that you need to utterly *destroy* your muscles as he suggests

Then there are the usual claims that Darden makes about gaining an unbelievable amount of muscle mass in a very short period of time. I will only say this: the ONLY circumstances you can gain extremely large amounts of muscle mass in a very short period of time (weeks) is any combination of:

1. you are regaining lost muscle mass (like Casey Viator in the "Colorado Experiment")
2. you take steroids
3. you have been following a training regime that is stupid and useless (muscle magazine nonsense), you are overtrained, and now you start doing proper training for the first time.
4. you've never trained before.

That's all I'm going to say about that.

I agree with the general principles that Darden espouses - I strongly believe in HIT - and these are very valuable. If I had never read any other book by Darden before, perhaps I'd up my rating by half a star. I hope his advice moves the trainee away from pursuing the useless high-volume routines that the muscle magazines peddle. However, most people do not gain from those "advanced" routines and quickly overtrain.

This is an okay book. It's a pretty easy read, and the general principles are good, with the exception to his advice on nutrition and some of the "advanced" specialization routines.

However, if you compare this book to the other HIT books out there, it falls short. This book is a fun read, and no harm in getting it, especially for the stories about the old-timers. There isn't any training advice that's "new".

If you aren't a strength training book collector, then I think your money would be better spent on the following:

"Maximize Your Training", compilation by Matt Brzycki which includes chapters on application of HIT to Powerlifting (no other HIT book has this that I know of).This book is good for understanding the "why" and the "how" of HIT.

"Beyond Brawn", Stuart McRobert.This book is excellent because it's all practical advice - it's incredible the detail the author went into.

"The Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique", also by Stuart McRobert.There is NO better book on there on exercise description and performance.

The HIT FAQ on the hardtraining website which I authored (shameless plug)

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Product Description:
Certain to become the bible of HIT-the training that revolutionized lifting with shorter, far-more-intense workouts-this impassioned guide is the last word on how to achieve explosive growth safely, without steroids!

For many dedicated bodybuilders, the weight-lifting theories of Arthur Jones are gospel. It was Jones, the inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment, who first discovered that short, intense workouts could produce better results than the long, high-volume workouts then in vogue.

Even though research into Jones's methods has proved them correct, a number of high-profile strength coaches use HIT to train their athletes, and the bodybuilding magazine Ironman does HIT-based features every issue, there still are no major HIT books in stores. This new book-by champion bodybuilder, exercise researcher, and best-selling author Ellington Darden, who is a Jones disciple and friend-shows lifters how to apply the master's teachings, along with some new HIT concepts to achieve extraordinary results.

At the heart of the book is a complete, illustrated, six-month course for explosive growth. Exercise by exercise, workout by workout, the reader is shown precisely what to do, and perhaps even more important, what not to do. Charging that too many bodybuilders follow a more-is-better approach-too many exercises, too many sets, and too much frequency-and rely on steroids to compensate for depleted recovery ability, Darden shows why HIT, steroid-free and healthy, is the best way to safely build muscle. Finally, the exercise religion Arthur Jones founded, and Darden fine-tuned, has its bible.

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