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

by Ellington Darden Ph.D. (Author) "To infuse your body with renewed muscular growth, combine the best of HIT from the 1970s with the latest HIT techniques from 2004..." (more)
Key Phrases: repeat for maximum repetitions, percent inroad, bench press with barbell, Arthur Jones, Casey Viator, Muscles Worked (more...)

3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)

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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.

About the Author
Ellington Darden, Ph.D., is the leading disciple of the HIT training methods of Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment. Darden, for 17 years the director of research for Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries, is the author of such enormously popular books on high-intensity workouts as The Nautilus Book, High-Intensity Bodybuilding, and 100 High-Intensity Ways to Build Your Body, along with 40 other fitness books. He currently resides in Windermere, Florida.

Product Details

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Rodale Books (September 9, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594860009
ISBN-13: 978-1594860003
Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,640 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
To infuse your body with renewed muscular growth, combine the best of HIT from the 1970s with the latest HIT techniques from 2004. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
repeat for maximum repetitions, percent inroad, bench press with barbell, lateral raise with dumbbells, reverse trunk curl, pullover machine, remove your feet, most lifters, negative repetitions, momentary muscular failure, lat machine, neck machine, arm routine, slow dip, muscular size, most bodybuilders, wrist curl, contracted position, many bodybuilders, muscular growth, recovery ability, incline bench press, breakdown set, overhead press, stretched position

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Arthur Jones, Casey Viator, Muscles Worked, Lake Helen, United States, David Hudlow, West Point, Sergio Oliva, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Boyer Coe, Joe Weider, Los Angeles, Mike Mentzer, Ray Mentzer, New York, Vic Tanny, Blue Monster, Ell Darden, Muscle Builder, University of Florida, Florida State, Franco Columbu, New Orleans, Scott Wilson, Chris Dickerson

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 27 books:

Pearl Jam - The Illustrated Story, A Melody Maker Book by Allan Jones on page 34, and page 35
Nutrition and Athletic Performance by Ellington Darden in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Nautilus Bodybuilding Book by Ellington Darden on page 69, and Back Matter
Conditioning for Football (Physical fitness and sports medicine) by Ellington Darden in Back Matter
Strength Training by Max Jones on page 201

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger

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The Bowflex Body Plan by Ellington Darden Ph.D.

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Arnold by Arnold Schwarzenegger

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A Flat Stomach ASAP by Ellington Darden

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	66% buy the item featured on this page: The New High Intensity Training: The Best Muscle-Building System You've Never Tried 3.3 out of 5 stars (62) $14.93
	11% buy The Bowflex Body Plan 3.9 out of 5 stars (44) $19.77
	10% buy High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way 4.1 out of 5 stars (54) $13.57
	9% buy Body by Science: A Research Based Program to Get the Results You Want in 12 Minutes a Week 4.8 out of 5 stars (26) $13.57

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Customer Reviews

62 Reviews

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(4)
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Average Customer Review

3.3 out of 5 stars (62 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not really new, January 6, 2005

By	Robert Spector - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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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54 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aimed mostly for beginners on HIT training, May 26, 2005

By	Seppo Vesala (Helsinki, - Finland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book presents information and training programs using high intensity training (HIT). This book follows Arthur Jones' HIT training principles, as opposed to Mike Menzer's way. This translates to 2-3 whole body training sessions each week, using slow rep cadence.

The book starts with history of HIT training. Although this information is interesting, it takes some 75 pages, before the stuff on actual training starts. The training information is presented as a complete training program that is intended for beginners on HIT training. It takes about one year to go through this training program, and after that you are considered as an advanced trainer. This approach is the book's major strength and weakness at the same time. For a beginner, it is very easy to start training, as you have a complete training program ready for use. For a more experienced trainer, however, it can be somewhat difficult to find all the information to construct your own training program. For example, all of the core principles of HIT training are collected in a box, that is for some reason hidden in the middle of section that covers the correct form of some key exercises.

The main question is, does HIT training work? Well, I have been training with weights for almost 15 years, and I have reached a long-lasting plateau in bench press. I trained using the workouts in this book (although I trained only two times each week instead of three) for less than 4 months. After that, I went back to my conventional training program. At the beginning of the renewed conventional training, I noticed that I had lost quite lot of explosive strength I had prior to HIT training. However, I continued the conventional program using lighter weights. Now, after two months of conventional training, my weights in every exercise have exceeded the weights I used before HIT training, including bench press. The conclusion is, HIT training increases your strength level, but at the same time you lose some of the explosiveness. But you regain the explosiveness by using explosive movements, and you'll see that your strength levels have markedly increased.

HIT training is both mentally and physically very demanding (much more so than conventional high volume training). It takes very much dedication to be able to push yourself from workout to workout to constantly improve. Therefore I feel HIT is best used as a way to boost your more conventional training. Use HIT principles for a few months before returning to your regular workout schedule, and you will see that the improvements are significant!

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64 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New HIT is a HIT, September 16, 2004

By	Brian D. Johnston "www.ExerciseCertification.com" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This latest book, by Ellington Darden, who has written more than three dozen books, including The Bowflex Body Plan, is perhaps one of his best. It is a unique treatment in that it provides a provacative background (with many surprising stories and insights) of high intensity training (HIT), a term that he coined about thirty years ago, together with training direction that is unparalleled in the philosophy and discipline of HIT. Dr. Darden begins by explaining the training methods that Arthur Jones established, to help revolutionize the exercise industry, his initial machine creations that led to the advent of Nautilus, his work with Casey Viator, The Colorado Experiment, the West Point Study, and Jone's experiences with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Boyer Coe, Frank Zane, the Mentzer Brothers, and Sergio Oliva. Apparently some of these "hard core" bodybuilders were not so hard core (Mike Mentzer and Arnold fans may be surprised)!

Dr. Darden provided this entertaining and educational background to explain Jones' reasoning and the HIT philosophy (relative to the then current dogma) that then merges nicely into the fundamental principles and how they support HIT, including intensity, lifting form, progression, duration, frequency, and exercise order, as well as issues of recovery, layoffs, and sleep. As a side note, it may surprise the reader as to how many strength and conditioning coaches actually apply HIT training with their athletes, including Superbowl winners. As Dr. Darden explains through experience, explosive, ballistic training is unnecessary to develop a strong, muscular body in the average person or a star athlete, although it is ideal if you want to increase the risk of injury.

Thereafter, Dr. Darden provides the "usual" exercise photos and descriptions for purposes of education and cohesion, then breaks from tradition (insofar as books go). He provides beginner and intermediate routines, followed by advanced techniques and specialized routines (for the focus of select muscle groups). These may sound "typical" for a bodybuilding/strength training book as well, but what he has done next is completely original and much needed. He has provided a six-month, four phase plan that can be applied from beginner to advanced trainee, in a step-by-step process. Whether a person is new to HIT, new to the methods provided, or even an advanced HIT disciple looking to re-establish him or her self with structure and direction, the routines provided are the ticket!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the money
I would recommend this book to anyone who has lost what they once had and want to regain it. I purchased this book a couple months ago and read it from cover to cover. Read more

Published 1 month ago by P. Weese

1.0 out of 5 stars Crap Book - dont buy unless you are completely new to HIT/Arthur jones
Nothing New - loads of crap stories during the arthur era ... total waste of time and money... Do yourself a favour .. Read more

Published 5 months ago by D. Abhishek

4.0 out of 5 stars BRINGING LIGHT BACK INTO THE DARKNESS....
I truly doubt that with Mike Mentzer leading the REVOLUTION, that Ellington Darden could see that H.I.T. had been dead or dormant for years, plus let us not forget.... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Mr. Joshua M. Cole

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really new, and not really high intensity either
This book has some useful information, and it's interesting and entertaining to read.
But the title is misleading, because there's really nothing new in this book, nor is... Read more

Published 8 months ago by James M. Herried

5.0 out of 5 stars Lives up to it's claims
This book delivers. You get the results as promised without the use of steroids. I recommend this book for anyone looking to pack on muscle, look good, but not freakishly large.

Published 8 months ago by R. Daniels

3.0 out of 5 stars Just finished reading it
I am a beginner to this program (bought it a few weeks ago) and have just started using the program. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Marcos

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money.
I don't know how long ago I bought this book, but I forgot about it, and recently I saw an article about Dorian Yates in a magazine and he was talking about how he adapted his... Read more

Published 14 months ago by John Galt

1.0 out of 5 stars Where is my book?!
You want me to review a book I have YET TO RECEIVE, it takes 2-6 business days to get my book, today is the 6th day and I checked my mail - no books. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Nathaniel Durkin

5.0 out of 5 stars Bought it twice. Its that good
I bought this book once and read through it and hi-lighted important parts. I went to the gym and implemented my knowledge and ate healthy . Read more

Published 15 months ago by Nicholas Breeze

3.0 out of 5 stars Serious training only
I've been reading HIT books and doing it for a while, especially Mike Mentzer's books.The techniques from this book are very strenuous and perhaps over-the-top. Read more

Published 17 months ago by Robert A. Kwasnik

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