Merging HIT and Volume Training: Suggestions for Pre-Contest Bodybuilders, By: Jon Huston

The idea for this article came from my personal workouts that I’ve been doing since I began my pre-contest training.  Before I began my diet, I set out certain goals that I wanted to achieve in order to feel like I was maximizing my potential to win a nice trophy this year.

What I have done is applied HIT and Volume Training to all of my workouts.  The reasoning behind this:  to keep my strength and size while increasing my muscular definition and striations.  Basically, I’ve combined the two ideas into one program; let’s call it the HIV (High Intensity Volume) program.  Not a very good pneumonic but it gets the job done.

That being said; let me start off by telling you what my current program consists of:

Monday:  Biceps, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs

Tuesday:  Chest, Light Triceps, Abs

Wednesday:  Quads, Light Biceps, Calves, Abs

Thursday:  Back, Forearms, Abs

Friday:  Shoulders, Traps, Calves, Abs

Saturday:  Light Quads, Light Chest, Abs

Sunday:  Triceps, Calves, Abs

Yes, I am training seven days a week.  No, I don’t think it’s over-training.  Why?  Because I am putting enough rest between days that I am working the same muscles.  Also, my protein intake is exceptionally high (for me) which leaves me with very little muscle soreness after 48 hours.  However, if for some reason a muscle group is sore I will not do a light workout for it.

Please note that I am doing cardio three days a week for 30 minutes at a medium intensity right now, as I am 8 weeks out from contest.  This will change here in a few weeks if I plateau on my weight loss. 

Let’s get down to business guys and gals.  Here is what I have chosen as my weapon to win the war.

Chest:

Flat Bench Press:  255 x 8, 285 x 8, 315 x 6-8, 345 x 4-6

Flat Dumbbell Press:  80 x 12, 85 x 10, 90 x 10, 110 x 6

Incline Flyes:  40 x 12, 45 x 12, 50 x 12

Cable Crossovers:  70 x 15, 80 x 15, 90 x 12

·          Note that I will alternate beginning with flat bench with incline bench every other week.  This also means the second exercise will be incline dumbbell presses, followed by flat flyes.

Biceps:

Concentration Curls:  50 x 8, 55 x 8, 60 x 8, 65 x 6

Alternating Dumbbell Curls:  35 x 12, 40 x 12, 45 x 12

                Super set with:

Double Dumbbell Hammer Curls:  25 x 12, 30 x 12, 35 x 12

EZ Bar Cable Curls:  140 x 12=>100 x 12=>60 x 12.  This is a drop set.  I will increase the weight x10 pounds on each part of the drop sets for a total of three sets.

Hamstrings:

Double Leg Curls:  220 x 10, 240 x 10, 260 x 8, 280 x 8, 300 x 6

Stiff Legged Dead Lifts with Dumbbell:  110 x 15, 110 x 15, 110 x 15, 110 x 15

Single Leg Curls (with 3 second pause at full contraction):  80 x 8, 90 x 8, 100 x 8, 110x8

Quads:

Warm up with knee extensions:  3 sets of 15

Leg Presses:  650 x 10, 740 x 10, 830 x 10, 920 x 10, 1010 x 8

Double Knee Extensions:  220 x 12, 230 x 12, 240 x 12, 250 x 10

Walking Lunges:  3 sets of 100’ using no weight (I will increase using 20 pound dumbbells)

Sissy Squats:  3 sets of 15-20

Single Knee Extensions (with 3 second pause at full contraction): 90 x 8, 100 x 8, 110 x 8

Hip Extension Machine:  200 x 15, 220 x 15, 240 x 15

·          I do an excessive amount of quad exercises but that seems to be working well this year for my development

Calves:

Monday:  Standing Calf Raise Machine:  260 x 12, 300 x 12, 340 x 12

                Seated Calf Raises:  115 x 15, 140 x 15, 165 x 15

Tuesday:  Standing Calf Raise Machine:  140 x 100

                Seated Calf Raises:  115 x 20, 140 x 20, 165 x 20

Thursday:  Cybex Calf Raises:  90 x 15, 180 x 15, 270 x 15, 360 x 15, 450 x 15, 540 x 12

Friday:  Leg Press Calf Raises:  270 x 20, 450 x 15, 630 x 12, 810 x 10

Triceps:

Tricep Extensions:  120 x 12, 130 x 12, 140 x 10, 150 x 8

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extensions:  35 x 15, 40 x 15, 45 x 12

Single Reverse Tricep Extensions with Cable:  50 x 15, 55 x 15, 60 x 15

Single Overhead Dumbbell Extensions:  35 x 12, 40 x 12, 45 x 10

Bench Dips:  Bodyweight 3 sets of 20

Back:

Lat Pull Downs (I alternate weekly with using either a V-Bar, wide grip, or narrow reverse- grip):  170 x 12, 190 x 12, 210 x 12, 230 x 12=>190 x 10=>150 x 8 (drop set)

Seated Cable Rows with reverse grip:  150 x 15, 160 x 15, 170 x 15, 180 x 15

Rack Pulls:  225 x 15, 275 x 12, 325 x 12, 375 x 10

Seated T-Bar Rows:  90 x 12, 140 x 10, 190 x 8

Hammer Strength High Rows with reverse grip:  90 x 15, 180 x 12, 230 x 12

Standing Cable Pull-Overs:  120 x 15, 130 x 15, 140 x 15

                Super set with:

Hyperextensions:  3 sets of 15

Shoulders:

Seated Bent-Over Dumbbell Flyes:  25 x 15, 30 x 15, 35 x 12

                Super set with

Reverse Pec Deck:  150 x 15, 160 x 15, 170 x 15

Single Dumbbell Laterals (standing):  25 x 12, 30 x 12, 35 x 12

Single Cable Laterals (standing):  20 x 20, 25 x 20, 30 x 20

EZ Bar Front Raises:  65 x 12, 85 x 12, 105 x 10

                Super set with

EZ Bar Upright Rows:  65 x 12, 85 x 12, 105 x 12

Traps:

Shoulder Shrugs using Straight Bar:  225 x 15, 315 x 12, 405 x 12, 495 x 8

                Alternate weekly with:

Dumbbell Shrugs (one super set):  110 x 10=>100 x 10=>90 x 10=>80 x 10=>70 x 10=>60 x 10

I’ll attach a few photos so you can see how the program is working for me.  The photos were taken 9 weeks out from my contest.  Notice a good separation between most muscles and decent proportion upper body versus lower body.

Diet wise I’ve cleaned up the junk food and eliminated milk and wheat products.  I’m taking in about 250 grams of protein.  If you are interested in my diet plan e-mail me and I’ll go through it in detail with you.

The evening of these photos I started my cardio.  So, I waited 3 weeks before beginning my cardiovascular conditioning.  For those of you who read my 12 week contest prep from last year I had to start 12 weeks out doing 30-45 minutes 5 days a week.  Big change this year.

For those of you who have read most of my articles, especially the 12 week contest preparation one from last year notice how much leaner I am this year comparatively.  It has made preparing for this show much more easier.

I would recommend staying a bit leaner in the off-season than I did the previous contest simply because of the ease at which it is to achieve the time-dependent goals for weight and shape.

Let me know what you guys think.  Try my program and see if it works for you.  It seems to be doing very well this year for me.

Hope this article has helped you in converging the HIT and Volume Training principles to maximize contest preparation.