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Arthur Jones Workout

Arthur Jones High Intensity Training

Arthur Jones is a man who believes that a good training program to get the best results you need to do what he calls High Intensity Training (HIT). Arthur is the founder of Nautilus equipment and is the person responsible for the strength-training explosion that started the boom of the fitness industry in the late 1970s.

There is a story that says Arthur came up with the system while watching his 200kg pet gorilla do a one arm pull-up as if it weighed as much as a marmoset monkey. The fundamental principles of High Intensity Training (HIT) are that exercise should be brief, infrequent, and intense.

Arthur explains that exercises are performed with a high level of effort, or intensity, where it is now proven that it will stimulate the body to produce an increase in muscular strength and size. Training HIT has been called superior for strength and size building to most other methods which, for example, may stress lower weights with larger volume (sets x reps).

According to Jones, "for the production of best results one must attempt the momentarily impossible." That means you should carry each set to a point where you force against the weight on a rep even after the weight has stopped moving upward. When the weight stops mid-rep and will not move another inch, you are done the set.

Jones did not encourage the use of intensity techniques to further increase momentary intensity. In Jones' opinion such techniques were counterproductive as they would reduce the amount of tension placed on a muscle in the subsequent reps, he stressed time under tension as important.

It is unnecessary work that will be less effective. In Jones' own words, "do the minimum necessary which causes maximum results. The set should be terminated when it is impossible to move the weight in any position." Jones explains the importance of Secondary Growth Factors.

Regardless of how hard you work in the gym there are certain factors that must be provided if growth is to occur. These factors are: nutrition, adequate rest, avoidance of overwork (i.e. overtraining) and psychological factors.The first point, nutrition.

While it is true that continued growth cannot occur without proper nutrition there is no need for this to be a point of fanatic endeavor. Jones says no amount of creatine, HMB, glutamine, etc. is going to turn Pee Wee Herman into Dorian Yates. That's a reality that we all must live with. Use supplements, by all means, but don't deem them to be the holy-grail to success. They are not.

Adequate rest is the other major point here. The bottom line is that you should wake each morning feeling rested and you should not have to be awakened to the sound of an alarm. If you don't wake on your own you haven't slept sufficiently. Reciprocity Failure basically means the effective monitoring of your progress so that you know when you start you know when you are training too much or too little. It is very specific to the individual and it needs to be constantly seen to in order to get the best results from changing volume and frequency.

Note: For more information on High Intensity Training see The Colorado Experiment Workout

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