Before starting High Intensity Training, I took for granted the discipline that’s needed to make it through the typical HIT workout. It’s more than your average person can bear. You need to constantly fight through pain. Every time you do a set, your body begs you to stop and your mind has to resist its pleas. No crying. No giving up. Just pushing yourself. Either you push yourself all the way to complete failure or you don’t get the results. It really is that simple.

The workout is only around 10 minutes, but this does not mean you’ve found a magic pill. If you think you have, the intense pain you endure during HIT workouts quickly puts things in perspective for you. It’s that intensity that gets you to your destination. And the ride isn’t pleasant. Not at all.

While anticipating today’s workout, I actually started to get nervous. After 5 workouts, my body knows what’s coming. It wants to avoid the pain. I want to avoid the pain. But my mind just won’t let me do it. I signed up for 9 grueling workouts over 30 days. I can’t skip out on them so I decided to cut off the negative thoughts and just go to the gym.

I increased the weight on my exercises by 5 lbs today. I did the seated calf raises first and completed 5 reps total. I had tried for 6, but my calves gave out and I had to use my hands to secure the weight back into place.

After finishing the calf raises, I went and did 5 reps of barbell wrist curls. It’s amazing how much of a difference a 5 lbs increase in weight makes. I felt like my forearms were about to explode by the time I reached the 5^th rep. Shortly after completing my set, I let the weight fall back to the ground. I was already breaking out in a sweat with beads forming around my forehead.

I paused for 15 seconds, removed some of the weight and continued using the barbell to do close grip bench presses. I got through a complete set of 6 before my triceps gave out on me.

Moved on to the ab workout and completed one set of 10 reps. I didn’t feel like I gave it my best though. I feel I slacked a little bit on these.

My total workout time today was 6 minutes and 19 seconds. I am amazed by how fast I completed it. I know some of you might be skeptical and I don’t blame you. If you have any doubts, please just try one set of any exercise and do the reps with a slow speed (5 seconds on the positive and 5 seconds on the negative) and see the difference it makes in your workout. Just make sure to check with your physician before doing them. I don’t want you to have a heart attack.

Today’s workout was brutal. I started with the chest press and completed 7 reps. That’s 2 reps above HIT Workout #1. Each rep took about 10 seconds from start to finish – that is the exact time I strive for during my workouts. After completing the chest press I felt like my pectorals were on fire, but I didn’t have the time to rest because I moved right on to the lat pull down machine.

I sat down and did around 5 slow reps of lat pull downs, then slowly completed 2 more reps by breathing in short rapid bursts. I also continued the motion just like my trainer had instructed. This helped me get the additional two reps.

Next came the shoulder presses. I pushed up slowly completing the first rep. I did 3 more before I felt the tingling pain in my shoulders. I kept breathing quickly and barely pushed out 2 more reps. I finished 6 reps. I gave myself a moment’s rest and just sat at the shoulder press machine for 15 seconds. After regaining my composure I moved on to the bicep workout.

I feel the bicep workout is a nice half-way point for me. My body gets a chance to rest a bit, while I punish my biceps. I finished a set of 7 with searing pain.

The leg curls came next. I did a complete set of 6, but froze up on the 7^th. Even though I was breathing quickly, I could not complete the last set.

I moved on to the leg presses. This time I didn’t have any pain in my calves and was able to complete a set of 8 reps. Which is 2 more reps than I was able to do when I first started. This makes me feel like things are starting to improve.

Today’s workout lasted 9 minutes and 34 seconds. It felt though when I was doing it, but I feel better having completed it.

Although I’m at the half-way point of this experiment, I don’t look that much bigger. I do look a little more chiseled and I feel stronger, but other than that I don’t notice a big difference in how I look.

I think I need to increase the weight some more for next week’s workout. Looking at my gains, I think I can increase the weight I’m lifting by 5 lbs.

Today’s workout was less intense than my previous ones. I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked the previous night and I felt tired when I reached the gym.

I started out working my calves on the seated calf raise machine. I completed 6 reps before I felt the usual pain that accompanies this workout. I completed another 2 reps and my calves gave out. I tried for 1 more, but it was futile. I rested around 15 seconds and then went over to the flat bench.

I used the bar to do 1 set of wrist curls. I did them slowly, making sure each rep took around 10 seconds. By the 5^th rep, I was in pain. I pushed myself and did 2 more while breathing in short bursts. I tried for another, but could not bring the bar back up to the starting position. I gave myself a 15 second breather and went on to do some kickbacks for triceps.

The tricep kickbacks were hard to do and I only got through 4 reps before feeling the burn. I tried to do them slowly, but my motion wasn’t constant. I think the weight I chose was a little too heavy for me. I did 1 more rep and let the weight drop.

After feeling like a slacker on the tricep kickbacks, I felt I really had to push myself when working my abdominal muscles. I loaded up the weight, grabbed the rope, and slowly pulled it inwards. This is the same exercise I did during HIT – Workout # 2. I completed 14 reps.

Although I completed today’s workout in 7 minutes and 32 seconds, I feel like I slacked. It was definitely not as intense as it usually is and I know I’m capable of better. Going forward I will have to be more diciplined and make sure I get the proper amount of rest.

Today’s HIT session was a repetition of Workout #1. I met with my trainer and he adjusted the machines to fit my height and body type. While he was setting things up, he told me to mentally prepare myself. He wanted me to stay focused throughout the workout and to give it my all. It’s a reoccurring theme with him.

I started with the chest press and slowly pushed off. After 5 reps, I was dying of pain. I tried doing another rep, but froze in place. The bars fell back about an inch and I wasn’t able to push past the half-way point. After my workout, my trainer told me that it was really important to keep the muscles in my face relaxed and to keep breathing. He said that if I didn’t keep the momentum and breathing going, I would freeze up. Shortly after – the weight would fall backwards. Once that happened, I would not be able to complete the rep. While analyzing the video footage, I realized he was exactly right. In the instances where I let the weight fall back (even as little as 1-2 inches), I did not complete the last rep. Meanwhile, when I kept breathing and continued my movement, I slowly pushed past the freezing point and completed the rep.

After the chest press, I got on the lat pull down machine. I started off well, but after a couple of reps my trainer informed me that my form wasn’t consistent. When I initially sat down, I didn’t secure my knees properly and kind of struggled to readjust myself while in the middle of the set. My trainer told me that was a mistake and that it was important to keep proper form throughout. I took a few seconds, readjusted, and continued on. I completed 5 reps. I tried for one more, but only completed half so I did not count it.

I then moved on to the shoulder press and finished my set while panting. I completed 4 reps on the shoulder press. I tried for 5, but could not complete the 5^th rep.

The bicep workout came next. It consisted of a set of 5 reps.

Leg curls followed. I did a complete set of 5, tried for 6, but could not finish the 6^th rep. After finishing the leg curls, I moved on to the leg press machine.

As I did the leg presses, I felt a slight pain in my calves. They still weren’t 100% healed yet. According to the HIT philosophy, you actually need around 7-11 days of rest in between workouts. This gives all your muscles time to recover (usually 3-6 days) and also time to grow (6-11 days). During the beginning stages of HIT, it is not as big of a deal because you’re usually not able to exercise with the utmost intensity, but as you progress to a higher intensity, it’s important to get the proper rest. Even with the pain in my calves I completed 7 reps.

Although I did not puke up anything today, I still felt dizzy after the workout. I sat down for around 5 minutes before I was able to walk. And if you’re wondering, the workout was painful. I just didn’t want to keep mentioning it because that can get a little redundant. Today’s workout was only 10 minutes and 23 seconds, but as you know – it was an intense 10 minutes and 23 seconds. That’s the whole premise behind it and with the briefness comes a price. Are you willing to pay it?

Today I concentrated on more specific muscle groups. I worked out my calves, forearms, triceps, and abs. Since there were only 4 exercises, I finished today’s workout a little quicker than Wednesday’s. This does not mean I slacked on the intensity though. I went through each rep with the same amount of speed and pushed myself just as hard as I did during my 1st workout.

I started out by working my calves. I got on the seated calf raise machine and pushed up slowly while counting to 5. After making it up, I paused for a second and slowly brought the weight back to the starting position. After 5 reps, I could feel my calves warming up. I completed 2 more reps. Shortly after, that all too familiar burning feeling engulfed my calves, lighting them up. I did 2 more reps while in searing pain. I continued breathing quickly and pushed out 1 more rep. My calves felt like they were about to explode. I slowly brought the weight back down. As soon as I stopped, I felt this rush of relief in my calves. I tried to get up and go to the next machine, but my calves were numb. I fell back down.

I sat for around 20 seconds and then hobbled over to a flat bench. I started doing barbell wrist curls for my forearms. I got through 4 before I felt my forearms start to burn. I kept pushing – 3 more. I felt like my forearms were about to ignite. I completed 1 more rep. Then I dropped the dumbbell on the floor and moved on to triceps.

For my triceps I did 1 set of close grip bench presses. This was probably the most painful of all today’s exercises. I did 5 before I felt the burning feeling come on. Then I pushed through 3 more. More pain. Pushed up 1 more while breathing like a madman. I tried to complete another rep, but I couldn’t move the bar back to the starting position. I was stuck half way up, so I just put it back on the lower pegs and slid out from under it.

Abs came next. I got on my knees, grabbed the pull down rope, (normally used for tricep pull downs) and held it just behind my head using my arms. I then slowly started bringing my chin closer to the floor and proceeded to do crunches. I completed 9 reps. This proved incredibly effective as well as incredibly painful.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, this workout is not meant to be easy. It’s brief and it’s infrequent, but it’s painful. You really can’t fathom how painful it is until you try it.

Although my complete workout today only lasted 7 minutes and 8 seconds, I feel exhausted. I’ve been trying to give it my all, so hopefully it produces the results I’m looking for. We will just have to wait and see what I’ll look like on August 02, 2009.