Jamie Lewis: The Uncomfortable History of HIT
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- Опубликовано: 2 апр 2024
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HIT might not make you unhinged, but the unhinged most definitely gravitate towards HIT. Jamie Lewis unravels the uncomfortable history behind the HIT cult, peeling back the curtain on its most principal advocates - the "Holy Idiot Trinity" (HIT) Mentzer, Jones and Viator.
We discuss wild supplements that have come and gone and give our opinions on Korea's wildly popular series, "Physical 100" 
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An enjoyable episode. The mentality of those drawn to HIT tends to be Kamikaze. They tend to frame each workout as the one and only chance for glory and don't really see them as series as Jamie mentioned. They torture themselves, burn their nervous systems and produce high levels of cortisol and pychological pressure to perform. They are never in it for the long term. They can't be. The ones who are most successful tend to be on the right side of the bell curve. Physical wonders such as Mentzer and Viator. They tend to be powerful trainees who train heavy continually and there is a toughness and machismo about them which is seductive. When they faulter it is very much like Icaris and the Sun.
Stuart McRobert outlined his experience with HIT in Brawn which was the impetus for exploring pre drug (Silver) era routines and periodisation. Particularly Peary Radar's advice on conservatism when training which is damn good advice for any trainee.
Steve Wedan wrote a piece about his experiences with HIT with personal experience of Jones and his more successful training with Hard Training. Which is my experience. I quote from the article.
" I took it slow and steady and made my credo the line I often read during the 1970s in Muscular Development: Make haste slowly."
He would make an interesting guest.
The warm up issue is explored by ,who I regard as one of the most intelligent bodybuilders of the 90s, Lee Labrada in his book Lean body promise.
I quote from his book.
"Whereas volume training involves doing one warm-up set and then 3 or 4 working sets, with the final working set going to failure (point at which you cannot perform another unassisted repetition), HIT advocates claim that HIT requires only one set to totally fatigue your muscle fibers - but this just isn’t true.
The HIT system does include performing some sets that are not taken to failure - about 3 or 4, just as in volume training - but the 3 sets before the final working set are “warm-up” sets, and according to the HIT system, do not constitute “sets.” Of course, this is simply a play on words. Everyone knows that if you’re lifting a weight, even if it’s for the purposes of warming up, it constitutes a set."
I remember a Tom Platz Exhibition in New Zealand in the 80s that I have on VHS. Where Platz said that Mentzer never talked about warm ups and so kids would hurt themselves with Heavy Iron. I also recall reading advice from an HIT advocate that you warm up as do the single heavy set and so warm ups are unnecessary. My father was blessed with thick joints and was really strong as a result, and could get away with all sorts. So if you are robust enough it could work, but I would not recommend it.
I agree that HIT is a useful tool in the trainees toolbox but not the only tool. As you said there is more than one way to skin a cat.
That is such an incredible comment Stind and I thank you for taking the time to share it as it's full of great info and quotes. Love that you quote Labrada directly, as the HIT pundits just love falsely appropriating him into their fold.
"The psychological pressure to perform" is a great way of putting it, as it seems to wear and fray on the nerves of guys who train in this way more acutely, not to mention the requisite drug use designed to spur these devotees towards "beating that all holy log book" week after week after week.
If you were to go down the list of the few top tier guys that have used this style of training hey all to a man, end their careers broken well before their time. Even that Jordan Peters guy who was one of the most recent flag bearers for a HIT style of training snapped his shit up so bad he had to call it a day. It's not productive training when you.cant lift your arms overhead anymore at 35
Praise from Caesar is high praise indeed.
Yes there just seems to be a lack of love for training. The mind body connection and seeking perfect form seems missing which is only really possible with multiple sets. You should know whether you can make the next rep or not. Instinctive or learned over time. That is self mastery and keeps you mostly injury free and training in the long term.
Dorian Yates talked about his Physique in his heyday as a separate entity. Wheras I know Labrada knew when it was time to quit. He said his body just did not respond in the same way. Not sure exactly what. He was able to walk away and still looks good and healthy today.
Vic Downs is a real inspiration. An honest man trying to help fans rather than peddle Weider Supplements. As is Richard Baldwin who looked incredible at his peak and still does and an intellectual to boot.
He may make a good interview.
This was the best live yet
Thanks always again for your participation in our lives IH
Does Jamie have progeria?
LOL
I wasn't expecting that ending 😂
I guess sometimes you have to make ends meet.
Jamie's definitely lived a life. We're gonna discuss in depth his experience training in jail for a year next week
When I trained HIT style, I actually don't know how well it worked for muscle building because I stayed hurt all the time on those programs. And before anyone says it: I DID use proper form, I DID warm up, and I DID train slowly. But I stayed hurt all the time, primarily my shoulders, but also all kinds of muscle pulls and strains, etc.
Regarding calves: It is crazy that Zane's calves now look better than during his prime.
I havent seen them of late
I wonder.rhow Arnolds implants are going these days 😂
Great colab !
As much as we deride HIT … we’ve all tried it and occasionally cycle back to it with varying results;)
Exactly mate - it's those that dogmatically adhere to it like it's the one and only religion to the exclusion of everything else that need their heads read....kinda like those people that only, ever, eat meat and eggs, as their sole form of nutrition...no, wait, what? 😂
@@carvedouttastone Exactly…. The Duality of Bodybuilding;)
He’s a character. You’re both characters actually! Great channel, I never miss it. Cheers.
Love that you check in with us on our small show. Really appreciate the encouragement
What time/day AEST every week are lives with Jamie? Thanks
Wednesday 7pm Perth time (GMT+8) hope to see you there for the next one
The most facile and vacuous explanation of the history of the state of Rhodesia. Just stick to rating the oiled glutes of men.
Yeah agreed. Post-Apartheid South Africa and Zimbabwe are utterly failed states. Black rule has been a disaster for the African continent
I don't know much about the topic of Rhodesia to comment, but I agree about South Africa - what a fuckn disaster $hit hole that place has descended into. Doesn't say anything for the switch in leadership - maybe it is better to serve in heaven than it is to rein in hell, to twist that old biblical chestnut
Zimbabwe is arguably worse; the relentless and desperate appeals to the now expelled white farmers to return are somewhat of a poetic irony, given the brutal nature of their expulsion and the implacable assertions of Mugabe that the black population was more than capable of maintaining their "own" infrastructure. An interesting point to note regarding South Africa is that the area of South Africa that was originally inhabited by the Boers was largely unoccupied prior to their arrival in 1652. No permanent or organised settlement was formed despite Bantu's arrival in the area in 300 A.D. A good video, as always. I just thought Jamie's histrionic outburst regarding the subject was way off the mark and ill-informed.
This was amazing🤣🤣👍🏼 now i have to delve deeper into the Mentzer rabbit hole
Yes, interesting character to say the least. I wanna make a vid on the topic once the Mentzer mania dies down and John Little releases his biography on Mike
@@carvedouttastoneMight be good for the channel and views to do a video on Mentzer now while he is trending
John Little is the most honest of the Mentzarians, and that ain't saying much, but he also wrote "power factor training", so I'd be skeptical of anything he types, thinks, or thinks he smells at any given time.@@carvedouttastone
Is Jamie a fan of any physique? lol
It's a very short list. I'm gonna ask him for his top 5 physiques next week to get an idea. 😂
I
Yeah, the late 90s and early 2000s was a wild time, so iconoclastic and irreverent. People go on about how supposedly permissive and "degenerate" today is, but the world is far more straight laced now than it was then.
In certain ways
I don't know enough about the bulk of the nautilus equipment but the nitro leg extension was superb. Also, the life fitness electronic machines where you could alter the negative phase of the movement were way ahead of anything in most gyms now. I believe Arthur's son was behind Life fitness and hammer strength. Very smart guy. Dorian Yates has acquired MedX which Arthur set up after he sold Nautilus. I think Arthur developed the training method to maximise the profits the nautilus gym franchises could make. There's still a lot of Arthur disciples that train HIT. Drew Baye recently won a contest over fifties I think. Jones was a fascinating character. I'd hazard a guess he was working for US intelligence at one point or other.
Thanks for commenting. Have you read Gary Phillips or his other son William Jones' book on Arthur?
@@carvedouttastone No I haven't read either. I've read titbits of his son's book, but it seems a bit self indulgent, nonetheless he seems like a nice guy. Crocodile Trader is a good book about Jones, but he always said it was a pack of lies which I'm surprised about because it showed how much will power the man had. I don't really believe AJ thought HIT was the end all and be all, but he believed in his machines and probably just wanted to go to the other extreme because he was smart enough to realise ordinary people are a much bigger customer base than bodybuilders. Also, he probably hoped his disciples like Darden would develop things further, but they never really did. Probably because Darden was always in absolute awe of Jones. I remember in one of his writings somewhere Jones said when he brought his machines out the only other he saw on the market was the Universal multi station which he did rate. I trained on this equipment in a college gym around 20 years ago and thought it was superb. Arthur's bio is an interesting read, completely based. Yes he would be classed as everything under the sun in today's world but we are quick to forget how much the world has changed and how the values of the western world are not necessarily aligned with the rest of the world. When I visited Australia I trained in a gym with Panatta machines by the factory. Superb, they also make a pullover machine - I wonder if they took inspiration form Jones...
The Russian bear also came in "paks" very similar to animal pak, someone gave me nearly a full tub of these paks in the 90s because he hated taking all the tablets, I have ALLWAYS been POSITIVE it had undisclosed illegal compounds in it, was permanently pumped and did feel "strong" on it, in 30 years it probably did the most of any supplement I've ever used 😂
You got to try it? That's a very cool story and thanks for sharing it. I love the good old days even though the scams were at an all time high and we were all the unwitting guinea pigs for these experiments 😅
Yeah it actually "worked" best supplement I ever had😂 and it was free! The guy that gave me it had imported it , I lived in the Caribbean at the time so available supplements were limited, nothing came close since
Bloody Beautiful Mate! Nailed it again. When you call a spade a spade, the mysticism evaporates. It really is about seeing things for what they really are, blowing the smoke show - literally - away. Dorian and HIT; I am utterly flabbergasted he didn't rip both his biceps on that old blue Nautilus(?) bicep curl machine the first month he got it. The motion (chain driven) was sooo choppy, anything but smooth. And Arnold - a non-HIT guy - never had a training injury. In the spirit of calling things out as we see them, my following assessment of the obvious might be a touch controversial for some. For you Shawn, you are well insulated however for the Buggles (bodybuilding Muggles), it won't be so kind. Mike and Ray Mentzer were brothers, but they were also lovers.
That is a bit extreme....I suppose it’s not impossible, but it takes some getting your head around.
@@stevepace-first8617 Said with extreme caution. Took me long time (30+ years) to even think anything like this was possible, and a healthy dose of courage to make this comment. Shawn opened the door and I never would have make such a statement without this video. Their relationship - or how I interpreted it - seemed and felt "disturbing" to me; some kind of "odd to grotesque co-dependency" between the two. Thanks to social media and the net and more and more light being shed up the utter darkness around us, what was "impossible", like all the bad things a person can do to other people including young people, is and has always been possible. This in itself was extremely challenging to get my head around, until I discovered they have been doing this for thousands of years.
A friend of mine married his first cousin and they have 4 children together... all PERFECTLY acceptable in their culture. Even after 30+ years of friendship, I still am left speechless when making any attempts to discuss it, rationalize it, and I am left only to accept it as my friend is an outstanding human being. I except no one to agree with me about Ray and Mike. This is the only way I can describe my perceptions of their relationship.
Arnold destroyed this "weak minded, emotionally frail" man (Mike); a psychiatry med-student, with built in high intelligence, who was guaranteed to be a multi-Mr. Olympia winner, created a successful winning business model for HIT Training, had industry giants to support him, had a 6X (consecutive) Mr. Olympia cheerlead for him, yet he turned to narcotics and unalived himself. Then, his brother Ray joined him. We hear/read about these types of events, coordinated between husbands and wives. Husband is wronged in any number of ways, perishes, and his wife out of devotion, loyalty, love, and DEEP INTIMATE BOND, follows suit. Well... Ray followed Mike. Never heard Ray speak a single word, was attached to Mike's hip, had an perverted appearance of someone disturbed, unlimited creepy vibes, and shared his fate with Mike. They had a bond but it certainly was not a James Bond.
Links to his books?
Jamie Lewis' books can be found at Plague of Strength.
plagueofstrength.com/downloads/ and here's the direct link. Thanks guys! Jamie really appreciates the support and I can't wait personally for all the books to be printed editions also.
@@carvedouttastone Thank you so much 🙏