For all the naysayers and haters that come to this channel's comments to criticize something they don't agree with or have no experience with it's simple: Ignore Kevin's advice about HIS experience and figure out what works for YOU! He has mentioned many times in his videos that this is NOT the only way to train optimally.
Except that this IS the best way to train optimally if you're not taking steroids. Most nay-sayers just don't want to accept that they don't know how to train properly. I found Mike Mentzer's Heavy Duty 7 months ago and my arms have gotten a lot bigger in only half a year by training once a week with low volume. I'm literally doing one set for biceps every 2 weeks (when I'm not doing legs) and it works like a miracle.
Ive been trsining over 35yrs and competed in my younger days so i DO know how to train properly i agree about people training wirh far too much volume i myself now do full body 3 timea a week with medium volume last set of each exercise to proper failure not beyond failure but when form breaks down, but in my opinion 1 set for biceps every 2 weeks is just not enough@GreenKnight1294
Since I moved away from volume towards HIT 😮 I got gains in less time thn I did in years from high volume and frequency. I'm done like in 30 minutes . Last set to failure with one drop or rest pause. It takes 2 warm ups for me with 1-2 reps in the tank
Great video ! 61, was jacked at 20-30, and always did volume, but later in life training was off and on. Retired at 60 and was determined to be a jacked Grandpa, but I was overweight and had been doing nothing but BJJ and pushups. Get back in the gym and see gains from volume, but then run into videos from Mike Menter, Dorian Yates, Mr America Heart, Jay Vincent, and many more doing HIT. I made the switch and WOW !!! The gains are tremendous and 9 months later I still hit PRs every time I go into the gym. I do TRT, just enough to keep me in normal levels, and supplement with creatine. I am Vegan so I eat a pretty healthy diet. We currently live in Central America so fruits, veggies, beans, nuts n seeds are abundant. HIT is incredible. I will never go back to volume. HIT also absolutely helps me avoid injuries, by staying in control and decreasing my time in the gym. JUST TRY IT FOR 6 months !
Great stuff and a refreshing perspective on the subject. As someone who's "old" (71) I have found that the best gains come from more intense workouts on a less frequent basis. I was exercising five days a week but I'm down to three days (push, pull, legs) which is one day per week per muscle-set and the results have been very positive. I wouldn't say that I'm making more gains but at my age, anything that holds back sarcopenia is a win.
This is quickly becoming my new favorite fitness channel. I’ve implemented some tips as well. Keep the content coming! I especially like the tip about picture perfect reps. That’s one thing that’s always drove me nuts is too see some massive guy, obviously on drugs, say instead of the 60s grab the 20s and do them controlled. It’s ridiculous haha.
Great content ... just wished you put a few examples of your 5-6 minute training routines... like do you just choose one exercise and smash that for 6 minutes ... or do you choose 4 -5 and rotate ... could you please give an example or two cheers in advance
Just found you on my video feed. SUBSCRIBED. I'm a big fan of John Little & Doug McGruff's work. I like your calm voice. Looking forward to binging on your vids. ty
It's seems to sometimes always be the smaller channel with the best content....again im all in now.... natural builders unite!!! Lets go algo, for Kev!
Love this and all the videos I'm finding on here, Kevin. Thank you so much! One question, what rep range do you recommend here? Or does it matter as long as the intensity is there?
Hi Kevin, i am loving your split...i am definitely growing from reducing my frequency...i seem to be adding muscle everywhere and trimming bf...i am staying in 253lb range and at 65 my muscles feel like they did in my 20s when i trained...i have a question..i like flexing,posing pretty much all my muscle groups when not training...i do it a little everyday...does this help muscles grow? Thanks
I actually still have big arms,just more like a larry scott shape biceps...i have trained my biceps every way you can think of...i agree with you on intensity,shocking muscle,switching things up,and shorter work outs...last night i did only 2 totally intense bicep exercises and than finished off with intense forarm training...for me it about mind muscle connection and controlling the weight ..yes the last intense set is what makes the body stimulate growth...we are all different for sure..some of us can recuperate faster and have much better mind muscle connections ...thanks for sharing..
I was a hard gainer... once i joined my first gym in 1977..i grew fast ,only now at 65 i am being so much more scientific when it comes to my training...i still love it...i wish i knew what i know now 50 years ago...
This is an AWESOME video Kevin. I am a former member of 5th avenue gym in Brooklyn. I grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, and now I live in Westchester County. I remember when you first started at 5th avenue gym. You have really grown in the sport of bodybuilding. God bless you my brother!
Thanks so much, my brother in iron! You all were so supportive of me in my journey and I can't say just how much I miss that place and the community that we had over there!!! Best to you and your family and hopefully we will have a reunion soon!!!
That's an interesting question. Just getting back now from the Lancaster Archery Classic where I competed in the barebow division. Did the US Nationals two weeks ago and I am also a professional photographer and I taught ninjutsu for about 27 years. All this aside from a blended family of 5 kids and running my personal training business. Thanks for asking!!!
@@naturallyintense Wow. I’m impressed by the amount and quality of stuff you do, Sir. Thank you for replying. I hope you did well with the archery competition. I hope to follow a similar path. Be well, sir. These videos are fantastic.
@@Phuktup3 Thanks much and I made it to the second round and had a chance to shoot alongside the very best in the world, and it was a blast!!! Thanks for watching and let me know when you start competing!!!
I've been asked that question a lot recently and the answer is a bit nuanced, so I would say wait for the video on it which will come out next week if all goes well.
Hello Kevin, This is a very good and insightful video. We can learn a lot from this!👌👌👌 I will continue to pursue this! 👍 I am 63 years old, 5'7 - 180 pounds and have started training again after a very long break from. I have trained since a year and have good results. I train each muscle group (4 split) once a week and always go to failure in every set and train very hard. Arms are normal 15.7 - inflated after training up to 16.5 But now things aren't going so well anymore. I do 3 exercises, each with 2 sets for the biceps (and also triceps). Is this already too much? You only do one exercise with 3 sets! Maybe I'm overtrained? Or have I reached my limit? I would be very happy to receive an answer from you. Greetings from Germany
First off it's important to acknowledge the tremendous progress you have made. We often don't realize how much we have traveled as the benchmark is always for more and bigger but the natural path is a slow one and it sounds like you are walking it well. To answer your question, most of my clients do just one exercise for biceps and one for triceps and make fantastic gains. Very few can benefit from more than one and I do one or two at this point. But it took me years to get there. But I have never done more than 2 exercises for biceps. So I would strongly recommend cutting it back to one, make it a three day split for more recovery time and sew how it goes. Hope this helps.
@@naturallyintense Hello Kevin, Thank you very much for your quick answer and your praise. ♥ Yes, I will split my training over three days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and maximum do 2 exercises with 2 sets or 1 exercise with 3 sets for biceps and triceps. I'll practice this for six months and will see how it works. Best regards Mirko
Hi Kevin! Love your work, and I have one question. If somebodies weaker part are arms would you suggest for some additional triceps and biceps added on back or leg workouts? Thank you so much!!
Thanks for watching and the answer is no, I wouldn't recommend any extra time for "weaker body parts" just time. Muscles grow while at rest not while working out so doing more as a natural athlete doesn't necessarily mean better results. Quite often it just leads to.overtraining and less results long term.
@@naturallyintense Oh, thanks a lot! But I have been doing HIT for a several weeks now and I always get quite soreness in my chest, back and legs but never in my arms. Would you maybe suggest adding another exercise for biceps and triceps like you mentioned you did after some time? Thanks a lot again!!
@@marijapavlovic6111 You don't add extra exercises after several weeks. You do it after several years. And soreness isn't an indicator by any means of how hard you trained. Give this a read- naturallyintense.net/blog/exercise/no-pain-no-gain-understanding-muscle-soreness/
Hi Kevin..do you always stick to only 2 exercises per session per muscle group? If so do you usually do different movements or one different movement on next session working that body part...Happy training!
I don't as each workout is unique but the two exercises per body part isn't quite accurate. I sometimes do two exercises for biceps and triceps but I often just do one and it's different exercises each time. Other body parts call for different numbers and look for more content about that in future videos!!!
It's more about intensity and variation, also good nutrition. Full range of motion is good, but you should include short range of motion, which helps to pump a lot of blood into the muscle, just speaking for myself, I get a better and longer lasting muscle pump and they pop out, making me look swollen for a couple of days. I really don't train to absolute failure all the time, and further, when doing bicep curls, I focus on the position and angle of my arm's when curling and pay close attention to how my biceps feel, trying to feel what puts the most intensity on them, again, for me, I noticed better and quicker results. I've been using some good resistance bands for this, and speaking of resistance bands, for me, I've been able to better angle and position my arms, than with traditional weights. Don't get me wrong, I've used traditional weights, and they are good, but since I've been using resistance bands, I don't feel as limited and have a better experience in targeting my muscles better in the area of my biceps,but as far as what's being said in this video, he his spot on
Thanks for watching and it depends. It could be all be to failure. Or just the second third set of the second set. Or rarely, just one set and hitting it so hard there's no chance of another set being feasible. Hope that helps!!!
Mostly but not necessarily. As every workout is different I could do two sets for biceps and two for triceps all out, or rarely just one set of each. It's whatever in the moment gets to the point where it's trained to what I call the point of no return, as that's what forces muscular adaptation. Hope that helps.
In this context it's about maximizing long term muscle growth to realize your potential and also mentioned in other videos, to prevent overuse injuries.
Kevin your right i have been studying some of your later pictures of your self, you definitely put on more size, awesome my man. Now when i start this tomorrow will i be able to walk , because i still have too work, will i be able too shoot my bow, or will i be a mess? I need to understand it, so realistically i can function for the week. Thank you Coach.
I just came back from the shootoffs at the Lancaster Classic and am a competitive barebow shooter, so yes you will be able to pull your bow if you ignore the pain, as it will always be there. Walking can be hard at times, but it's nothing you don't get used to over time.
@naturallyintense hay , Kevin, I think you probably do great also, posting your archery shooting and techniques too. If any I would love too see a video of you shooting if possible. And how did you make out during tournament, awesome man , we have alot in common my bro👊
@@outdoorsman9384 I think the world gets enough of Kevin Richardson to be honest!!! Photography used to be my quiet time where I would take a bit of a break from all of this and focus on something else and someone said post the photos on social media and it became really successful. Which is great and I am honored by my success, but I just wanted something quiet. So with my barebow shooting I have kept it on the low side. As for yesterday, I made it to the elimination rounds which was a life dream for me. It's my second time at the Classic and first time didn't make it but this year I made it to day two and went down against European Champion, Leo Pettersen. So not bad for 2 years of barebow shooting.
@naturallyintense outstanding Kevin, that's one heck of an accomplishment, under high pressure shooting, now I hope and pray that hopefully you could win it all, with your discipline and dedication too the art I'm sure it's in your grasp. And I know what your saying about needing your own space , that's why I'm disciplined for traditional archery gives me a art to tr, to master, through hard work and dedication and obviously we both know lifting are weights is another secret on the longevity factor for traditional or bare bow. So anyways tomorrow by the grace of God I'm going for your high intensity schedule see if I can recruit some more muscle fiber for this 60 year old. And again thanks for sharing your gift with us so we can try to get better 😁
@@outdoorsman9384 Thanks so much. It's my second time at the Classic and last year was my very first competition and I didn't make it to the second day and I think I can see myself making it to the finals, but taking it one step at a time and having a blast along the way. Thanks again and do let me know how it goes!!!!
I do some pullups, bench presses, and things like hangs and planks almost every day. It just makes me feel stronger. If I curl once a week, does the fact that I'm using my arms for other exercises hurt the muscle response?
I always preface everything as an observation I make with people training with Naturally Intense High Intensity Training protocols and what I saw over the years is the ones who did a little bit every day did have less results than those who did nothing in between. Now, does that apply to someone doing a more conventional training split? It might but at least now you know and hopefully it's helpful.
Just found your channel and I am appreciating the content. I have a couple of questions: 1) how much, if any, rest between sets? I imagine it cannot be much if you are completing a multiple body part workout in under 30 minutes; 2) have you considered making your dvd available on RUclips (there might be some way to put it behind a pay-wall)? Thanks!
Thanks so much for watching as I do really appreciate it!!! To answer your question, not much. Just enough time to change the weights if need be or for my partner to do her set. So it's pretty nonstop. And I am considering my options as far as the DVD is concerned and will keep you posted. Thanks again!!!
@@naturallyintense Right on..looked like a possible scar on your right shoulder. Was asking because because I’ve had 3 replacements in the last 2and a half years..headed into my 4 next month. Will end up with 2 reversals..reversals take the rotator off of the picture and the delt takes over. I’ve been training for over 48 years.. my ways of training are a lot different than before to say the least!! Have a good one!
@@gottalift12 I feel for you my brother-in-iron and no, those are just stretch marks. Going from my original 125lbs to my peak weight of 252lbs brought them on, interestingly it became pronounced when I came to the US and gained a good 50lbs eating "regular food" and never went away. I hope your surgery goes well and wishing you the speediest of recoveries and hope you will be better than ever afterwards!!!
Hey new subscriber here, learned about you from your interview with sliding bench trainer and I’m familiar with HIT. Love your approach with it all. Would like your opinion on this training approach for law enforcement Is this still something you recommend? As you might imagine the general consensus and the academy approaches it like our armed forces with high rep calisthenics and frequent running for the “tactical athlete” Look forward to going through your library in your channel! Thanks again
First off thank you so much for subscribing and to answer your question, I've worked with a number of men and women in law enforcement, some in SWAT teams and it os indeed effective. This training is looked at as bodybuilding based, but it's actually not. I studied ninjutsu and this was also a way of being able to excel. It's worked too for endurance athletes, triathletes and the like and those who were able to successfully use this training to prepare for basic training and advance to special forces teams. I did a video on this form of training and practical functionality and you can see it here- ruclips.net/video/DJV9I7eRv8o/видео.htmlsi=y5ZUTWBO63poqJeo. Thanks again!!!
@@alagiebadjie8706 Never doubt for one minute that you won't continue to make improvements, but as a natural it takes time and you just have to hang in there!!! All the best from New York!!!
Good video again, I do a single set a week at mo on my biceps, around every 3rd/4th work out I go to positive failure as always in a controlled manor followed by slow negatives until I can’t do any more. Do you do negatives on biceps also Kevin,
@@naturallyintense would you say it is more important to keep the reps in strict form & fight for that almost impossible last 5-10 second rep or use momentum on final reps? What’s best for growth? Thanks fir all your advice Brother🙏🏻
Similar in that anyone looking into the science of how the human body adapts to stress will come away with the same information, but different in that he never refined it as a natural athlete himself or from working with hundreds of natural athletes. His was a different realm and I think had he been natural, or had to use those principles to realize his potential, (he didn't as he got to where he was in his developmental years from a very different approach) he would have had a different perspective on training frequency and exercise variety.
@@stephenday5320 Not quite.i believe he advocated a four day split whereas my observations have always shown a three day split to be the sweet spot for natural athletes.
Once weekly, even every other week, has always brought my best arm gains. They get so much indirect work, even gripping on legs, a little goes a long way.
Usually it's the last set where I go to failure BUT since every workout is different it can be two sets taken both to failure or one set all out, although that's relatively rare.
I just happened to find this channel an I love it! very interesting channel an I'm just curious & definitely not judging but is this natural or steroid use? Either way I'm still subscribing 🙌💪
Hi and thanks so much for taking the time to look at my work and I am not just natural but a lifetime natural athlete. Thanks again for tuning in and I hope my content helps you on your path!
I agree on 1x a week, hi intensity and lo volume for arms, but disagree on the need to cheat. A little cheating ok after reaching failure with strict form, especially if you cheat to get the weight up but then do a slow, controlled negative to finish.
Kevin. Can’t you post a video when we can see when you train a whole set of a muscle. I do not understand how you can get do tired in just one set. This is very important for us fans to see in order to understand.
Thanks for watching and that would be something along the lines of a sequel to my last DVD and will most likely happen but you can glean a lot from the training posts in the meantime. New one comes out today actually.
This sounds to good to be true. You have to be some kind of extreme outlier that responds really well to this sort of training. There is just no way i could get training like this? I don't believe it
Thanks for taking the time to look at my work and you don't have to believe it for it to work. I didn't myself when I first started doing it and such is the beauty of repeatable results.. I presented a form of training that worked not just for me, but also for the hundreds of men and women I have trained over the past 33 years of my career. If it was just something that worked for me I wouldn't be presumptuous enough to present it as a credible way of building muscle as you can't take the experience of one individual and extrapolate it to the general population. But that isn't the case and what I can say definitively is that it works. That being said, it's not easy to implement and it was designed and in every case works best under the supervision of a trainer certified in this system, but it does work. Hope that helps.
Exactly 💯 like someone else commented that sometimes he will only do 3 sets for biceps every 2 weeks ? I'm sorry but that is impossible I do agree that people do far too much volume and don't train hard enough i myself now only do 12 sets per body part per week on a 3 day full body split works great for me after nearly 35yrs lifting
The comments about Kevin “obviously” having great genetics for bodybuilding, Google and compare Kevin’s teen pictures to those of Lee Priest, Victor Richards and even Mike Tyson. They were jacked as teens. THAT is good bodybuilding genetics. Kevin at 6’ and 125 lbs isn’t that. He used his intelligence and tenacity to create himself from what he was back then. Yes, so did the others I mentioned but A) Kevin is natural and if you’ve ever seen Lee Priests’ arm routine, I think he says “25 sets each body part is an embarrassing minimum for me.”
You are genetically gifted. Just because your skinny doesn't make you not gifted. That statement is false. My friend, who was 5'11 just as skinny as me, im 5'7. We both started working out and noticed we did the same exercise, but he was growing at a faster rate. That's cause he was gifted with good genes.
I completely understand and I've been there and felt that frustration as well. Most people need at least 5-10 years to get to a point where they are truly impressive from a natural bodybuilding perspective. Gifted ones can do it in 2-3 years, which certainly wasn't the case with me. Nevertheless, it's a moot point as I always painstakingly indicate that you should never look at any one person's experience and what makes this viable is the fact that I have seen improvements on everyone who has followed it. Now, some have more potential than others, that's indisputable when it comes to muscle mass, but what matters is that everyone who follows it does make progress. And that's the purpose of the video, sharing what I have observed working for all these years, as I think it's worth it for others to know.
Your version of HIT isn't what we know of as HIT via Mentzer, Baye, Darden etc which was just one set to failure. You seem to advocate three sets, no rest between the sets. Would this be accurate? It's not totally clear what your definition of HIT is whereas we know how Mentzer et al execute HIT.
That's one aspect of it but it is far more dynamic as the goal is both exhaustion and novelty. So it incorporates almost every high intensity training protocol, but faster and varying everything from reps to sets to execution. It isn't as dogmatic nor is it as easy to neatly define.
I train naturally 3 times per week 55 yrars old and biceps after back. Injured bicep 2 years ago and can only do 15 mins very light exercises and in reality shit work outs so would say not actually trained biceps with any real focus for the 2 years and they have not got smaller. I do undergrip back exercises so can only assume this stimulus is main bicep contributor
I think people underestimate how much work they did as I am sure you trained hard for many years to build a foundation. It's a different degree of intensity required to maintain built muscle compared to making improvements on the later end of your training career and yes, you are always getting tremendous biceps stimulation from back training but don't discount all those years you put in before. I hope the injury has fully healed!!!
@@naturallyintense Over 30 years and.yes the base built and diet more important to keep that base so allows me now to train with less weight more intensity and very few sets. Unfortunately this injury along with shoulder hampers my training a lot and been a long time now and seems to be going in wrong direction ie additional niggles which just have to work around suppose. Still able to train Triceps ok and as we know makes up bulk of arm so obviously worth mentioning when people talk about arms as a lot focus on the biceps
@@craiglyall4632 @craiglyall4632 I knew there was a strong foundation there and triceps indeed is the trick to arm mass and I do hope those injuries get better over time!
Which is precisely why you only train three days a week to allow adequate recovery time for the smaller muscles like biceps, deltoids, forearms and triceps that inevitably get trained with other muscle groups.
No, that's what I did for years and what I have observed work with hundreds of men and women over the past three decades, my friend. And that's why I think it's important to share it. It might not be for everyone, as it's VERY hard to not think more is better, but it's important to know that the minimum dose as they say for muscle growth is far less than one might expect. And it's a repeatable result. These days I might do 2 exercises for 3 sets but that was after years of just one exercises, and very often I still do just one.
For all the naysayers and haters that come to this channel's comments to criticize something they don't agree with or have no experience with it's simple: Ignore Kevin's advice about HIS experience and figure out what works for YOU! He has mentioned many times in his videos that this is NOT the only way to train optimally.
Except that this IS the best way to train optimally if you're not taking steroids. Most nay-sayers just don't want to accept that they don't know how to train properly.
I found Mike Mentzer's Heavy Duty 7 months ago and my arms have gotten a lot bigger in only half a year by training once a week with low volume. I'm literally doing one set for biceps every 2 weeks (when I'm not doing legs) and it works like a miracle.
Ive been trsining over 35yrs and competed in my younger days so i DO know how to train properly i agree about people training wirh far too much volume i myself now do full body 3 timea a week with medium volume last set of each exercise to proper failure not beyond failure but when form breaks down, but in my opinion 1 set for biceps every 2 weeks is just not enough@GreenKnight1294
Since I moved away from volume towards HIT 😮 I got gains in less time thn I did in years from high volume and frequency. I'm done like in 30 minutes . Last set to failure with one drop or rest pause. It takes 2 warm ups for me with 1-2 reps in the tank
No drugs....Drugs will make you sick. Not worth it. Go natural......... eat good food, enjoy a happy spirit, and stay focused. Thank you Kevin !!!
Great video !
61, was jacked at 20-30, and always did volume, but later in life training was off and on.
Retired at 60 and was determined to be a jacked Grandpa, but I was overweight and had been doing nothing but BJJ and pushups.
Get back in the gym and see gains from volume, but then run into videos from Mike Menter, Dorian Yates, Mr America Heart, Jay Vincent, and many more doing HIT. I made the switch and WOW !!! The gains are tremendous and 9 months later I still hit PRs every time I go into the gym.
I do TRT, just enough to keep me in normal levels, and supplement with creatine. I am Vegan so I eat a pretty healthy diet. We currently live in Central America so fruits, veggies, beans, nuts n seeds are abundant.
HIT is incredible. I will never go back to volume. HIT also absolutely helps me avoid injuries, by staying in control and decreasing my time in the gym. JUST TRY IT FOR 6 months !
Great stuff and a refreshing perspective on the subject. As someone who's "old" (71) I have found that the best gains come from more intense workouts on a less frequent basis. I was exercising five days a week but I'm down to three days (push, pull, legs) which is one day per week per muscle-set and the results have been very positive. I wouldn't say that I'm making more gains but at my age, anything that holds back sarcopenia is a win.
This is quickly becoming my new favorite fitness channel. I’ve implemented some tips as well. Keep the content coming! I especially like the tip about picture perfect reps. That’s one thing that’s always drove me nuts is too see some massive guy, obviously on drugs, say instead of the 60s grab the 20s and do them controlled. It’s ridiculous haha.
Wow! That's quite a compliment!!! Thanks so much and you will always be able to count on me to call out the nonsense whenever I see it!!!
Great content ... just wished you put a few examples of your 5-6 minute training routines... like do you just choose one exercise and smash that for 6 minutes ... or do you choose 4 -5 and rotate ... could you please give an example or two cheers in advance
very nice ! i'm looking forward for the triceps video !
Thanks much and soon!!!
Dropping knowledge. Thanks Kevin!
Thanks, bro!!!!
Just found you on my video feed. SUBSCRIBED. I'm a big fan of John Little & Doug McGruff's work. I like your calm voice. Looking forward to binging on your vids. ty
Thanks so much! Really appreciate it!!!
Yes I just found him too an I'm already intrigued took me no time to hit that SUBSCRIBE button👍🙌
Great video Kevin! Would love to see a video for back training.
Coming soon!
And thank you so much for watching!!!
It's seems to sometimes always be the smaller channel with the best content....again im all in now.... natural builders unite!!! Lets go algo, for
Kev!
Really appreciate it, my friend!!!
Yet another fantastic video! thank you for sharing your hard earned wisdom. Much appreciated!
And I appreciate you taking the time to look at my work. Thanks again!!!
Its good, it would be great if we could get the bicep training program with methods!
Great advice!
Less is more.
Experimenting is key, everybody is build differently.
Couldn't agree more. Without experimenting and observing, it's all just conjecture.
Thanks for sharing! 😊
Thanks! This sounds very much like Mike Mentzer's HIT program. But many have bought in to the 4-6 times a week routine and then hit a wall.
Love this and all the videos I'm finding on here, Kevin. Thank you so much! One question, what rep range do you recommend here? Or does it matter as long as the intensity is there?
Thanks for watching and you are going in the right direction. Vary your rep ranges but always keep the intensity up! Thanks again!!
Hi Kevin, i am loving your split...i am definitely growing from reducing my frequency...i seem to be adding muscle everywhere and trimming bf...i am staying in 253lb range and at 65 my muscles feel like they did in my 20s when i trained...i have a question..i like flexing,posing pretty much all my muscle groups when not training...i do it a little everyday...does this help muscles grow? Thanks
I actually still have big arms,just more like a larry scott shape biceps...i have trained my biceps every way you can think of...i agree with you on intensity,shocking muscle,switching things up,and shorter work outs...last night i did only 2 totally intense bicep exercises and than finished off with intense forarm training...for me it about mind muscle connection and controlling the weight ..yes the last intense set is what makes the body stimulate growth...we are all different for sure..some of us can recuperate faster and have much better mind muscle connections ...thanks for sharing..
And thanks for watching and it's funny as when I was younger I wished I had arms like Larry Scott!!!
I was a hard gainer... once i joined my first gym in 1977..i grew fast ,only now at 65 i am being so much more scientific when it comes to my training...i still love it...i wish i knew what i know now 50 years ago...
Natural thank God.
Amazing channel
Thanks so much for tuning in!!!
This is an AWESOME video Kevin. I am a former member of 5th avenue gym in Brooklyn. I grew up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, and now I live in Westchester County. I remember when you first started at 5th avenue gym. You have really grown in the sport of bodybuilding. God bless you my brother!
Thanks so much, my brother in iron! You all were so supportive of me in my journey and I can't say just how much I miss that place and the community that we had over there!!! Best to you and your family and hopefully we will have a reunion soon!!!
Thanks bro I love this video
Fantastic stuff. Thank you for sharing this for free. What are you up to the days you aren’t working out?
That's an interesting question. Just getting back now from the Lancaster Archery Classic where I competed in the barebow division. Did the US Nationals two weeks ago and I am also a professional photographer and I taught ninjutsu for about 27 years. All this aside from a blended family of 5 kids and running my personal training business. Thanks for asking!!!
@@naturallyintense Wow. I’m impressed by the amount and quality of stuff you do, Sir. Thank you for replying. I hope you did well with the archery competition. I hope to follow a similar path. Be well, sir. These videos are fantastic.
@@Phuktup3 Thanks much and I made it to the second round and had a chance to shoot alongside the very best in the world, and it was a blast!!! Thanks for watching and let me know when you start competing!!!
Do you believe in deloads or periodic layoffs? Thank you.
I've been asked that question a lot recently and the answer is a bit nuanced, so I would say wait for the video on it which will come out next week if all goes well.
back, chest, large muscle groups, do 3 exercises, 4 sets each?🏋️
Give this a watch- ruclips.net/video/tZijeO7Xu-M/видео.htmlsi=p8_11WjLz2s8Cj-s
Hello Kevin,
This is a very good and insightful video. We can learn a lot from this!👌👌👌
I will continue to pursue this! 👍
I am 63 years old, 5'7 - 180 pounds and have started training again after a very long break from. I have trained since a year and have good results.
I train each muscle group (4 split) once a week and always go to failure in every set and train very hard.
Arms are normal 15.7 - inflated after training up to 16.5
But now things aren't going so well anymore.
I do 3 exercises, each with 2 sets for the biceps (and also triceps).
Is this already too much?
You only do one exercise with 3 sets!
Maybe I'm overtrained?
Or have I reached my limit?
I would be very happy to receive an answer from you.
Greetings from Germany
First off it's important to acknowledge the tremendous progress you have made. We often don't realize how much we have traveled as the benchmark is always for more and bigger but the natural path is a slow one and it sounds like you are walking it well. To answer your question, most of my clients do just one exercise for biceps and one for triceps and make fantastic gains. Very few can benefit from more than one and I do one or two at this point. But it took me years to get there. But I have never done more than 2 exercises for biceps. So I would strongly recommend cutting it back to one, make it a three day split for more recovery time and sew how it goes. Hope this helps.
@@naturallyintense
Hello Kevin,
Thank you very much for your quick answer and your praise. ♥
Yes, I will split my training over three days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and maximum do 2 exercises with 2 sets or 1 exercise with 3 sets for biceps and triceps.
I'll practice this for six months and will see how it works.
Best regards
Mirko
Hallo Kevin, I have another question.
Can you tell me how tall are you?
@@bolle1960 Always more than happy to help whenever I can and all the best from New York!!!
@@bolle1960 6 feet tall.
Hi Kevin! Love your work, and I have one question. If somebodies weaker part are arms would you suggest for some additional triceps and biceps added on back or leg workouts? Thank you so much!!
Thanks for watching and the answer is no, I wouldn't recommend any extra time for "weaker body parts" just time. Muscles grow while at rest not while working out so doing more as a natural athlete doesn't necessarily mean better results. Quite often it just leads to.overtraining and less results long term.
@@naturallyintense Oh, thanks a lot! But I have been doing HIT for a several weeks now and I always get quite soreness in my chest, back and legs but never in my arms. Would you maybe suggest adding another exercise for biceps and triceps like you mentioned you did after some time? Thanks a lot again!!
@@marijapavlovic6111 You don't add extra exercises after several weeks. You do it after several years. And soreness isn't an indicator by any means of how hard you trained. Give this a read- naturallyintense.net/blog/exercise/no-pain-no-gain-understanding-muscle-soreness/
@@naturallyintense Thank you so much!
Hi Kevin..do you always stick to only 2 exercises per session per muscle group? If so do you usually do different movements or one different movement on next session working that body part...Happy training!
I don't as each workout is unique but the two exercises per body part isn't quite accurate. I sometimes do two exercises for biceps and triceps but I often just do one and it's different exercises each time. Other body parts call for different numbers and look for more content about that in future videos!!!
I hear you...thanks
It's more about intensity and variation, also good nutrition. Full range of motion is good, but you should include short range of motion, which helps to pump a lot of blood into the muscle, just speaking for myself, I get a better and longer lasting muscle pump and they pop out, making me look swollen for a couple of days. I really don't train to absolute failure all the time, and further, when doing bicep curls, I focus on the position and angle of my arm's when curling and pay close attention to how my biceps feel, trying to feel what puts the most intensity on them, again, for me, I noticed better and quicker results.
I've been using some good resistance bands for this, and speaking of resistance bands, for me, I've been able to better angle and position my arms, than with traditional weights. Don't get me wrong, I've used traditional weights, and they are good, but since I've been using resistance bands, I don't feel as limited and have a better experience in targeting my muscles better in the area of my biceps,but as far as what's being said in this video, he his spot on
High kev great bicep vid..when you do 3sets is that all 3 to failure or 2 to near last 1 all out ..thaks kev😅
Thanks for watching and it depends. It could be all be to failure. Or just the second third set of the second set. Or rarely, just one set and hitting it so hard there's no chance of another set being feasible. Hope that helps!!!
How would you personally define high intensity ? Thank you.
A low volume training protocol that prioritizes intensity and muscular adaptation in the shortest time possible.
Kevin, is that 3 sets for biceps then 3 for triceps with each set to failure?
Mostly but not necessarily. As every workout is different I could do two sets for biceps and two for triceps all out, or rarely just one set of each. It's whatever in the moment gets to the point where it's trained to what I call the point of no return, as that's what forces muscular adaptation. Hope that helps.
Does changing exercises apply to being athletic?
In this context it's about maximizing long term muscle growth to realize your potential and also mentioned in other videos, to prevent overuse injuries.
Kevin your right i have been studying some of your later pictures of your self, you definitely put on more size, awesome my man. Now when i start this tomorrow will i be able to walk , because i still have too work, will i be able too shoot my bow, or will i be a mess? I need to understand it, so realistically i can function for the week. Thank you Coach.
I just came back from the shootoffs at the Lancaster Classic and am a competitive barebow shooter, so yes you will be able to pull your bow if you ignore the pain, as it will always be there. Walking can be hard at times, but it's nothing you don't get used to over time.
@naturallyintense hay , Kevin, I think you probably do great also, posting your archery shooting and techniques too. If any I would love too see a video of you shooting if possible. And how did you make out during tournament, awesome man , we have alot in common my bro👊
@@outdoorsman9384 I think the world gets enough of Kevin Richardson to be honest!!! Photography used to be my quiet time where I would take a bit of a break from all of this and focus on something else and someone said post the photos on social media and it became really successful. Which is great and I am honored by my success, but I just wanted something quiet. So with my barebow shooting I have kept it on the low side. As for yesterday, I made it to the elimination rounds which was a life dream for me. It's my second time at the Classic and first time didn't make it but this year I made it to day two and went down against European Champion, Leo Pettersen. So not bad for 2 years of barebow shooting.
@naturallyintense outstanding Kevin, that's one heck of an accomplishment, under high pressure shooting, now I hope and pray that hopefully you could win it all, with your discipline and dedication too the art I'm sure it's in your grasp. And I know what your saying about needing your own space , that's why I'm disciplined for traditional archery gives me a art to tr, to master, through hard work and dedication and obviously we both know lifting are weights is another secret on the longevity factor for traditional or bare bow. So anyways tomorrow by the grace of God I'm going for your high intensity schedule see if I can recruit some more muscle fiber for this 60 year old. And again thanks for sharing your gift with us so we can try to get better 😁
@@outdoorsman9384 Thanks so much. It's my second time at the Classic and last year was my very first competition and I didn't make it to the second day and I think I can see myself making it to the finals, but taking it one step at a time and having a blast along the way. Thanks again and do let me know how it goes!!!!
I do some pullups, bench presses, and things like hangs and planks almost every day. It just makes me feel stronger. If I curl once a week, does the fact that I'm using my arms for other exercises hurt the muscle response?
I always preface everything as an observation I make with people training with Naturally Intense High Intensity Training protocols and what I saw over the years is the ones who did a little bit every day did have less results than those who did nothing in between. Now, does that apply to someone doing a more conventional training split? It might but at least now you know and hopefully it's helpful.
Just found your channel and I am appreciating the content. I have a couple of questions: 1) how much, if any, rest between sets? I imagine it cannot be much if you are completing a multiple body part workout in under 30 minutes; 2) have you considered making your dvd available on RUclips (there might be some way to put it behind a pay-wall)? Thanks!
Thanks so much for watching as I do really appreciate it!!! To answer your question, not much. Just enough time to change the weights if need be or for my partner to do her set. So it's pretty nonstop. And I am considering my options as far as the DVD is concerned and will keep you posted. Thanks again!!!
Hey Kevin, have you had shoulder replacement surgery on your right shoulder??
No, never had any surgeries.
@@naturallyintense Right on..looked like a possible scar on your right shoulder. Was asking because because I’ve had 3 replacements in the last 2and a half years..headed into my 4 next month. Will end up with 2 reversals..reversals take the rotator off of the picture and the delt takes over. I’ve been training for over 48 years.. my ways of training are a lot different than before to say the least!! Have a good one!
@@gottalift12 I feel for you my brother-in-iron and no, those are just stretch marks. Going from my original 125lbs to my peak weight of 252lbs brought them on, interestingly it became pronounced when I came to the US and gained a good 50lbs eating "regular food" and never went away. I hope your surgery goes well and wishing you the speediest of recoveries and hope you will be better than ever afterwards!!!
Hey new subscriber here, learned about you from your interview with sliding bench trainer and I’m familiar with HIT. Love your approach with it all. Would like your opinion on this training approach for law enforcement
Is this still something you recommend? As you might imagine the general consensus and the academy approaches it like our armed forces with high rep calisthenics and frequent running for the “tactical athlete”
Look forward to going through your library in your channel! Thanks again
First off thank you so much for subscribing and to answer your question, I've worked with a number of men and women in law enforcement, some in SWAT teams and it os indeed effective. This training is looked at as bodybuilding based, but it's actually not. I studied ninjutsu and this was also a way of being able to excel. It's worked too for endurance athletes, triathletes and the like and those who were able to successfully use this training to prepare for basic training and advance to special forces teams. I did a video on this form of training and practical functionality and you can see it here- ruclips.net/video/DJV9I7eRv8o/видео.htmlsi=y5ZUTWBO63poqJeo. Thanks again!!!
@@naturallyintense just watched it, sounds good I’ll have to check out the rest of the channel. Good info!
Here is my weakness, but thanks for your video. It's really helpful
Glad to hear it was useful and no such thing as weak when it's always a work in progress!!!
@@naturallyintense you are right ✅️ I train natural since in Africa 🌍 and I want to maintain natural, now am in Germany 🇩🇪 greetings from Germany,
@@alagiebadjie8706 Never doubt for one minute that you won't continue to make improvements, but as a natural it takes time and you just have to hang in there!!! All the best from New York!!!
@naturallyintense honestly I got good physics and my high is 6,3 which is 193cm high...am workout hard enough to gain great muscles
Good video again, I do a single set a week at mo on my biceps, around every 3rd/4th work out I go to positive failure as always in a controlled manor followed by slow negatives until I can’t do any more. Do you do negatives on biceps also Kevin,
I do just about everything, negatives, forced reps, drop sets, if it increases intensity, I do it and that helps me also keep varying the training
@@naturallyintense would you say it is more important to keep the reps in strict form & fight for that almost impossible last 5-10 second rep or use momentum on final reps? What’s best for growth? Thanks fir all your advice Brother🙏🏻
@@Nicholas19823 I'd say C. All of the above.
What's your thoughts on Mike Mentzer and his theories for training? Curious because I just discovered him as well.
Similar in that anyone looking into the science of how the human body adapts to stress will come away with the same information, but different in that he never refined it as a natural athlete himself or from working with hundreds of natural athletes. His was a different realm and I think had he been natural, or had to use those principles to realize his potential, (he didn't as he got to where he was in his developmental years from a very different approach) he would have had a different perspective on training frequency and exercise variety.
@@naturallyintense So you're saying train more frequent but with intensity?
@@stephenday5320 Not quite.i believe he advocated a four day split whereas my observations have always shown a three day split to be the sweet spot for natural athletes.
Once weekly, even every other week, has always brought my best arm gains. They get so much indirect work, even gripping on legs, a little goes a long way.
9:14 in video - “Barbell” Hammer Curl = T Bar use, correct?
More like a multi-grip barbell.
Are you taking all 3 sets till failure? I've heard you should only do 1-2 sets to failure, 3 sets seems alot.
Usually it's the last set where I go to failure BUT since every workout is different it can be two sets taken both to failure or one set all out, although that's relatively rare.
Thank you for the quick reply! Learning alot from your channel.@@naturallyintense
WOw!you were amazing when you were young. Uncle Kevin
I just happened to find this channel an I love it! very interesting channel an I'm just curious & definitely not judging but is this natural or steroid use? Either way I'm still subscribing 🙌💪
Hi and thanks so much for taking the time to look at my work and I am not just natural but a lifetime natural athlete. Thanks again for tuning in and I hope my content helps you on your path!
I agree on 1x a week, hi intensity and lo volume for arms, but disagree on the need to cheat. A little cheating ok after reaching failure with strict form, especially if you cheat to get the weight up but then do a slow, controlled negative to finish.
Kevin. Can’t you post a video when we can see when you train a whole set of a muscle. I do not understand how you can get do tired in just one set. This is very important for us fans to see in order to understand.
Thanks for watching and that would be something along the lines of a sequel to my last DVD and will most likely happen but you can glean a lot from the training posts in the meantime. New one comes out today actually.
This sounds to good to be true. You have to be some kind of extreme outlier that responds really well to this sort of training. There is just no way i could get training like this? I don't believe it
Thanks for taking the time to look at my work and you don't have to believe it for it to work. I didn't myself when I first started doing it and such is the beauty of repeatable results.. I presented a form of training that worked not just for me, but also for the hundreds of men and women I have trained over the past 33 years of my career. If it was just something that worked for me I wouldn't be presumptuous enough to present it as a credible way of building muscle as you can't take the experience of one individual and extrapolate it to the general population. But that isn't the case and what I can say definitively is that it works. That being said, it's not easy to implement and it was designed and in every case works best under the supervision of a trainer certified in this system, but it does work. Hope that helps.
Exactly 💯 like someone else commented that sometimes he will only do 3 sets for biceps every 2 weeks ? I'm sorry but that is impossible I do agree that people do far too much volume and don't train hard enough i myself now only do 12 sets per body part per week on a 3 day full body split works great for me after nearly 35yrs lifting
You only do hammer curls once a year or is that a typo?
I only do HEAVY hammer curls once a year which for me is 100lbs and up.
🙏👍💪
Thanks so much for taking the time to look at my work!!!
How old were you when you had 11 inch arms?
14
The comments about Kevin “obviously” having great genetics for bodybuilding, Google and compare Kevin’s teen pictures to those of Lee Priest, Victor Richards and even Mike Tyson. They were jacked as teens. THAT is good bodybuilding genetics. Kevin at 6’ and 125 lbs isn’t that. He used his intelligence and tenacity to create himself from what he was back then. Yes, so did the others I mentioned but A) Kevin is natural and if you’ve ever seen Lee Priests’ arm routine, I think he says “25 sets each body part is an embarrassing minimum for me.”
You are genetically gifted. Just because your skinny doesn't make you not gifted. That statement is false. My friend, who was 5'11 just as skinny as me, im 5'7. We both started working out and noticed we did the same exercise, but he was growing at a faster rate. That's cause he was gifted with good genes.
I completely understand and I've been there and felt that frustration as well. Most people need at least 5-10 years to get to a point where they are truly impressive from a natural bodybuilding perspective. Gifted ones can do it in 2-3 years, which certainly wasn't the case with me. Nevertheless, it's a moot point as I always painstakingly indicate that you should never look at any one person's experience and what makes this viable is the fact that I have seen improvements on everyone who has followed it. Now, some have more potential than others, that's indisputable when it comes to muscle mass, but what matters is that everyone who follows it does make progress. And that's the purpose of the video, sharing what I have observed working for all these years, as I think it's worth it for others to know.
Your version of HIT isn't what we know of as HIT via Mentzer, Baye, Darden etc which was just one set to failure. You seem to advocate three sets, no rest between the sets. Would this be accurate? It's not totally clear what your definition of HIT is whereas we know how Mentzer et al execute HIT.
That's one aspect of it but it is far more dynamic as the goal is both exhaustion and novelty. So it incorporates almost every high intensity training protocol, but faster and varying everything from reps to sets to execution. It isn't as dogmatic nor is it as easy to neatly define.
But when you train back or chest you are still training arms indirectly. So you actually do train arms twice a week in your 3 day a week work out.
What matters in terms of progression, based on years of observation, is that there is at least 6-7 days between muscle groupings.
Yeah but you advertised 5 to 6 minutes a week routine. You didn’t even mentioned it.
8:26 who is this guy?
That's me!!! 🤣
I train naturally 3 times per week 55 yrars old and biceps after back. Injured bicep 2 years ago and can only do 15 mins very light exercises and in reality shit work outs so would say not actually trained biceps with any real focus for the 2 years and they have not got smaller. I do undergrip back exercises so can only assume this stimulus is main bicep contributor
I think people underestimate how much work they did as I am sure you trained hard for many years to build a foundation. It's a different degree of intensity required to maintain built muscle compared to making improvements on the later end of your training career and yes, you are always getting tremendous biceps stimulation from back training but don't discount all those years you put in before. I hope the injury has fully healed!!!
@@naturallyintense Over 30 years and.yes the base built and diet more important to keep that base so allows me now to train with less weight more intensity and very few sets. Unfortunately this injury along with shoulder hampers my training a lot and been a long time now and seems to be going in wrong direction ie additional niggles which just have to work around suppose. Still able to train Triceps ok and as we know makes up bulk of arm so obviously worth mentioning when people talk about arms as a lot focus on the biceps
@@craiglyall4632 @craiglyall4632 I knew there was a strong foundation there and triceps indeed is the trick to arm mass and I do hope those injuries get better over time!
Their's noo way I can train my arms once a week for growth. I am seeing way more improvement. With 3 times a week
You not training hard enough then
Far enough but if you train back on another day you’ve trained your biceps twice a week
Which is precisely why you only train three days a week to allow adequate recovery time for the smaller muscles like biceps, deltoids, forearms and triceps that inevitably get trained with other muscle groups.
you could only do one exercise 3 sets give me a f-ing break... stop thisl lying ok?
No, that's what I did for years and what I have observed work with hundreds of men and women over the past three decades, my friend. And that's why I think it's important to share it. It might not be for everyone, as it's VERY hard to not think more is better, but it's important to know that the minimum dose as they say for muscle growth is far less than one might expect. And it's a repeatable result. These days I might do 2 exercises for 3 sets but that was after years of just one exercises, and very often I still do just one.