Does DC method/EDT/GVT/SS/IART/HIT work?

[Blade]

EDT

I love Charles so don't take anything I say as a criticism about his person.

He is incorrect. "Work" does have something to do with hypertrophy, but only as far as peak tension (not intensity or effort) achieved and the duration of that tension (not to be confused with sets with less weight due to fatigue).

You are pushing the limits of your strength-endurance by trying to increase the number of reps with a fixed load within a given amount of time. The %1RM relative to your level of conditioning at the time will dertermine how effective those sets will be for growth.

Once the muscle adapts to using (lifting & lowering) your 12 RM, you will stop growing. However, if you continue to stress its metabolic/oxidative capacity, it should increase its ability to resist fatigue with the 12RM load. In other words, once you have stopped growing, you might continue to get better at lifting your 12Rm while exhausted as long as you make lifting your 12RM more exhausting over time by reducing the rest periods.

So the method will work as long as you can continue to increase the weight.

 

[Blade]

GVT

Read the GVT article

IART

Brian Johnston feels you should train a muscle according to its "rate of fatigue". I feel a muscle’s rate of fatigue is irrelevant to “hypertrophy”. I argue that it is load, rather than fatigue, that is the prime stimulus for hypertrophy. Otherwise, wouldn’t marathon runners have hypertrophied muscle? What about distance swimmers?

Training programs based on fatigue are strength-endurance specific, not hypertrophy-specific. Never mind all the research showing load and microtrauma as the primary stimulus for hypertrophy. Not to mention the studies showing that fatigue actually reduces microtrauma.
Keep in mind that IART is heavily influenced by Arthur Jones. Arthur Jones isn’t “into” physiology, or science. He is into “common sense” and stress. I, on the other hand, am into science and the mechanisms of muscle fiber hypertrophy.

 

[Blade]

HIT or HD

To understand any comparison to HIT or HD use the following definitions:

Intensity = percentage of voluntary strength. In HIT terms it is equal to “perceived effort”.

Maximum capability - maximum voluntary strength

HST does not equal HIT. Except perhaps that they both have an H and a T in their acronyms.

- HIT's measuring stick is based on strength (performance).
- HST's measuring stick is based on growth (size).

- HIT is based on how hard it feels to lift a weight.
- HST is based on progressively loading the tissue.

- HIT's goal is fatigue.
- HST's goal is hypertrophy.

- HIT is based on a philosophy of stress.
- HST is based on the physiology of muscle cells.

- HIT came from the imagination of Mr. Jones.
- HST came from the research of dozens of independent researchers.

Understand that it is not necessary to train at 100% voluntary strength levels to stimulate "growth". This is one fundamental difference between Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) and HIT. HST is designed only to stimulate growth. Strength of course will increase as well during HST training but this is not the primary goal of the method. It isn't necessary to push against a weight that won't move (due to load or fatigue) to induce the necessary strain to muscle that leads to growth.

After years of training I realized that I would never get any bigger training the way I was unless I could get stronger, but I couldn't get any stronger until I got bigger. I had to discover a way to get bigger without getting stronger first. The HST method allows a person to get bigger before they get stronger. Accomplishing this is dependent on frequent loading (hitting same muscle at least 3 times per week), rapid progression in loading (mandatory increase in weight every workout), and Strategic Deconditioning (a week or so completely off to allow the muscle to become vulnerable to the training stimulus).

HIT training takes this "deconditioning" too far. They think the muscle is "recovering" when it is actually past recovery and beginning to decondition thus allowing the stimulus to work the next time the muscle is trained. Unfortunately, the rate of growth is greatly dependant on the frequency of the stimulus. So with HST you hit a muscle at least 3 times as often as with HIT, and growth is greatly accelerated.

 

[Blade]

DC/Doggcrapp method

DC's suggestions betray his strength training background. Methods based on fatigue/exhaustion (training to failure and rest/pause stuff) are really methods of increasing strength.

So in essence, he is shifting the emphasis towards strength gains. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that if that is your goal. All you have to do is induce more fatigue, and train less frequently.

Using a variety of exercise won't protect your tendons from injury. Using the same exercises doesn't increase your risk of injury either. Otherwise all Olympic lifters would be injured all the time. The variety thing is more an influence of BB mags. Although, if boredom is an issue, switch thigns up all your want, just make sure that the muscle is experiencing the same relative tension and demands across different exercises.

DC (I don't know him personally) is only one of many variations of HST that you will see in teh near future. Especially from more experienced lifters. Why? Because HST is true (so to speak). It isn't based on "tradition", a "style", "Russian secrets", or even an "opinion". HST is based on the way muscles actually grow in response to training. As a result, there will be a gradual yet natural shift of bodybuilding training styles towards HST.