Doug McGuff, MD on The Best Routine, Frequency of Training and Recovery for the Over-40s | HITuni

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Doug notes that his suggested routine (the Big Five +One) is so effective because you will be able to challenge and fatigue the main muscle groups of your body in a short amount of time. In terms of frequency, the best option is once per week.
Watch the in-depth interview with Doug and read our commentary: www.hituni.com...
Doug McGuff is the owner of Ultimate Exercise (since 1997), a personal training facility specializing in High Intensity Training, and co-author of the best-selling book "Body by Science". He is also an Emergency Physician based in South Carolina.
Learn more about Doug at www.drmcguff.com/
HITuni specializes in delivering online certification courses in High Intensity Training and Resistance Exercise.
Learn more about HITuni at www.hituni.com/

[@katedaniel2602]

I'm a 67 y/o woman, have been sedentary for many years. Every time I've started to get active I've injured myself. Then I started this HIT program two months ago and proceeded exactly the way Dr. McGuff recommends, going from 3X/wk to 2X/wk. (My 'textbook' has been The Power of 10, btw.) I've been doing this 1X/week for the last 3 weeks. Every time I work out, I need to increase the weights - sometimes by 5 lbs, sometimes 10. I'm amazed at the progress I'm experiencing. I refuse to be a frail elderly person who got that way by neglecting her body. Life may have other plans, but if I do become incapacitated it won't be because I passively let it happen. This is an amazing process that is working for me better than I could have hoped!

[@myHITuni]

Fantastic Kate, that's a great attitude, enjoy the strength increases and a more resilient body!

[@trentriver]

Kate - the doc here has great advice - might I suggest that you also follow 3 others: 1) Dr. Rhonda Patrick at Foundmyfitness (all one word); Dr. David Sinclair (here on You Tube) and he also just brought out a book for the most current information on the aging process and Paul Stamets D. Sc., on information about the benefits of mushrooms ... all 3 of these have informed me hugely on the benefits of certain supplements and strategies. They are all top in their field ... I promise you will thank me! I am 65 and have been lifting and doing aerobics since I was 12. Honestly, I can put most 30 years olds to shame when it comes to both endurance and strength. All the best to you!

[@katedaniel2602]

@@trentriver Thanks for the suggestions! I've checked them all out and am looking forward to diving deeper into their ideas. I do a lot of the 'right stuff' health-wise; I'm always looking for helpful new protocols to add to my regimen. This type of weight training feels like the thing that's been missing. My pace of increasing weights has slowed a bit, but I'm using at least double the weights I began with. Congrats on your fitness level and attention to wellness; if only more folks knew it's where true wealth is found! Keep shamin' those 30-somethings! Thanks again!

[@alisonjane5364]

I've only just discovered Doug. Please could you point me to the routine you have been following. X

[@katedaniel2602]

@@alisonjane5364 I've been doing Dr. McGuff's "Big 5" that he talks about in Body By Science. (Leg Press, Pulldown, Chest Press, Overhead Press, Compound Row.) I also highly recommend the book Power of 10 by Adam Zickerman; it's like BBS for Dummies (me). Less 'science' than BBS but he has a bunch of different routines that work the same muscle groups as the Big 5, with detailed descriptions of the proper forms for each exercise. The Wellness Center I go to doesn't have all the machines I need for the Big 5, so Adam's alternate exercises were very helpful until I felt strong enough to use dumbells for the Row and Overhead Press. I did one week at 3X, then settled at 2 workouts per week to learn the proper form and get to where I felt confident enough to push myself to total muscle failure on each exercise while maintaining form. For me, it was two months of 2X/week before I started working out only once every 7 days. That's plenty, and I'm rarin' to go when workout day arrives. Power of 10 also has dietary advice that works for me and a list of whole-food go-to snacks. All in all, a terrific substitute for a personal trainer, IMO. Good Luck!

[@daneck100]

I'm addicted to arthur jones one set to failure 3 times per week since 1980... I'm 63 , seems to work

[@johnboy6594]

Im 61 and have started HIT last week. Completed 3 work outs. last one lasted 35 minutes and i was spent. I have never achieved such muscle and cardio reaction in just one half an hour. I think i might have found something i can find some great value in.

[@jimperry4420]

Still doing it?

[@mariaitaliano9104]

So grateful for your generous insight and knowledge. Virtual hug and I want to let you know that I have recently joined a gym at age 63 (metabolically ill) and do what I have termed "The McGuff Protocol" in your honour. It usually leads to a discussion about you when people ask me about it. I am indebted to you from over here in Australia. xx

[@keithbarbaro7590]

I am 47 and love the tempo or cadence of the reps. Not only is it effective at building muscle, it jacks up metabolism and greatly reduce risk of injury.

[@johnlaurin8899]

Simple is always better than complex. Thanks Doug for the effort, Input, consistency and passion. Every time I think about making my workout more complex, I come back to the push/pull horizontal, vertical, squats and deadlift. Rest and repeat! Stronger and healthier than ever and progressing!!

[@steelphantom9105]

How many times a week do you do full body training and is it enough for strength and hypertrophy results?

[@1eingram]

I couldn't afford a consultation. You answered my question here.

[@Potbellypugilist]

Recently read "Body by science" would highly recommend. I've also started doing the "Big five" workout once a week also, haven't touched a weight in years prior to this but I'm really enjoying the slow smooth reps as I find it works your muscles more throughly more so than anything else I've done weight training wise.

[@brentnorton6174]

It's funny how things repeat themselves. Arthur Jones in 1986 published work about people and how they recover at different levels some people were specific and some people were general recoverers. He had some people in his study that were recovering within the same workout crazy as that is They were gaining strength already. Once again Arthur shows that he was so way ahead of his time. One day he will get his due

[@yttean98]

I start off with once a week and I am enjoying it so much now I am doing 3 times a week.

[@yttean98]

@Greg Pettis I am still at 3 times a week, I am building muscles now even though I am about 65yrs. Ans: in short Yes. also, you need to do more reps and vol. mind you built up over time. More impt. my health improves drastically, stronger, more stamina, etc.

[@richardplantan4375]

@Greg Pettis my experience with HIT workouts is that if you truly are truly giving your all one set of each of 5 or 6 exercises which takes about 11 or 12 minutes once or twice a week is all the body can take.This idea of 3 workouts a week with multiple exercises and multiple sets cannot by definition be considered a HIT workout. I remember Arthur Jones saying that if you were working out multiple times a week and doing multiple sets at full intensity you would soon find yourself in a hospital. High intensity workouts by definition means a short workout with an incredible effort.

[@dannyhardesty3692]

Thanks for the insight. At age 65 I tried the ambitious 5x5 program of my youth and about killed my shoulder joints. Will back off some and give this program a try.

[@bigfletch8]

Been teaching that approach since the 80s in my own gyms. Still doing it myself in my 70s. Instead of this style growing, there are so many " opinions" of what works, the opposite is the case. One reason it has become over complicated, is the commercial personal trainer organisations make it so, so they can justify high fees.

[@Slaughterk360]

Everyone is trying to sell stuff it’s really taking advantage of uneducated and beginners that have no clue really sucks

[@bigfletch8]

Its getting worse .Poor cousins to the medical industry...and commonn suppliers ! I remember in Weider days, there was an attempt to prevent the retailing of food supplements...it failed.

[@tomsettles6873]

I'm 60 and fairly advanced weightlifter and I have to wait a week between each muscle group to fully recover and make improvements. Its been like this since I was in my early 30s. I can do higher reps (11-20) and go every 5 days, but constant training in this rep range will lose low rep strength. I used to lift with a husband & wife powerlifting couple and the wife had to wait 8 days for full recovery. And she set multiple state & national records. Husband was every5- 6 days until he got significantly stronger and then he started doing every 7-8 days with his wife. They were in their late 30s/early 40s.

[@nelacostabianco]

The best 'routine' is the one that works for YOU! I'm a HIT advocate and found low volume high intensity is my sweet spot. At 58, I'm still pushing the limits with gains and no injuries. 💪

[@brankobakic9744]

How does your current routine look like and how often do you train in a week?

[@nelacostabianco]

@@brankobakic9744 thanks for reaching out. I'm more than happy to share however, to explain it in detail would be better suited on a Zoom chat. If you're interested send me your email and I will give you a link to connect and chat about my training routine at a mutual convenient time. I've been training for over 30 + years and have heard of every conceivable training system.

[@drugfreelifter]

I've been doing hit drug free since I started training 36 years ago. I've experimented with different training frequencies but the one that's works best in my own experience is training each muscle twice a week, or twice every 8 days. Training muscles once a week or even less did nothing for me tbh. Muscle should always feel full, dense and rock hard. If it isn't, it isn't real muscle growth. Growth is slow, so I go by how firm I feel.

[@gregpettis1113]

What two days do you train

[@travisjaggers2114]

Good to know. When you were in the building muscle phase how many times weekly did you utilize HIT? As opposed to a maintenance phase which I feel like he might be taking about training once weekly. Could be wrong though. Thx

[@1eingram]

I began trying to overcome sarcopenia at 75. I'm 77 now and have plateaued for the last 3 months.

[@JuanCarlosDaSilva]

Can this be combined with other sports like tennis?

[@retribution999]

Is there a video where you actually demonstrate the exercise routine?

[@k4kazik]

I have been reading and learning from Dr McGuff for a few months, One of the things that puzzles me is how to mix a single HIIT session to a single HIT session. I do the Tabatha as per Dr McGuffs recommendation but not sure if that would constitute a break of recovery time.

[@dragonesquire]

Dr. Doug, I understand the need for recovery between exercise sessions. For example, say you have 9 compound exercises for the entire body. Do you recommend doing all 9 in one day or split across a week, like 3 on Monday, 3 on Wednesday and 3 on Friday?

[@LukePettit]

If you're doing more than 20 hard sets in a session you probably want to split it up.

[@Divedivine]

Doug use the 6-way split i’ve seen here on yt do a search, works 👍

[@deegee-zi5xm]

Dr. Doug McGuff is a genuis. So was Mike Mentzer (R.I.P) and Arthur Jones (R.I.P).

[@AndreLeitedaSilvaGaldino]

One question: Can you really training to Maximum Muscle and strength development, only with the Leg Press? Could a leg curls a exercise be added to Work the hamstring?(or It would be excessive) Thank you

[@billyabot3023]

Hello doctor. I do push pulls legs. 4 times by week. Rest 3 days by week. One training is repeat two time in a week. 3 or 4 sets by muscle with heavy duty method. Is it good please? Sorry for my english. Eric from France

[@richiemac2395]

Ok but is that a full body workout 2 to 3 times or a split? I wish people would clarify when we talk about HIT

[@jaysmusic7729]

This is basically Mike mentzer and Arthur jones work reworded I hope you credit them

[@JasminMusic1602]

One set to failure is ok... can we do 2 warmup sets before? One set of 50%max,one of 75% max and one work till failure per muscle group

[@myHITuni]

Yes that can work well.

[@michalchik]

I am trying out HIt and liking it though its painful. I am wondering though if it is possible to overtrain so long as you give yourself a good revovery. Week or so. I will do a HIT routine, train to failure on all major muscle groups, but I am putting on top of that some follow up exercise because I worry that maybe I didn't really train to failure. I will usually try another round or two of hit later in the day, either with fewer reps top failure or with a lower weight. The maybe some isolation exercises like dumbel curls to failure. Also some negatives The next day i am feeling pretty wiped out an my scale usually says my muscle is a bit lower an my fat is a bit higher, I figure this may be from cortisol release. Nevertheless i still seem to recover well and am ready for another round in a week. I also do light exercise through out the week, 2 30 minute round of interval training a week, and usually a short fats late in the week. My diet is paleo and I have been losing body fat overall quite well while maintaining my muscle mass. About 30 lbs of fat loss in 5 months, with slight muscle gains. I am age 52 and used to be obese, now only fat.

[@myHITuni]

2x HIT workouts per week is enough resistance training, adding more will likely hinder rather than help results- and can lead to that wiped out feeling you describe. Focus on getting good at going to momentary muscular failure safely and you will have done what needs to be done!

[@ondrej1893]

It’s probably best for you to just do HIT once every 4 days without any other training and just go for a walk on off days. You can have more bodybuilding-like HIT routine with more isolation exercises, something like Drew Baye usually prescribes, to alleviate the feeling you didn’t do enough. But it’s better to do it all in one condensed session. Also remember that even 90% failure still works as a stimulus, you don’t need hyper-intensity, it won’t force hyper-gains. At that point you’re probably beating a dead horse or repeatedly pushing the button of an elevator that had already arrived. And finally, those impedance scales are not very accurate so I wouldn’t make any assumptions based on that. Good for general trend observation over 1 month but not on workout to wokrout basis.

[@bobmac9070]

Wow bro 2 HIT training one day ! NO Never … Mike and Dorian both said about 6-7 day recovery at best. i think you are overwhelmed and overtrained both. Stop doing v so much. One muscle group every 6/7 days. Keep in mind these guys where also on gear and that helps recover if your natural you may need even more time. Hope your eating 4-5 meals a and getting lots of extra protein and calories to help recoup those broken down fibers of facia. Dorain use to eat 2 candy bars for the calories after a huge workout to replenish the loss. Mine trained his student Markus only once every 7 days. Be careful over training will kill your gains. Good luck 👍

[@harrycraft5100]

Where can I see the actual exercise modeled

[@DavidSmith-gj2dm]

Here’s a question , I’m a cyclist ,time trials 10miles and 25 miles ,so 23mins and 1hour efforts at near maximum effort .ive trained super slow for 21 years . When it comes to time specific training is there a minimum time for a particular intensity ,ie training at race pace for 10miles isn’t that much harder than 25miles ,what would the minimum time be for such a race pace to initiate the adaptation , BMX was mentioned in previous examples bu that’s almost anaerobic in comparison. Ps I’m 60 years old train once every 10 days 2 exercises squat ,chin - deadlift press . All contributions gratefully received ,based in the UK

[@fukutube4evr]

What other workouts is he doing besides Big 5?? I can’t find anything anywhere on cardio recommendations. Is he walking? Jogging?

[@jarrettaustin7454]

The cardio is literally in the workout

[@myHITuni]

As Childish Gamebino mentioned the "cardio" is in the workout. The metabolic impact of performing sets to momentary failure is akin to sprinting. Being physically active, walking etc. between HIT workouts is a good thing, but there is no need for a formal schedule- just be spontaneously active!

[@kathya1956]

HITuni - The High Intensity Training University so I’m not doing it right if I don’t get heart rate up/sweat

[@DavidSmith-gj2dm]

Basically no such thing as cardio , the heart is reactive to muscular work ,not the other way round . All the metabolic change that’s beneficial happens in the muscle ,work the muscles hard ,the heart will be worked hard .

[@spurzo-thespiralspacewolf8916]

What type of program would you recommend for a natural bodybuilder who wanted to gain as much muscle to compete?

[@myHITuni]

Two different full body routines with about 7-10 exercises each, performed 3-4 days apart can work well. See the course by fitness model Jay Vincent here: www.hituni.com/course/bodybuilding/

[@velwell492]

​@@myHITuni This is about four times the volume proposed in the video. I was under the impression that as a person advances, gets stronger, and can harness increasing intensity, that he should reduce his volume or frequency in order to recover properly. Or so the theory goes.

[@pocnit]

@@velwell492 Well many of the bodybuilding exercises are often very targeted on small individual muscle groups like biceps or triceps so there isn't necessarily a big added stress on top of the basic compound movements, but it might help with gaining size faster in those muscles.

[@pocnit]

@@velwell492 Those were interesting reads. One takeaway is that steroids definitely work 😆

[@1eyedbastard376]

Great book, the importance of compound exercises is evident, but would it be unnecessary to add an isolation move, like the tricep extension?

[@amramjose]

I have not done bicep curls or tricep extensions in decades; any compound exercise hits these muscles, plus more.

[@BodyOpt]

err.. lumbar extension and hip extension/hip hinge are not the same thing

[@Simonet1309]

Currently reading through “Body by Science”. Although generally good, I find some of it a bit strange and some points contradictory to what I have heard McGuff say in some of his on line lectures. Also it only seems (so far) to cater for the complete beginner. What about those of us who have been using resistance training for years?

[@dougmoore5252]

I work out each day, use Kettlebells 2 at a time, each one 35lbs. 500 reps in all, sets of 15, 5 exercises. Next day, all I do is 100 overhand pull ups. Nothing else, the kettlebell side is more intensive and full body, like the pull ups for my back muscles.

[@Medreg1983]

Not really a HIT guy

[@hermanharper4594]

Does Wednesday and Thursday then rest for 5 days benefit you

[@myHITuni]

You could choose to do that for an upper/lower split if you were constrained to working out on those days.

[@paigeschultz6951]

I bought Body by Science and have equipment... in reading I’m learning stretching may not be as beneficial as I’d once thought, so what about warm ups? No specifics in book. How much warm up and what kind before starting big 5 session? I’m 50. Thanks

[@sugarcan1110]

Lol who said stretching is not beneficial? Its essential evidence based practice is the way to go

[@ondrej1893]

First few reps is “warm up”. Otherwise you’d have to also warm up for your warm up of your warm up...😀

[@jamesgilmore1684]

@@ondrej1893 too many warm-ups for me. If I get too warm I will run hot...like my radiator in my car. 😆🤣

[@georgegarner1425]

So what are the big 5 exercises

[@myHITuni]

A lower body push e.g. leg press or squat An upper body horizontal pull e.g. a multi-joint row An upper body horizontal push e.g. a chest press or bench press An upper body vertical pull e.g. a pulldown or chin-up An upper body vertical push e.g. a shoulder press or overhead press

[@intelin123]

Heavy weight or light weight????

[@georgegarner1425]

HITuni - The High Intensity Training University thanks

[@psl127]

A: Sqaut Standing press Chinups B: Bench press Deadlift Bent over row. 1 time a week alternate the workouts. I Follow this routine for 1 year and got to 220lbs squatting 365x5, deadlift 405x5, bench press 225x8.

[@robbuchheim6478]

Were these super slow reps?

[@psl127]

@@robbuchheim6478 no, just nice textbook form.

[@shawndejohn63]

What’s are your reps and sets per workout? Thanks.

[@psl127]

@@shawndejohn63 1 work set. Do 10 week cycles with weeks 9 and 10 maxout. Weeks 1 and 2 set of 87% of max try and get 5 reps. Weeks 3 and 4 90% of max try and get 3 reps. Weeks 5 and 6 93% of max try and get 2 to 3 reps. Weeks 7 and 8 95% for 1 rep. Weeks 9 and 10 go for new 1 rep max. You can change change this to whatever rep pattern you are trying to improve. The example I am showing is to try and improve your 1 rep max, but I have used this for 8's and 5's aswell.

[@shawndejohn63]

@@psl127 Any back off sets? Thanks

[@finnbodenmann5928]

Doug look like a spargel tarzan

[@soronos8586]

Isn’t this basically CrossFit?

[@superhoga]

Its almost completely the opposite of CrossFit. CrossFit is high frequency and highly skill-based. This is 12 minutes, once a week, slow movement, machine only (no skill). Both are amazingly effective, CrossFit is more fun, with a hundred times higher potential for injury, this is much more efficient, almost zero chance for injury.

[@dicktracy3787]

You need a better mic for your videos

[@myHITuni]

Noted, thanks.

[@gavinschuette9826]

do u even lfit bro? show shirt off