John Little
What’s the best HIT protocol to use for your High-Intensity Training Clients? Is there even such a thing like the best protocol?
John Little returns to the podcast to talk about the “Done in One” protocol, and we talk about what really matters when choosing a protocol to use, especially when considering individual variation on the road to getting the best possible results for yourself and for your strength training clients.
John owns the Nautilus North Strength and Fitness Centre in Bracebridge, Ontario, and he is an accomplished author in the field of exercise, philosophy, history, and martial arts — check out his books here. John’s articles have been published in every major fitness and martial arts magazine in North America and he has produced over 40 publications.
In this episode, we dive into hypertrophy, understanding muscle mass potential, factoring in wear and tear, older trainees, how much of what many people know about Mike Mentzer is largely inaccurate, and more. If you’re keen on optimizing the results your studio gets for your clients, you’ll want to listen to this episode!
Be sure to check out John’s new HITuni course, the Six-Minute High Intensity Training course — Use Coupon Code HIB10 to save 10%!
Attract more clients to your High-Intensity Training Studio
***
This podcast episode is brought to you by Imagine Strength
Grow a successful High-Intensity Training business with the best workout equipment, intelligently designed to fit the unique needs of your strength studio.
Imagine Strength lives and breathes HIT, designing innovative equipment that’s of the highest quality at affordable prices.
Visit ImagineStrength.com and discuss your specific needs with the team, and choose the equipment that will propel your fitness business to the next level.
Start today ➡ ImagineStrength.com
- Listen to it on Apple Podcasts
- Stream by clicking here
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”
Show Notes
- 04:15 – John Little explains the “Done in One” Protocol
- 12:44 – Understanding how wear and tear and the number of reps affect growth (and what to do with this knowledge)
- 23:04 – How to think about different exercise protocols, their effects on, and how to decide which to use
- 33:06 – High-Intensity Training Theory and Principles are universally applicable and how Mike Mentzer has been mischaracterized as dogmatic
- 37:40 – Why training programs shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all and how HIT communities have become dogmatic
- 42:49 – Bodybuilding protocols, confirmation biases, stimulus, genetic variation, and understanding the studies involved
- 51:03 – John talks about blindfolding clients while training them (and the Tai Chi comparison)
- 56:49 – Do you need to warm up when using the Done in One protocol?
- 1:02:08 – What do you need to know about hypertrophy, muscle mass potential, and inducing the greatest possible strength increases?
- 1:11:25 – Why should you try the One and Done protocol? John explains
- 1:15:23 – John talks about some of the books he has recently had published on true crime and Bruce Lee’s real fights
- 1:23:44 – The Resistance Exercise Conference and Meeting Dr. Doug McGuff for the first time
People Mentioned & Selected Links from the Episode
- John Little | IMDB | Nautilus North on Facebook | John Little’s Books | Heavy Duty College (John’s YouTube Channel dedicated to Mike Mentzer)
- John Little’s 6-Minute HIT Course (don’t forget to Use Code “HIB10“ !)
- Simon Shawcross | HITuni | HIB Episodes
- John Little’s Previous HIB Episodes
- Ken Hutchins | Official Website | Books by Ken Hutchins
- Dr. Doug McGuff | Body by Science | HIB Episodes
- Mike Mentzer | HIB Episodes about Mike Mentzer
- Tony Robbins | Official Website
- REC (Resistance Exercise Conference)
430 – Dr James Fisher’s Personal Knee Rehab Journey: From Injury to Recovery (Part 1)
429 – A Deep Dive into Joint-Friendly Fitness with Bill DeSimone: A New Paradigm in Exercise Safety
427 – The HIT Protocols Pete Cerqua Used to Grow a 7-Figure Personal Training Business
G’day Lawrence and thanks for the interesting podcast with John.
A couple of points struck me during the interview.
1. I’m not convinced by John’s argument that every time a joint opens and closes there is wear and tear. The argument that three or four ‘openings and closings’ causes more wear and tear than one seems like taking an arguably logical concept – that if you overuse your joints through chronic daily use for decades (repetitive work movements, two hour workouts 6 days a week) you will get overuse injuries, down to a minimalist level where this is not the case at all. Human beings would be impractically feeble if they could not perform a reasonable level of physical activity each day of their lives without developing chronic injury. I have been a HITter for years and certainly subscribe to the ‘most efficient and effective dose and no more’ principle, but reckon that arguing that one rep will result in less wear and tear than three or four slow reps is very unlikely to be true. If you drove your car once around the block twice a week, or three times around the block twice a week, it would likely make no difference whatsoever to the wear and tear on the vehicle, as the use of the car in either scenario is very minimal. Apologies if I have missed that point here.
2. John mentioned that he had very good results in clients who switched to the One and Done protocol, and cited x amount of lean gain in x amount of time. You asked if this was with new trainees, and he replied that no, some of the clients had been at his gym for many years. Earlier in the interview John had stated something along the lines of ‘most trainees reach their genetic potential for muscular development after 2-3 years’, and there was also discussion about John mixing up his training as he pleases as he knows he will not make any gains after his many years of training. This begs the question that if these trainees had been training at his gym for years, and would therefore have already reached their genetic potential, how did they make what sounded like very impressive progress when they switched to One and Done? I am 51 years old and have made little to no gains for a long time now. I am therefore always interested in how long term trainees can still advance regardless of whether they have been training for decades.
Any thoughts from you and other listeners would be very welcome.
Thanks again for the podcast – always interesting and thought provoking.
Cheers, Jim