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Q:  Whats involved with signing up for Max-IT?

A: It's pretty simple.  Just fill in the form at the Max-IT sign up page and submit it to us.  You will then receive a password via email for your particular level to access the Max-IT program. Then get ready for 52 weeks of the best training of your life!

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Q: I am now into my 12th week of the Max-IT training. My training partner told me about it and said it was free, so I signed up too. The problem is my training partner has made a lot better gains than I have but we are doing the same program and on the same weeks. He is full on using your products, but I am using another brand because I still had some left over from the bucket I brought a while ago. For the Max-IT program to be effective, do you have to use ASN products?

A: I think you have just answered your own question. Your training partner is following the Max-IT program to the letter, incorporating ASN products into his training routine. You are not. You must remember, diet and recovery is all part of the training program as well, not just exercise! You can do the best exercise program in the world, but if you do not have the highest quality nutrition for recovery and growth, such as HP-100, NANO Creatine and NANO Glutamine, then you are not going to benefit from it. In fact it can do the opposite. Exercise, especially weight training like Max-IT can set up the right enviroment within our bodies where it enables us to achieve the goals we want to achieve. In Max-IT's case it sets up the enviroment where we can become more muscular, leaner and stronger. But if you do not have the right nutrition, the enviroment we have set up degrades quite quickly and the opposite can happen. It's a catch 22 type situation. Because all ASN Products are 100% guaranteed to be that of the highest purity and potency you can buy, or your money back, you can be guaranteed you are going to get the best nutrition for recovery and growth, where as, if you are using a non ASN product, which does not have this guarantee, you will not. Max-IT is the complete training program. It incorporates exercise & nutrition. If you are not following both of these you are basically not going to get the results you were looking for. As you have found out!

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Q: I’m really confused. There are so many training programs around saying that 6-8 reps are the best for muscle growth, others say, it’s got nothing to do with the reps, it’s the speed at which you do the reps, high reps are better for muscle growth compared to low reps, free weights are better than machines…… it goes on and on. What’s ASN’s view on training? I have been following your Max-IT training program for 8 weeks now and I am finding it’s working really good!

A: It is great to see you are having success with the Max-IT program. We get a lot of emails and phone calls every day in regards to people praising our Max-IT program. Our view on training? Well a lot has been explained in the introduction of the Max-IT program but we will elaborate further here.
When muscle growth ( hypertrophy ) is the goal, both clinical research and empirical data tend to support what’s called the ‘40 second’ rule. Haven’t heard of the 40 second rule? Let us explain. This rule states that the set must last no more than 40 seconds long to optimise the growth response. For increased strength and muscle growth, for an even better result, the set should not exceed 20 seconds. The reason for this is to recruit the high-threshold fast twitch motor units ( muscle fibers ) which use the high energy substrates as a fuel source. These muscle fibers have the highest potential for growth. Now keeping the set down to doing 4-6 reps will keep this tempo to around or below 20 seconds. Because you are training at your maximum intensity, ie; using the heaviest weight you can lift, you will recruit the fast twitch muscle. Remember your body is designed to adapt to any training stimulus. Providing the training stimulus of the Max-IT training program, your body will be optimised to increase strength and muscle growth to the highest level possible.

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Q: I have been told by some trainers in my gym that squats are the main leg exercise I should be doing. Squats build power quad and glutes that are essential for jumping and sprinting. In the Max-IT program, the leg training not only has squats but other different exercises as well. Why is it that you have all these other leg exercises and not just concentrate on the main compound movements such as squats?

A: While it is true compound exercises like squats can build strong quads and gluts, scientific studies have concluded that these compound exercises do little for hamstring strength and can lead to an inbalance between the quads and hamstring. Using a technique called electromyography, scientists found that the hamstrings work as stablizers during the eccentric part of the lift in a squat. However, they are used very little in the explosive push movement phase. Thus because the work they do during a squat is a lot less than the quad muscles, an inbalance can develop leading to increased risk of injury to the hamstring. The scientists recommended that athletes also perform hamstring strengthing exercises such as leg curls and deadlifts at the same intensity to keep a balance between developing muscles. This is why the Max-IT program not only incorparates main compound movements like squats, but also other movements like deadlifts.

References: Strength and Conditioning Journal 22(5): 15-17, 2000

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Q: You have introduced Max-FT. Whats the difference between Max-IT and Max-FT?

A: The Max-FT program is a variation of the Max-IT program. With Max-IT we have noticed that you not only put on muscle mass but you also lose body fat as well. Taking this into account, we have modified the training program for ladies and incorporated it to be used with our fat loss supplement, Extreme Cuts. This increases the rate of fat loss but at the same time tones your body. Instead of 52 weeks, this program has a duration of only 12 weeks, which makes it ideal for body transformation challenges. Once completed, Max-FT makes a perfect intoduction to continue on to the Max-IT training. So get ready for 12 weeks of the best fat loss of your life!

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Q: Do endurance athletes benefit from doing weight training progams like the Max-IT?

A: For over 50 years now, scientists and coaches thought developing the body's oxygen system was the key to success in endurance sports. Recent research has proved otherwise and we now know it is more complicated than that. At least 4 things make a successful endurance athlete. A strong oxygen transport system, fatigue resistance, efficient technique and muscle power. Of these, muscle power is the most neglected. Most endurance athletes go the wrong way about increasing strength and muscle power. They elect to do high reps with a lighter weight in regards to weight training for increased power. It is their belief that this type of training increases power aswell as endurance. It has been found that they are doing the same type of training that they already do for increasing endurance but not strength. To increase strength and power you must weight train like the strength-power athletes do - high intensity exercise using heavy weight and explosive movements. The exact same exercises that are found within the Max-IT program. For endurance athletes, the Max-IT program will help you go faster during your endurance competition.

References: Strength Conditioning Journal 22(5): 61-62, 2000

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Q: Should a women's strength and toning weight training program differ from a man's? You have designed both Max-IT and Max-FT to be used by either sex. Why's that?

A: The reason why we don't differentiate between men and women in regards to the training programs is because the make up of human muscle is the same for both sexes. Why train the muscle differently for one group if the objective is the same. ie; increase fat burning, tone up, increase strength and muscle size. A lot of women are afraid of doing weight and strength training because they think they will get big and bulky. This type of thinking comes from the fact that when you start a training program it takes a little bit of time to kick start your metabolism to effectively start the fat burning process. However, you will find that your strength and muscle gains will start to happen a lot quicker. In regards to women, what happens is within the first weeks of training you will start developing your muscles in which they will increase in strength and size, but the fat which surrounds the muscle will remain relatively the same. This has the net effect on the outside to look like you are getting bulkier. But persevere and continue the training and as your metabolism increases, your fat burning will kick in and you will find you will start shrinking in size. Believe it or not, the odds are against women gaining a substantial amount of muscle. This is because muscle gains seem to be related to the male hormone, testosterone. Women only have a small amount of testosterone produced in their body. Making a comparison to the women bodybuilders you see in the magazines is unrealistic because these women have used some sort of 'nutritional aid' to boost their testosterone level or mimic it. Comparing men against women in regards to weight training, you would find that the men would put on substantially more muscle than the women for the same amount of training. But the net effect of the training is the same. Both sexes will achieve the desired result they are looking for. For men it is have a defined musclar look, while for women it is to have a toned shapely look. The two programs, Max-IT and Max-FT can be used by either men or women. The Max-FT program will allow your body to lose body fat a bit faster than the Max-IT program. It was designed with ladies in mind because of their desire to tone up in the shortest possible time. But it is also an effective program for guy's to use who want to lose those few extra kilo's of body fat that they have gained. The Max-IT program was designed with guys in mind to help them become more musclular. But this program is also equally effective for ladies to tone up and develop shapely bodies.

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Q: How do I get muscle definition?

A: Muscle definition is defined as having little or no fat around the muscle. This creates a desired look of the muscle having shape and tone. To achieve this look you need to be following a diet and exercise program, such as the Max-FT or Max-IT programs. These two training programs will not only help you lose fat around the muscle, but also increase the muscle size producing a more defined effect.

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Q: I have heard that doing some types of high intensity training can cause sore joints and pull muscles. I have been doing the Max-IT for 5 months and my joints are still ok. Can I get sore joints or is Max-IT a little different?, because I haven't got sore joints yet and I have been using this program for a while.

A: You are correct in saying that with some high intensity training programs you are subceptable to getting sore joints. We have experienced this aswell and it is because some of the programs are based on the main compound movements which are repeated often. The Max-IT program is completely different. Peter has spent a lot of time working on this training program. One of his aims was to provide a program that provided you with the benefits of training at the highest intensity without the high risks of sore joints and injuries. Hence the name Maximum Intensity Training or Max-IT for short. Another aim of Peter's was to supply you a program that wasn't repetitive doing the same movements month after month and to supply you a program to enable you to achieve long term results and not just the popular 3 month, 12 week result.
The Max-IT program is a 52 week program. Your training is already mapped out for the whole year! Not only that, but the Max-IT changes every 4 weeks. By changing every 4 weeks it doesn't give your body a chance to get use to the exercises and plateu out as with a lot of the other training programs. After every 8 weeks there is also a rest period of 1 week. The reason for this is to minimize any extra stress and allow for extra recupuration from doing maximum intensity training. We have feedback from a lot of experienced athletes that take a break from training after a heavy training period, especially those athletes that have a break over christmas then resume their training, finding that their best performance's come within that period after the break. The sets within the Max-IT program are also limited to a maximum of 3. This allows you to get the maximum benefit of training at a very high intensity but not allowing you to over train. The over training leads to sore joints and torn muscles. There are over seventy different exercises and movements within the Max-IT program, making it the most advanced training program in the world! They say variety is the spice of life. Well Max-IT is the spice of training!

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Q: Do my muscles turn to fat if I stop training?

A: We get a lot of the beginners asking this question. The plain fact is; 'Muscle cannot turn to fat'. It is physically impossible! If that were the case then the people doing the Max-IT program, taking their 1 week break from training after 8 weeks of maximum intensity training would lose all the muscle they have gained and become obese. In reality the opposite happens and they keep increasing muscle and losing fat. So why do people ask this question? When you have not been training for a while and are consuming excess calories that your body does not need, it may seem like your muscle is turning to fat. This is because your muscles shrink in size and the fat cells that are around the muscle and in between your skin start increasing in size. It then looks like your muscles are turning to fat. But underneath the fat, the muscle is still there. It's just a bit smaller than it use to be, because of lack of use. So, muscle cannot turn to fat and if you stop training it does not mean that you are going to get fat. You will only get fat if you consume too many calories that your body does not need.

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Q: I want to try the Max-IT program, but I only have time to weight train 3 days a week. Is there some way I can do the program only training for 3 days or do I have to do the 5 days?

A: For maximum results we recommend training 5 days a week. This allows for maximum recovery of the muscle group you have trained without over doing the exercises and spending too much time in the gym. A short, very intense training session will always give you better results over a longer, less intense training session. The longer the training session, the less energy you will have to train at you maximum intensity. If you can only train 3 days a week, it is still possible to follow the Max-IT program, but understand you will not get the same results as if you followed the program to a 'T'. A suggestion with the 3 day a week program is to add both the Monday & Tuesday Max-IT training sessions together and the Thursday and Friday sessions together. This will give you 3 days training. Your training sessions will be a little bit longer, but it will allow you to follow the 52 week Max-IT training and still get resonable results.

Q: I have just started the Max-IT Beginner program and wanted to ask about the sets and reps procedure. You say, before you start your training to do 10-12 reps for a warm-up with a light weight then increase the weight for each set, doing a minimum of 3-4 warm-up sets. What I want to know, is that for only the start of the very first exercise or do I do this for all of the exercises? Also, what would you recommend for a warm-up weight, if I can do a maximum of 70 pounds on the bicep curl?

A: The warm up sets should be light enough to do the reps without putting a lot of stress on the muscle. The idea is to warm up the joints and muscle and to supply blood to the area in preparation for training at maximum intensity. The warm up sets are only done on the first exercise. Once you have warmed up there is no need to do warm up sets on the preceeding exercises. This would be a waste of energy, not allowing you to train at your maximum intensity. A good weight to start off with, say for example, would be 50% of the maximum weight you would use during your main sets. That means if you can do 70 pounds on the bicep curl, for your warm up sets for the bicep curl you would use a weight around 35 pounds.

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Q: I've got one bodypart that is stronger than the other. How can I correct this?

A: I think most of us have a problem like this. One arm stronger than the other or even a leg. Especially in football if you kick with the same foot all the time. Just have a look at some tennis players and compare their forearm they hold the racket with compared to the other. Having a body part stronger or bigger than the other is a problem faced by most novice trainers and bodybuilders. As long as there is no underlying injury, this problem usually occurs from a motor-neural dominance to one particular limb. You will find by doing weight training and the Max-IT program that after a while the difference in bodypart strength will even out. This is because of the adaptation of the weaker muscle group being stimulated, which with increased training evens itself out. Just think of the guy who has never done chest training before. At the start he may not be able to individually flex and contract each pectorial. He has no manual neural control over his pec muscles. But after a while of training chest he is able to manually flex his pecs. You will find you will be able to manually flex any muscle that you have weight trained after awhile. This is the neural adaptation we are talking about which enables a weak or smaller body part to catch up to the other.

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Q: Will the Max-FT training program help spot reduce fat in problem area's of my body?

A: The Max-FT training will help you reduce body fat effectively but there is no exercise program that will help you spot reduce fat from a certain area. Your body has its own program for what sequence the area's of your body, which contain fat, will be used for energy. Every one is different. There are many factors involved which can effect access to the fat cells so the fat can be converted into energy. Some of these include your genetic make-up, your nutrition in the past and tissue injuries to that area. In some cases it may seem that there is a spot fat reducing effect in a certain area, but this is usually a coincidence where your body has decided to metabolize the fat, to be used for energy, from the area that you have wanted to reduce. In reality, problem areas, where you want fat reducing, is usually because it is the last place your body will metabolise fat to be used for energy or the first place your body stores fat when you over indulge in fatty or sugary foods causing excess calories to be stored.

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Q: I have been doing the Max-IT program for the last 3 months and I am achieving outstanding results. A couple of guys in my gym who work for another company are doing a program called Max-OT. Another guy in the gym is doing a program called HIT. They all sound similar, can you tell me what is the difference between Max-IT and these other programs?

A: All these training programs are based on training at maximum intensity which has been scientifically proven to increase strength and put on muscle size faster than any other type of program. Strength and Power Lifting coaches have been using this type of training for years. Strength and muscle go hand in hand. The difference with the Max-IT program is that it was designed to over come any problems that these other programs had in the past. Feedback from athletes doing some of these other programs in the past resulted in them having such problems as; repetitive compound movements which can cause sore joints and pull muscles, program not running for long enough, not enough variety in exercises making it boring and some unrealistic, dangerous movements.
We learn from experience and the Max-IT program was developed through years of experience. It was designed by one of the most experienced trainer's in the world, namely, the director of ASN - Advanced Sports Nutrition, Peter Memete. Through his dedication, we are able to bring you the most advanced training program in the world for putting on muscle - Max-IT ( Maximum Intensity Training ) program. This is an unique program. An unheard of 52 weeks of training with 12 transition changes and over 70 different exercise movements. The most comprehensive weight training program ever devised.

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