THOUGHTS ON THE MIKE MENTZER METHOD.
For more than ten years, Mentzer's Heavy Duty program consisted of 7-9 sets per workout on a three-day-a-week schedule. With the advent of "modern bodybuilding" (where bodybuilders became more massive than in the past) from the early 90s, he modified his routines with fewer work groups and more days off.
Mentzer attracted more attention when he introduced Dorian Yates to high-intensity training, and challenged him with his first set of workouts in the early 1990s. Yates won Mr. Olympia six consecutive times, from 1992 to 1997.
Do you think this method really works?? Or is it all a matter of Genetics?
Photo 1. Mike Mentzer at 19 years old who was training from the garage of his home. (Mr. Pennsylvania)
Photo 2. Dorian Yates after training 3x a week (Heavy Duty philosophy espoused by Mike Mentzer) for 6/8 month.
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I think there's plenty of haze on the topic. I'm unclear, did Mentzer achieve the physique using this method from the beginning? I've consumed a fair amount of youtube on the topic and get the impression he didn't land on this method until later on. That said, his methods clearly work. There are studies that can prove/disprove all matter of strategies and crown (insert method) the best for building muscle. In my mind, find a training strategy that is know to work and stick to it for a solid period of time. Consistency is key. Switch it up from time to time so you don't get bored and keep the muscles guessing. Training for gains takes commitment. If the Mentzer method gets you to the gym consistently the the Mentzer method it is!
Quick add. Myself and my training buddy both saw some nice gains in strength by implementing Mentzer's slow rep prioritizing the negative strategy. It's easy to add (to your existing program) and a good way to dip a toe in the water.
Doesn’t work for me. Every body’s body is different. I like volume.
I've done his routines in the past. I saw some improvements in both strength and physique. But i attribute it more to the fact that i was getting burnt out with my PPL and was having to force myself through my workouts 6 times a week. Dropping the frequency breathed some new life into my training and i started looking forward to training again. I was pushing myself harder rather than just slogging along to get through my workouts.
While Mike Mentzer was smart, he didn’t have the massive amounts of research we have nowadays. There are plenty of scientific studies on sets, RPE, and reps for optimal hypertrophy. They don’t align with the Mike Mentzer philosophy.
The reason people see gains after first switching to his style is that they never really trained hard in the first place, even if they “thought” they did. People often think they’re in RPE8-RPE10 range when they’re really in RPE5. Believe it or not, there’s studies out there showing just how off people are in estimating their RPE.
You hit a muscle group hard and you don’t hit it again until it’s recovered. If that’s every 2-3 days, then that’s what it is. Some muscle groups recover faster than others and thus can sustain higher weekly volume amounts.
I hit every muscle group 2-3x a week…hard. I do an hour of cardio (split between running and walking on an 8% incline) 6x a week. I play full court basketball once a week for 2-3 hours. I get ~18,000 steps a day every day. I’m not over trained. Just like jockstrap said below. Never seen over training. Eat and rest appropriately and you’ll be fine.
Get off your phone during your workouts, stop resting 3-4 minutes between sets, and you’ll be in and out of the gym in less than an hour every time. I can post a pic of my current physique as of two days ago that rivals those photos above and I’ve never adhered to the Mentzer philosophy.
I agree with hard workouts and have never seen overtraining. Eat, lift and rest properly
Really? You’ve never overtrained? I feel like I overtrained so much in my past. Having off days where I would go down a little bit in weight.
Whenever I feel off now I just take it real light and do cardio and my lifts are back to normal next time.
Some people are just build differently I guess.
Overtraining is a myth. When you listen to your body, push hard, and reach max pump you refuel and rest. I havent seen anyone on here posting hard pump pics or talking about the pump at all. All anyone posts is using cialis or viagra for a chem pump. Or hitting tne with no reason of why. If you dont expand that fascia, youre flat not going to grow. If youre not getting lactic acid in there to remove old cells, you wont grow. Hell, newest fad im reading on here is site injecting an irritating chem for a pump. Mimmick lactic feeling. But no sweat value.
Built differently yes. Mentally is where its won.