Do you want me to post alot about mentzer and HIT training

Do you want me to post alot of mentzer and HIT posts

  • Yes Im a HIT trainer but not a fan of mentzer

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Yes because you want to bash me and mentzer

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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    24
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ttwarrior1

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yes, no, dont care, yes so you can be mean to me
 
thesinner

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Go for it dude. Mentzer was an innovative bodybuilder, and although I don't agree with all of his methodology, the way it challenged and influenced the ways of bodybuilding is quite extraordinary. Anything with Arthur Jones or the Mentzer brothers is always an interesting read.
 
wojo

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im doing his consolidated program right now from "The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer" love it..my problem is was and always will be my diet tho..lol
 
thesinner

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so ummmm, are you going to post anything?
 
MaDmaN

MaDmaN

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He was without a doubt one of the smartest bodubuilders and on the cutting ege with training and diet.

He is one of my favorites


Rest in peace

 
thesinner

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Ripped to shreds, brilliant, influential, and a striking resemblance to super mario. It was too bad his back injuries prevented him from making further waves with his "Heavy Duty" style of training.
 

ttwarrior1

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Mike Mentzer Heavy Duty tips

More Confusion from the Experts

An increasing number of "experts" in the bodybuilding magazines are erroneously asserting that all training approaches invariably lead to "adaptation," something they deem negative, or undesirable; and use as a justification for moving arbitrarily from one system of training to another.

In reality, in logic, adaptation is precisely what is desired. The purpose of imposing a high-intensity, anaerobic training stress is to cause adaptation, i.e., an adaptive response, i.e., stronger and larger muscles. Similarly, people lay in the sun to elicit an adaptive response; namely, the development of a suntan.

Mike Mentzer

Avoiding Sticking Points

What these individuals are groping to describe is this: That without a properly regulated volume and frequency training protocol, their training approach will lead to a "sticking point," where no further progress can be achieved. Heavy Duty, high-intensity training is the only approach which recognizes that as one grows progressively stronger, i.e., lifts heavier and heavier weights, the stresses grow greater; and that if the increasing stresses aren't continually compensated for by decreasing the volume and frequency, the stresses will reach a critical point. The first symptom will be a slow down in progress; and if the trainee continues with the same volume and frequency he'll ultimately hit a sticking point, or, may even regress. Don't confuse adaptation with a sticking point.

Mike Mentzer

Exercise Induced GH Increase

A number of "experts" have also been suggesting that exercise induced GH increase, in and of itself, is the summum bonum, the be-all-and end-all; that with elevated GH levels increased muscular growth will inevitably occur. If such were the case, those GH anamolies suffering acromegaly would have physiques like bodybuilders; but, in fact, they are primarily skeletal giants. Obviously, elevated GH levels alone are not responsible for muscle growth beyond normal levels.

Mike Mentzer

More Experts

Still other celebrated exercise scientists have claimed recently that volume training results in both increased testosterone and cortisol levels. They then conveniently drop the issue of the increased cortisol output, and focus on the increased testosterone as though it were the ultimate factor responsible for increased muscle growth.

I strongly doubt that their one study revealed increased testosterone output, as numerous past studies have shown that chronic volume training stresses result in the opposite, i.e., a decreased testosterone output.

Mike Mentzer

Stress and Cortisol

Recall that exercise is a form of stress, and like other stressors, just enough will cause a positive, adaptive result, while too much will cause a negative result. The negative results from too much exercise are losses in strength and muscle size; and they are associated with, but not limited to, the secretion of certain hormones.

The following is a quote from the pioneer researcher in stress physiology, Hans Selye, MD: "It is remarkable that so-called adaptive, or stress, hormones are also important regulators of growth. ACTH and COL (cortisol) are potent growth-inhibitors. . . . It is not unexpected, therefore, stress can affect the growth of the body as a whole. If children are exposed to too much stress, their bodily growth is stunted and this inhibition is, at least, in part, due to an excess secretion of ACTH and COL." And, as I've emphasized before, excess, prolonged exercise "stress" will cause catabolism, or a loss of muscle.

Mike Mentzer

H.I.T. and the Pump

Some bodybuilders have reported that they don't acquire the same degree of pump when training with high-intensity as they did with the superannuated, volume approach. Others, including myself, have indicated that they obtain a better pump with high-intensity training. But, either way, it doesn't matter. The pump is not indicative that growth was stimulated. The pump of course is only temporary -- I enjoy it myself -- but you're lucky if it lasts 20 minutes. If obtaining as pump was a sign that growth was stimulated, then veteran volume bodybuilders would have 30-inch arms by now, as they've been getting pumped for hours a day everyday for years. Training to failure, where another rep is impossible despite your greatest effort, is the stimulus responsible for growth, not the pump!

Mike Mentzer
 

ttwarrior1

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H.I.T. and Powerlifting

I am often asked if Heavy Duty high-intensity training is suitable for powerlifters. The answer is an unqualified -- YES! Most bodybuilders don't know it, but a properly conducted bodybuilding regimen is essentially a strength training program. In fact, I train my clients exclusively for strength, as I know the size will follow.

My consolidation routine (listed in my book Heavy Duty II) is especially effective for powerlifters, as it includes Squats, Deadlifts and Dips. Dips are particularly effective as an adjunct to Bench Presses and should be used alternately with that exercise in my consolidation program. (All great Bench Pressers used Dips to help their Bench; it might be thought of as the upper body Squat.) As I mentioned in the Training Tip above, intensity is the key to building strength, not endless pumping of the muscles. The mindless, arbitrary pumping of the muscle is for "stimulus freaks," i.e., those who forget that the workout is merely a stimulus which, when carried out correctly, will result in the desired Response, growth.) If you are a powerlifter, I suggest you try Heavy Duty training for three months, and see if I'm not right. Considering your present progress, which is meager or nonexistent, you've nothing to lose.

Mike Mentzer

H.I.T. and Athletes

It has been generally conceded that weight training is essential for athletes. As the old saying goes, "Given two athletes of the same ability, the stronger one always wins." But remember: Exercise is capable of producing two kinds of results -- positive and negative.

Just the right amount of exercise and there will follow a strength increase. Any more exercise than is required and overuse atrophy (a loss of strength) will result.

High-intensity training is best suited for athletes for it is the only approach that takes into account the fact of a limited recovery ability, i.e., a limited tolerance for the exhaustive effects of exercise. Since most athletes are overtrained from their calisthenics sessions, running and daily practice, the coach must be hyper-cautious about the amount of the severely stressful weight training he has his charges engage in. Daily weight training is anathema for athletes as it makes for very deep inroads into the athlete's recovery ability, which is already overtaxed, as just mentioned.

Athletes, during the off season, should train once a week (or less) depending on the individual and his personal, or innate, exercise stress tolerance. This can be determined by keeping records of each workout. If the trainee is receiving the proper dosage of weight training exercise (volume and frequency), he'll witness strength increases literally every workout. Keep in mind that the amount of weight training exercise he does has to be weighed against his other physical activities; again, all exercise exacts a toll on the body's limited reserve of resources, or recovery ability. During the playing season, the athlete should limit his workouts to two a month, each workout involving no more than two or three compound, "power" movements. Limit the off season workouts to two or three compound movements.

Mike Mentzer

H.I.T. and Females

I can't believe it took me this long to find the definitive answer as to whether women should use Heavy Duty training. I have been asked that question in countless letters and seminars and I always hemmed and hawed. Now I know; and the answer is YES! And the reason was so simple it should have hit us all between the eyes.

It is widely recognized that women generally have less strength and muscle than men because of their much lower levels of testosterone. Testosterone is a powerful androgen that also aids the recuperative sub-systems of the body to tolerate and respond better to exercise in all forms; hence the higher records for males in all sports. Since women have lesser androgen in their bodies, they don't tolerate exercise as well as most males; which is why brief, infrequent, high-intensity training is tailor-made for women.

H.I.T. and the Elderly

Although the benefits of weight training for the elderly has been espoused for years, many in their golden years shy away from it. The thought of going to the gym everyday or three days a week for an hour or more puts them off. However, with high-intensity training, they need only train once or twice a week for 15 to 20 minutes maximum. And because intensity is the cardinal element, they can lift light to moderate weight for even up to 20, or more, reps and still improve their condition, so long as they reach failure, or close to it. And as they'll see strength increases every workout, they'll receive the immediate, continuous feedback that their efforts are worth, important forvital maintenance of motivation. They need to remain sufficiently motivated and continue with the program; even make it fun. Of course, in addition to the regular strength increases, they develop and tone their lean mass for better metabolism and weight control. Of particular concern to many of the elderly is osteoporosis(loss of bone mass), which can be prevented through proper nutrition and the imposition of weight-bearing stress, such as weight resistance exercise.

H.I.T. and the Career-Oriented

Many who might take up weight training fail to do so for it is almost axiomatic with the public that "more is better." I have spoken with numerous career professionals who related that they always wanted to take up weight training but couldn't justify the time: a 30 minute drive to the gym, working out for an hour or more, 30 minutes for showering and dressing, then another 30 minutes back to home or the office. And who can blame them? Weight training -- albeit important -- is merely one value that should fit comfortably into a hierarchy of rational values.

I honestly believe that the promulgation of daily, volume workouts is the single most detrimental factor affecting the growth of bodybuilding and fitness. In addition to it preventing many from taking up weight training, it causes many to drop out due to chronic fatigue and frustration. I say "You're Welcome" to those who have thanked me for getting them started and keeping them involved in weight training/bodybuilding by introducing them to the ideal form of exercise: brief, infrequent, high-intensity training.

Mike Mentzer

Hunger: Nature's Ultimatum

The bane of most bodybuilders is maintaining calorie-deficit diets aimed at improving their muscularity. (Few have trouble maintaining their workout schedule; in fat, most train far too often.) Part of this is due to the fact that nature has helped ensure survival by eliciting a hunger response at least every three to four hours; and if one seeks to expedite his weight loss by eating less frequently, he'll usually overcompensate by eating much more than usual later on; which, of course, is self-defeating.

The key to successful weight/fat loss is to eat regularly, but eat less. Every successful diet is essentially the result of cutting calories below maintenance levels. So, eat regularly, eat less -- usually 750 calories a day below maintenance levels. That's sufficient to starve the adiposity and lead to a meaningful fat loss, yet still provide enough calories to feed the lean mass and keep you growing.

With many, eating often is merely a habit. These are the one's who find it hardest to stick to a diet. If such is true for you eat bulky, leafy-green salads a couple of times a day. They will fool the body, and help satisfy the "oral habit." Furthermore, salads have "negative" calories -- that is, they possess less calories than is needed to digest them, thereby aiding weight loss effort.

Mike Mentzer
 

ttwarrior1

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Calories and Muscle

If one were to measure the caloric content of one pound of human muscle, using a scientific measuring device known as a calorimeter, he'd find it contained, or yielded, slightly over 600 calories. By contrast, a pound of human fat yields 3500 calories. This points rather clearly to the fact that it requires much fewer calories to provide for muscle growth than it does to add body fat.

Why such a disparity in caloric content of the two types of tissue -- muscle and fat? The following will explain:

Water Protein Lipids(fats) Inorganic Material
Muscle 72% 22% 4% 2%
Fat 15% 12% 70% 3%

Muscle is predominantly water; which, of course, is devoid of calories, hence its much lower caloric content.

Mike Mentzer

Not So Obvious

It is obvious that humans possess differing metabolic rates as each of us gains fat, loses weight and develops muscles beyond normal levels at varying rates. What is less obvious, but equally important, is that the physiology underlying metabolism is universal, i.e., applicable to all. The chemical processes governing our utilization of food for energy, maintenance and repair had been clearly mapped out and circumscribed by physiologists -- (not exercise physiologists) -- decades ago. Pick up any textbook on physiology or nutritional science, and you'll be reading about what goes on inside yourself. . . your neighbor. . . your training partner. . . and everyone!

So, while we all possess the stamp of unique personalities, we aren't all that different inside. We all need protein, require rest and sleep and we all burn carbohydrates at the rate of four calories per gram. Also, each and everyone of us requires a high-intensity training effort to stimulate growth, we all possess strictly limited recovery abilities, and, as bodybuilders, none of us ever grow fast enough!

Mike Mentzer

In the End, There Can Be But One
The essence of the above is that we're all basically the same creature, members of the same animal species -- Man. Genetic anomalies notwithstanding, all members of the species man have hearts, lungs, pancreas, livers, thyroids, muscles, bones, brains and so forth; whose anatomy and function are governed by the same physiologic principles. And, again, we all need protein for repair, maintenance and growth, we all burn carbohydrates at the rate of four calories a gram and each requires rest and sleep for growth and normal mental functioning.

If everyone possessed cells, muscles and organs that were constituted and functioned differently, i.e., if every individual were a unique physiologic entity unto himself, medical scientists couldn't make diagnoses, perform surgery or dispense medicines. The fact that we are all essentially the same anatomically and physiologically shows what is logically true -- that there is and can be but one -- and only one! -- valid training theory. And that one valid theory just so happens to be the theory of Heavy Duty, high-intensity training.

Mike Mentzer




Overtrainings "Other" Problems

While it is well known to natural, non-steroid bodybuilders that overtraining quickly results in overuse atrophy, i.e., the loss of strength and size, there are other problems associated with volume training. Because exercise is a form of stress, too much of it conducted too often leads to a decided weakening of the immune system. This is why bodybuilders and athletes are notorious for suffering numerous bouts of flu and colds through the year. The constant drain on the body's resources can result in mental problems, too. (Remember: man is an indivisible entity of mind and body.) Just this morning, I received an e-mail from a bodybuilder whose physician indicated that his severe (almost suicidal) depression was the direct result of chronic, gross overtraining. The doctor's prescription? Mike Mentzer's Heavy Duty, high-intensity training, as it allows for systemic (including nervous system) recovery between workouts. And who said that doctors know nothing about exercise?

As the Body Changes, Training Requirements Change:
Sticking Points are NOT Inevitable!
Very often an individual's progress ceases entirely because he failed to account for a very important consideration: that during periods of physical-muscular progress the body is not static, it is in a process of change; and that as the body changes training requirements change. (This was only touched upon briefly in Heavy Duty I; but elaborated thoroughly in Heavy Duty II.) In fact, this is the most important issue in bodybuilding science once the fundamentals of intensity, volume and frequency are grasped.

A properly conducted bodybuilding program is essentially a strength training program. Or, in other words, if one wants to grow larger he must grow stronger. When someone starts to argue with me on this point, I say, "What is one supposed to do to grow larger, get weaker? As one grows stronger, i.e., as the weights grow progressively greater, the stresses on the body become progressively greater; and must be compensated for. (This is the conceptual link that high-intensity theorists have been missing; and which explains their inability to answer the question of sticking points.)

Perhaps the easiest way to understand this phenomenon is to observe the stresses on your body when performing a warm-up set of Squats compared to those experienced during the actual workout set to failure. On the heavier workout set, you immediately recognize the much greater stress on the bones compared to that with the warm-up set; then the much greater demands on the cardio-respiratory system, and so forth. (Not available to conscious awareness are the physiologic-metabolic stresses.) Now simply extrapolate that into the situation over time, as you lift progressively greater weights workout to workout.

As the stresses grow progressively greater, they will eventually reach a critical point such that they constitute overtraining. The first symptom will be a slow down in progress; and if the individual continues with the same volume and frequency protocol, the stresses will continue to increase until there is a complete cessation of progress, typically referred to as a "sticking point." One need not ever experience a slow down in progress, let alone a sticking point, if he bears in mind all the while that as the weights grow progressively greater so do the stresses; and he must do certain specific things to compensate for them.

Within two to three weeks upon embarking on a Heavy Duty, high-intensity training program, a bodybuilder should begin inserting an extra rest day or even two at random beyond the suggested every fourth day workout so that he's compensating for the increasing stresses; and, then, with increasing regularity until he is training but once every five days with an extra rest day or two added beyond that.

To quell any fear about the progressive reduction of training frequency, consider this. An individual making progress training once every fourth day, i.e., whose body is overcompensating--(i.e., growing stronger and larger)--cannot lose anything by taking a further day or two of rest. If his body is overcompensating on day four, how is it that he would decompensate on day five or six? So, while there is no risk of a negative, no threat of a loss, by inserting an extra day or two of rest, there is the actuality of a positive; which is - with the extra rest day(s) you have that much greater certainty that enough time has elapsed between workouts to allow the body sufficient opportunity to complete both the recovery and the growth processes. The implication here is that if the individual trains again before the body's growth production process is completed, it will be short-circuited; and less than 100 units of possible progress realized.

Once the individual is training once every seven days, I suggest a reduction in the volume of training as outlined in my new book Heavy Duty II: Mind and Body. Reduced volume will necessitate switching from the Suggested Workout #1 to the Consolidation Program. With a consolidation routine, there is a decided shift in emphasis to predominately compound exercises, i.e., ones that involve multiple muscle groups, such as Squats, Dips and Deadlifts, etc. A workout program consisting of compound exercises still works all of the major muscle groups, but with fewer total sets, making for a minimal inroad into recovery ability. (Ideally, growth would be stimulated with zero sets; then none of the body's limited recovery ability would be used for recovery, it would all be used for growth production; and you'd grow so fast as to stagger the imagination. At this juncture, however, no one knows how to stimulate growth with zero sets.)

Following the above advice, you'll never hit a sticking point; you will experience unbreached progress with your training. As I have written before: if scientists can send a man to the moon and bring him back safely each time, we should be able to succeed with every one of our missions to the gym here on earth. Building bigger muscles should be a cake walk compared to moon walk.
 
wojo

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look i am a huge mentzer fan but cutting and pasting from his "tips" section of his website is weak especially not showing where you referenced it from
 

ttwarrior1

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i had the quote from mentzer and i have permission since i run the Heavy_Duty yahoo group. Its obvious it was from mentzer, not just from his site, but his books and articles
 

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