Mentzer - only trained 2h/wk?

[buck]

When i actually look at Dorian's training journal, it appears that he often did 2 work sets. And i have seen interviews where he stated that he would do 2 sets just to make sure his muscles were trashed. His warm up sets would be volume work to some people.

 

[strummer]

for anybody interested in mike mentzer interviews and a look at some old school nautilus equipment visit you tube and search John little, very extensive list of his works

 

[Wonton]

for anybody interested in mike mentzer interviews and a look at some old school nautilus equipment visit you tube and search John little, very extensive list of his works

if i honestly wanted to see any pros workouts its while they where building muscle not after...I think 100% of these guys have memory issues and think they where born with that muscle or could achieved it anyway they wanted...but reality is...While they where getting huge...after that they get delusional

 

[Chembody]

Back day 15 sets 1 min each with 1 minute rest thats already 30min. Wow that makes me question it?

 

[cage99]

It’s truly a shame that the 1980 Mr. Olympia went the way it did… If Mike would’ve place 1st, 2nd, or possibly 3rd he would’ve gone on to show an even more incredible physique. What could have been!!!! Every time I browse back at old photos I’m always amazed how they handed it to Arnold. Just a shame!

Cage

 

[Wonton]

It’s truly a shame that the 1980 Mr. Olympia went the way it did… If Mike would’ve place 1st, 2nd, or possibly 3rd he would’ve gone on to show an even more incredible physique. What could have been!!!! Every time I browse back at old photos I’m always amazed how they handed it to Arnold. Just a shame!

Cage

he did look good....man but when these guys stop...chain smoking and let themselves go Lol...I guess they deserve to relax

 

[strummer]

if i honestly wanted to see any pros workouts its while they where building muscle not after...I think 100% of these guys have memory issues and think they where born with that muscle or could achieved it anyway they wanted...but reality is...While they where getting huge...after that they get delusional

I dont disagree however assume Arnold and mentzer both got there size from volume training, mentzer or Yates now switch to high intensity brief workouts and Arnold continues marathon sessions and all 3 maintain their physiques..the volume guy and the hit guys maintain what they have..considering time in gym who is more efficient?

 

[Wonton]

I dont disagree however assume Arnold and mentzer both got there size from volume training, mentzer or Yates now switch to high intensity brief workouts and Arnold continues marathon sessions and all 3 maintain their physiques..the volume guy and the hit guys maintain what they have..considering time in gym who is more efficient?

depends on what you enjoy
some like spending time in gym

once you have it - its all about what you enjoy

me personally high intensity ,,, when I'm tired of that 1.3 to 2 min rest - some exercises to blow through 1 min rest - basicaally do whatever as long as it fits my mind set and taxes the muscles enough

think issue is a ton of us don't know when they done enough and like me personally some body parts like legs I dread doing and have mental block issues

BUT if you wanted efficient based on def alone..it would be who ever spends the less time in the gym

 

[headtrainer]

You must've read or watched a different interview bro, I'm not making this stuff up

The guy wouldn't even use stairs in everyday life the day he was to train quads, c'mon now

Tom Platz trained his legs “twice” a week ( including squats twice a week) to reach his peak as a pro bodybuilder. He trained like Ronnie Coleman. Later on when his legs began to greatly overpower his upper body,Tom reduced his leg training to doing squats only twice per month. But I think he might have still been doing other movements ( like leg ext and leg curls) for legs with a higher frequency. I followed Platz’s leg routine for 3 years and it made my legs grow better than ever. It was around 10 intense work sets for quads twice a week. That’s 20 weekly work sets for quads alone. It was brutal. The weekly total sets for hams and calves were between 8 sets. It was back in the early 80’s when I purchased and followed his leg training manual.

 

[Baphomet36]

I followed Mentzer closely when he competed. He was training about 4 days per week and would do 8-12 intense work sets per body part each week—taking each set to muscle failure or beyond. Dorian built the bulk of his mass in his early years of training doing 8-12 work sets twice a week and training 6 days per week—very similar to what Ronnie Coleman did.

I’ve got Dorian’s training journal and he was doing a 2 way split 3 days per week not 6 days.
Nothing like what Ronnie did not even close.
This was 1985

 

[Baphomet36]

supposedly Tom Platz would regularly train legs so intensely with high volume that he would have to take weeks off from training before he felt recovered enough to do it all again, so who knows? What a fascinating endeavor to be a part of

It wasn’t the volume it was effort.
There wasn’t a ton of working sets there were a few really hard beyond faiiure

 

[Baphomet36]

Same, I enjoy being in the gym (either commercial or my home gym) greatly. I have for over 4-decades.
I still to this day get antsy on off-days, and cannot wait to get back in there. I don't stay forever (1.5 hrs) but 30-mins wouldnt cut it (for me).

I know plenty of "HIT only" guys over the years, and their physiques are very average.

And there’s a majority of high volume guys and girls in gyms across the world who look like they’ve never touched a weight and look the same year after year.

Is big As growth principles not a hit routine?
It works.
I’ve never gotten anything out of volume training besides spun wheels or regression.

Mike went off the rails at the end but his heavy duty 2 is pretty effective if someone is actually able to train hard.

Fortitude training tier 1 is an hit routine by definition.

Dc is too whether Dante admits it or not.
Phil Hernons 3 way is low volume.

There a ton of low volume stuff that works.

 

[Cerberus777]

I always have loved going to failure. I got decent results with Heavy duty. But I got much better results with DC since it had more volume through frequency.

 

[qbkilla]

And there’s a majority of high volume guys and girls in gyms across the world who look like they’ve never touched a weight and look the same year after year.

Is big As growth principles not a hit routine?
It works.
I’ve never gotten anything out of volume training besides spun wheels or regression.

Mike went off the rails at the end but his heavy duty 2 is pretty effective if someone is actually able to train hard.

Fortitude training tier 1 is an hit routine by definition.

Dc is too whether Dante admits it or not.
Phil Hernons 3 way is low volume.

There a ton of low volume stuff that works.

What is phils 3 way? I'd guess anything under 8 work sets per muscle per week would be considered low volume?

 

[Baphomet36]

What is phils 3 way? I'd guess anything under 8 work sets per muscle per week would be considered low volume?

It was the 6 day per week.
Chest/back/calves
Legs/abs
Shoulders/arms/calves

 

[headtrainer]

It wasn’t the volume it was effort.
There wasn’t a ton of working sets there were a few really hard beyond faiiure

No, it was both volume and effort in Tom’s training manual. I ordered it and followed it religiously for 2-3 years. It worked well. But it was very fatiguing.

 

[headtrainer]

And there’s a majority of high volume guys and girls in gyms across the world who look like they’ve never touched a weight and look the same year after year.

Is big As growth principles not a hit routine?
It works.
I’ve never gotten anything out of volume training besides spun wheels or regression.

Mike went off the rails at the end but his heavy duty 2 is pretty effective if someone is actually able to train hard.

Fortitude training tier 1 is an hit routine by definition.

Dc is too whether Dante admits it or not.
Phil Hernons 3 way is low volume.

There a ton of low volume stuff that works.

Any routine works for a beginner—low volume, moderate volume or even high volume. But as you get stronger on lower volume, you need to add some volume to make further muscular gains given your training with enough intensity. How much volume each person needs is very individualistic. For example, I need a minimum of 16 work sets taken to or near failure on quads once a week to obtain maximum growth. Anything over 20 sets seems to be too much. Fewer than 12 sets isn’t enough. But my biceps and triceps will grow well doing only 9 sets per week. But they grow their best performing 20 intense sets per week. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to training, diet and steroids.
Most professional bodybuilders find that nothing works better than the traditional bro split were each muscle is trained once a week with moderately high volume—10-20 intense work sets done once a week. They don’t look the same each year. The added volume is how they continue to profess after their strength gains have plateaued.

 

[Baphomet36]

Any routine works for a beginner—low volume, moderate volume or even high volume. But as you get stronger on lower volume, you need to add some volume to make further muscular gains given your training with enough intensity. How much volume each person needs is very individualistic. For example, I need a minimum of 16 work sets taken to or near failure on quads once a week to obtain maximum growth. Anything over 20 sets seems to be too much. Fewer than 12 sets isn’t enough. But my biceps and triceps will grow well doing only 9 sets per week. But they grow their best performing 20 intense sets per week. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to training, diet and steroids.
Most professional bodybuilders find that nothing works better than the traditional bro split were each muscle is trained once a week with moderately high volume—10-20 intense work sets done once a week. They don’t look the same each year. The added volume is how they continue to profess after their strength gains have plateaued.

And here you are ignoring what causes growth again.
You’re like a broken record.
You ignore anything that disproves or goes against what you learned in the 80s and from Arnold’s encyclopedia

 

[Baphomet36]

Any routine works for a beginner—low volume, moderate volume or even high volume. But as you get stronger on lower volume, you need to add some volume to make further muscular gains given your training with enough intensity. How much volume each person needs is very individualistic. For example, I need a minimum of 16 work sets taken to or near failure on quads once a week to obtain maximum growth. Anything over 20 sets seems to be too much. Fewer than 12 sets isn’t enough. But my biceps and triceps will grow well doing only 9 sets per week. But they grow their best performing 20 intense sets per week. There’s no one size fits all when it comes to training, diet and steroids.
Most professional bodybuilders find that nothing works better than the traditional bro split were each muscle is trained once a week with moderately high volume—10-20 intense work sets done once a week. They don’t look the same each year. The added volume is how they continue to profess after their strength gains have plateaued.

I have never gotten anything out of high volume.
Added volume? Well Dorian lowered his.
I have his training journal in fact he progressively got stronger and progressively lowered the volume.

You get stronger, increase food, and increase drugs.
When Jay needed to grow to beat Ronnie he didn’t increase volume he got stronger.
Look at Hunter Labradas actual routine.
Look at what JP did to grow to his size.
There’s a reason the strongest guys are the biggest and that’s not because of the added sets.

 

[headtrainer]

I’ve got Dorian’s training journal and he was doing a 2 way split 3 days per week not 6 days.
Nothing like what Ronnie did not even close.
This was 1985

People often regard Dorian Yates as the poster boy for low volume training. But like Lee Preist stated, if you actually compare how he trained to many other lifters, it's not that different. The main difference is that DY only really "counted" his top sets that went beyond failure and not all of his work sets. He never did ONE set though - he did one TOP set per exercise to beyond muscle failure.


DY

Incline Press -

155x8

245x8

335x6

415x6


Hammer Strength Press-
1x6

1x8


Incline Flyes -

2 sets

Cable Crossovers -

1 set



RONNIE

Flat Bench -

135x10-12

225x10-12

315x10-12

405x8-10

500x5



Incline -

225x10-12

315x10-12

405x9



Decline -

225x10-12

315x10-12

405x10