He didn’t come up with most of the principles behind High Intensity training. Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus machines, was the scientist who experimented and did studies on muscle mass building aka hyper trophy. He worked on Mentzer, Arnold, Casey Viator, and several other bodybuilders in the 70’s. The one set to complete failure was his idea.
You guys have honored Mike with this. I'm so happy to see the resurgence of his method. Don't forget to rest up plenty and limit your number of sets as much as possible! Push past your mental limits until you reach the muscle's limits, then squeeze the last drops of juice with eccentrics only
I heard an interview with Mike where he said to only go to positive rep failure, not failure on the eccentric. Maybe I missed some important context though?
@@kennethflores-hv7uf well unless he is on TRT to maintain testosterone levels of in his prime, he inevitably would not have, as test drops gradually starting from the age of 30-35 about 2-3% every year (check it out on google). if u're interested in doing TRT to maintain then that test drop would start affecting ur gains to slow down and u would probably want to start in ur early to late 40s
Nice hearing from a fellow octogenarian. At 82 I've been working like this for about 2 years. Like so many, I've stopped and started many times over the years., but I must admit I'm seeing good results. I do believe in getting lean, and am working on the belly fat. I'm also a fan of Greg O'Gallagher - Kenobody. Best of luck
I don't know if this seems weird. But care if we swap online info so I can share this programs numbers of before and after with someone? I don't know about many other people are on it besides me a few on this forum.
Me too man. All the years of going after volume every working out just about daily, some times twice a day, i realize it was a lot of wasted time and wear on my joints. So happy to come across this info
I was doing volume training but I feel tired but with hit and 96 hours rest I feel energetic and feel the pump all the time I just started so can’t say much but after 6 months i will be more clear about it the only thing in hit is you have to be very serious on every set bcs it’s your only set😂
Started this method about a month ago. Instead of 2 hours in the gym, I'm there about 1 hour. I increased my weight, lowered reps and usually do 2 sets - the last set to failure. I rest an extra day as well. I can physically see that my chest, delts & arms are fuller already. ~ Now if I could just stop eating ice cream, I would be fine. I was 266 and sedentary when I started this journey. I was down to 156 in a little over 10 months. Now I'm back up to 165 - with most of that "gain" being muscle.
@@tonyscalze4077 Been doing it for a bit, but with extra volume/frequency, never 1 set. Usually 4-6 sets for chest & arms. Was doing only 1 dropset intense for legs and legs were definitely improving (barely do legs since they always grew quite quickly, and they been growing 1 dropset every week, but doing a bit more volume. The 1 set stuff doesn't really work unless you're doing 3x a week fullbody with 1 set full extreme intensity, but issue with only doing 1 set is ppl don't train intense enough as they usually hold back cuz ppl use to higher volume and saving some before the final set...... It works well and definitely it destroys the muscle so naturally you want days off even if you are obsessed with going to gym. As for gains, a bit but nothing mindblowing but that could be because of nutrition aswell. Strength rocketed from 60KG bench to 75KG bench in no time and was doing 80KG bench negatives with a spot, full intense. As for gains, they have been ok, but nothing insane, it's good to change it up..... Though, if I was to do it properly, 15+ eggs a day, lots of protein, proper nutrition, and less frequency, probably run a full body 3x a week with 3 sets full intense, or a split routine with higher volume and insane intensity, but resting each muscle atleast 5 days, up to 7 days, and gains would be even better
@@berlintrada7397 I don't have a computer to type this all out 😂 but your margins are definitely not just folly but proof and you good sir proved my point to a friend in the military. Thanks for your backing on this answer
@@tonyscalze4077 yes I've tried a lot of different routines probably more than 99% of gym goers. I saw some of the best gains doing 5x a week same muscle for a duration ontop of normal split routine, (But the everyday working out was only for lighter reps and pump and only for a short duration not a proper workout, they were just on top of the original workouts. But hit plateau and didnt seem to progress, which is why I changed to super intense and that's been awesome for strength and definitely some size. again, 1 set is probably not ideal but that's just preference, of course it could work well if applied and definitely limits overtraining..... But prefer to do a bit more volume, just enjoying workouts and trying to progress, always been natural and always will be. Will be aiming for 100KG bench by end of year using mentzer syle training with extra volume but plenty of rest. Cheers
@@tonyscalze4077Just look at some other pictures of people on the internet. There’s lots and lots and lots of people on all threads pertaining to Mentzer TH-cam videos of people vouching for an increase of gains. I’m one of them myself. I pretty much just started have already noticed a difference. Muscles are a little bit bigger, more toned even beyond the need for bulking, and I’ve even noticed that my new gains, if I can’t manage to get to the gym for a while, seem to remain a little bit longer than before. Also I’m moving up in weights. And I’m finally breaking through 150 lbs now.
When I was a teenager and early 20s, that was how I lifted: Each set to failure, and dropped weight after each set to maintain reps. My muscles were so fatigued I could barely lift my arms to shower afterwards. However, people told me I was over training. I did 6 to 8 reps at the time, except benching. When benching, I did max each workout, then lower weights and increased reps each time to the last set I did 15 reps. This gave a great burn and pump. The bad part after working out to complete failure is I feel like it destroyed my elbows. I cannot recall how many days a week I worked out, but it was more than I should have as I am sure I didn't get enough rest for recovery. I looked at the muscle mags, did what they said for the most part, but didn't realize those guys were all on steroids.
Which was the great tragedy. In the 80s and 90s you had all these natties following muscle and fitness articles to the letter, only to give up when the gains were minimal. It was criminal to not inform everyone how many PEDs those guys were taking.
Thank you for doing this! I was a phone client of Mike's waaay back, and when I switched from Arnold's high volume to Mike's approach, I put on 10 lbs of muscle in 3 months naturally, and have been training that way every since (30 years now). Excellent effort, and excellent form! Most people don't actually train to real failure, so it was great to see you both get there! A couple points: -Mike also wasn't a huge fan of iso-lateral movements, because they are inefficient, taking twice as long to do the work. -He also didn't recommend warm up sets after the first working set of the entire workout. As you noticed, once you start, as long as your form is good, your body will be more than warmed up after the first working set. -He only recommended Drop sets, negatives, partial reps, forced reps, etc infrequently, and usually only after months of regular HIT training.
I have also adopted this method of training and I train every 72 hours. Do you think mike would have approved this approach? Thanks for the pointers, very helpful.
@@grantgregory1962 Sure, but I’m sure he would ask you ‘well are you making progress?’ Write everything down, and you’ll be able to tell what is working for you immediately. If 72 hours works (i.e. the weight and or reps increases regularly) keep doing it 😎.
You said you had put on 10lbs in 3 months. I want to ask you one question. Was it by eating less, same or more calories than you needed that time? I ask that question to myself and don't know how much i should eat. Thanks in advance
@@Zelkuba91 I honestly don’t know. I was 19 at the time and didn’t keep track of calories! I just tracked every workout to make sure I was improving in reps and/or weight used.
For the past 2 months, I've been following his principles of single all-out work sets, pushing sets to absolute failure (positive failure first, then isometric holds and negatives) and resting 4-5 days between workouts. I feel great every single workout and have been making the best progress of my life. This stuff works!
@@hamzabadguzar264 Push day, rest 4 days, then pull day, rest 4 days, then finally lower body, then rest 4 days. Rinse and repeat. Been making progress every single workout this way.
@@MilesNiska A Serge Nubret 70s style high volume protocol - something like ~6 sets of 12 per exercise. Made good progress for a while but constantly felt tired and overtrained.
Glad to see that Mike Mentzer is finally getting his due - his training methods and philosophy have saved me countless hours and much needless exhaustion, not to mention garnered superior results. Good video, guys!
@Hebrewhammer111 Lmao that guy (@Mantastic-ho3vm) hates HIT and hates Mentzer, he literally goes around to HIT/Mentzer videos to troll and deny that anyone's able to "prove" their gains. I just got into it with him on a completely different channel/video last week, he's all over the HIT comment sections of multiple channels. I think he secretly loves HIT 😂
@Mantastic-ho3vmI mean the theory has proven on " Mr American hearts" channel many times as John says " I am not here to prove its superior but I'm here to prove it works"
The Heavy Duty Workout is perfect for someone whom has kids with after school activities, busy work schedule etc. I have used it a lot last year or so. Fit my life schedule perfectly. When more time opened up for me, I switched over to a Dorian Yates routine which added a couple more work days into the mix. Its pretty cool walking into a gym and bust out a few routines and be done in 45min.
Exactly! It fits everything lifestyle and can actually be sustain for long periods of time. Problem with High Volume is you get mentally burned out from the gym. It starts to feel like a chore. 30 minutes 4x a week is nothing.
41 years old and been gymmin' it for 20. Love the focus on control, great way to fatigue the muscles without lifting super heavy. Cos it kinda hurts now.
I like how also emphasized the body’s limited recovery ability. And would take three days or more off between workouts. I’m 42 years old. And have been just whooping my own ass with volume for years with little gains. Now I’m trying out this new method and love it.
@@BrownPatriot316 I'm about to go put in some quality gymmin' time, gymmin' it like I always do and getting a sweet pump that can only come from a good ole gymmin'. I be gymmin'.
I’m so glad this is a positive video about Mike. I had no clue about this concept of how to work out until my trainer 15 years ago when I was on gear showed me how to do it this way. All my tendinitis went away. all the aches and pains you get from doing so many reps (arthritis) etc. I’ve never been so big and I don’t think I’ll ever get that big ever again and I’m only 5 foot six so his techniques made me look huge.💪
I’ve been doing this for 2 months and my favorite thing about it other than the best results ever, is that I feel like I actually have way more time to live life rather than spending countless hours in the gym everyday.
@@trentlee6823 you’re kidding right? Why do people ask random TH-cam commenters to explain something for them when they can research it themselves? And that’s me being mean?
Here's the trick to this style of training. It's loaded with principles, so it's best to start with one principal at a time. First, adding a lot more rest days. You can still do your same routine, but make your week 10 or 11 days, instead of 7 ( add rest days in between working days).When results seem to diminish, keep doing the same amount of sets that you would do, but always "leave a few reps in the tank". Train to absolute failure on one set without using Forced Reps or negatives; save those principles for the next time your games plateau. Also, you should always feel substantially stronger every time you walk in the gym. If you don't, add a rest day
@@petrfilinger9205he’s saying to introduce the principles slowly, so you would intro full intensity as you lock in the others. Makes sense for beginners or someone easing back into training and not overwhelming themselves.
The Mentzer legacy will never vanish. 👊 Every few years his name will return to the mainstream surface for the newcomers / older lifters as a refresher or revelation. Anyone who picks up his recent HIT books will be quick to discover that it's akin to reading a college level philosophy textbook. May have to reread several passages a few times to register what he's saying. Solid info otherwise. If reading isn't your forte much, doing a brief search on YT for classic Mentzer interviews / seminars will better deliver some quality audio straight from the master himself. His outlook on nutrition is truly worth looking into as well. Hails to the true '80 Mr. O champ ✊⚡
Great work, guys. Seems you really captured the concept that Mike championed. I'm sure he would be proud! One point, Mentzer didn't advocate multiple "warm up" sets. In fact, he discouraged any more "warm up" than necessary as it created a system stress that was not conducive to maximum effort on the working set. He talked a lot about your entire body as a system that is put under stress and that not just the single muscle groups but the body as a whole needs to recover. I don't have a training partner so this is difficult but I employ cheat reps and partial reps when I hit full rep failure. I'm going to stick with it for awhile. Works best for a single Dad who works full-time. Mike talked about freeing yourself from being a slave to the gym as well. Sure wish he were still with us. RIP, Champ!
Ahhh what a great time for the sport of health. I was alone defending Mike. In 2004 I was a teen, starting my journey into weightlifting and fitness. But everyone was brainwashed with the Ronnie Coleman diet and insane high reps and weight. No one knew who the hell I was talking about and thought I was crazy when I said I work out only 2-4 times per month. I was even accused of juicing. I made gains as fast as a teen and now at 35 years old. No injuries, no joint pain, no nothing. Just healthy and strong. People think I look 22 so from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for exposing the real godfather of weightlifting, not the piece of shit Arnold or anyone else. Mike did the research for all of us. I can never thank him enough.
@bodybuilder718 Don't worry about that guy, lmao he camps in the comment sections of all HIT videos and tells people to "prove" their gains lol. He just did the same thing to me last week when I made a comment similar to yours on a completely different video/channel. Lmaoooo
I've been doing a version of HIT using Mike's wisdom and it's given me the most muscle growth of my life in the shortest span, and I'm 40. Mike, Jeff Caveliere, and you guys pretty much define my workouts. Keep it going, Buff Dudes.
I've known Jeff for a long time, but I actually started following him for 3 months now. . Have seen impressive gains, much better than what I would get before. I started doing Mike's pulldowns and also see results, the plain bb curls didn't work much, only created pain.
Introduced to this style of training about two months ago and decided to research this and try it out myself. I feel absolutely sore from one workout (chest/back for example) in only a couple of sets. Used to do about 8 to 9 sets for each muscle group a week without ever being this sore. With a rest period of two weeks between these muscle groups when starting, I could still feel the soreness on some days. Decided to tweak it here and there after finding out what works well (or not) for me and I really think my time in the gym is much more effective while only being there for about 1,5 - 2 hours a week. Coming from 6+ hours a week. Sometimes I find it hard to stay home while not being in the gym as I used to think you needed to be in the gym to grow. Happy to see how Mike's getting the love and appreciation lately, it is well deserved. If you ever feel like you've come to the point where growth stagnates, please give this a try. While it may not feel like the right thing to do in the beginning, you'll notice it for yourself.
U grow outside the gym, if ur stronger next work out , u adapted and grew slightly, if not u didn't recover and u didn't grow , u went to the gym to feel macho that's all
how does your routine look like? Chest/back followed by Legs followed by shoulders&arms? Mike had many routines and I'm trying to pick one at the moment
@lesbianGreen I do mike mentzer ideal routine from heavy duty 2. Fly pre exhaust, bench , deadlift and pull down/ chin under hand grip all one set to failure day 1 4 days later , shoulder lateral, curl , triceps press down super set with dips. 4 days later squat, calf raise , sit ups
I started mikes HD ideal program 4 months ago. Jesus. Im just sad i didnt find this out a long time ago. I love it. I used to train 5-6days a week for 1-2 hours. Now im training once every 96 hours for 20-30 minutes. My squat has gone from 185 for 10 reps to 210 for 11 reps... my chest flies from 40lbs for 12 reps to 60 lbs for 11 reps... im now performing dips and pullups weighted with clean form. I think it works so well for me because i dont sleep much... and my thinking is i was never able to recover from all the volume i was doing. Anyway, Mike Mentzer is my idol. I wish he was still around.
Do you mean you're only training each muscle group every 4 days, or literally just one workout every 4 days? Because I'm wondering how you could do all muscle groups in 20-30 mins?
That 20 to 30 min session varies by person depending on how much warm up you need . for quads I need 3 warm up sets with 3 to 4 min rest between each set before I can do my one failure set . others may need only one warm up set and rest 2 min before doing their failure set ,so the workout times vary greatly
@iang8169 I do 3 warm up sets before squats. Only about 30 seconds to a minute in between though. As my legs get stronger I'm sure I'll require more warm up sets and rest between them.
Good to see Hudson and Brandon back giving great advice in the gym. Love that cable rear delt work and the intensity and control of this Mike workout, plus Wagner 😂 great rest pauses too! Cheers guys will be trying it out
There are essentially three types of people who dismiss Mentzer’s style of HIT: 1) Armchair Bodybuilders who never actually trained 2) Weider fanboys who think Arnold is the greatest ever, and 3) people who prefer to exercise and not train. When done PROPERLY, with adequate rest and recovery and nutrition, Mentzer’s adaptation of Arthur Jone’s Nautilus workouts and philosophy of exercise capacity and endurance is unbeatable for an individual who has no sort of underlying medical or physical issues. For natural athletes, it is unquestionably superior. For the enhanced athlete, it is unquestionably superior, BUT with the added benefit of somewhat shorter recovery periods.
I am so glad you did this video! I love that you guys even after all these years are trying different things and giving us new perspectives and ideas to think about in regards to our own training.
Doing it for a month now. My upper -front body and my arms were always lacking! My arms are getting bigger with each training session as my chest and shoulders are. Plus I am spending only 30-45 minutes with warmup and some core work in the end and only 2 times per week. It’s awesome. Taking it a little bit easier in the beginning not going to absolute-absolute failure but definitely pushing it to the limits. Happy that I ve made the change as for the past 7 years I was doing high volume training and the last couple of them my progress started to suffer a lot.
I've put this into practice for a year. And I've seen great progress. I'm 50 and really and only just picked up on this method. You need plenty of rest. Always learning, RIP Mike.
I think people do this type of training mainly for hypertrophy, but since you did if for a long time, do you have any feedback on how effective it was on the strength side? Did you gain much strength (especially in compound lifts)? Or just mainly size? Thanks!
@russbilderback I've seen an improvement on my size yes definitely. My strength has gone up 20 % may be more, of course this will plateau at some point. I started with just going to failure but doing 2 sets on each exercise ive seen . Now about 6 weeks ago gone down to one set per exercise. It does feel counter intuitive, like I'm not training enough. Let's see how this goes.
Thanks guys for keeping mike and Ray's training alive . I was very lucky to meet Ray in Australia both were great quietly spoken men. I remember Ray was reading a paper at the desk at the gym while ppl were training and one guy who was reality big and competed asked Ray..i just cant make any more substantial gains! Ray looked up from his paper and quietly said "because you cheat" then continued to read his paper lol.
Thank you for doing this video guys! Mike is one of my heroes. I draw influences when it comes to bodybuilding from Golden Era; Mike Metzer, Arnold, Frank Zane, etc. The thing that sets Mike apart is focus on recovery and growth not just the training. As a natural bodybuilder I know that I have to train hard, but I have to rest hard too. I have been seeing great results from taking 72-96 hours off. On those I do a little cardio, and as Mike said read a good book. Plus play guitar. I love having more time in the day to also stimulate my mind. Mike Mentzer was ahead of his time, and in my opinion a genius.
Most people don’t give props to the guy behind Mike’s philosophy and training, Arthur Jones. As a scientist, he was the pioneer and at the forefront of experimental studies on muscle hypertrophy. He trained and studied most bodybuilders in the 70’s including Mentzerz. Jones was the one behind the idea that muscle intensity was the most important factor in building muscle. The one set to failure was his idea. He would have these bodybuilders so exhausted from these one set exercises it would take up to 30 minutes just to recover from before moving to the next body part. Mike’s entire philosophy is based on Jones ideas and studies. Even Arnold went through this but didn’t like it because it was too hard. Arnold like the volume approach despite it being the less effective in muscle building.
R.I.P. Mike. As a almost 48 yrs old Dad/Granddad. I use to have a trainer and gym membership. Well that was over 12yrs ago. So early this year after being overweight by 40+ pounds I started working out. I went to TH-cam and started searching because I'm in a small town so trainers are scarce. I came across Mike Mentzer and you guys too. I'm bigger and leaner. Not to mention great blood pressure and diet is clean one ingredient foods. Which led me to watch your videos. Thanks fellas
Try the 16-8 fast method. Eat from 11am-7pm, it feels great. at 1030am, I eat a single big sprig of kale with stem, raw. It's not that bad, and it's a great pre-biotic. Then about 10 minutes later, I eat Greek yogurt with MCT oil powder (C8-C10) that I mix in, granola and raisins (i like raisins so that helps). Then from about 12-7, I kinda eat whatever I want, ice cream, etc, whatever, just not a crazy amounts. But I eat. After 7-720pmish, I will only cheat if it's a protein drink after a workout, or a glass of red win before around 930pm. This breaks the fast but whatever, this is a lifestyle and can only be maintained if there is some joy. Black coffee whenever I want. Roast green coffee beans in the oven for fresh coffee, it's great, and a lot simpler than it sounds. Once you roast coffee in your oven you will never buy coffee again. It's amazingly simple, fresh and tastes so good. If i do end up eating well past 7pm, I don't fret it, life happens. Enjoy it and get back on. This is the discipline, getting back on. The discipline is not starting, any schmuck can start. But getting back on, right away, is the discipline. The 16-8 fast is easier than it seems and the pre-biotic/pro-biotic start is awesome for your gut. It may sound like a lot but if you break it down and try it, you'll see, its quite simple.
Love the respect you approached this episode with..Keep it up dudes! Maybe give a "we tried the Mike Mentzer philosophy for 30 days" a shot in the future? Peace! ✌️
I did Mike Mentzer workouts HIT back in 1984 and I did other routines, and I never took PED but I’m still jacked 👍and what’s upper from Las Vegas 👍💰🎲🎲👀utube/undadirt, Bring Back Tupac ✌️
He was truly decades ahead of his time. In that day and age everyone was obsessed with Schwarzenegger. Training 6× a week and for 2 hours each time. What his philosophy also contains is what the normal recovery capacity of individuals is. I've met a guy that had the healing capacity of wolverine. He could recover so fast. 99% of people won't have that and it's better to workout only 4x a week.
I just started training again after taking well over a year off. I've been big and strong in the past so I'm regaining muscle but I wanted to share my last two workouts for legs to show what this method of training can do - both for building or RE-building size and strength. My first squat workout back I did 17 reps 155 - raw, full squat. Exactly 17 days later I performed 18 reps with 185lbs. That's 30lbs for 1 more rep in 17 days from 2 sets. I could probably go up 30lbs pounds again for similar reps, but as I'm in my 40's now I can hold back a little on the throttle so I'll go up to 205lbs - which I know I'll get at least 15 reps with. That's a 50lbs increase for reps in just over 4 weeks from 3 sets. This type of training can produce this rapid of an increase even in people who aren't regaining muscle, but the key is training balls out to failure for ONE set, on a limited number of exercises (2-6) and allowing a minimum of 4 days rest between workouts (96 hours). Your muscles will NOT detrain in 4 days, or 7 days, or even two weeks. They will NOT. Most people are chronically overtrained. This type of training can produce results that most people would be incredulous of - especially considering how little training it actually takes to produce maximum results. I want to add, that there have been quite a few videos lately that have been bashing HIT and Mike Mentzer - so my hats off to you buff dudes for representing the man and the training respectfully.
This method is second to none. Mentzer knew what he was talking about. I'm in the best shape of my life from starting and sticking with the Mentzer way.
I feel so good you guys did a video on Mikes training principles & you did it with so much grace & honesty.. some influencers find it difficult to acknowledge how effective HIT is cause they are so much caught up in the volume and frequency game.. to my limited knowledge Mike was very clear that your workout B shall be done when u feel your body has completely recovered from workout A .. it was more of a subjective thing.. & only point he mentioned was increase the rest periods between workouts if you don’t see progress over a couple of months.. I don’t think he was very precise on exact no. Of rest days between workouts .. & I don’t get this why some ppl keep telling he was on roids so he could have managed with such low volumes.. on the contrary fact is if u r training natural u need more time to recover !! RIP Mike .. ❤
Mentzer was waaaaay ahead of his time. People preach volume but I've adapted Mike's philosophy into drop sets aka running the rack. If you think about it, one warm-up pre-exhaustion followed by 3 maybe 4 drops in a set actually equals 5 working sets. Done to failure and its a recipe for success. My workouts went from an hour and a half to maybe 45 or 50 minutes. It just didn't feel right! But the results told a different story
Ok this is something that I probably should have been doing as a hard gainer. Struggling my whole life trying to put on muscle especially now at 48. This channel rocks.
I've used Mike's routines in my own training several times over the last few years. I think they're fantastic for time management, but they also have drawbacks people whould be aware of. The biggest one is injury risk. You have to warm up very well before you attempt any of these complete failure sets. Another drawback, for me, is just how short and rare the workouts are. For someone like me, who enjoys being in the gym, I can't imagine myself only training once a week for the rest of my life. Still, massive love and respect for Mike and his teachings. And the principles of high intensity training I think can benefit anyone, regardless of preferred training style.
I started a variation of this system few weeks back, recovering from a couple injuries, I noticed that I only felt good enough to work out once or twice a week. I had to severely drop my weight on a few exercises, but you can still go to failure and get a good pump with 15 pound dumbbells and 5 pounds is a lot for a damaged shoulder, bicep tendon, crushed my right calcaneus last year too. I get 2 good days a week on my feet, one of them is dedicated to a workout 💪🏽😎
Hey fellas, great to see you implementing HIT. I hope you continue training this way and let us know how you progress. I’ve always been a fan of Mike Mentzer, and still incorporate his training.
I haven't heard about Mike Mentzer's "heavy duty" training since the 90's, you're giving me flashbacks to being a teenager. I used to do dumbbell flyes before bench press that way my triceps wouldn't limit the amount of work my pecs were doing.
Also not sure if you mentioned this or not. But it’s very important that you log your work outs!! How many reps, what weights you used. Honest rating on your form, etc etc, and any factors that might be worth noting. This is done so you can determine whether your progressing or not. If you find that your not getting stronger each time you come back to the same work out. That could be a sign that maybe you’re over working your muscle or not allowing a proper recovery. So either form must improve, reps or weights or both.
I've been doing HIT the last 2 months or so. I was seeing good gains in the beginning, but I've hit a plateau recently. After seeing this video it makes me realize I've probably not been working out hard enough 😂 I would love to see your guys' progress and thoughts if you did this training for a while!
...you also might not be taking enough days off. I hit a plateau when I was taking 48 hours off between workouts, but started going up again once i bumped it to 72 hours.
Same, I kinda grew little heart syndrome some days with squats and deadlifts and I really paid for it, the whole routine is def dependent on giving it your all in every exercise. Started going stim junkie and doing two more scoops of pre workout and for the last few weeks I’ve been able to really give it my nervous system shattering all and the growth has been explosive
61, recently retired. Doing HIT, on TRT for a year to stay in normal range, and supplementing only with creatine. I’m vegan and now live in the mountains of Nicaragua. I see gains every time I go into the gym and I feel fantastic. Mike was brilliant. I’m looking to be a buff Grandpa ! Great video !
@@therehastobesomethingmoorevegans facilitate the deaths of infinitely more organisms through consuming crops (sprayed with insecticides) than animal based diets. All for naught
Just started Mike's HIT 6 weeks ago Massive gains in strength and size Best part is how previously injury proved areas are now fortified in new muscle growth!
I’ve been doing this for a couple weeks now,This really works, I do full body every 6-7 days, 12 work sets plus 5 or 6 total warmup sets, I’m exhausted, plus I’m usually sore 1-2 days, I used to do split routines anywhere from 9-12 sets per body part, I’m going to continue this for 4-8 weeks, hopefully I’ll see good results
havent made strength gains in literally a couple years (sad I know). switched to Mentzer's stuff a few months ago, literally blowing through the weights. unreal. Ive been overtraining for years. never going back to the volume nonsense.
I've been following Heavy Duty for 5 weeks, but every workout was/is solo. Regardless of the "inherent limitations" of training alone, I've gotten stronger every workout session, as prescribed by Mike. Nonetheless, my primary means of "adding intensity," or intensifier, is rest-pause; pre-exhaust not implemented yet. So, there's room to advance.
This is one of the best implementations of the Mike Mentzer ideal routine I've seen on TH-cam. Usually folks completely neglect the tempo, effort and mindset aspects of the training style. Well done!
I learned about Mentzer 2 months ago. Have all his books. Attempting the method he did with Reinhardt. And man, what a way to exercise, and WHAT A WAY TO GROW in strength.
I'm 43yrs old, have 2 kids under 5yrs old and started his programming back in June of 2023 and feeling greaattt with the gainzz love Mike's teaching and he also got me into Ayn Rand and im learning about her teachings as well, now i got time to do that ss well 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thank you for this video, so well put together and explained. Honestly, I tried Mike's approach and I cannot believe how much I grew just following his basic guide. Some influencers trash Mike's method, but it's transformed by growth. He was way ahead of his time.
HIIT is completely different to HIT. Mentzer espoused HIT = high intensity training. HIIT is high intensity INTERVAL training. Which is used in cardio work.
I've been doing this now for 6 months, less sets, almost silly time at the gym, 15- 20 mins each time, but I make sure that I do 1 set - warmup, second set, hard, 3rd set failure or its a fail. I feel envigorated and full of energy after working out and I'm building muscle faster than when I smashed out 5-10 sets a muscle group
Doing volume, the weight of my chest press has been hovering at 3 plates + 25s for months. 3 months doing one working set my chest press is now at 4 plates + 25s, doing 7-8 slow and controlled reps, and then the spotter helping me 3-4 reps past failure, and then a couple rounds of rest pause 1 reps with extremely slow eccentric. I know it will taper off eventually, but every single workout I've been significantly stronger, and all of the joint pain and chronic fatigue I was experiencing doing volume is gone because of how much extra focus there is on recovery.
every time someone just heard about Mentzer and Yates style of training, esp through TH-cam shorts they always have a misconception that it’s only a 1 set workout, like you go to the gym do 1 set of whatever and done. however it actually refers to 1 working set and they still need to do multiple warm up sets.
Right - Mentzer emphasized warmup sets with appropriately lower weight before the main working set (going to failure). Appropriate rest and recovery days for growth. I love his ideas - has improved my training.
Damn!!!! I really wanted this from Buff Guys to be done! Coincidentally I stumbled upon this just past few weeks before, and was Awstruck about its Workout structures and got me curious to know more about HIIT. But linking everything which is scattered all over online made me difficult to bring into an complete picture which I can later include in my personal regime. But now U guys brought this just made all the work. Thanks and enjoyed watching it.
Years ag9 I happened upon a training book by Rob marabou I did the program, he just copied and pasted most of it from mentzer my strength especially in legs more than doubled in about a year. I am back to mentzer training and I love it!
The concluding comments are key. In order to train this way effectively, you must, must, must have a training partner. After four decades of training high volume on a two on-one off-two on-two off schedule, I've been training using Dorian Yates' Blood and Guts method for a few months now. The shorter workouts are great, however, old habits being hard to break, I have not yet gotten away from the four day a week schedule. That endes today! This new month will bring me into Mike Mentzer's HIT program. Back to basics! Let's see what kind of gains Spring will bring this 64 year old... Unfortunately, I live alone and train in my small, but adequately equipped home gym. Thus, I can train TO failure, but not beyond (with the exception of rest/pause here and there [remember, Mike says to use forced reps, negatives and rest/pause sparingly] ). 3... More... Reps!!!
There’s plenty of ways to be creative and get around not having a training partner. Like I do weighted chin-ups. When I can’t do any more positive reps I’ll stand on a chair to lift myself and just do the negative portion until failure.
You do not have to go beyond failure, reaching concentric failure is absolutely fine. Your ability to reach that will improve over time, meaning you can go harder with more weight, more reps,, more time under tension. Therefore in the beginning,, to see if you really reached failure in your first set, it can be beneficial to do rest pause or drop sets, like the dudes in the video did. Over time you will have to do them less and less because you´ll have nothing left after the first set. For rest pause and drop sets you don´t need a training patner,, either. I´m also on a 4 day split,, trraining every muscle group once a week and the gains are good. I´ve tried Mike´s approach with one workout every 6-8 days and made very little gains compared to the 4 day split which is great because of the old habits you mentioned.
Arthur and Mike started this, but Dorian Yates mastered it. Oh, and once you go HIT, you never go back to high volume. It may be extremely painful to do, but the end result is worth it.
Dudes! Thank you so much for this video! I got realy in to this and man, I'm getting stronger almost each session I so. Arthur, Mike, Dorian, they where/are on to something here.
Dude this is so awesome! I was going to ask if you guys could do a Mike Mentzer video. Now that you're into it, could we see a 30-day high intensity challenge? To see what gains you can make as fully developed buff dudes!
What a genius Mike was. Since I read his book I spend half the time in the gym and have doubled my gains!
Bro what's the name of the book
He didn’t come up with most of the principles behind High Intensity training. Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus machines, was the scientist who experimented and did studies on muscle mass building aka hyper trophy. He worked on Mentzer, Arnold, Casey Viator, and several other bodybuilders in the 70’s. The one set to complete failure was his idea.
@@taoist32🤏🧠🤡
@@prateek18837 High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way. See 00:14
Nah
Mike was a genius. Like every genius, he wasn't appreciated in his own time.
Yeah because everyone was too busy wanting to look like Arnold.
@heathennomad2539 yes, jacked up on gear and giving everybody bad advice
He was really not though....
His claims were based on nonsense and we know most people dont grow properly from his regime.
@@dwaynecunningham2164Mike took METH as a pre workout lol
@nethanlock5008 yes he did!!!
You guys have honored Mike with this. I'm so happy to see the resurgence of his method. Don't forget to rest up plenty and limit your number of sets as much as possible! Push past your mental limits until you reach the muscle's limits, then squeeze the last drops of juice with eccentrics only
I heard an interview with Mike where he said to only go to positive rep failure, not failure on the eccentric. Maybe I missed some important context though?
studies show postive failure is fine. however he does also allow for advanced trainees negative failure
@@josephkingsley8708
@josephkingsley8708 These dudes are not doing heavy duty...might be high intensity on the lifts but they are not running the actual program.
@@josephkingsley8708y😢yyyp 6:31
@@ojpimpson3343they still followed HIT protocol and principles though. Mike would be happy
I am 80 years old and did his routine years ago when his books first came out. I still do it as best as my age will allow and still prefer it
Excellent this system is great as you age because it's low force in terms of the joints-connective tissues .
Stay hard💪🏻
Have you managed to keep your gains?
@@kennethflores-hv7uf well unless he is on TRT to maintain testosterone levels of in his prime, he inevitably would not have, as test drops gradually starting from the age of 30-35 about 2-3% every year (check it out on google). if u're interested in doing TRT to maintain then that test drop would start affecting ur gains to slow down and u would probably want to start in ur early to late 40s
Nice hearing from a fellow octogenarian. At 82 I've been working like this for about 2 years. Like so many, I've stopped and started many times over the years., but I must admit I'm seeing good results.
I do believe in getting lean, and am working on the belly fat. I'm also a fan of Greg O'Gallagher - Kenobody.
Best of luck
Mike was such an intelligent and articulate man. His training philosophy and logical approach re-ignited my passion for training
I don't know if this seems weird. But care if we swap online info so I can share this programs numbers of before and after with someone? I don't know about many other people are on it besides me a few on this forum.
Me too man. All the years of going after volume every working out just about daily, some times twice a day, i realize it was a lot of wasted time and wear on my joints. So happy to come across this info
I was doing volume training but I feel tired but with hit and 96 hours rest I feel energetic and feel the pump all the time I just started so can’t say much but after 6 months i will be more clear about it the only thing in hit is you have to be very serious on every set bcs it’s your only set😂
Wow, you're gullible huh? Mentzer was a DRUG ADDICTED LOSER that only got big from STEROIDS. Derr, you fell for it.
cause volume training is legit for roid users not nattys :)@@ALEXdaG
Started this method about a month ago. Instead of 2 hours in the gym, I'm there about 1 hour. I increased my weight, lowered reps and usually do 2 sets - the last set to failure. I rest an extra day as well. I can physically see that my chest, delts & arms are fuller already. ~ Now if I could just stop eating ice cream, I would be fine. I was 266 and sedentary when I started this journey. I was down to 156 in a little over 10 months. Now I'm back up to 165 - with most of that "gain" being muscle.
Wow man that's incredible! Keep up your spirits and keep striving ❤️
Ice cream has lots of protein you know. Eat the one with the least amount of sugar.
That's some seriously good progress. Very nice work. Keep it up!
1 hour is the normal time for hipertrophy,you just change your routine for normal training😂
Mike did 30 minutes or less.
Mike mentzer what a legend.
I’ve noticed so many gains from his approach.
Doing this for the rest of my life
Not hating just curious. May I see a photo of these gains? Like a before and after?
@@tonyscalze4077 Been doing it for a bit, but with extra volume/frequency, never 1 set. Usually 4-6 sets for chest & arms. Was doing only 1 dropset intense for legs and legs were definitely improving (barely do legs since they always grew quite quickly, and they been growing 1 dropset every week, but doing a bit more volume.
The 1 set stuff doesn't really work unless you're doing 3x a week fullbody with 1 set full extreme intensity, but issue with only doing 1 set is ppl don't train intense enough as they usually hold back cuz ppl use to higher volume and saving some before the final set......
It works well and definitely it destroys the muscle so naturally you want days off even if you are obsessed with going to gym.
As for gains, a bit but nothing mindblowing but that could be because of nutrition aswell. Strength rocketed from 60KG bench to 75KG bench in no time and was doing 80KG bench negatives with a spot, full intense.
As for gains, they have been ok, but nothing insane, it's good to change it up..... Though, if I was to do it properly, 15+ eggs a day, lots of protein, proper nutrition, and less frequency, probably run a full body 3x a week with 3 sets full intense, or a split routine with higher volume and insane intensity, but resting each muscle atleast 5 days, up to 7 days, and gains would be even better
@@berlintrada7397 I don't have a computer to type this all out 😂 but your margins are definitely not just folly but proof and you good sir proved my point to a friend in the military. Thanks for your backing on this answer
@@tonyscalze4077 yes I've tried a lot of different routines probably more than 99% of gym goers. I saw some of the best gains doing 5x a week same muscle for a duration ontop of normal split routine, (But the everyday working out was only for lighter reps and pump and only for a short duration not a proper workout, they were just on top of the original workouts.
But hit plateau and didnt seem to progress, which is why I changed to super intense and that's been awesome for strength and definitely some size.
again, 1 set is probably not ideal but that's just preference, of course it could work well if applied and definitely limits overtraining.....
But prefer to do a bit more volume, just enjoying workouts and trying to progress, always been natural and always will be. Will be aiming for 100KG bench by end of year using mentzer syle training with extra volume but plenty of rest.
Cheers
@@tonyscalze4077Just look at some other pictures of people on the internet. There’s lots and lots and lots of people on all threads pertaining to Mentzer TH-cam videos of people vouching for an increase of gains. I’m one of them myself. I pretty much just started have already noticed a difference. Muscles are a little bit bigger, more toned even beyond the need for bulking, and I’ve even noticed that my new gains, if I can’t manage to get to the gym for a while, seem to remain a little bit longer than before. Also I’m moving up in weights. And I’m finally breaking through 150 lbs now.
When I was a teenager and early 20s, that was how I lifted: Each set to failure, and dropped weight after each set to maintain reps. My muscles were so fatigued I could barely lift my arms to shower afterwards. However, people told me I was over training. I did 6 to 8 reps at the time, except benching. When benching, I did max each workout, then lower weights and increased reps each time to the last set I did 15 reps. This gave a great burn and pump. The bad part after working out to complete failure is I feel like it destroyed my elbows. I cannot recall how many days a week I worked out, but it was more than I should have as I am sure I didn't get enough rest for recovery. I looked at the muscle mags, did what they said for the most part, but didn't realize those guys were all on steroids.
Your joints probably hate you now as well.
Which was the great tragedy. In the 80s and 90s you had all these natties following muscle and fitness articles to the letter, only to give up when the gains were minimal. It was criminal to not inform everyone how many PEDs those guys were taking.
That’s coz you did too many sets and too frequently. Mentzer’s method preaches 1 set to failure not 6-8 that is absolutely way too much
@@dennisbergkamp1553He said 6-8 reps not 6-8 sets. Still too much volume per week. Brodie was definitely lacking adequate rest.
@@sp1602 read what he said
Thank you for doing this! I was a phone client of Mike's waaay back, and when I switched from Arnold's high volume to Mike's approach, I put on 10 lbs of muscle in 3 months naturally, and have been training that way every since (30 years now).
Excellent effort, and excellent form! Most people don't actually train to real failure, so it was great to see you both get there!
A couple points:
-Mike also wasn't a huge fan of iso-lateral movements, because they are inefficient, taking twice as long to do the work.
-He also didn't recommend warm up sets after the first working set of the entire workout. As you noticed, once you start, as long as your form is good, your body will be more than warmed up after the first working set.
-He only recommended Drop sets, negatives, partial reps, forced reps, etc infrequently, and usually only after months of regular HIT training.
I have also adopted this method of training and I train every 72 hours. Do you think mike would have approved this approach? Thanks for the pointers, very helpful.
@@grantgregory1962 Sure, but I’m sure he would ask you ‘well are you making progress?’ Write everything down, and you’ll be able to tell what is working for you immediately. If 72 hours works (i.e. the weight and or reps increases regularly) keep doing it 😎.
You said you had put on 10lbs in 3 months. I want to ask you one question. Was it by eating less, same or more calories than you needed that time? I ask that question to myself and don't know how much i should eat.
Thanks in advance
@@Zelkuba91 I honestly don’t know. I was 19 at the time and didn’t keep track of calories! I just tracked every workout to make sure I was improving in reps and/or weight used.
For the past 2 months, I've been following his principles of single all-out work sets, pushing sets to absolute failure (positive failure first, then isometric holds and negatives) and resting 4-5 days between workouts. I feel great every single workout and have been making the best progress of my life. This stuff works!
How do you plan your workout routine in a month in order to hit every muscle of the body
@@hamzabadguzar264 Push day, rest 4 days, then pull day, rest 4 days, then finally lower body, then rest 4 days. Rinse and repeat. Been making progress every single workout this way.
@@jamierufewhat were you doing before that?
@@MilesNiska A Serge Nubret 70s style high volume protocol - something like ~6 sets of 12 per exercise. Made good progress for a while but constantly felt tired and overtrained.
@@jamierufe how many sets you do per muscle group?
Glad to see that Mike Mentzer is finally getting his due - his training methods and philosophy have saved me countless hours and much needless exhaustion, not to mention garnered superior results. Good video, guys!
@Mantastic-ho3vm it's the internet angry little man. No cares 😂
@Mantastic-ho3vmlol kneel buddy
@Hebrewhammer111 Lmao that guy (@Mantastic-ho3vm) hates HIT and hates Mentzer, he literally goes around to HIT/Mentzer videos to troll and deny that anyone's able to "prove" their gains. I just got into it with him on a completely different channel/video last week, he's all over the HIT comment sections of multiple channels. I think he secretly loves HIT 😂
@Mantastic-ho3vmI mean the theory has proven on " Mr American hearts" channel many times as John says " I am not here to prove its superior but I'm here to prove it works"
@Mantastic-ho3vmjuice
Mike’s workout philosophy is on point. No BS. Straight to the point.
The Heavy Duty Workout is perfect for someone whom has kids with after school activities, busy work schedule etc. I have used it a lot last year or so. Fit my life schedule perfectly. When more time opened up for me, I switched over to a Dorian Yates routine which added a couple more work days into the mix. Its pretty cool walking into a gym and bust out a few routines and be done in 45min.
Why I use it! 6am here in Ireland about to hit legs with a quick 20 minutes
so if I do incline bench press, i start off with 60kg and I need to go down until I reach 20kg and can't even lift 20 kg?
@user-fp4ov8fs6s or you could reverse it & do a warm up set off 12-14 reps then gradually up the weight until it's impossible to lift any more.
Exactly! It fits everything lifestyle and can actually be sustain for long periods of time. Problem with High Volume is you get mentally burned out from the gym. It starts to feel like a chore. 30 minutes 4x a week is nothing.
I hope you dudes stick with this. I've watched damn near all your videos and this was the most grimaced I've ever seen on you guys. Great job!
41 years old and been gymmin' it for 20. Love the focus on control, great way to fatigue the muscles without lifting super heavy. Cos it kinda hurts now.
I like how also emphasized the body’s limited recovery ability. And would take three days or more off between workouts. I’m 42 years old. And have been just whooping my own ass with volume for years with little gains. Now I’m trying out this new method and love it.
Please don’t call it “gymmin it”😅😬😬
@@BrownPatriot316 I'm about to go put in some quality gymmin' time, gymmin' it like I always do and getting a sweet pump that can only come from a good ole gymmin'.
I be gymmin'.
41 and your sore already.. You will all be arthritic messes
@@megasailoorwe got it, loser 😂😂😂😂😂
I’m so glad this is a positive video about Mike. I had no clue about this concept of how to work out until my trainer 15 years ago when I was on gear showed me how to do it this way. All my tendinitis went away. all the aches and pains you get from doing so many reps (arthritis) etc. I’ve never been so big and I don’t think I’ll ever get that big ever again and I’m only 5 foot six so his techniques made me look huge.💪
I’ve been doing this for 2 months and my favorite thing about it other than the best results ever, is that I feel like I actually have way more time to live life rather than spending countless hours in the gym everyday.
yo dude, i understand the routines philosophy but i don’t understand the training itself. could you break it down for me?
@@milanthinks420or you could do some reading yourself fella?
@mattmatt4000 That's what he'd be doing if you'd tell him. No need to be selfish.
@@milanthinks420if i knew anything to help i would but i just found out about this training style 20 minutes ago
@@trentlee6823 you’re kidding right? Why do people ask random TH-cam commenters to explain something for them when they can research it themselves? And that’s me being mean?
Here's the trick to this style of training. It's loaded with principles, so it's best to start with one principal at a time. First, adding a lot more rest days. You can still do your same routine, but make your week 10 or 11 days, instead of 7 ( add rest days in between working days).When results seem to diminish, keep doing the same amount of sets that you would do, but always "leave a few reps in the tank". Train to absolute failure on one set without using Forced Reps or negatives; save those principles for the next time your games plateau. Also, you should always feel substantially stronger every time you walk in the gym. If you don't, add a rest day
That’sa nonsense since it all revolves around intensity so you have to go to “when the muscle cannot move any further”
@@petrfilinger9205he’s saying to introduce the principles slowly, so you would intro full intensity as you lock in the others. Makes sense for beginners or someone easing back into training and not overwhelming themselves.
The Mentzer legacy will never vanish.
👊
Every few years his name will return to the mainstream surface for the newcomers / older lifters as a refresher or revelation.
Anyone who picks up his recent HIT books will be quick to discover that it's akin to reading a college level philosophy textbook.
May have to reread several passages a few times to register what he's saying.
Solid info otherwise.
If reading isn't your forte much, doing a brief search on YT for classic Mentzer interviews / seminars will better deliver some quality audio straight from the master himself.
His outlook on nutrition is truly worth looking into as well.
Hails to the true '80 Mr. O champ ✊⚡
Great work, guys. Seems you really captured the concept that Mike championed. I'm sure he would be proud! One point, Mentzer didn't advocate multiple "warm up" sets. In fact, he discouraged any more "warm up" than necessary as it created a system stress that was not conducive to maximum effort on the working set. He talked a lot about your entire body as a system that is put under stress and that not just the single muscle groups but the body as a whole needs to recover. I don't have a training partner so this is difficult but I employ cheat reps and partial reps when I hit full rep failure. I'm going to stick with it for awhile. Works best for a single Dad who works full-time. Mike talked about freeing yourself from being a slave to the gym as well. Sure wish he were still with us. RIP, Champ!
Ahhh what a great time for the sport of health. I was alone defending Mike. In 2004 I was a teen, starting my journey into weightlifting and fitness. But everyone was brainwashed with the Ronnie Coleman diet and insane high reps and weight. No one knew who the hell I was talking about and thought I was crazy when I said I work out only 2-4 times per month. I was even accused of juicing. I made gains as fast as a teen and now at 35 years old. No injuries, no joint pain, no nothing. Just healthy and strong. People think I look 22 so from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for exposing the real godfather of weightlifting, not the piece of shit Arnold or anyone else. Mike did the research for all of us. I can never thank him enough.
@Mantastic-ho3vm how???
@Mantastic-ho3vm tell me how to do it
@Mantastic-ho3vm did it but it don't get everything
@Mantastic-ho3vm not really, you are the only one saying that so I go by ratio 😊, by the way. You need to train other parts not just biceps dude.
@bodybuilder718 Don't worry about that guy, lmao he camps in the comment sections of all HIT videos and tells people to "prove" their gains lol. He just did the same thing to me last week when I made a comment similar to yours on a completely different video/channel. Lmaoooo
I've been doing a version of HIT using Mike's wisdom and it's given me the most muscle growth of my life in the shortest span, and I'm 40. Mike, Jeff Caveliere, and you guys pretty much define my workouts. Keep it going, Buff Dudes.
I've known Jeff for a long time, but I actually started following him for 3 months now. . Have seen impressive gains, much better than what I would get before. I started doing Mike's pulldowns and also see results, the plain bb curls didn't work much, only created pain.
Introduced to this style of training about two months ago and decided to research this and try it out myself. I feel absolutely sore from one workout (chest/back for example) in only a couple of sets. Used to do about 8 to 9 sets for each muscle group a week without ever being this sore. With a rest period of two weeks between these muscle groups when starting, I could still feel the soreness on some days. Decided to tweak it here and there after finding out what works well (or not) for me and I really think my time in the gym is much more effective while only being there for about 1,5 - 2 hours a week. Coming from 6+ hours a week.
Sometimes I find it hard to stay home while not being in the gym as I used to think you needed to be in the gym to grow. Happy to see how Mike's getting the love and appreciation lately, it is well deserved. If you ever feel like you've come to the point where growth stagnates, please give this a try. While it may not feel like the right thing to do in the beginning, you'll notice it for yourself.
U grow outside the gym, if ur stronger next work out , u adapted and grew slightly, if not u didn't recover and u didn't grow , u went to the gym to feel macho that's all
how does your routine look like? Chest/back followed by Legs followed by shoulders&arms? Mike had many routines and I'm trying to pick one at the moment
@lesbianGreen I do mike mentzer ideal routine from heavy duty 2. Fly pre exhaust, bench , deadlift and pull down/ chin under hand grip all one set to failure day 1
4 days later , shoulder lateral, curl , triceps press down super set with dips.
4 days later squat, calf raise , sit ups
@@wii7876 thank you!
I started mikes HD ideal program 4 months ago. Jesus. Im just sad i didnt find this out a long time ago. I love it. I used to train 5-6days a week for 1-2 hours. Now im training once every 96 hours for 20-30 minutes. My squat has gone from 185 for 10 reps to 210 for 11 reps... my chest flies from 40lbs for 12 reps to 60 lbs for 11 reps... im now performing dips and pullups weighted with clean form. I think it works so well for me because i dont sleep much... and my thinking is i was never able to recover from all the volume i was doing. Anyway, Mike Mentzer is my idol. I wish he was still around.
Do you mean you're only training each muscle group every 4 days, or literally just one workout every 4 days? Because I'm wondering how you could do all muscle groups in 20-30 mins?
@@Dom-fw7nz I train each muscle group once every 10-13 days.
That 20 to 30 min session varies by person depending on how much warm up you need . for quads I need 3 warm up sets with 3 to 4 min rest between each set before I can do my one failure set . others may need only one warm up set and rest 2 min before doing their failure set ,so the workout times vary greatly
@iang8169 I do 3 warm up sets before squats. Only about 30 seconds to a minute in between though. As my legs get stronger I'm sure I'll require more warm up sets and rest between them.
how do you squat using this mehod ? ?
Good to see Hudson and Brandon back giving great advice in the gym. Love that cable rear delt work and the intensity and control of this Mike workout, plus Wagner 😂 great rest pauses too! Cheers guys will be trying it out
I like the actual work, and scenes filmed together. Sometimes a dose of reality cuts through the humor.
There are essentially three types of people who dismiss Mentzer’s style of HIT: 1) Armchair Bodybuilders who never actually trained 2) Weider fanboys who think Arnold is the greatest ever, and 3) people who prefer to exercise and not train.
When done PROPERLY, with adequate rest and recovery and nutrition, Mentzer’s adaptation of Arthur Jone’s Nautilus workouts and philosophy of exercise capacity and endurance is unbeatable for an individual who has no sort of underlying medical or physical issues.
For natural athletes, it is unquestionably superior. For the enhanced athlete, it is unquestionably superior, BUT with the added benefit of somewhat shorter recovery periods.
I am so glad you did this video! I love that you guys even after all these years are trying different things and giving us new perspectives and ideas to think about in regards to our own training.
Doing it for a month now. My upper -front body and my arms were always lacking! My arms are getting bigger with each training session as my chest and shoulders are. Plus I am spending only 30-45 minutes with warmup and some core work in the end and only 2 times per week. It’s awesome. Taking it a little bit easier in the beginning not going to absolute-absolute failure but definitely pushing it to the limits. Happy that I ve made the change as for the past 7 years I was doing high volume training and the last couple of them my progress started to suffer a lot.
What routine Mike’s did you base off. I am trying to get back to working out this week. Been on and off for the last 4 months one or twice a week.
You're deluded. Your body is not adding muscle each workout, it doesn't work that way. The body adds muscle very slowly.
@@idx1941 if your sessions are far apart, it wouldnt be a delusion
This was just great for you guys to add Mike's program in with all the rest of the knowledge you give us! Well done Buff Dudes!
I've put this into practice for a year. And I've seen great progress. I'm 50 and really and only just picked up on this method. You need plenty of rest. Always learning, RIP Mike.
I think people do this type of training mainly for hypertrophy, but since you did if for a long time, do you have any feedback on how effective it was on the strength side? Did you gain much strength (especially in compound lifts)? Or just mainly size? Thanks!
@russbilderback I've seen an improvement on my size yes definitely. My strength has gone up 20 % may be more, of course this will plateau at some point. I started with just going to failure but doing 2 sets on each exercise ive seen . Now about 6 weeks ago gone down to one set per exercise. It does feel counter intuitive, like I'm not training enough. Let's see how this goes.
@@JV-ks3eb How is your progress?
I love Mike Mentzer's style of training, he was way ahead of his time!
Thanks guys for keeping mike and Ray's training alive . I was very lucky to meet Ray in Australia both were great quietly spoken men. I remember Ray was reading a paper at the desk at the gym while ppl were training and one guy who was reality big and competed asked Ray..i just cant make any more substantial gains! Ray looked up from his paper and quietly said "because you cheat" then continued to read his paper lol.
I started Mike's training method a few months back and I love that its regaining popularity!
Unlike other influencers. You two change and progress. It’s good to see!
Thank you for doing this video guys! Mike is one of my heroes. I draw influences when it comes to bodybuilding from Golden Era; Mike Metzer, Arnold, Frank Zane, etc. The thing that sets Mike apart is focus on recovery and growth not just the training. As a natural bodybuilder I know that I have to train hard, but I have to rest hard too. I have been seeing great results from taking 72-96 hours off. On those I do a little cardio, and as Mike said read a good book. Plus play guitar. I love having more time in the day to also stimulate my mind. Mike Mentzer was ahead of his time, and in my opinion a genius.
Most people don’t give props to the guy behind Mike’s philosophy and training, Arthur Jones. As a scientist, he was the pioneer and at the forefront of experimental studies on muscle hypertrophy. He trained and studied most bodybuilders in the 70’s including Mentzerz. Jones was the one behind the idea that muscle intensity was the most important factor in building muscle. The one set to failure was his idea. He would have these bodybuilders so exhausted from these one set exercises it would take up to 30 minutes just to recover from before moving to the next body part. Mike’s entire philosophy is based on Jones ideas and studies. Even Arnold went through this but didn’t like it because it was too hard. Arnold like the volume approach despite it being the less effective in muscle building.
@@taoist32Arnold won 7. Mentzer won a big fat goose egg.
R.I.P. Mike.
As a almost 48 yrs old Dad/Granddad. I use to have a trainer and gym membership. Well that was over 12yrs ago. So early this year after being overweight by 40+ pounds I started working out. I went to TH-cam and started searching because I'm in a small town so trainers are scarce. I came across Mike Mentzer and you guys too. I'm bigger and leaner. Not to mention great blood pressure and diet is clean one ingredient foods. Which led me to watch your videos. Thanks fellas
Try the 16-8 fast method. Eat from 11am-7pm, it feels great. at 1030am, I eat a single big sprig of kale with stem, raw. It's not that bad, and it's a great pre-biotic. Then about 10 minutes later, I eat Greek yogurt with MCT oil powder (C8-C10) that I mix in, granola and raisins (i like raisins so that helps). Then from about 12-7, I kinda eat whatever I want, ice cream, etc, whatever, just not a crazy amounts. But I eat.
After 7-720pmish, I will only cheat if it's a protein drink after a workout, or a glass of red win before around 930pm. This breaks the fast but whatever, this is a lifestyle and can only be maintained if there is some joy. Black coffee whenever I want. Roast green coffee beans in the oven for fresh coffee, it's great, and a lot simpler than it sounds. Once you roast coffee in your oven you will never buy coffee again. It's amazingly simple, fresh and tastes so good.
If i do end up eating well past 7pm, I don't fret it, life happens. Enjoy it and get back on. This is the discipline, getting back on. The discipline is not starting, any schmuck can start. But getting back on, right away, is the discipline.
The 16-8 fast is easier than it seems and the pre-biotic/pro-biotic start is awesome for your gut. It may sound like a lot but if you break it down and try it, you'll see, its quite simple.
Wooh! I wanna try this.
These challenges and workout types/themes seem so freaking fun.
Keep up the awesome work, guys!
Love the respect you approached this episode with..Keep it up dudes! Maybe give a "we tried the Mike Mentzer philosophy for 30 days" a shot in the future? Peace! ✌️
I did Mike Mentzer workouts HIT back in 1984 and I did other routines, and I never took PED but I’m still jacked 👍and what’s upper from Las Vegas 👍💰🎲🎲👀utube/undadirt, Bring Back Tupac ✌️
Mike's the G.O.A.T. Glad to see him and Ray finally getting their dues.
He was truly decades ahead of his time. In that day and age everyone was obsessed with Schwarzenegger. Training 6× a week and for 2 hours each time.
What his philosophy also contains is what the normal recovery capacity of individuals is. I've met a guy that had the healing capacity of wolverine. He could recover so fast. 99% of people won't have that and it's better to workout only 4x a week.
Cold shower and sauna help recovery along with the BCA recovery drink.
Would definitely be interested to see a follow up video on this training style.
Would be nice to see the long term results of this style of training.
I just started training again after taking well over a year off. I've been big and strong in the past so I'm regaining muscle but I wanted to share my last two workouts for legs to show what this method of training can do - both for building or RE-building size and strength.
My first squat workout back I did 17 reps 155 - raw, full squat. Exactly 17 days later I performed 18 reps with 185lbs. That's 30lbs for 1 more rep in 17 days from 2 sets. I could probably go up 30lbs pounds again for similar reps, but as I'm in my 40's now I can hold back a little on the throttle so I'll go up to 205lbs - which I know I'll get at least 15 reps with. That's a 50lbs increase for reps in just over 4 weeks from 3 sets.
This type of training can produce this rapid of an increase even in people who aren't regaining muscle, but the key is training balls out to failure for ONE set, on a limited number of exercises (2-6) and allowing a minimum of 4 days rest between workouts (96 hours). Your muscles will NOT detrain in 4 days, or 7 days, or even two weeks. They will NOT. Most people are chronically overtrained.
This type of training can produce results that most people would be incredulous of - especially considering how little training it actually takes to produce maximum results.
I want to add, that there have been quite a few videos lately that have been bashing HIT and Mike Mentzer - so my hats off to you buff dudes for representing the man and the training respectfully.
So how many sets should I perform for all our failure?
@@bebejoon3664One set til failure!
This method is second to none. Mentzer knew what he was talking about. I'm in the best shape of my life from starting and sticking with the Mentzer way.
When dis you start with his method? What are the results so far?
I feel so good you guys did a video on Mikes training principles & you did it with so much grace & honesty.. some influencers find it difficult to acknowledge how effective HIT is cause they are so much caught up in the volume and frequency game.. to my limited knowledge Mike was very clear that your workout B shall be done when u feel your body has completely recovered from workout A .. it was more of a subjective thing.. & only point he mentioned was increase the rest periods between workouts if you don’t see progress over a couple of months.. I don’t think he was very precise on exact no. Of rest days between workouts .. & I don’t get this why some ppl keep telling he was on roids so he could have managed with such low volumes.. on the contrary fact is if u r training natural u need more time to recover !! RIP Mike .. ❤
Mentzer was waaaaay ahead of his time. People preach volume but I've adapted Mike's philosophy into drop sets aka running the rack. If you think about it, one warm-up pre-exhaustion followed by 3 maybe 4 drops in a set actually equals 5 working sets. Done to failure and its a recipe for success. My workouts went from an hour and a half to maybe 45 or 50 minutes. It just didn't feel right! But the results told a different story
Ok this is something that I probably should have been doing as a hard gainer. Struggling my whole life trying to put on muscle especially now at 48. This channel rocks.
Thanks for making this video. I've been making gains from Mentzer's ideal routine consistently for most of the year. Just phenomenal.
Great video! Ive been training Mentzers style for 3 months now! Results are great!
I've used Mike's routines in my own training several times over the last few years. I think they're fantastic for time management, but they also have drawbacks people whould be aware of.
The biggest one is injury risk. You have to warm up very well before you attempt any of these complete failure sets.
Another drawback, for me, is just how short and rare the workouts are. For someone like me, who enjoys being in the gym, I can't imagine myself only training once a week for the rest of my life.
Still, massive love and respect for Mike and his teachings. And the principles of high intensity training I think can benefit anyone, regardless of preferred training style.
I started a variation of this system few weeks back, recovering from a couple injuries, I noticed that I only felt good enough to work out once or twice a week. I had to severely drop my weight on a few exercises, but you can still go to failure and get a good pump with 15 pound dumbbells and 5 pounds is a lot for a damaged shoulder, bicep tendon, crushed my right calcaneus last year too. I get 2 good days a week on my feet, one of them is dedicated to a workout 💪🏽😎
Finally a TH-cam channel that's tried the method and done it correctly. Most of the time they don't use a good controlled slow motion/form.
The next buff dudes program based on these principles and intensity please!
Hey fellas, great to see you implementing HIT. I hope you continue training this way and let us know how you progress. I’ve always been a fan of Mike Mentzer, and still incorporate his training.
I haven't heard about Mike Mentzer's "heavy duty" training since the 90's, you're giving me flashbacks to being a teenager. I used to do dumbbell flyes before bench press that way my triceps wouldn't limit the amount of work my pecs were doing.
Thanks guys loved your workout experience and passion for Mikes work keep on keeping on
Also not sure if you mentioned this or not. But it’s very important that you log your work outs!!
How many reps, what weights you used. Honest rating on your form, etc etc, and any factors that might be worth noting.
This is done so you can determine whether your progressing or not. If you find that your not getting stronger each time you come back to the same work out. That could be a sign that maybe you’re over working your muscle or not allowing a proper recovery. So either form must improve, reps or weights or both.
Hi, why you do isolation + compund on shoulders. In this book mike mentioned about only lateral raises and no super set here
About time Mike Mentzer got some love.
Don't think I've seen yall this serious and focused on a video in a while. Great content!!
I've been doing HIT the last 2 months or so. I was seeing good gains in the beginning, but I've hit a plateau recently. After seeing this video it makes me realize I've probably not been working out hard enough 😂 I would love to see your guys' progress and thoughts if you did this training for a while!
...you also might not be taking enough days off. I hit a plateau when I was taking 48 hours off between workouts, but started going up again once i bumped it to 72 hours.
@Hobohunter23 definitely another variable to think about. I've been doing Mon - Legs | Wed - Chest & tris | Friday - back/bi. What about you?
Same, I kinda grew little heart syndrome some days with squats and deadlifts and I really paid for it, the whole routine is def dependent on giving it your all in every exercise.
Started going stim junkie and doing two more scoops of pre workout and for the last few weeks I’ve been able to really give it my nervous system shattering all and the growth has been explosive
Guys... you need a safer set up for that behind the neck press. Put the bar catchers up
61, recently retired. Doing HIT, on TRT for a year to stay in normal range, and supplementing only with creatine. I’m vegan and now live in the mountains of Nicaragua. I see gains every time I go into the gym and I feel fantastic.
Mike was brilliant.
I’m looking to be a buff Grandpa !
Great video !
I would recommend foregoing the vegan diet and switch to animal based diet
@@abdulkabirkhan8420 I would recommend contuining with the vegan diet - It gives good gains if done correctly
@@abdulkabirkhan8420
I’m Vegan first and foremost. That won’t change.
@@abdulkabirkhan8420 sound advices, sir. I second what you just said.
@@therehastobesomethingmoorevegans facilitate the deaths of infinitely more organisms through consuming crops (sprayed with insecticides) than animal based diets. All for naught
Just started Mike's HIT 6 weeks ago
Massive gains in strength and size
Best part is how previously injury proved areas are now fortified in new muscle growth!
Still doing it? Whats the results so far
I’ve been doing this for a couple weeks now,This really works, I do full body every 6-7 days, 12 work sets plus 5 or 6 total warmup sets, I’m exhausted, plus I’m usually sore 1-2 days, I used to do split routines anywhere from 9-12 sets per body part, I’m going to continue this for 4-8 weeks, hopefully I’ll see good results
How’s it going bro
Do you run during rest days ?
Thanks for the video! I've been super interested in Mike Metzner's program and this answered a lot of questions!
Hudson’s looking amazing at the moment, been putting some work in
havent made strength gains in literally a couple years (sad I know). switched to Mentzer's stuff a few months ago, literally blowing through the weights. unreal. Ive been overtraining for years. never going back to the volume nonsense.
I've been following Heavy Duty for 5 weeks, but every workout was/is solo. Regardless of the "inherent limitations" of training alone, I've gotten stronger every workout session, as prescribed by Mike. Nonetheless, my primary means of "adding intensity," or intensifier, is rest-pause; pre-exhaust not implemented yet. So, there's room to advance.
Mike Mentzer is a legend! He was one of the first who brought logic and science to the game instead of the more is better
This is one of the best implementations of the Mike Mentzer ideal routine I've seen on TH-cam. Usually folks completely neglect the tempo, effort and mindset aspects of the training style.
Well done!
It’s sad that he’s finally being recognized for his intellectual approach to lifting. At the same time awesome that he’s popping up now!
Awesome video explaining Mike's principles and demonstration of actual work out!
I learned about Mentzer 2 months ago. Have all his books. Attempting the method he did with Reinhardt. And man, what a way to exercise, and WHAT A WAY TO GROW in strength.
I'm 43yrs old, have 2 kids under 5yrs old and started his programming back in June of 2023 and feeling greaattt with the gainzz love Mike's teaching and he also got me into Ayn Rand and im learning about her teachings as well, now i got time to do that ss well 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Guys i am really impressed, you are only a few of few guys who took this seriously and really pushed yourself, bravo 🎉 👏
Thank you for this video, so well put together and explained. Honestly, I tried Mike's approach and I cannot believe how much I grew just following his basic guide. Some influencers trash Mike's method, but it's transformed by growth. He was way ahead of his time.
I can feel my testosterone going up watching this 😂
Mike Mentzer is one of my true bodybuilding heroes! Thank you for this video! You guys are great!!! You have another subscriber!
Dudes you should do a whole series on the HIIT. There are some concepts of Mike Mentzer which can be clearly explained, and that would be awesome…
HIIT is completely different to HIT.
Mentzer espoused HIT = high intensity training.
HIIT is high intensity INTERVAL training. Which is used in cardio work.
@@DarkSitari thankyou
Nice video, I felt I was there training w you two and cheering you up as you went. Thanks!!
Die twice? You die everytime you do Mike Mentzer's HIT.
You guys did a great demonstration!!!
I've been doing this now for 6 months, less sets, almost silly time at the gym, 15- 20 mins each time, but I make sure that I do 1 set - warmup, second set, hard, 3rd set failure or its a fail. I feel envigorated and full of energy after working out and I'm building muscle faster than when I smashed out 5-10 sets a muscle group
Honestly I like this style of training cause you're always looking forward to push it in the gym again cause you're fully recovered
Doing volume, the weight of my chest press has been hovering at 3 plates + 25s for months. 3 months doing one working set my chest press is now at 4 plates + 25s, doing 7-8 slow and controlled reps, and then the spotter helping me 3-4 reps past failure, and then a couple rounds of rest pause 1 reps with extremely slow eccentric. I know it will taper off eventually, but every single workout I've been significantly stronger, and all of the joint pain and chronic fatigue I was experiencing doing volume is gone because of how much extra focus there is on recovery.
I’ve been doing it for about 8 months at 60 years old and I love the intensity and have been getting great results and it’s much easier on the joints
YES!!! I asked you guys to try it and you did! thank you. you guys are the best.
hypertrophy certified
every time someone just heard about Mentzer and Yates style of training, esp through TH-cam shorts they always have a misconception that it’s only a 1 set workout, like you go to the gym do 1 set of whatever and done. however it actually refers to 1 working set and they still need to do multiple warm up sets.
I've reduced the number of sets with my workouts. One set to failure no more than two sets. Great results so far.
Right - Mentzer emphasized warmup sets with appropriately lower weight before the main working set (going to failure). Appropriate rest and recovery days for growth. I love his ideas - has improved my training.
Damn!!!!
I really wanted this from Buff Guys to be done!
Coincidentally I stumbled upon this just past few weeks before, and was Awstruck about its Workout structures and got me curious to know more about HIIT. But linking everything which is scattered all over online made me difficult to bring into an complete picture which I can later include in my personal regime.
But now U guys brought this just made all the work. Thanks and enjoyed watching it.
Years ag9 I happened upon a training book by Rob marabou I did the program, he just copied and pasted most of it from mentzer my strength especially in legs more than doubled in about a year. I am back to mentzer training and I love it!
The concluding comments are key. In order to train this way effectively, you must, must, must have a training partner. After four decades of training high volume on a two on-one off-two on-two off schedule, I've been training using Dorian Yates' Blood and Guts method for a few months now. The shorter workouts are great, however, old habits being hard to break, I have not yet gotten away from the four day a week schedule. That endes today! This new month will bring me into Mike Mentzer's HIT program. Back to basics! Let's see what kind of gains Spring will bring this 64 year old... Unfortunately, I live alone and train in my small, but adequately equipped home gym. Thus, I can train TO failure, but not beyond (with the exception of rest/pause here and there [remember, Mike says to use forced reps, negatives and rest/pause sparingly] ). 3... More... Reps!!!
There’s plenty of ways to be creative and get around not having a training partner. Like I do weighted chin-ups. When I can’t do any more positive reps I’ll stand on a chair to lift myself and just do the negative portion until failure.
You do not have to go beyond failure, reaching concentric failure is absolutely fine. Your ability to reach that will improve over time, meaning you can go harder with more weight, more reps,, more time under tension. Therefore in the beginning,, to see if you really reached failure in your first set, it can be beneficial to do rest pause or drop sets, like the dudes in the video did.
Over time you will have to do them less and less because you´ll have nothing left after the first set. For rest pause and drop sets you don´t need a training patner,, either.
I´m also on a 4 day split,, trraining every muscle group once a week and the gains are good.
I´ve tried Mike´s approach with one workout every 6-8 days and made very little gains compared to the 4 day split which is great because of the old habits you mentioned.
You guys are inspirational! Mike would be proud of you😊
Arthur and Mike started this, but Dorian Yates mastered it. Oh, and once you go HIT, you never go back to high volume. It may be extremely painful to do, but the end result is worth it.
Yes dorian mastered it fine tuned it
Dudes! Thank you so much for this video! I got realy in to this and man, I'm getting stronger almost each session I so. Arthur, Mike, Dorian, they where/are on to something here.
Dude this is so awesome! I was going to ask if you guys could do a Mike Mentzer video. Now that you're into it, could we see a 30-day high intensity challenge? To see what gains you can make as fully developed buff dudes!
I love his quote at 7:54. Wish I had known his method when I started lifting 7 years ago.