Mike Mentzer - His Theories...

[BiggT]

HIT draws people in because it tells HOWS and WHYS and attempts to teach people how to train. Typical bodybuilding bullcrap relies on 'voodoo' and abstract nonsense. The intellect in all of us would much rather read something Mentzer wrote (the guy was very intelligent, well-spoken, and he did have a knack for writing until he went off on a tirade and sunded certifably mad).

HIT is right in that it teaches organization and progression, however, it is dead wrong in the stuff about 'overtraining', and frequency, and volume.

I can't comment on things I don't really have first-hand knowledge of, but to my understanding, Mentzer never used HIT as he wrote about later in his life while he was competing and had a world-class physique. Dorian's version of HIT, also wasn't the ridiculou 1 set to failure every 8-14 days stuff either. From what I know, Dorian built up over several sets to one all out set, similar to a progression scheme in a 5x5 where you pyramid weight each set.

Again, you need to take from literature what you will and fall back on what you know to evaluate it. Do 20-rep breathing squats once a week build big legs? Absolutely. Is it one all out set? Absolutely. Would you consider it Mentzer-like HIT?? No.....Thats where I think Mentzer went a little schizo at the end. Turning good ideas like progressively using more weight into "Do this and only this and anybody who disagrees with one word of it is a moron". I don't know if he truly didn't understand volume/fatigue management, if he wanted to sell stuff, or if he was truly insane.

 

[Topside]

I train high intensity full body one set per body part to MMF and it works great for me.

 

[JKurz1]

illustration?

 

[Tweakle]

The readers digest version

Mentzer = koo-koo

 

[blut wump]

As far as I'm aware, there are no top-level strength athletes and no top-level BB pros who use Arthur Jones or Mentzer's HIT systems.

Jones himself confessed that he thought it was all bollocks after he retired.

 

[BiggT]

As far as I'm aware, there are no top-level strength athletes and no top-level BB pros who use Arthur Jones or Mentzer's HIT systems.

Jones himself confessed that he thought it was all bollocks after he retired.

I know, lol....how about that freaking joke known as "The Colorado Experiment".....Jones certainly used BSing to it's finest to say a bunch of Nautilus machines though.

 

[ProtienFiend]

I train high intensity full body one set per body part to MMF and it works great for me.

I did this when I was coming back from some time off. Helped me regain what I had lost very quickly.

EDIT: I misread this. I did one exercise per body part (3 sets).

 

[blut wump]

Here's part of a piece I wrote a while back...

The idea that bodyparts could be worked effectively just once per week was introduced by a guy name Arthur Jones at about the time he began to tout his Nautilus equipment. This was the advent of the machine age of bodybuilding. Gyms no longer needed to be cluttered with untidy barbells and plates and Jones made a large fortune moving the bodybuilding world away from free weights.

Along with his Nautilus equipment came his theories on High Intensity Training or HIT. No longer need people spend Arnoldesque hours in the gym; they could perform short single sets with maximum weights to absolute muscular failure forcing maximal muscular growth. He was also fortunate enough to have Casey Viator who was an extreme physical specimen often noted for his participation in the Colorado Experiment. Using only Nautilis equipment, Viator gained 45.28 pounds in 28 days while dropping bodyfat. His fatloss was measured at 17.93 pounds and thus his lean gain over the 28 days was 63.21 pounds. This was done allegedly drug-free and Jones had his marketing on a plate.

Thus was ushered in the dark ages of weights training. Barbells disappeared from gyms. Weider began his empire selling supplements to dissatisfied trainees who couldn't hope to emulate the workouts of the adonises gracing the pages of his glossy advertising magazines. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the workouts, after all, they were the workouts of champions. The trainee's failings were down to failing to work hard enough and not buying enough supplements. No-one mentioned the copious amounts of drugs.

Drug dosages were known to increase through this time. With poor training stimulus the only recourse to fuel growth is greater dosages. Bodybuilding inevitably moved away from any real concerns with training and focussed ever more on diet and drugs. The classic flowing lines of Zane, Arnold and Franco honed with frequent workouts, often including AM and PM sessions, centered around free weight compound exercises, stepped aside for the bulky looks we have today. Muscles worked in isolation with little consideration of groups and systems. Underlying it all, though, was the ideology of training your bodyparts once per week. We had pre-exhaustion, drop sets, negatives, super-sets, all to blast a muscle into absolute submission so that it could be left as a quivering jelly for another week.

As a beginner, pretty much anything will fuel growth, including a poor training stimulus. Members would join gyms, marvel at the shiny equipment, get some good progress and inevitably stall. At that stage they turn to supplements or quit the gym for six months. Those that turn to supplements experience a little more progress and then they turn to drugs or quit the gym for six months. A few die-hards will plug away for years on end thinking that they just have one of those physiques that doesn't change much over time but they enjoy working out anyway.

 

[Lifting N Tx]

Nice historical summary, blut wump.

It all just illustrates that when money is involved there are lots of people who can look you in the face and lie convincingly while appearing very sincere.

[Edited to add the following]
I'll also note that any time someone claims to be the only one with all the truth, they're lying.

 

[nails]

Not sure about Mentzers way but DC training is pretty good.I tried 5x5 duel factor twice and did'nt gain a pound.Everyone is different.