r/Mike_Mentzer

Low volume high frequency

Intensity

Mechanical tension

Hypotrophy blah blah

I know many people have adopted more of a modern take on Mentzer's philosophy (training a muscle once every 7 days with 1 or 2 sets per exercise).

I tried this and couldn't keep up. Training to failure makes my system take a beating and some lifts improve while some stagnate or get worse, so it's always a gamble.

Recently, I tried the "after two weeks off, you come back stronger". Did this with legs a few weeks ago, and now did it with upper body. ALL my lifts improved and I felt fresh when arriving at the gym. I'll keep 1 or 2 sets per movement to absolute failure tho.

The question is probably: do strength gains translate well to muscle growth at such low frequency?

I've also incorporated cardio. No longer getting winded by going upstairs or after lifting. I'm doing both aerobic and HIIT cardio, to cover everything. I use the bike station. I know it's off-topic, but wanted to say it.

Mentzer was innovative, to say the least.

Hi, so I have about 6-7 months of training my lifts increased substantially but I made poor progress on high volume lifts increased on both so now I attempted low volume high intensity only my strength increases and I could probably build up to a 215 bench or 345 hack squat and still look the same, and I get a very poor pump and no localized fatigue despite failing a rep and it feels like my CNS doing all the work and sometines doing partial reps, for more context I am 14 I am 5,10 185lbs and have about 23% bodyfat and have been obese from 5-13 years of age if that points to anything since I heard fat converts into aromatase and can cause hypogonadism and I am seeking advice since I am very unsure what to do people said puberty aids in muscle growth but it is not doing anything for me at all.

I've been running a 3-day full-body program focused almost entirely on compound lifts. The weekly volume is split across the 3 training days as follows:

Squat – 8 sets/week

Overhead Press – 6 sets/week

Bench Press – 7 sets/week

Incline Bench Press – 4 sets/week

Deadlift – 6 sets/week

Bent Over Row – 7 sets/week

I'm looking for feedback on:

Whether the weekly volume is appropriate.

Whether the exercise selection is balanced.

Any obvious weak points or missing movement patterns.

Whether you'd adjust the set distribution.

I'd appreciate any constructive criticism or suggestions for improvement.

I've only recently started Mentzer's routine of upper lower with 4 days of rest in between. I've been hearing mixed opinions about whether or not it will actually produce the best gains. I am just wondering if anyone here has personally seen incredible gains with the method, not just satisfactory "newbie" gains.

Hello I been using hit methods now for maybe 2 years. Idk if he is accepted here as a hit guy but Kevin Richardson method of not doing same workout session is what I've been doing since jan. I keep the exercises relatively small but I do rotate the intensity methods.

My question to everyone is what are you doing if anything to make sure you hit failure? My favorite is dc style rest pauses least is the super slow 10x10 method.

"never workout 2 days in a row" but what if I split my chess+back day? I do 3 exercises of 1 set for Chets and back so 6 sets total. I don't have 30-40 min in the morning to do full upper body before work so today I did just chest in just 20 minutes and I'll do back tomorrow.

is there anything against this approach? I've done upper/lower with 3-4 rest days for over a year but I'd like to visit the gym more often without over training.

when i was natty (300ng/dl), my training schedule was highly inspired by mentzer's Heavy Duty because i seemed to recover like shit on programs like UL 4x a week or PPL 5-6x. training WFS, it looks like:

A: flat bench, leg press OR bb squats OR leg extension, incline bench, rdl OR leg curl, tri pushdowns OR skullcrushers OR diamond pushup

B: reverse grip lat pulldown OR underhand bb row, bb ohp OR machine shoulder press, db row OR t bar row, lateral raises, preacher curls OR bb curls

where week 1 is A/B/A, week 2 is B/A/B. the usual warmup into feeder into 2 sets of true failure. does the program look good enough? had way better progress and recovery running this (also now that legs are integrated in one of my upper days, i had less probability of skipping them lol).

also on trt now, and will look to do mini blasts a couple months of the year, am i g2g to keep running this split or should i up frequency given the increased recovery potential?

How did you get on with them? I want to specifically target the lower lat and feel that SAPs could give max contraction and a more natural path.

Would you use as a working exercise even replacing underhand pulldown or more of an accessory? I am thinking of adding a set at the end, lower the weight, and focusing on control with about a 10 reps target.

I must use a cable for this. I would use the Hammer Pulldown but my gym only has the regular type so need a horseshoe but it’s a little contrived and stretch is hard to achieve that way.

For context I am 14, I have roughly 140 days I fear of spinning my wheels with 0 absolute progress, and the aftermath of that was switching to high intensity training I keep getting painfully stronger and stronger but not even a slightly bigger tricep, my bodyfat is fairly high though but close to none past my waist, I cant share a photo for specific reasons but it pretty much looks like GH gut but made up of bodyfat, and my waist is 107cm for context and I am sure I am above 20% bf, not sure if that is a factor hiding muscle growth but I am starting a 500 calorie deficit to go from 194lbs at 5'10 to 170 or so go be 12-15% bodyfat then go into a small surplus. COMPOUND LIFT CHANGES: Flat Dumbell Press (all upper exercises besides pulldowns are per hand) 22.5lbs --> 32.5lbs" Upper Back Dumbell Row 15lbs --> 37.5" Shoulder Dumbell Press 22.5lbs --> 25lbs" Pulldowns 70lbs --> 85lbs" Hack Squat 105lbs "sled" --> 135" RDL (BB) 75lbs --> 105lbs) I am doing 4 weekly sets for chest back shoulders quads hamstrings and 2 for biceps triceps calves (direct) and I am running a 4d U / L.

For the next too to three years I will go to a very competitive school in which I will work/study like 12h+ everyday

I have been training for 1 year and a half and I want to keep training, so I thought about doing a mike mentzer style program with 1 lower body day and 1 upper body day 1-1h30 each, what do you think ? ( And if I only sleep like 6 hours a day, would that still work out ? )

I am just lazy I guess...so I do uppoer body 1 week and lower body 1 week...and stats are just crazy...for example fr ghd reverse hypers I went from 30 2 months ago now to 70 reps....I do only 1 set... so goes for all other excercises but I am not ripped.....still chubby because most of the time i lie down and do nothing..... so what it means if my stats went in 2 months for 100 % or even more? I have more muscles or is endurance improved only....what it means.....also back extension for example i went from 30 to 75 in 2 months also....can somebody explain...I am doing more Yates method...so not like Mentzer slowly doing reps