Mike Mentzer’s Exercise Routine: The Full Information

Michael Mentzer was an American bodybuilder, businessman, and writer. 

His most notable bodybuilding achievement got here in 1979, when he received the heavyweight class on the Mr. Olympia (though he misplaced the general title to Frank Zane).

Mentzer developed “Heavy Obligation,” a coaching methodology that prioritized lifting heavy weights for minimal units, coaching to failure, and emphasizing restoration. He believed this strategy was essentially the most environment friendly method to construct muscle and keep away from overtraining.

At first blush, Mike Mentzer’s program appears easy. 

However if you wish to observe it appropriately, you even have to stick to his tips round relaxation, warming up, coaching to failure, and so forth.

Right here’s all the things you must know.

Mentzer believed that restoration was simply as vital because the exercises themselves, which is why he advisable taking 4-to-7 days of relaxation between classes. 

He didn’t prescribe a inflexible schedule (e.g., prepare each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). As an alternative, he structured his routine into Days 1, 2, and three as a result of your want for relaxation can differ primarily based in your progress and circumstances.

Mentzer advised beginning with 4 days of relaxation between exercises. For instance, when you do Day 1 on Monday, you’d full Day 2 on Friday, and Day 3 the next Wednesday. 

If one thing interferes together with your coaching schedule—work, journey, or fatigue, for instance—he suggested ready an additional day reasonably than dashing again to the fitness center. 

In response to Mentzer, as you construct muscle and energy, your restoration wants enhance, so he inspired extending the remainder interval to six or 7 days, and even longer, as you get extra skilled within the fitness center.

Mentzer emphasised the significance of selecting a coaching time that works together with your schedule and power ranges. 

Some folks carry out greatest within the early morning, whereas others desire the late afternoon or night. Mentzer believed the optimum time to coach is while you really feel targeted and able to give your greatest effort. 

Mentzer believed warming up for every train was important, however he additionally felt it ought to be fast and environment friendly to keep away from losing power you could possibly spend in your all-out units.

For instance, in case your heavy set of deadlifts is 165 kilos for 7 reps, Mentzer advised beginning with 115 kilos for 7-to-10 reps. Comply with this with a second warm-up set of 145 kilos for 2-to-3 reps, which helps mentally put together you for the heavier set to come back. After this, you’re prepared to coach.

In the event you’re performing an train as a part of a pre-exhaustion superset (extra on this quickly), he suggested warming up with the compound train. As an illustration, when combining the leg extension and leg press, heat up on the leg press.

After ending a pre-exhaustion set, Mentzer advisable going instantly into the following train. For instance, after ending your pre-exhaustion set of dumbbell flys, it is best to instantly start the incline bench press. 

After performing units of different workout routines, he advised resting till you are feeling recovered, however now not. Because of this as your health improves, you may sometimes end Mentzer’s Heavy Obligation coaching program in much less and fewer time. 

In response to Mike Mentzer, “rep timing” was a key facet of coaching. He believed that to take care of correct type and security, and to make sure the goal muscle—not momentum—is doing the work, you will need to take 4 seconds to carry the load, pause for two seconds on the prime of every rep, then decrease it for one more 4 seconds. 

One of many cornerstones of Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Obligation exercise program was the emphasis on coaching to failure—the purpose at which you’ll’t carry out one other rep with good type. 

In truth, he believed that reaching full failure throughout your heavy set of an train was the best driver of muscle progress.

He referred to reaching failure as passing by the “break-over level,” the edge beneath which you don’t stimulate progress and above which you do. 

Mentzer emphasised the significance of progressively rising the depth of your exercises. For him, one of the best ways to realize this was by progressive overload—lifting heavier weights over time. 

For instance, if this week you may curl 100 kilos for six reps and subsequent week handle 10 reps with the identical weight, it is best to enhance the load sufficient the next week to deliver your max reps again down to six. 

He additionally suggested not stopping a set simply since you hit a goal rep vary. In case your purpose is 10 reps however you are able to do 13, push for 13. Whenever you attain the higher finish of your rep vary (equivalent to 10 reps in a 6-to-10 vary), add about 10% extra weight in your subsequent exercise.

Whereas Mentzer selected the workout routines in his program as a result of he believed they had been essentially the most becoming, he permits you to substitute them periodically when you have issues performing them (due to damage or entry to gear, for instance).

Right here’s are his suggestions for substitutions:

Whereas he might have positioned himself as “the considering man’s bodybuilder,” Mike Mentzer’s exercise program isn’t completely aligned with our fashionable understanding of what drives muscle progress.

To judge what Mentzer received proper and the place he might have missed the mark, let’s discover the professionals and cons of his coaching methodology by the lens of science.

Mike Mentzer’s exercise routine has loads of advantage, however in its authentic type, it’s unlikely to swimsuit most individuals. 

The low quantity, coaching to failure, and lengthy breaks between exercises don’t match how most individuals like to coach or what science exhibits works greatest for muscle progress.

That stated, with a couple of easy changes, Mentzer’s program could be an efficient and sensible method to prepare. For instance:

Mike Mentzer’s exercise routine calls for only one working set per train, which he believed was sufficient to stimulate muscle progress when you take it failure. This interprets to roughly 1-to-2 units per physique half per week, relying on how lengthy you permit between exercises. 

Mike Mentzer admitted to utilizing anabolic steroids throughout his bodybuilding profession.