Mike Mentzer The Ideal Routine - My Honest Thoughts

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Mike Mentzer The Ideal Routine - My Honest Thoughts - Old School Mass Gain!
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[derka]

I was stuck with conventional training, and I gave this approach a shot. Say what you want, but I broke through the plateau like never before. I didn't do the ideal rutine, because the rest days seemed too much for me. I did another of his routines, wich was chest & back, rest 2 days, shoulders and arms, rest 2 days, and legs. And I broke the plateau and built muscle.

[kidzero]

I took Mentzers routine, trained till failure workout 2 body groups, high intensity . I was constantly sore the next day . I takes 3/4 days to fully recover sometime 2 days . I hit the gym when I am not sore . More than 4 days is way to long for me. I saw improvements in 6months than I did for 2years of my old workout routine . I actually look forward to go the gym . I feel like the positive motivation improves your workout sessions . The 2/3 day rest periods are what makes me eager to go back the gym a train till failure.

[juagi]

I used to train 6 days a week, but now I've reduced it to just 1 or 2 days per week, and I've seen significant improvements in all of my PRs. Don't listen to the advice of those who have never tried heavy duty. Mike, in his seminars, provides valuable explanations for the reasons behind this success. He also reminds us that there's more to life than just focusing on the gym, that's why almost all his students just don't watch yt gym videos all day.

[mikec]

I’m running Mike’s principles in my workout program. Since I started about 6 months ago, I’ve seen great results. I wish I knew about it sooner. When I did the volume training I was always feelings beat up, sore, and fatigued all the time. With the higher intensity and additional rest days, I am seeing real results. It takes mental fortitude to train to failure, for me it’s the only way to workout now.

[efea.]

Mike also said, ''Every bodybuilding program is essentially a strength program.'' His advice was to always evaluate workouts based on progression. Why most people cannot benefit from Mike's training routines is because they don't know what absolute failure is. If you reach absolute failure with one set, and if you rest sufficiently, you will be able to lift more weight and/or perform more reps on the given exercise quicker.

[nealsterling]

What i learned from Mike Mentzer is not to be afraid of having "too much rest" days between Workouts.
In my experience Muscles tend not to go away after a week not being trained, but my Body felt so much more energized and strong once i started to train each muscle only once a week. I know such a training split is frowned upon these days, but my body responded very well to this increased recovery time. So much in fact, that i got (after 25 years of training) stronger that i was ever bevore and my muscles, tendon and nervous system had finally enough time to grow and keep up with that progression and i do not feel fatigued anymore, like i did for years.

I agree that Mentzers later workouts where too extreme to be useful for an average joe Bodybuilder. I train harder that i did when i was training every muscle 2 or 3 times a week, but not that hard like Mentzer recommended.

I only wish that i knew all that 25 years ago.

[bloodeagle]

"If you don't rest enough, you don't grow enough" —Mike Mentzer

[dakidd]

Bro, Mike always made it known that adding weight was extremely paramount. He also showed us that in order to reach failure it actually took MORE WEIGHT each session. His routines created more strength and more size. He emphasised that a natural body needs more time, not only to recover, but then to grow. All social media is full of PED taking frauds who need 25% of the recovery time of naturals. Mikes HIT routine changed my life. I get stronger every week and I can actually see the difference it makes to me.

[مجودالسيفي]

This is what i do for now 4 months, 72 hr rest in between .. just amaaaazing improvement both strength and gain, i left gym fresh and so happy .

[AArmstrongC]

The idea of pre exhaustion was not to hit failure twice.
The idea was to reach failure isolating one large muscle that was hard to hit to failure through a compound exercise.

Example: hit a set till failure of leg extensions (targeting the quads) then super set immediately to a leg press (to target all the legs muscles including the quads)
If you do only leg presses, smaller muscles will reach failure before you reach failure with the quads.

[felipearbustopotd]

I do very slow reps to failure. So slow, that pull ups have me beat in 3 reps

Came to this after a 2 year injury ( no training ) and 8 months of rehabilitation.

Suffice to say, the slow method works for me.

Not going back to the way I trained before.

Good luck to you all in finding out what works for YOU.

Thank you for uploading and sharing.

[rsaldivar]

I was lost for about 2 years throwing weight around, not really knowing what I was doing and got some results. I tried Mike's training program for 2 weeks training every 4 days. It actually helped me guage how much my body can actually handle. I learned I wasn't training hard enough. I train 4 days a week now with a way better split that works for me. Also taught me that 6 to 8 rep range is my sweet spot for gains.👍

[CindyBurmese]

I've started HIT after doing full body 3 days a week. I tried HIT because my sessions were becoming too long resulting in my body become exhausted. After attempting HIT with Mike's guidance from his books i have come to the conclusion that I love HIT. It makes sense to me and it's the most fundamental way for my body to grow muscle. I dont appreciate some individuals always saying Mike Mentzers' way is incorrect. For some it may be. But for an individual to bash another individual for enjoying Mike's perspective behind weightlifting then benefiting from HIT is absurd to me.

There are some things I may not agree with Mentzer about but that's the beauty of weightlifting and learning from others. Compile what you enjoy and what keeps you healthy and strong. Mentally and physically.

[HagakureJunkie]

I've tried the train to failure method. Had great pumps and looked great at the end, but always ended up stringy and gaining no size. Now I use Mike Isratel's principle of "stimulate, don't annihilate". I keep my workouts to 5 sets, two exercises per muscle group per workout and I feel much better.

[Tijiel]

the ideal program was designed for natural lifters, and the rest of 4 days is valid if you train to true failure. As Mike mentioned one set has 3-mini sets with failure. First you fail the concentric, then the static and than the negative. So I see one set as three when I am training, and when you failed on all 3, trust me your muscle group targeted are fucking toast. My gains has exploded at a age of 35 doing this instead of the 4-5 day bro split, and I have more time to other things, I actually is hyped to go to the gym since there been so many days since last time. Only thing is that you probably burn less calories over a week, so I implemented more low impact cardio or some kettlebell work for active rest days to keep in activity.

[mattym]

Truly the best Bodybuilding content out there! 💪🏼

[jasonspear]

Hey Pete. Love your content thank you. I’ve always considered myself a hard gainer & at age 49 I’ve tried a lot of programs. I’ve ran this program for the last 6 months & to my amazement it worked really well. I tweaked it a bit by adding a shoulder press on shoulder day & on one of the leg days doing high incline Arnold press. I also added BB rows on the other leg day & did squats instead of leg pressing because I train at home. I trained every 4th day. I kept a detailed diary & I made more progress in strength & size than I ever have. I tried this style of training cause I was ‘time poor’. I am very surprised & pleased with my results. I do push myself extremely hard though & found I must just need the extra recovery. Thought I’d share

[BaptistJoshua]

@PeterKhatcherian I once trained *beyond* failure. I was sitting on a machine lifting weight straight up and above my head and went to failure. At failure I continued to try to lift, but could not lift it to apex. I had the thought of seeing if I could push beyond failure, so without easing up I just continued to try to lift the weight, having not lowered it. I kid you not. I continued there for roughly 2 minutes, unable to lift, yet refusing to lower it. It was really hard, but at about the 2 minute point, suddenly I was lifting it. When I suddenly was able to push it to the top, and then got up, I experienced a happiness and excitement way better than normal good feelings after a solid workout. I was so excited! I had proven that pushing beyond failure was possible.

[azthevisualiza]

This is a good take on the subject. I've taken a lot of pieces of Mentzer's program and implemented into my own...

The crazy part is everyone who criticizes the program hasn't actually committed to it and failed to see results. Would be a much more fair assessment if one tried it for 2 months and made comments afterwards.

[federicofanelli]

so far I have done 4 cycles of Mentzer training. I have added on day 1 lat pullover superset with lat pulldowns and on day 2 leg curls. I am training once every 3 days. For now the strenght gains are steady and I look bigger. It is very physically demanding and psychologically challenging, in fact from now on I will start resting 4 days instead of 3.
For sure if you have a busy routine you should give a shot to this workout, but a training partner is essential.