HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

Hello guys,

I haven′t posted here in a while, as I have moved around in the last while. But, before I left, I started experimenting with full body workouts, and I wanted to let you all know how great they have worked. I currently follow a routine that is similar to what Ray Mentzer used to do, back in the 80′s. It is great and very challenging, with about 8-9 total exercises in under 35 minutes.

So for, I have increased my definition, and gained 4lbs in one month. Amazing for someone who has been training for over 8 years. I totally think this is the way to go, and adjusting frequency to 3x per week has done wonders for me.

Here is what it looks like:

Leg Press (2x/week) alternated with Deads (1x/week)
Pull overs, superset with Pulldown
Chin up or Bent row
Lateral raise superset with Shoulder Press
Hammer Iso-Bench Press superset with Dips (bodyweight only, for high reps)
Machine Preacher curls
Calf raise or calf press

Logically, it makes sense to me personally to train the body as a whole, and to let it recover as a whole because no matter how you split your workout, there is always overlap, no matter what. I have tried the ideal, consolidated routines, for a few years. Progress slows when too much rest is given, and I find that bodyfat instead of muscle mass increases with so little frequency. So, if anyone is having trouble with the ideal, athlete, or consolidated routines, I suggest you look outside the box and give a similar program a try. Too many people fuss over issues of overtraining, and days off. If it hasn′t worked for a while, don′t make the assumption that it will eventually pan out.
This is not to say that Mike′s routines are ineffective, it is just that many do not repond after a while. Inserting more rest days can actually be detremental to muscular adaptation…

Danobolic,

I′m glad to see someone speak up about full body routines.(although I′m sure there have been numerous on this site). I′ve been doing varying full body routines for several months now and love them. I am curious, though, why you choose to do leg presses instead of squats?

I′d also like your opinion on my routine, of which I have some concerns;
Mon: Heavy squats, bent row, incline press, barbell curl
Wed: Deadlifts, military press, dumbell side raise, shrugg
Fri: High rep squats, flat bench press, stiff lef deadlifts, chins

The concern that I have is on my delts. It appears to me that my front delts are maybe getting overworked w/ doing inclines, flats and mil press. I switched to doing behind the neck presses this week to take a little stress off of the front and spread it out a little more. I′d hate to stop doing military presses because I love them. Any comments/suggestions?

G′day Danabolic

I like your routine and good to hear you′ve made some good gains with it.

I agree with you regarding full body routines. I was doing the original HDII routine and after several months I got good strength gains but not the size gains I had hoped for.

I then changed to a full body twice per week, but using different excercises on each night. I use 7 excercises and so far I have seen good size gains accompanying my strength gains. I believe the increased frequency may have something to do with it. I also like the idea of training the body as a whole so it can recover as a whole. I am using a rep speed of 4/4 for 5 reps.

I′ll milk the gains for as long as I can and if I start to plateau, I can reduce the number of excercises or increase the number of rest days between workouts.

Catch ya

Stevo

Guys,

I′am also currently doing a full body routine once every 2 weeks, but completely different from what most do. I train like Casey Viator did in the Colorado Experiment, for those of you who didn′t know this; Jones had Casey doing 2/3 rds of his workouts with only eccentric contractions. I train every single bodypart (including traps and forearms) with one set of one exercise to failure eccentrically, while each rep takes app. 10-14 sec. per rep. The way I term failure would be when your lowering the weight in 6-7 sec. (any faster than that with a weight 50% heavier than you would do with normal sets puts undo stress on the tendons, ligaments, and joints because of the speed of contraction). I′am having FANTASTIC success with this form of training with tons of muscle and strength gains of about 20 lb. increases per workout. Glad to hear you guys are having great success with the whole body routines, keep it up!

Later

Guys,

Sorry, I left one thing out. On some bodyparts such as calves and forearms I decided to continue using regular conventional reps for 1 set of one exercise to failure.