HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

Hi all – new to this – from New Zealand (any other kiwis here – then let me know).
Please critique my routine. I have been following a Dr Darden twice a week – full body routine for 3 months and gone backwards.
Thinking of training every 96 hours mentzer style. Two routines. First – bench press and incline db fly; shoulder bb press; tricep pushdown; deadlifts. Second – Lat pulldown close grip supinated; bicep curl bb; leg press. I dont have a dip bar or squat rack in my gym. This look ok?

looks fine after doing that darden routine.

thats what i thought. I have serious doubts about the effectiveness of Dardens workouts.

Gmw5,

I don′t know how anyone can possibly gain on the Darden type routines. If you go to his website: www.drdaden.com, they are discussing his new book which includes total body workouts performed three times weekly. Mister Tim Patterson, who is doing an interview with Darden, has much to say about HD trainers. I have pasted the highlights:

"At this time the high-intensity kooks got into the picture. For instance — and this is only one example — Mike Mentzer, and his heavy-duty followers, latched onto the decreased-frequency idea and began advocating low-volume routines as infrequently as once every two weeks. Consolidation training, as he called it, became a popular regime among his sect of true believers.

How misleading to think that any serious bodybuilder could make progress training with only three exercises performed once every two weeks. It didn′t work — not then, not now, and not in the future.

It′s as if HIT — the real HIT — has lost its voice. Today, HIT is composed mostly of a bunch of, well . . . sissies — guys who couldn′t train hard if their lives depended on it . . . guys who′d rather talk about training than actually workout hard."

How sad. Hit trainers are already fighting an uphill battle against the bodybuilding orthodoxy. We should have more in common than apart. As far as being a sissie, This is the first time that anyone has referred to me as one. I would dare bet that every man and women that comes to this board knows what going hard to failure is. In fact, we make such deep inroad into our bodies recovery ability that it negates training three times weekly. If Mr. Patterson is able to do a total body workout three times each week, I would have to conclude that he is either a genetic freak in the recovery department, or he is stopping well short of failure–perhaps he just cannot cope, psychologically, with the discomfort
involved.

I had planned on buying this book–had even looked forward to it coming out. Due to the above statements, I have changed my mind. I plan to make a post indicating that I will not be buying Darden′s book as a result of those statements. I would encourage the rest of you to address this issue if you feel led to do so. If you go to his website, you will see the thread highlighted in bright green letters.

mw5,

I got off on a bit of a tangent when answering your question above. Doing deadlifts one workout and then the leg press on the next workout may be too much for your legs to recover from. The dead lift really hits all of the thigh muscles.

You have a fairly high volume of exercises on workout day 1, with a bit less volume on day 2. You could consider changing things a bit:

Day 1
Bench Press
Incline Fly
Overhead Press
Triceps Press Downs

Day 2
Close Grip Pull Downs
Dead Lift
Barbell Curl

Even with the decreased volume above, you might not be able to recover within 96 hours. If you are not going up in weight and/or reps from workout to workout, start adding rest days. Too much volume, and lack of recovery/overcompensation, between workouts is probably the biggest problem in the bodybuilding world today.