HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

Hello everyone.
I have just joined this forum after reading a lot about the HIT protocol on other web sites and am enjoying it enormously. I have long thought that the ideal and quickest way to build muscular size was by taking the worked muscle to the point of failure and sometimes beyond and for years that is how I trained with I must confess non too great results. I really thought I was training with as much determination and intensity as I could muster and was very dissapointed with how my body responded. Through reading the articles on Hit and Heavy Duty style training however I have begun to appreciate what I had left out of the equation that was contributing to my lack of results, namely, sufficient rest. Back then I fell into the trap that many a novice falls into and sort to improve my results by training with ever longer sessions and taking many sets to failure. Now however I plan to do intense but brief and infrequent workouts taking maybe four or five days in between sessions to fully recuperate. This brings me to my question however, I train alone and at home without machines nor a spotter. How can certain exercises be taken to failure and beyond safely? I have thought of doing unilateral work for exercises such as Curls and Shoulder Presses ( I figured I could reach concentric failure and help to hoist the weight back up with both hands and rely on the worked limb to fight against the negative part of the movement ) but what of the real money shot exercises? Squats, Bench Presses and Deads? Without a spotter I would be very reluctant to take those exercises to failure. I mean are there techniques any of you guys can share with a trainee who works out solo in his garage with a barbel and dumbbells only and is desperate to add the intensity needed so that the set I do works in stimulating the muscle in preparation for growth? Is taking for instance the Bench Press to positive failure and then maybe resting a few short seconds to momentarily recuperate just enough to push out one or two more reps a valid strategy? A sort of rest pause on all exercises?

Hello steven welcome to the forum.

I to workout at home and always have done, Because I work out at home I have had to overcome the same safety issues you have.
First of all bench presses should never be done without a spotter never especially when going to failure its just to dangerous.
when i used to do the flyes/incline press superset i used to get my girlfriend to spot for me, if no one at all is about to spot for you, you could try using flyes supersetted with dips i have used this superset a few times and it has worked quite well.
If you dont superset you could just use dips in place of bench presses, if you dont have dipping bars and dont want to buy any you might be able to get away with using 2 chairs as long as their strong enough.
Or you could just use dumbell presses instead.
When i first started heavy duty before i had a squat rack i used to do leg extensions supersetted with front squats, I put the bar on the uprights of my bench and after completing my leg extensions i would place the bar across my arms on my front delts then do the set.
Afterwards id roll the bar down my arms catch it then lower it to the floor, this was ok until the weight started getting heavy.
I then went onto leg extensions supersetted with dumbell squats which was a bit awkward to do, but i carried on for a bit, but found once the weight got heavy it used to kill my shoulders and whats more theres only so much weight you can get on a dumbell so its probably not something you could carry on with for your bodybuilding career.
I now have a squat rack with safety bars to catch the barbell I could probably get away without a spotter but when I squat I always get my girlfriend to come out and watch me incase anything goes wrong I havent had any problems so far and probably wont but safety is paramount and when squatting with a barbell on your shoulders you should always have a spotter present.
Deadlifts shouldnt be a problem if anything goes wrong you simply lower the bar to the floor i have done loads of sets of deadlifts on my own and apart from one injury have never had a problem with them.
What sort of equipment have you got?

Hope this helps

Jonson

Thankyou for your reply Jonson it is most helpful. I currently train with a set of dumbells, a barbell and a bench. Thats pretty much it. I will definately look into purchasing a squat rack though as I definately want to progress in that lift. Thanks again.

if you′re going to look at getting a squat rack, just bite the bullet and get a power rack instead. you′ll be able to squat and bench safely without a spotter and they usually have a chin bar up top as well.

regards,
B&G;

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. My name is B & G. Check out my 14 inch arms. HA HA HA HA HA