HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

Hey guys,

I have been training athletes routine with negligible results. I have cut the volume down to the point where I am only doing one set every four or five days. Deadlifts and squats are hardly progressing. Today I did incline presses for the first time in 20 days and have actually begun to regress. (I always do only one set, and train balls to the wall so volume and intensity are positively not issues.) My tolerance to excersise seems to have declined as well. One set of incline presses now gets me sweaty, tired and out of breath. This never used to happen to me. This routine has worked wonders for some people, but I have concluded that it just isn′t for me. Are there any other routines any of you guys would suggest. (particularly jeff from toronto) I started reading some stuff stuart McRobert writes. He advocates higher volume, but also advocates cycling intensity. I was thinking of giving one of his routines from "Beyond Brawn" a try. Any suggestions? thanks guys.

hi,
first of let me make an coment to everyone on the board, i still see that alot of people are posting but for instance this post has been looked at 11 times and no-one answered i mean cmon guys we are here to help eachother out right? i find this a bit disturbing.

back to your post, you say that you are doing only one set every 4 to 5 days, this frequency looks a bit high, the recommended starting frequency is 6-7 days. so my advice is first take a week off, i know you likly wanna go back to the gym as soon as possible to correct what whent wrong at least this is how i feel when im in a situation like yours, but try to recover first. then do the program once a week and see how it goes, then if this is still to much you can A : increase the resting days
or B : eliminate deadlifts from the program for a while, and squad too. just to 1 exercise per workout or do shrugs and leg extensions in the place, just to see if this decreasement in stress has a positive effect.

anyway keep us posted on your progress

for the record i just re-read my post and if it wasnt clear, i ment do 1 workout a week then the next week do the other workout in the program

later!

I would recommend 8 days inbetween workouts. Since youre regressing on some exercises it means you havent even completely compensated after 4-5 days, and the growth stage will take at least a few days too. So, taking 8-9 days off wont hurt. Remember its better to take a couple extra days off than to take too short of time.

so just to clarify, you would advocate doing:

1. a set of squats + seven days rest
2. a set of incline presses + seven days rest
3. a set of deads+ seven days rest
4. a set of pulldowns+ seven days rest

thanks