For the heck of it, I recently found a couple of old emails from Mike′s biggest client, 275# Aubrey Francis. Enjoy…
On the consolidation routine the volume is minimal thus leaving only the frequency to be regulated. Let′s say we′ve got the volume covered, it would be intresting to know how much you were resting between workouts. As a matter of fact Mike has changed the consolidatton routine to look like the following.
Day1
Squats
Close-grip, Palms-Up Pulldowns
Rest 5 day′s to 3 weeks between workouts depending on recuperative ability.
Day2
Regular Deadlifts
Dips
This is the routine I currently use resting 8 day′s between workout′s. I also do flat bench instead of dips sometimes and leg presses instead of squats and shrugs instead of deadlifts. No advanced training techniqe′s are used.
Aubrey
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Hi ****
It′s nice to hear from you again. Off course I get doubts about training so little. Before I went over to the consolidation program I was only training once every 8 days averaging about 4 sets. After about 5 complete cycles my progress came to a halt. I then rested 10 days. When I came I was even weaker. It was not until I rested 3 weeks and came back that I was stronger. I′m now doing 2 sets once very 10 -14 day′s. Deadlifts and squats are done every other leg and upper body workouts.
I′ve devided the workout in two, upper and lower body. e.x
workout A
squat
calf raises
workout B
Deadlifts
Bench press
I alternate deadlifts with back or biceps exercises & squats with leg presses or extensions and calf raises with leg curls.
As for my rep scheme I still work between 6 to 10 but if I get 8 or 9 reps on a set of an exercise I′ll raise the weight at the next workout. Beside′s that I try to do 100% negative′s and rest pause wherever possible just to take the intensity to another level.
I′ll try to stick to this program a couple of months to see what happen′s. If there′s any thing else feel free to e-mail me.