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There has been some talking about the Consolidation routines in this forum. I thought it would be good if it got it´s own topic here.

Some people wonder why there are different routines in different books from Mike Mentzer. I wonder that to, but we can only speculate on that one.

I will list the 3 different routines. Look at them as a advanced move from the Ideal routine to the Consolidation routine and even more.

Consolidation Routine

Workout 1
Squats (alt. leg presses)
Close-grip, palms-up pulldowns
Dips

Workout 2
Deadlifts (alt. shrugs)
Press behind neck
Standing calf rises

Super Consolidation Routine (a.k.a. the Athlete´s Routine)

Workout 1
Deadlifts (alt. shrugs)
Dips

Workout 2
Squats (alt. leg presses)
Close-grip, palms-up pulldowns

Ultimate Consolidation Routine (I named it myself)

One set per Workout

I think this one is very logical. One must start with the Ideal routine, because, as Mike said, a beginner is to damn week to put to much stress on the body so he/she will recover very fast (with exeptions).

When the stress is getting higher one must decrease the volume (fewer sets per workout) and/or decrease the frequency (more resting time between workouts).

At one point one should move, from the Ideal routine, to the Consolidation routine. When this routine is to much, move to the Super Consolidation routine (the Athelete´s routine), wich have one set less every workout.

Someday one might have to cut down even more on the training routine. Some people on this forum are only doing one set per workout, therefore I named it Ultimate Consolidation routine. Which exercise one might do here should be compound exercises only, listed in the routines before.

yesterday i read and understood (thanks to all of you) the chapter on stress or adaption on the book MM way , and it is totally clear why should be like that if you want to experience gains every wkout!

JS

interesting… so people are really using these routines and gaining something…

cool

The last 4 months I used the Consolidation Routine once a week and at the same time training Wushu (a.k.a. Kung Fu) twice a week.
I hoped for better gains, bet thoose gains are okay.

The next coming months I will instead use the Super Consolidation Routine (a.k.a. the Athlete´s Routine). My thoughts are that I may have overastimated my recovery ability. Besides, the stress increasing as the weight does, so I think it might be a good decision!

Hi there. Perhaps the dogcrap system would also be fine to you. We build up in masses, and gain such muscles, we would never be able to dream of. For the german users, i suggest the ExtremBB:

http://www.extrem-bodybuilding.de/phpbb/index.php

There´s a subforum, explaining the Dogcrap system. And believe it or not, it works as hell. For the other languaged people, just type dogcrap +bodybuilding into your searchengines. For short, it´s a system with rotating exercises, 1 set per exercise + 1 exercise per bodypart, and the ability to work out your muscles 4 times in in 2 weeks. Just incredible.