Hello!

Glad to have you here. Please share some Mike Mentzer stores!

God Bless,

David

Welcome to the forum, good to have you here!  What's your current routine look like?  And yes, the Mentzer stories are always entertaining \ enlightening!

Hi & welcome , It would be great if you could share some of the advice that Mike gave you with others on here.
   I have followed Mentzers `ideals` since the 80`s , but never managed phone consultations etc , although I have spoken to others that have .

Best wishes , T.  

Welcome David, another great addition to Bill's forum!

Thanks, all.

A little history,

I started HIT on a Ellington Darden's 12-14 set, three day a week total body routine.  The routine did wonders for my legs (which always lagged behind my upper body when I did volume training) in no time, however, after a month I was burned out.  I was going to absolute failure using an 8/8 cadence on movements and I knew this approach was just too much.

I spoke to Mike in late 1992 and he agreed those routines were too much.  Finally, in early 1993, I had a phone consultation with Mike and he had me perform essentially the same routine in Heavy Duty I.  I was training every 3rd day, eventually reducing my training to every 5th and 6th day.  This worked pretty well as my strength went up every workout for several months, however, my diet was fairly low in protein and calories were at maintenance at best.  I did look a bit more hard, or dense.  However, I really think if I had been eating more calories and protein, I would have gained noticeable size.  In fact, that's exactly what happened later that year as he put me on the consolidation routine which at that time consisted of: Squat, Pulldown, Dips, and Calf raises; followed by the next workout of Deadlift, Dips, and Barbell Curl.  This routine was performed every 4th day initially to finally every 7th day.  I increased my calorie intake and made some good overall gains.  This was a very productive routine.  I do think I came pretty close to my ultimate potential with this protocol.  The next year, Mike eventually had me try an experimental routine - it was a bit unique from anything he ever published - although it did lead up to the routine in Heavy Duty 2.  Similar line of thinking, however, like the HD2 routine, it too did very little for me.

As time went on, I reduced it even further on my own; eventually training every 10-14 days - but that was a mistake as I really didn't make progress after that.  The real "ultra" infrequent stuff didn't do anything for me and I really started looking flatter over time.

For several years now, I sort of drifted away from stricter HIT and Heavy Duty principles.  I tried training 2-3 days per week on low volume (few sets per muscle) sub failure work, but, in retrospect, that really didn't do much for me either.  I shyed away from looking at poundages and went more on pump, feel, etc.  Big mistake.  I spent A LOT of time with Jreps and on my Bowflex (which I've also ditched), but that too didn't do much for me.  As a result, my physique just doesn't look as good as when I did hardcore, Heavy Duty type training.  I've started to go back to some of the basics as I'm reconstructing my routine.  I cannot believe how much strength I've lost on core movements (like deadlift) which certainly explains why I lost muscle. 

Time to go back to basics!!  I was the most dense, most solid, and strongest following Mike's guidelines.  I remember one time when I wasn't making progress for a couple of workouts on my incline press.  Mike told me to drop it for a workout.  Sure enough I did, then I started gaining on it again.  Just a small example of the things he knew.  He always had good advice.  The only thing I did question of his was the ultra brief, infrequent consolidation routines toward the end, but those might have worked for some people.  On any rate,  I figure (and hope) I am still young enough to return to my previous size and perhaps slightly eclipse it.  I really want to take this to the ultimate level and get as strong and muscular as I can.

As far as stories, Mike shared a few  with me.  One story I got a kick out of was from the 70's I believe when Arthur Jones picked up Arnold from the airport when he came to visit Nautilus.  Arnold was acting so obnoxious in the car that Jones pulled off on the side of the road and came around to the passenger, opening the door and telling Arnold he was going to kick his ass if he didn't shut up. lol  Interestingly enough, just several years ago Darden told this same account in one of his latter HIT books.

Dave

David...

Welcome to our forum. We are so very pleased to have you here.

Mike is still near and dear in our hearts and he was a genius to say the least.

As far as your age goes, I will be 53 this year but train like I am 30... age and limitation is in the mind, not any other place.

I look forward to your participation and am here to help you in any way I can.

Best regards and blessings,
Bill