High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way (NTC SPORTS/FITNESS)

This book is a revelation insomuch that it provides detailed information regarding the overall condition of the body relative to it's capacity to heal fully between workouts. It identifies a system of training that calls for maximum effort during exercise, together with the minimum amount of energy expenditure on the immune system which is responsible for repairing damage and subsequent growth of muscle tissue. This is the ultimate system for training without drugs (steroids) advocating 4 days rest between workouts for recovery. The workout requires only one set per exercise performed to absolute failure. That is the objective to trigger growth which occurs during the resting phase. You will feel healthier, stronger and full of youthful energy with this the most simple yet intelligent approach to fitness or bodybuilding.

Most of what Mike puts forward i agree with, he just goes a little too far now and then with statements that are more i think marketing and knocking the competition, things like no other system can grow muscle, which is obviously not correct. BUT his system undoubtably allows a good percentage of people to grow in a much shorter time spent in the gym than any other system which is why i use it. He has an excellent section on the role of genetics and how the average Joe may only be able to put on a couple of pounds of solid muscle per year, therefore it makes little sense to be in the gym 5 or more times a week, doing 20 sets for legs and 18 sets for back etc for just such a small gain. Finally someone telling the truth! We are not all blessed with the genes of the body building stars. Really great information all through the book, really makes you re evaluate the accepted 'norms'. After years of power lifting and then volume type body building i now train approx 2 times per week and have put on 10 pounds of muscle in 2 yrs at 44 yrs old! Highly recommended. However, i think the system may only work ofr those who can train very hard, not all can therefore it won't work for all. However, i find that if i am having a weak day , not even rest or bad diet or alcohol, just add 1 more set in and it will do the same thing, so its win win.

Back in the day, when I first took up bodybuilding, the "more is better" philosophy was king. If you weren`t prepared to spend 4 hours a day in the gym , 6 days a week, knocking out 20 sets of 20, you had no chance of building the physique of Arnie or Lou. Nobody mentioned the gallons of steroid injections they must have taken, but that`s a different story. Mentzer turned this theory completely on it`s head. H.I.T. can be described in a couple of brief paragraphs: 1. If your muscles are ripped apart when training and rebuilt again when resting, you need to rest as much as possible between gym visits. That means a bare minimum of 4 days rest, up to 10 days or more. 2. Why waste time performing multiple sets? Far better to do one single set of 1-3 reps to absolute failure. Clearly there`s far more than this involved as H.I.T. is an entire philosophy, not just a list of exercises. You may think that just performing a single set can`t possibly achieve much, however,if you do this properly you WILL find your muscles aching for at least 4 days, proving Mentzer`s point. I`d suggest you`ll need a spotter as it`s virtually impossible to put the required effort on your own; If you`re training to failure you won`t be able to manage the final rep at all. Personally, there is one flaw though: The idea that the gym is somewhere to spend as little time as possible is an anathema to me; I enjoy spending time in the gym as it gets me away from real life for a while. That`s why I`m going back to my favoured system: FST-7. Despite that one small reservation I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an open mind and a willingness to try a completely different outlook on bodybuilding workouts. Also, this system would be ideal for those on limited free time.

I had this book for well over a year before I finally gave the idea routine from the book a try. It seems there are two camps in weight training/body building either the high volume or HIT. The book talks about how Arnold etc used to train twice a day 6 days a week! I know of no one who trains like this!!Maybe this was the case in the old days but now I feel the most trainees use a routine of 3 or 4 times a week for around an hour. Anyway when I started to train It was 3-4 times a week (split the body up), 3 sets of 8 and no more than 15 sets a session. I gradually over the years reduced this to twice a week (full body routines) and even tried one set per exercise, so I was already using a kind of HIT routine before using the routine in this book. My thoughts on training are you either train to failure one set per exercise and use low volume and frequency or you train more volume and frequency but not to failure (1 or 2 reps shy of it). The routine in this book was to train every 3-4 days one set to failure. So something like chest gets hits directly every 2 weeks. Did it work for me? Well I guess I got stronger but it was only ever by the same weight as the session before plus 1 or 2 more reps. I was expecting a lot more than that, I was hoping either the same weight plus 3-5 more reps or more weight plus 1-2 more reps. Otherwise why bother waiting so long in between sessions?! Because of the low frequency progress was slow! Over 6 months I did make some progress and never went backwards but gains were slow and nothing to write home about. Eventully I went back to more volume (12-15 sets a session) more frequency (3 times a week) not training to failure. The weights are moving forward at steady rate and over a 6 month period would be better than HIT. I would try HIT again, and for someone with limited time to get in the gym it would be great as you would progress every session even if only a small amount. Training to failure is something I enjoyed and I never had a problem getting the intensity high! But because of the low frequency the next few days you would be in pain! Something some people would love I guess! Overall I would recommend it as something to try but I’m not sure about using it all the time. It’s a shame as it’s something I wanted to work as it makes soo much sense. But for me it just wasn’t any better and slightly worse than anything I had tried before. Too much time away from the gym recovering in pain. My view is something in the middle of high volume and HIT works just fine for me.

I made little or no progress with other methods, including a heavily over-trained Bruce Lee workout, "Weight training workouts that work" (they didn't for me) "traditional" 2 set 10-20 rep bodybuilding programs, and various martial arts style training regimes, all of which I followed with my trademark obsessiveness and religious devotion. Looking back, the time when I made the most progress in physical strength was when my only weight training consisted of a one rep, max weight, clean and press which I did daily. The particular version of HIT outlined in this book has beaten all of the above in terms of strength, overall sense of fitness and well-being, and muscle size, bearing in mind I used to take an ass ton of creatine, supplements, vitamins and other rubbish, and don't even eat as fanatically healthily as I used to, or stuff myself with protein anymore. I can usually either double the reps or increase the weight by 50 to 100% every time I cycle through the 3 way split routine, and it just keeps going, Iv'e been doing this for about a year now and I'm still making progress. I don't have the stockpile of illegal drugs necessary to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, or the genetic gifts necessary to look like Mike Mentzer, but I can't believe how strong I'm getting and how much better I feel, bearing mind I'm no stranger to exercise. If you have the sheer mad willpower and determination to make this kind of workout work then it seriously works.

The writing style can labour the point a bit. However there is a clear understanding of the method suggested and a straight forward training programme listed. Personally I have limited time in the gym and it gives a great use of time. My goals are strength and carry over to my other sport. I have found it really has increased my interest in the gym, improved my strength in a small time. Great for strength training and those with limited time. Would recommend the book and method. I mixed the suggestions with compound movements and it is great. But you really have to push it to get the benifits with sets to failure.

Having been a bodybuilder for the last 15 + years and having seen first hand the multiple mistakes new trainees in the sport make I would urge every beginner bodybuilder to buy and read this book. Heck not just beginners - everyone! So many of us have fallen into the trap of believing more is better, ie train more and more, do more reps, do more sets, have less rest days etc etc and then wonder why our progress has stopped...well guess what? just like the rest of us you are overtraining and because of your own enthusiasm stopping your own progress. Mike Mentzer lays down the golden rules for boodybuilding in this book. How often to train, how hard to train and most of important of all, more is not better and less is not better, the precise amount is what is required in order to stimulate muscle growth. Mike was a true legend of the sport who should have won the Olympia in 1980. His training regime was not just based on his own experiences but solid scientific research based on hundreds of test subjects. Because of this scientific approach his systems are proven to work. A must buy for any serious weightlifter/bodybuilder.

Deffo worth a read. And I really like Mike. This style of training would be lovely if it was the best. Beating a muscle into submission should be the way right? Sadly it's not, even infrequently. That's why most lifters don't go to failure, so they can train more frequently and make more progress. Progressive overload is all that matters and I've found it far easier to progressive and quicker by not going to absolute failure, proximity to failure is important but you want to stimulate not annihilate. Yes you can make these programs work with enough rest it's just sub optimal compared to a well structured program and will leave you feeling much more fatigued than is nessary. There's a reason very few use it. If it worked well everyone would be on it, you've not discovered some secret gem I'm afraid. I would also like to say that Mike was really into research and science something that's moved on in decades since he passed. He wouldn't be writing the same stuff now,it would have changed. The only thing HIT has going for it is it's highly marketable and I think Mike knew that as well I really like Mike though and this book is a really good read just to get you thinking about freq, volume and intensity but I wouldn't recommend following it verbatim. More to use it to look at your own program and help you explore what works for you. Having read loads of books on this subject what I've found is somewhere down the middle of all systems is pretty much spot on but you'll need to discover where that is for you as an individual.

Really great book to understand and apply heavy duty and make your own routine in the gym and very informative

You rarely find such concepts and facts that are packed in this book. The part about the story of Mr. Mike, his upbringing, challenges, the rigged system and his downfall literally will make you tear up. I have not yet seen a video online that covers his life and other feats like this book did. You will love this book if you like Mr. Mike. RIP sir. I miss you everyday.

Full of good training course for body building

La méthode d'entraînement de Mike Mentzer (reprise par la suite par Dorian Yates) n'est pas une méthode comme les autres, puisque c'est la seule méthode qui fonctionne pour gagner du muscle et progresser en musculation. Comme beaucoup, j'ai cru ce que disaient les coachs fitness et j'ai suivi leur conseil. J'allais donc à la salle de sport 6 fois par semaine, je m'entraînais plus d'une heure à chaque fois et je mangeais beaucoup de protéines. Le résultat ? Aucun progrès ! Non seulement, je ne gagnais pas en muscle, mais en plus cela mes performances ne cesser de se détériorer, j'étais tout le temps fatiguer et pourtant, j'avais du mal à dormir. Aller à la salle de sport était devenu une corvée et non plus un plaisir. Et si jamais je n'allais pas m'entraîner, je me sentais incroyablement coupable pour le reste de la journée. Lorsque j'ai demandé conseil, la seule explication que l'on m'a donnée était que je devais aller m'entraîner encore plus, plus longtemps et manger encore plus. J'ai fini par abandonner et je ne suis plus retourné à la salle de sport pendant 4 ans. Jusqu'au jour où je suis tombé par hasard sur une vidéo de Mike Mentzer, expliquant pourquoi s'entraîner plus longtemps ne fonctionnait pas pour prendre du muscle. Intriguer, j'ai donc continué à regarder d'autres vidéos de Mike Mentzer et j'ai fini par acheter ce livre. Après l'avoir lu et enfin compris pourquoi je ne faisais pas de progrès, en grandes parties parce que les "experts" en fitness sur Youtube ne comprennent pas comment le corps fonctionne et donc donnent des conseils erronés. J'ai donc changé ma façon de m'entraîner grâce à ce livre et maintenant, je ne vais à la salle de sport que 2-3 fois par semaine, pour des séances courtes mais très intense (environ 20-40 minutes), et je mange désormais de façon équilibre avec un léger surplus de calories par jours allant de 200 à 300 calories. Résultat, depuis que j'ai commencé à m'entraîner selon la méthode de Mentzer depuis maintenant un peu plus de 2 mois et demi, je ne cessais de faire des progrès. Désormais, je ne cesse d'augmenter la quantité de poids que j'utilise à la salle de sport, et je progresse de semaine en semaine. Et plus jamais je ne suivrais les conseils des experts en musculation.

phenomenal book, with a lot of pictures, principalities of Heavy Duty HIT training with philosophical approach - how to become the best version of yourself. for someone that’s just getting into the world of bodybuilding and heard of mike mentzer - this book is a must have. but even for those who hit a plateau and don’t see any progress - get this book, start training this way!