Mentzer believed that recovery was just as important as the workouts themselves, which is why he recommended taking 4-to-7 days of rest between sessions. He didn't prescribe a rigid schedule (e.g., train every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).
He began training clients in a near-experimental manner, evaluating the perfect number of repetitions, exercises, and days of rest to achieve maximum benefits. For more than ten years, Mentzer's Heavy Duty program involved 7–9 sets per workout on a three-day-per-week schedule.
To maximize recovery, Mentzer advocated for significantly spacing out one's workouts. In the most extreme version of Heavy Duty, he prescribed doing 1 to 2 sets for a muscle group just once a week. The other six days would be used for recovery.
The extended rest periods between workouts (4-7 days) are crucial to Mentzer's method. He believed that muscle growth occurs during recovery, not during the workout itself.
Train every 96 hours (4 days) with a total of 3-5 sets for the entire workout. He claimed when he made the reduction to such low volume and frequency, his clients made progress that was “literally off the charts.”
Mentzer's workout plan is a 3-day split (chest and back, legs and abs, and shoulders and arms) with just one heavy set per exercise in each workout. The pros of the routine include a focus on progressive overload, training through a large range of motion, and tracking strength to measure progress.
A training frequency of once a week will get you bigger muscles, but research as highlighted below shows that a training frequency of 2-3 times per week is more effective in reaching this goal.
By age 15 he weighed 165 pounds and could bench press 370 pounds. At the age of 18 he started competing in physique competitions, and two years later in 1969 he competed in his first physique competition. In 1976 Mentzer won the Mr.
Instead of consuming 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, Mike believed it was more beneficial to consume approximately 1 gram of protein per pound of lean muscle. In another one of Mike's teachings, he wrote: “. 80 grams per kilo of bodyweight.
He puts in an hour and a half daily, cycling for 45 to 60 minutes and lifting weights for another 30. That's a hell of a daily workout, especially for a 75-year-old, though it's down considerably from his peak bodybuilding days. When he was competing, he would lift weights for five hours a day.
Whereas Jones prescribed one 20-rep set per exercise, Mentzer lowered the ideal rep range to six to nine: Choose a weight so heavy that you reach absolute failure at six to nine reps, then keep going. Failure wasn't enough for Mentzer's Heavy Duty system.
The former governor and retired body builder works out six days a week and does body part splits, which means he works on a different part of the body for each session. Schwarzenegger said he trains chest and back one day, biceps, triceps, and shoulders another day, and legs the third day, and then repeats.
Professional bodybuilders generally commit between 1 to 3 hours according to day to their training routines, hanging a stability between numerous exercising forms. This length is cautiously partitioned to include a mixture of weightlifting, cardiovascular exercises, and flexibility schooling.
Mentzer's training volume recommendation will vary based on population. He recommends volumes as low as two sets per muscle group each week for beginners in some transcripts. In his Mr. Olympia training program, he completes between 4 and 12 sets per muscle every ten days.
Among the supplements he personally endorsed was Twinlab Creatine Fuel, which he claimed was highly effective in enhancing his training. To complement a Mike Mentzer workout routine today, certain modern supplements can support muscle recovery, performance, and overall health.
Is 200g of protein too much for muscle gain? Not some in cases. It is not uncommon for athletes who are trying to gain lean muscle to eat 200 grams of protein or even more. This amount of protein may be necessary to conserve muscle during periods of fat loss.
Arnold Schwarzenegger eats an 80% vegan diet, which he said has helped lower his cholesterol. His go-to protein sources are eggs, salmon, chicken, veggie burgers, and protein shakes. Schwarzenegger eats steak, hamburgers, and Austrian wiener schnitzel when he wants a treat.
How many hours a day did Mike Mentzer train? Mike Mentzer's workout routine included 30 minutes of rigorous workout just 4 times a week which is unlike the typical approach of many bodybuilders who train for hours every day of the week.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Just Shared His Heaviest Lift PRs
"My best bench press was 525, my best deadlift was 710, and my best squat was 610," he said.
Mike soon learned of backroom deals and underhanded tactics employed by influential individuals within the sport. It seemed that the contest was no longer based solely on an athlete's hard work and talent, but rather on bribes, favoritism, and personal connections.
With that being said, different muscle groups tend to have different rates of recovery, with smaller muscles—biceps, triceps, calves—being able to recover more quickly than larger muscles—lats, quads, hamstrings, etc. In addition, different individuals are able to handle different amounts of training volume.
When to expect results. You don't need to spend hours a day lifting weights to benefit from strength training. You can see significant improvement in your strength with just two or three 20- or 30-minute strength training sessions a week.
6 weight exercises, just once a week
They completed one set each of six common exercises, in order: the chest press, pulldown, leg press, abdominal flexion, back extension, and either hip adduction or abduction (alternating these hip exercises from week to week), using machines available in most gyms.