Whenever I overtrain or am close to it, I always come back to the words of Mike Mentzer, especially his ‘rest and grow’ philosophy. Take a week off to recover fully, then go back with less volume, less sets and bump up the intensity & weight instead
Great post.. and yes every workout you should be increasing either reps or weight. This channel has saved me where I use to spend a hour in the gym with volume over and over to the point of 5-6 days a week.
I’ve started back up weightlifting after a lazy 30’s period. I’m 38 years old now, and used to lift a lot in high school and after. Daily. Big into push ups and pull ups and weights etc. I’m hardcore back into it consistently for about 2 months. Using Mikes philosophy of more rest. I’ve taken 3-4 days between muscle groups and I gotta say, I’ve been over training my entire younger years. I’m seeing my bench increase WEEKLY by 5 lbs. unreal. This is truly a great method. I think we tend to overtrain and not stress the importance of rest. This is real folks!
I do an upper/lower split. Due to a number of reasons, it's been 13 days since my last upper body workout. I went back in tonight and I was up 2-4 more reps per excercise with the same weights. Wild stuff
I went from 175 to 205 In about 4 years time ,Natural, no nothing only Coffee and good music , went 5 days a week , I go hard at the gym , push myself to the limit every time and was stuck for a bit on Growth then I watched Mike's videos and listened to him speak. Now I go 3-4 times a week at most and I'm back to growing again , getting even bigger , lats getting hug, legs getting huge and it's all because Of .... REST TIME. I BELIEVE getting enough rest is a major issue for most right after Food and then of course the discipline part of being consistent! Rest is one thing Prisoners have over us. Even though their food is poor quality and they don't have the proper gym equipment yet Prisoners get swole ...why ? It's all in the rest time. PROPER REST IS key!!
This makes sense toward how the goji tendon works. Whether a microfibril fails because it runs out of energy or it fails because it lacks power the point is it fails and when it fails it pulls on the goji tendon. When that happens it sends a signal to the brain. The brain sends signals back to reconstruct the muscle and surrounding nerves. I will say there is something different to the microfibular tension you get from 1-4 rep range vs 8-12 vs 20-30 rep range that translates to strength vs endurance but studies haven’t narrowed it down. You ask Larry Wheels he might say do 20 sets @ 1 rep max to build strength.
I’ve been doing upper body and lower body split with 4days off between.and I’ve only been doing 4 exercises,but gaining an extra 2reps per exercise each time and ready to up the weight
Is it normal for me to train once every 8 days while training Heavy Duty? I recently did a leg and abs workout in which I increased in reps and weight for my abs, but I actually went down a rep on the squat. I have been training once every 7 days so I assume training once every 8 days will help me continue making progress again?
Most people are just addicted to the endorphins of a long worjout. Don't forget, Mike didnt say long workouts DON'T work, he said there was no need. "You can train hard or you can train long but you can't do both"! Also most of Mike's critics nowadays come up with recent studies that show Volume training somehow is better than shorter High Intensity. These studies are flawed. They are always performed on BEGINNERS! It wouldnt matter at all what type of training a beginner undertook, it would all work the same, due to the inability of a beginner to overtrain. It would be far better to take a cross section of athletes - all who have hit a plateau in their volume training and then compare the results.
in the first workout I did 5 reps of the pecdeck, then bench pressed 60kg for 7 reps (Mike asked for 1-3). The next workout I increased the weight on the press, but left it the same on the pecdeck, planning to add a rep there. but did it again 5 times in the pecdeck and bench pressed 65 kg for 1 time. is this progress? I was very upset that I couldn’t add a rep to the pecdeck and only did the bench press 1 time, it seems to me that this is very little for chest growth
Lately I’m increasing number of reps up to around 12 or sometimes even higher and lower slightly the weight. Don’t know why but seems to work better for me. Some muscle groups looks even better. Don’t care about the ego and my gym is pretty empty when I train so.
@gustavogomezied3 I'm also probably not doing it right. I work out arms, legs, chest everything one workout session. Then was doing 3 day rest and changed to 4 day rest. So u saying 5 day rest and I should be able to increase rep or wieght. I'm also pushing my self till I can do anymore then have my wife or daughter lift the weight because I can do it anymore and then do the slow lower. But most time I'm not sore after. 41 years old 6'3" 178 lbs. I was like 170-172 before I started this work out I love logic and everything he says is highly logical. It fits along everything I already thought using my own brain to think. I was doing 3 times a week 3 sets. Saw no gains. Been seeing now maybe another rep every 4th work out which seemed normal to me. Not after this video saying every work out a increase.
@@roxburyracer2008split your body in 3 parts. Chest/back, shoulders/arms, legs. Train every 4-5 days. That means around 12-15 days between each muscle group. Don't be afraid of rest, it is when you grow.
@filipnajev8449 so I'm going to have like only 15 min workout? Trying to make this work with what I have. Bench press and free weights. I'm so over whelmed and lost at what I can do.
@@roxburyracer2008 I'm 60, 6'7" and 112 kgs. I rediscovered the Arthur Jones/Mike Mentzer philosophy of weight training about four years ago and I now work my whole body once a week using a legs, back/chest, shoulders/arms sequence. I have a day off in between workouts and two days off over the weekend. I do no more than three exercises for a muscle, usually only two, and for each exercise do one warm-up set of 20 reps (with a weight that I'd hit failure at about 25) followed by a single working set to failure, with a weight that allows me between 8 and 12 reps. My typical leg or shoulder/arms workout lasts about 25 minutes, the back/chest workout goes for about 40 minutes. In almost every workout, my reps go up by one or two on just about every exercise. When I hit 12 reps, I raise the weight up by about 5%, which knocks me back to down around 8 reps and the sequence starts over. Don't be afraid to train less, ... this stuff works.
Whenever I overtrain or am close to it, I always come back to the words of Mike Mentzer, especially his ‘rest and grow’ philosophy. Take a week off to recover fully, then go back with less volume, less sets and bump up the intensity & weight instead
Great post.. and yes every workout you should be increasing either reps or weight. This channel has saved me where I use to spend a hour in the gym with volume over and over to the point of 5-6 days a week.
I’ve started back up weightlifting after a lazy 30’s period. I’m 38 years old now, and used to lift a lot in high school and after. Daily. Big into push ups and pull ups and weights etc. I’m hardcore back into it consistently for about 2 months. Using Mikes philosophy of more rest. I’ve taken 3-4 days between muscle groups and I gotta say, I’ve been over training my entire younger years. I’m seeing my bench increase WEEKLY by 5 lbs. unreal. This is truly a great method. I think we tend to overtrain and not stress the importance of rest. This is real folks!
The best advice I have applied in my gym training and quite handy each time I touch a weight
Big John is killin' it this past week!
Solid , practical advice!
I do an upper/lower split. Due to a number of reasons, it's been 13 days since my last upper body workout. I went back in tonight and I was up 2-4 more reps per excercise with the same weights. Wild stuff
It makes so much sence Mike is a scholar
"spreading it thick for your listeners" Hilarious!
I went from 175 to 205 In about 4 years time ,Natural, no nothing only Coffee and good music , went 5 days a week , I go hard at the gym , push myself to the limit every time and was stuck for a bit on Growth then I watched Mike's videos and listened to him speak. Now I go 3-4 times a week at most and I'm back to growing again , getting even bigger , lats getting hug, legs getting huge and it's all because Of .... REST TIME. I BELIEVE getting enough rest is a major issue for most right after Food and then of course the discipline part of being consistent! Rest is one thing Prisoners have over us. Even though their food is poor quality and they don't have the proper gym equipment yet Prisoners get swole ...why ? It's all in the rest time. PROPER REST IS key!!
Very True
The rec yard is open 7 days a week, twice a day, prisoners have to take rest days too. 😅😅😅
This makes sense toward how the goji tendon works. Whether a microfibril fails because it runs out of energy or it fails because it lacks power the point is it fails and when it fails it pulls on the goji tendon. When that happens it sends a signal to the brain. The brain sends signals back to reconstruct the muscle and surrounding nerves. I will say there is something different to the microfibular tension you get from 1-4 rep range vs 8-12 vs 20-30 rep range that translates to strength vs endurance but studies haven’t narrowed it down. You ask Larry Wheels he might say do 20 sets @ 1 rep max to build strength.
I’ve been doing upper body and lower body split with 4days off between.and I’ve only been doing 4 exercises,but gaining an extra 2reps per exercise each time and ready to up the weight
Thank you
Is it normal for me to train once every 8 days while training Heavy Duty? I recently did a leg and abs workout in which I increased in reps and weight for my abs, but I actually went down a rep on the squat. I have been training once every 7 days so I assume training once every 8 days will help me continue making progress again?
I go up to 18 days sometimes between same muscle groups and still making progress with heavy duty. Don't be afraid of rest
@@filipnajev8449i go up to 364 days optimal!
Most people are just addicted to the endorphins of a long worjout. Don't forget, Mike didnt say long workouts DON'T work, he said there was no need. "You can train hard or you can train long but you can't do both"!
Also most of Mike's critics nowadays come up with recent studies that show Volume training somehow is better than shorter High Intensity. These studies are flawed. They are always performed on BEGINNERS! It wouldnt matter at all what type of training a beginner undertook, it would all work the same, due to the inability of a beginner to overtrain. It would be far better to take a cross section of athletes - all who have hit a plateau in their volume training and then compare the results.
in the first workout I did 5 reps of the pecdeck, then bench pressed 60kg for 7 reps (Mike asked for 1-3).
The next workout I increased the weight on the press, but left it the same on the pecdeck, planning to add a rep there. but did it again 5 times in the pecdeck and bench pressed 65 kg for 1 time. is this progress?
I was very upset that I couldn’t add a rep to the pecdeck and only did the bench press 1 time, it seems to me that this is very little for chest growth
Lately I’m increasing number of reps up to around 12 or sometimes even higher and lower slightly the weight. Don’t know why but seems to work better for me. Some muscle groups looks even better. Don’t care about the ego and my gym is pretty empty when I train so.
So sounds crazy to me i need to increase a rep or wieght every work out. Seems impossible. I am increasing but not every work out.
Might need an extra day off to get that extra rep or extra weight.
@gustavogomezied3 I'm also probably not doing it right. I work out arms, legs, chest everything one workout session. Then was doing 3 day rest and changed to 4 day rest. So u saying 5 day rest and I should be able to increase rep or wieght. I'm also pushing my self till I can do anymore then have my wife or daughter lift the weight because I can do it anymore and then do the slow lower. But most time I'm not sore after. 41 years old 6'3" 178 lbs. I was like 170-172 before I started this work out I love logic and everything he says is highly logical. It fits along everything I already thought using my own brain to think. I was doing 3 times a week 3 sets. Saw no gains. Been seeing now maybe another rep every 4th work out which seemed normal to me. Not after this video saying every work out a increase.
@@roxburyracer2008split your body in 3 parts. Chest/back, shoulders/arms, legs. Train every 4-5 days. That means around 12-15 days between each muscle group. Don't be afraid of rest, it is when you grow.
@filipnajev8449 so I'm going to have like only 15 min workout? Trying to make this work with what I have. Bench press and free weights. I'm so over whelmed and lost at what I can do.
@@roxburyracer2008 I'm 60, 6'7" and 112 kgs. I rediscovered the Arthur Jones/Mike Mentzer philosophy of weight training about four years ago and I now work my whole body once a week using a legs, back/chest, shoulders/arms sequence. I have a day off in between workouts and two days off over the weekend. I do no more than three exercises for a muscle, usually only two, and for each exercise do one warm-up set of 20 reps (with a weight that I'd hit failure at about 25) followed by a single working set to failure, with a weight that allows me between 8 and 12 reps. My typical leg or shoulder/arms workout lasts about 25 minutes, the back/chest workout goes for about 40 minutes. In almost every workout, my reps go up by one or two on just about every exercise. When I hit 12 reps, I raise the weight up by about 5%, which knocks me back to down around 8 reps and the sequence starts over. Don't be afraid to train less, ... this stuff works.