“Increase Muscular Involvement Not Diminish It”: Mike Mentzer Once Revealed the Secret to Increasing Muscular Involvement

When the words high-intensity training are uttered, one among the many champion bodybuilders that come to mind is Mike Mentzer. The late bodybuilder through his effective training methods was an innovator in the field in his approach to fitness goals. Mentzer, however never focused only on intense training, he once spoke about muscular involvement. 

Muscular endurance is the muscle’s capability to perform over some time. Increasing the number of reps, just like Mentzer mentions is the key to muscle growth. This hypertrophy describes an increase in muscle mass. The best way for one to achieve muscle growth is to perform certain exercises in the right manner. Along with that, consuming the right amount of food is also important. 

Mentzer, once mentioned, that it is important that you initiate all your movements very deliberately and slowly under control. Once you exercise at a certain speed, momentum takes over and the muscular involvement is reduced. 

Muscular tolerance plays a huge role in athletics and intense training. An example is a sprinter who does the same movement continuously, over and over again. However, to avoid injuries or extreme fatigue, the muscles need to have an advanced level of endurance.

He further mentioned that, once the speed of an exercise is at a certain speed, the intensity diminished refers to the percentage of momentary muscular effort and involvement.

“Anything that reduces momentary muscular effort reduces intensity and thereby reduces results. what you want to do is increase muscular involvement not diminish it.”

Mike Mentzer once shared the foundation of muscle-building intensity

Mike Mentzer had once broken down what muscle-building intensity and high-intensity training are – how hard our body is during physical activity. Mentzer who was at the pinnacle of his bodybuilding era once shared the core tenet of muscle building. 

He explained that the foundation of the whole field of exercise is not important, but the intellectual foundation of all exercise science is. Intensity is integral in building muscle strength and strength is dependent on muscle mass and neuromuscular factors. Mentzer also pointed out that exercise science and muscle building have 2 main branches- aerobic and anaerobic, defined by their intensity. 

“If the two basic branches that make up the field of exercise science are defined primarily in terms of intensity, then intensity is the cardinal element.”

The former is when you work with low intensity for a longer time and the latter is when you work with high intensity for a shorter time. Thus he highlighted that intensity is the prime aspect of any fitness exercise.