When we think of heavy-duty training, probably the first bodybuilder who comes to mind is Mike Mentzer. The late legend left a mark in the bodybuilding field when he introduced his two signature techniques that focused on building muscles with high intensity and the least amount of time.
Over the years, Mentzer went on many interviews and calls to prove the effectiveness of his techniques. Since he always backed it up with logic and reasoning, many bodybuilders, like Dorian Yates, religiously followed his way of working out. In a resurfaced segment of his speech, he talked about inducing positive changes in the muscle.
According to Mentzer, any form of heavy-duty training will trigger a positive change in the muscle if it’s consistently worked on. However, this positive change means that the muscle no longer behaves in the same way as before.
“Since muscles by definition lift weights, a muscle growing stronger can’t be exactly the same muscle.”
In fact, a positive change in the muscle means an increase in strength. Therefore, the same weights won’t work anymore once they’ve crossed the threshold of intensity and capacity.
For a muscle to go through a growth phase, it is important to work it till failure in the least number of sets and give it enough time to recover. Mentzer even theorized that true muscle growth occurred during the rest and recovery phase instead of actively working out.
“You have to understand that the workout doesn’t produce the increase, as Arthur Jones pointed out brilliantly years ago.”
But are there alternate training techniques for building muscle? Mentzer once gave a simple, everyday example to explain how strength training contributed to hypertrophy in muscles.
Mike Mentzer links strength training to heavy-duty routine
During an injury, especially one of a stress-variant like a fracture, one could witness muscle atrophy when tied into a cast for prolonged periods. This means that the muscle shrinks, and there’s little to no strength in the affected area. In such cases, physiotherapists will guide you through a set of strength-training exercises.
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These workouts induce hypertrophy, or the growth of muscles. Mentzer cited this case as the perfect example of how strength training and heavy-duty training presented the same conditions for muscles to grow. Instances like this prove how he was a pioneer in the field, with ideas that were ahead of their time.
