Mike Mentzer’s influence on the world of fitness is undeniable. He was way ahead of time with his workout routines. For Mentzer, innovation was always important and pushing the limits of the human body and mind’s capabilities. Though not everyone was a supporter of Mike’s ideologies, he always found ways to train better.
Though Mike Mentzer introduced the high-intensity training method he once found misconceptions with advanced training techniques. People do advanced training techniques can make a great addition to anyone’s routine by trying something new.
These routines can help improve your training techniques especially if you do have the time available to devote to a traditional workout. However, Mentzer felt otherwise about the advanced training routines.
In a recently resurfaced lecture by Menzter, he pointed out that when he started training his clients, he made them do both forced and negative reps for every workout. What was visible here according to Mentzer was that no one was gaining satisfactorily.
“That’s when I came to understand much more clearly, just how demanding high-intensity training really is. The body has a strictly limited recovery ability or adaptive capacity.”
After understanding that there was not much difference seen in his clients, this is when Mentzer came to realize that high-intensity training is much more challenging than one thinks. And while doing such exercises you need to be very careful as it could cause injury.
Therefore, according to Mike, he shared an analogy with his followers on HIT. He initially felt that high-intensity heavy-duty exercise is like going out into the intense August sun, however, Mentzer now feels that it’s more like going out into the intense August sun, with the sun 5 million times closer to the Earth.
In conclusion, what Mentzer was trying to prove through his lecture was doing an advanced training technique is like jumping into a fire. The workout will help you gain the muscle you want, but intense exercise could lead to other problems. Hence, Mentzer suggests not overdoing these training techniques.
“It is a very intense stress, it will warm you up, but you have to jump right out.”
Mike Mentzer once opened up about his favorite brainchild, the HIT method
Mike Mentzer’s high-intensity training has a cult status within the fitness sphere and has its own fan following. Often lauded for its relevancy and effectiveness, it can also be quite intimidating owing to its toughness. Mentzer would grind hours in the gym, exploring different techniques through trial and error methods.
He also did forced and negative reps with clients but later changed his ways. Mentzer couldn’t achieve the results he expected with these methods and the gains his clients got didn’t match his expectations. That’s when he began with the high-intensity training.
The icon also shared about the tough nature of HIT, having compared it to roaming out in the August sun or even close, jumping into a fire. He was also critical of individuals adding more reps as he believed bodybuilding need not test someone’s endurance.
