Embarking upon a fitness journey comes with several hurdles and demands a lot of patience, as Mike Mentzer once lectured about. Yet, in the end, only some could make it big on stage the way he did.
One could crunch up their workout hours with his signature heavy-duty training plan, but the results would still take time to show up. This was the theme he focused on in one of his addresses to his fans when dealing with bodybuilding goals.
Hypertrophy, in general, is a gradual process no matter how efficient one’s training plan can get. In a resurfaced video of Mentzer, posted by the YouTube channel Heavy Duty College, he referred to his stint as Mr. America.
To succeed in a bodybuilding competition like that, Mentzer believed that the prep work starts years prior. He emphasized that one must look at such occasions on a long-term basis, where every year a set amount of muscle growth takes place.
“No one ever became Mr. America overnight, or with one year or two years of training even. And it’s not very likely that you’ll be the first one.”
In fact, Mentzer added that 5-10 lbs of muscle growth in a year holds a lot of potential, even though it doesn’t sound like a lot. Going by his long-term plan, an individual could make a significant difference in their physique if they kept up the consistent progress of about 10 lbs of muscle mass gain.
“5 lbs or let’s say 10 lbs even a muscle a year, for five years, you’d end up gaining 50 lbs of muscle. Try to picture what 50 lbs of beef steak would look like on your dinner table.”
All an individual needed was a good training plan catered towards optimum gains, and this could be a reality for them. Mentzer never strayed away from high-intensity training, and even in these circumstances, he chose to vouch for it.
The ideal frequency of training for optimum gains by Mike Mentzer
Mentzer wasn’t a fan of traditional volume training that demanded fitness enthusiasts to spend hours at the gym almost every day. Instead, he set his heart on a routine that worked well for him and his clients. High-intensity training involves extreme intensity while performing exercises followed by several hours of rest for recovery.
The logic behind the technique was to allow muscle growth through recovery after putting them through extreme levels of fatigue. Mentzer chose a 72-hour frequency where he would put his clients through a training session for a set of muscles. He followed this with two days off and an additional day where they’d work a completely different set of muscles. This way, the late legend optimized gains and reduced the chances of injuries.
