Having pioneered the high-intensity workout routine, Mike Mentzer had already set forth a wave of innovation and science in the field of bodybuilding. While the average day at the gym didn’t span for too long, each session hit hard with the strength it demanded. Since every workout needed a warm-up routine to precede it, Mentzer once addressed the situation.
In a resurfaced video, the late icon spoke about the kind of warm-up sessions necessary for a HIT workout. Unlike popular belief, warm-ups do not follow a template. Mentzer suggests that one must customize pre-workout exercises according to various factors.
Warm-ups mark the beginning of any workout routine. Fitness enthusiasts often learn them by following others at their gym or whatever their trainer recommends. Mentzer suggests going with what one already has an idea about. That way, the body feels familiar, and the risk of injuries is reduced.
“It is difficult, if not impossible, to give everybody a perfect warming-up program because warm-up needs variable.”
An ideal warm-up routine depends on one’s age, existing physical condition, the temperature of the gym, and so on. Since the factors are so finicky, Mentzer suggests a generic approach to them. Rather than customizing a plan, the veteran encourages a more intuitive take on it.
“There is a general principle here that will serve as an effective guideline, and the principle is this: perform any amount of warming-up that you believe to be minimally required.”
The idea behind this approach is that familiarity induces better knowledge. Therefore, the chances of injuring oneself during an intense workout are significantly less. Warm-ups are generally an essential part of workouts. Once the fitness enthusiast crosses that hurdle, they can get a good pump.
Mike Mentzer revealed the training schedule for the week
Once the warm-up was out of the way, Mentzer shared what an ideal HIT routine for the week looked like. Unlike the name suggests, one wasn’t supposed to perform intense exercises every day. Mentzer recommended a 72-hour gap between workout days.
View this post on Instagram
An ideal HIT session for the week means that all body parts will have an intense amount of work to do. However, since muscle growth depends on recovery, the gap helps with that. Every workout consisted of 5–6 exercises of single sets each. Each one, however, was powerful enough that the concerned muscles were worked to the maximum. Mentzer was a visionary who knew the impact of HIT on fitness enthusiasts.
