Heavy Duty College’s latest YouTube video includes bodybuilding icon Mike Mentzer‘s leg training ideology. The late icon’s remarks from his book ‘High-Intensity Training: The Mike Mentzer Way’ were narrated by John Little, who contributed to it. In his book, Mentzer suggested performing twice as many reps for lower-body exercises as for upper-body exercises, which Little talks about in the YouTube video.
John Little says that he and Mentzer collaborated on the book months before his passing. The bodybuilder was constantly involved in the fitness world, so he increased the repetitions for the leg muscles from 8–15 to 12–20 in his final book.
Mentzer’s approach was based on studies conducted by the pioneer of HIT, Arthur Jones of Nautilus Sports Medical Industries, in the early 1980s. The research favored that the lower body follows a different training regimen than the upper body. Mentzer also contributed his own suggestions to the analysis, as he mentions:
“Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries found that the neurological efficiency of the legs – the number of muscles activated during a maximal contraction – is extremely low. The neurological efficiency of the muscles in the upper body is considerably higher. “
Little adds to the icon’s results, stating that attempting a maximum contraction in muscle fibers will need more oxygen and reduce muscular endurance. The former bodybuilder even emphasizes the need for frequent muscle simulations to achieve maximal output. Mentzer also explains this process in more basic words, using an example:
“If you regularly simulate 25 percent of the fibers in a muscle, that muscle will grow to a certain size. Simulating 50 percent of the muscle’s fibers would certainly result in more growth.”
The lower body, such as the thighs, functions under completely different circumstances. Even maximal contractions cannot extract the complete potential of the thigh muscles. Therefore, according to the late icon, performing high repetitions will only activate a large fraction of these fibers.
Mentzer further emphasizes that thighs have a very distinct neurological pathway. The muscles in that specific region are meant to withstand longer and heavier commitments, which means overdoing the thigh workout with as many reps as possible can further strengthen the muscles.
The late bodybuilding legend always encouraged his admirers to push themselves to their full potential. He did recommend this to get the most out of his HIT regimen. While Mentzer always worked out to improve his upper and lower body; he, had one favorite routine.
Mike Mentzer’s go-to upper body workout
Mike Mentzer constantly aimed for the most efficient exercises possible. The dip variation was his favorite workout since it targeted many muscle groups at the same time. The target muscles included pecs, shoulders, and arms, making it the most beneficial upper-body workout.
Torso development was also made easier because the upper-body squat targeted a specific muscle area. The pec workout burned the chest muscles, making it an ideal approach. It also applied pressure to the arms, covering the shoulder and triceps. Mentzer may have been hard to please related to exercises, but this one entered his list of favorites.
