Im going to do a last try to convince you that high intensity training with infrequent workouts and a small volume will work. This will be my las long article about the subject
First of all, Weight training is anaerobic, your goal shouldn’t be that you want to find out how many sets you can endure. Hit training will give you an exhilarating experience and after you have tried it there is no need to switch back to non-theoretical volume training.
Compare high intensity training with sun tanning. If you lie in the sun on a warm hot summer day when the sunrays are strong you will get a tan fast. Try to lie in the sun when the sun is covered by clouds or when the sunrays arent strong, the result will be that you wont get the tan you want. Training must be intense.
“when training is carried on beyond the reserve of resources needed for recovery growth,thus, prevents the buildup of added muscle” –Mike Mentzer
The amount of high intensity training required is very small. The workout itself is a trigger that sets the body´s growth mechanism into motion. It is the body itself that produces growth but only during a rest period that is long enough. Only when the recovery phase is over will the growth phase begin.
“If the individual stimulates the body again with another workout before it has a chance to respond with recovery and growth he short-circuits the response process before it is completed, compromissing results short of 100possible units.”-Mentzer
Those who do this are what Mentzer called “Stimulus freaks”. They over stimulate the body all the time never giving it a chance to respond to the stimulus.
You that said that it takes millions of sperms are wrong. The probability will be bigger if there is a lot of sperm and there is over 100million available if the man is a normal healthy man but it is only one sperm that fertilizes the ovum. Read some biology if you don’t believe this is true. Mentzers analogies werent always relevant but what he wanted was that people would get a new and better point of view on the great number one. He came up with this sperm analogy when Flex Wheelers training partner kept trash talking him and his clients. After this Ricco(Flex trainingpartner) never bothered Mentzer again. Analogies doesn’t prove anything , scientific studies does. Im not going to copy a whole article or study that will convince you that Menters ideas were no joke. You can find out more by yourself if you want to. You should know by now which sources you should use if you want to study H.I.T. Skip Jones books since there is more available information today. If you use Jones theories you will probably end up overtrained. This will happen unless you have superior recovery capacity or if you use steroids.
I think its time to end this topic now. H.I.T (Mentzers HIT) works. If you study all new information availible and then try it on yourself you will find out that it is a great way to train and it will produce results right from the beginning. Arthur Jones came up with HIT, I know that, but it was Mentzer who developed this system to new levels. The arguments against H.I.T are many but most of them can be rejected. There are lots of studies that support H.I.T and those who “trash talk” this system don’t have all information. Most of them have probably not tried to train according to Mentzers and H.I.T:s principles (NOT according to the number 3 magic that Jones preached).
Mike always kept asking those who preached volume training.These questions::
Why the contradiction? If each and every bodybuilder, being unique, requires a different training program, why advocate the same range of sets for everyone?
Why the equivocation? Whose word should we take -- and on what basis? Who is relating the truth: the advocates of 12-20 sets or the advocates of 75-100 sets? Or are they both unintentionally relating a falsehood?
Why the lack of exactitude? Will bodybuilders obtain equal results from 12 sets and 14 sets and 20 sets, or from 75 sets and 87 sets and 100 sets? Since science is an exact discipline, a proper science of bodybuilding should tell bodybuilders precisely what to do.
Why the evasion? Should all of the sets be performed with the same degree of intensity by the same individuals all of the time?
One more thing. Mentzer practiced what he preached those who say anything else don’t tell the truth. The reason why he trained more during his competive career was because Arthur Jones recommended that volume of about 3days a week 3 sets per bodypart (Jones science behind the number 3 is very interesting since it is based on principles that are very absurd). Mentzer didn’t believe that Jones could be wrong but in the end of his competive career he reduced the volume and frequency down to 2 days week and got better results. Its really sad that he retired so early. Mentzer himself believed that he could have developed further if he would have known what he knew in the end of the 90´s. He said that he was overtraining during his competition years.
When Mentzer started to train other people he recommended 3 workouts a week (again, the absurd science behind number 3). People got results with this system but it lead to overtraining in time since Mentzer didn’t understand the importance of infrequency. When Mentzer found out more about H.I.T he immidetley started to train his clients with 4-7days rest between each workout with reduced volume and the results were amazing. It was during the 90´s when he reduced the frequency and volume that people started to believe that he was crazy. Mentzer challenged everyone when it came to questions about training but nobody accepted the challenge.
Its interesting that a lot of people say that Mentzers principles sound good in theorie but that they don’t work in practice. If these people would have had the chance to talk to Mike or Ray most of them would have kept their mouths shut. I suggest that everyone don’t comment or trash talk the Mentzer brothers before they have all information available.
Lets end this thread now before it turns into a thread were we discuss which champion used HIT and which didn’t. Visit mikementzer.com
“Do what the nature requires to trigger the growth mechanism into a motion, then get the hell out of the gym, go home and rest and GROW” –Mike Mentzer
Azael
