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High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way Paperback – January 3, 2003
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A PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
High-intensity bodybuilding advice from the first man to win a perfect score in the Mr. Universe competition
This one-of-a-kind book profiles the high-intensity training (HIT) techniques pioneered by the late Mike Mentzer, the legendary bodybuilder, leading trainer, and renowned bodybuilding consultant. His highly effective, proven approach enables bodybuilders to get results--and win competitions--by doing shorter, less frequent workouts each week. Extremely time-efficient, HIT sessions require roughly 40 minutes per week of training--as compared with the lengthy workout sessions many bodybuilders would expect to put in daily.
In addition to sharing Mentzer's workout and training techniques, featured here is fascinating biographical information and striking photos of the world-class bodybuilder--taken by noted professional bodybuilding photographers--that will inspire and instruct serious bodybuilders and weight lifters everywhere.
- Print length288 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMcGraw Hill
- Publication dateJanuary 3, 2003
- Dimensions8.4 x 0.8 x 10.7 inches
- ISBN-100071383301
- ISBN-13978-0071383301
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From the Publisher
John Little, longtime friend of Mike Mentzer, is the author of more than twenty-five books on bodybuilding, martial arts, history, and philosophy. His books have sold in excess of 600,000 copies and are now published in several languages.
Joanne Sharkey was Mike's closest friend and business manager. As the CEO of Mentzer-Sharkey Enterprises, Inc., she continues at the helm of the Mentzer legacy and operates Mentzer's official website at www.mikementzer.com
From the Back Cover
The advanced techniques, most productive workouts, and life-transforming personal philosophies of bodybuilding legend Mike Mentzer
Whatever your level of fitness, you can kick your muscles--and your mind--into high gear with the radical training philosophies and advanced bodybuilding techniques of Mike Mentzer, the first bodybuilder to ever garner a perfect score in the Mr. Universe competition.
The thinking man's bodybuilder, Mike revolutionized the art of training with his Heavy DutyTM system, proving that "less is more" when it comes to making great gains. But Mike's most advanced ideas have never been revealed--until now. Direct from Mentzer's inner circle--friend and colleague John Little along with Joanne Sharkey, the CEO of Mentzer-Sharkey Enterprises, Inc.--The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer gives you an insider's look at his most intense, in-depth lessons.
Inside these pages you will learn all the fundamentals of:
- HUNGER--the code of integrity for displaying a heroic physique
- Philosophy and character building--why you need never again fear your competition
- The science of productive bodybuilding exercise--Mentzer's fail-safe principles for building maximum size and strength
- Consolidation Training--a lightning-quick workout that works "like magic" for producing phenomenal muscle growth
- •Advanced Heavy DutyTM techniques, such as Omni-Contraction Training, Infitonic Training, and Rest-Pause Training
The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer provides readers with a unique insight into the world of Mike Mentzer--the man, the philosopher, and the legend.
About the Author
John Little, longtime friend of Mike Mentzer, is the author of more than twenty-five books on bodybuilding, martial arts, history, and philosophy. His books have sold in excess of 600,000 copies and are now published in several languages.
Joanne Sharkey was Mike's closest friend and business manager. As the CEO of Mentzer-Sharkey Enterprises, Inc., she continues at the helm of the Mentzer legacy and operates Mentzer's official website at www.mikementzer.com
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING the Mike Mentzer Way
By Mike Mentzer John LittleMcGraw-Hill
Copyright © 2003 Mentzer-Sharkey Enterprises, Inc., and John LittleAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-138330-1
Contents
Chapter One
THE ROLE OF REALISTIC GOALSThose readers who have been engaged in serious bodybuilding for more than a year probably have realized that the growth of muscle tissue beyond normal levels is a relatively slow process. And while I have never seen the results of studies that might reveal exactly how many pounds the average bodybuilder gains in the course of one year of hard training, I think that most experienced bodybuilders would agree that a five-pound gain of pure muscle tissue—as opposed to five pounds of body weight, despite its composition—would be considered a considerable achievement.
Five pounds of muscle tissue may not sound very impressive, but if a bodybuilder were able to sustain that rate of growth (5 pounds of pure muscle tissue per year) for five years, he would, at the end of that period, end up some 25 pounds of muscle heavier. If you could envision that much beefsteak laid out in front of you on the dinner table, you would then get some idea as to just how much "meat" 25 pounds of muscle is—enough to transform the average American male weighing 155 pounds into a veritable Hercules at 180 pounds of solid, cut-up muscle. It should also be remembered that of that average American male's 155 pounds of body weight, the muscle weight component is roughly 20 pounds (the remainder being bone, water, fat, and waste materials). Given this fact, his muscle weight gain of 25 pounds over five years would represent a transformation that would more than double his existing muscle mass!
Considering that the majority of the top muscle stars past and present weigh less than 200 pounds, that really is quite an achievement. I recall that at the 1977 Mr. Olympia contest bodybuilding luminaries such as Frank Zane weighed in at 187 pounds; Bill Grant at 184 pounds; Boyer Coe tipped the scales at a mere 196 pounds; and Ed Corney competed at a weight of 174 pounds. Barring the odd genetic freak, you'd actually be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of top bodybuilding competitors in contest shape that would weigh in excess of 200 pounds.
One of the most massively muscled bodybuilders from that era was Danny Padilla, a man who won the Mr. Universe title in Nimes, France, weighing a very muscular and cut-up 165 pounds. I recall Danny telling me that when he first began training 10 years prior to that contest he weighed a meager 120 pounds. That represents a gain of 45 pounds spanning a 10-year training career, with the yearly average gain being 4&fra12; pounds. Those figures may offer hope to those of you disappointed with similar gains.
Bearing this in mind it is now evident just how ludicrous some of those commercial claims in bodybuilding magazines are—such as those promising "a pound a day" of muscle gain if you take a particular nutritional supplement. There was even one well-known top bodybuilder who promised those purchasing his training courses that they would "gain 100 pounds of muscle" if they followed the advice contained in his booklets. It is doubtful that he ever succeeded in gaining that much muscle in his entire career—and yet he was promising everyone else in the world just that.
Of course there will be a number of you reading this book that cannot be counted in the ranks of the average. A few might possess well-above-average potential in gaining muscle mass at a rapid rate—a potential that will enable you to add up to 10 or more pounds of muscle tissue in a one-year period. But even these unusual few, whose abundance of the required genetic factors will allow for such rapid growth, won't see the results of such growth every time they step onto a scale. The individual whose potential allows him to gain a solid 12 pounds of muscle a year won't see those results on a day-to-day basis, or even a weekly one; most body weight scales just aren't sensitive enough to record fractions of a pound. Only if he were to gain at a steady rate of a pound per month for 12 months might he witness a weight gain once a month. Then there may be a month or two interspersed through the year when he makes no gains at all, but then proceeds to his 12 pound yearly gain by adding 2 pounds of muscle some other month. It is a rare individual indeed who makes such steady gains that they'll show up the same each and every month for a year. The majority will find that they gain in cycles: i.e., three months may pass with no visible signs of improvement, and then the next month their size and strength skyrockets. These growth patterns are highly individual, and thus will vary broadly from person to person.
It will be these few blessed individuals possessing all the required genetic factors who might possibly reach the top and take the big titles. (The next chapter will delve more deeply into the role of genetics in assessing one's ultimate potential.)
I stated at the outset that this book was not intended as a guarantee of a Mr. America physique. Nor would I insult your intelligence and tell you that by following the advice contained in these pages you'll end up gaining 50 or 100 pounds of muscle. The material contained in this chapter was not meant to frustrate you either, but to show just how difficult and slow the acquisition of a top physique might be. And if I was successful in doing that, you'll probably realize for yourself the utter absurdity of training six days a week for up to 25 hours per week. Can you really justify 1,200 hours per year of your time and energy gaining a couple of pounds of muscle? Especially when you discover how you may have been selling yourself short—vastly underestimating your growth potential—when you actually had the capability of gaining 8 pounds of muscle a year from a tiny fraction of the total amount of training. In many cases, the unbridled enthusiasm that leads to training excesses is the very thing that slows down the progress of the majority of bodybuilders—frustrating indeed.
Think of what could be accomplished were you to channel 1,200 hours of your time and energy each year to making a million dollars or the attaining of a college degree—why, you'd likely be on your way to your first million by now and probably have affixed a couple of Ph.D.s to your name.
Chapter Two
INDIVIDUAL POTENTIALAfter having read the previous chapter, many of you are probably asking yourselves this question: how can I know just what my potential for developing large muscles is? Unfortunately, there exists no surefire method for accurately assessing an individual's ultimate potential. There are certain traits, however, that suggest to the aspiring bodybuilder just where he might be headed.
Individuals inherit characteristics peculiar to their parents and not common to the species as a whole such as facial appearance, hair color, and blood type. These characteristics are fixed in the individual and not subject to progressive alteration. Other inherited characteristics such as intelligence and physical size are not fixed, and they can thus be altered from the outside.
The genes (hereditary material within a cell) responsible for mature body size can't find expression in an individual deprived of adequate nutrients during the early stages of maturation and growth. The very same applies to the full development of a person's intellect; deprived of early intellectual stimulation, a person's intellect will not develop very far, even if the hereditary material for it is present. These environmental influences are necessary for the development of normal levels of physical size and intelligence and for the development of above-normal levels—levels beyond those required for the carrying out of tasks involved in day-to-day living—of size and intellect; a person must expose himself to demands and the performance of tasks greater than those encountered in the course of daily living. In the case of developing larger than normal muscle size, a person must expose his muscles to progressively increasing levels of high-intensity training. And in the case of developing a superior intellect, a person must regularly attempt increasingly complex mental tasks. Improvements never result in either case merely by repeating things that are already easy.
While it is true that anyone can improve upon his or her existing levels of muscular size or intellect by following the advice mentioned above, in all cases limits will exist and there is yet no means by which mankind can transcend them. (Soon this may change as genetic engineers continue to unravel the mysteries of the DNA molecule.)
Along with certain psychological factors necessary in pursuing a goal to its fulfillment, there are definite inherited traits that represent the single most important consideration in building a championship physique. While anyone can improve upon his starting level of development, only a select few will become top champions, and these are the ones with the greatest abundance of the required inherited physical characteristics.
These characteristics offer the aspiring bodybuilder a guide to where he is headed—and indicate areas that may require greater attention during training.
SOMATOTYPE
While an infinite variety of body types exist, authorities have concluded that there are three readily identifiable types that recur most often. Dr. W. H. Sheldon categorized an individual's body by analyzing the degree to which each of the three types was present. He called his system somatotyping.
The three somatotypic variables are endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy.
Endomorphy refers to the tendency toward soft round body contours. A typical endomorph is squat, having a round torso, thick neck, and short, fat legs and arms.
Mesomorphy refers to the tendency toward being muscular. A mesomorph is built square and strong, having broad muscular shoulders, powerful chest and limbs, and carrying little bodyfat.
Ectomorphy refers to the tendency toward linearity or slimness. Ectomorphs are usually tall and always thin in the torso and limbs. They carry little bodyfat or muscle.
SKELETAL FORMATION
In assessing an individual's predisposition towards building a championship physique, it is essential to consider bodily proportions, which are determined by the length, thickness, and ratio of a person's bones.
The bodily proportions normally associated with the ideal bodybuilding physique are broad shoulders, narrow hips, and arms and legs of medium length. Bodybuilding legends Sergio Oliva (from the 1960s) and Steve Reeves (from the 1940s) are excellent examples of how well-balanced proportions can benefit a bodybuilder.
While bones must be large enough to support a heavy musculature, they can't be too large. Otherwise they'll obliterate the beautiful lines that are the hallmark of the bodybuilder's physique.
MUSCLE LENGTH
While skeletal size and formation enable an individual to support massive muscle structures, the ultimate size a muscle might develop to is actually dictated primarily by its length. In other words, a muscle's length dictates its thickness: its width will never exceed its length, otherwise it would be unable to contract. A biceps muscle that is one inch long will never be more than one inch thick, or one that is two inches long, two inches thick, and so on. The bone to which the muscle is attached is of no great significance—instead it is the length from the tendon attachment at one end of the muscle to the tendon attachment at the other end that determines how much mass a muscle will appear to have.
However, a bodybuilder with short biceps does not necessarily possess short muscles throughout her body. The length of any specific muscle seems to be a random feature within any given bodybuilder's musculature, with differences usually existing from one side of the body to the other and from one body-part to the next. It is the extremely rare person who has uniform muscle length and/or size over his entire body.
FAT DISTRIBUTION
Just as people are genetically programmed to increase the size of certain muscles, they also inherit a certain number of fat or adipose cells. The distribution of these cells is genetically determined as well. The average nonobese person possesses approximately 25 to 30 billion fat cells, the moderately obese about 50 billion and the very obese as many as 240 billion. This wide range may help explain why some people find it a near impossibility to keep fat off permanently.
Racial and geographic background determines in large part where fat is deposited. People from colder parts of the world, like Germany and Norway, have much of their fat distributed in the abdomen and torso areas, which helps insulate the internal organs from the extreme cold and maintain a steady core temperature. People from warm areas, such as Africa, naturally tend to store less fat subcutaneously in order to allow body heat to escape, thus maintaining a cool body. These types store more fat internally and in the area of the buttocks from where it can be mobilized more readily for energy in times of privation and/or famine.
Modern man's exposure to extreme temperatures has been enormously minimized with central heating and air conditioning. Despite that fact, researchers have documented proof that civilized man is programmed for fat deposition by blueprints laid down by his forebears of the Ice Age. Nevertheless, given the criteria by which we judge the modern bodybuilder, the darker races tend to have an advantage in terms of leanness and extreme muscular definition.
FIBER DENSITY AND NEUROLOGICAL EFFICIENCY
Somatotype, skeletal formation, muscle length, and fat distribution are genetic traits that are more or less visible and therefore ascertainable to a high degree of accuracy. However, muscle fiber density and neurological efficiency—two inherited features that play a role in determining ultimate potential—are invisible. Estimates of the amount of muscle fibers within a given volume, or cross-sectional area, of a specific muscle can only be approximated through biopsies.
Fiber density, like muscle length, determines the mass potential of a muscle. The more fibers per given volume of muscle, the thicker that muscle's potential to develop. Nevertheless, rather than attempting to procure such an expensive medical procedure, give your training some time to see how rapidly your muscles thicken.
Neurological efficiency refers to the relationship between the nervous system and the muscles. How nerves innervate the muscles and how they are activated by the brain determine the degree of muscle power and the number of fibers required to produce a certain movement against a certain resistance. People with high levels of neurological efficiency have the ability to contract a greater percentage of fibers during a maximal effort. In an all-out effort the average person may contract 30 percent of the fibers within a specific muscle. A few people may have the capacity to activate as many as 40 percent, while a blessed few may manage 50 percent. The ability to contract a high percentage of fibers increases contractile capacity, thus enabling more intense exertion. In terms of endurance this is a disadvantage, but a great advantage for stimulating growth or single attempt efforts.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING the Mike Mentzer Wayby Mike Mentzer John Little Copyright © 2003 by Mentzer-Sharkey Enterprises, Inc., and John Little. Excerpted by permission of McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : McGraw Hill; 1st edition (January 3, 2003)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0071383301
- ISBN-13 : 978-0071383301
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.4 x 0.8 x 10.7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #8,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13 in Weight Training (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the authors
John Little is uniquely suited to the task of relating the philosophy of Bruce Lee and his approach to life. Little has a degree in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is the author of two books on health and fitness (having spent over fifteen years as a writer for several fitness magazines), and is himself a student of Lee's art of jeet kune do.
Selected by the Bruce Lee estate, Little is the only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations and to edit books on the subject of Lee's martial art and its far-reaching philosophical underpinnings. Little's keen awareness of the subtleties of both Eastern and Western philosophy coupled with a respect for the preservation of the essence of Lee's words and meaning give this book an integrity that is all too rare.
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For those who don't know, Mike Mentzer was someone who challenged the bodybuilding world. Instead of marathon sessions 6 days a week, he believed that training with (eg) 2, twenty minute sessions a week you would get better results.
For those that have his previous books, this does not really provide anything new. It is more of a repackaging of all his ideas into one easy to read format.
As he passed away a few days after the first drafts were complete, the co-author John Little (also known for his Bruce Lee books) turned this into part memorial. It is filled with a tonne of Mentzer pictures in various poses and lifting routines as well as information on the mans life.
An eye opening read for those that have never read his work before, and a good final summary for those that have.
***
[Added 2.5 years later - Nov 2005]
I look back at my review now and smile. A few points need to be added:
Mentzer did not actually use these methods himself when he was a competitive bodybuilder, yet all pictures shown are from his bodybuilding days. Thats clearly misleading to the people reading.
I've met a lot of people in person and on forums that like Mentzers writing, but they all say the same thing. After inital success with these methods, you begin to backslide badly, becoming very detrained. The same thing happened to me.
(it should be pointed out that not all HIT is the same. Mentzer advocated an EXTREME low volume)
A few stories have come out since, including one in the book 'The New HIT' that Mentzer may actually have been mentally unstable. I won't go over the stories here, you can check out the above mentioned book, use Google (and someone else even mentions some stories here in the reviews)
Mike's belief that there can be only ONE right answer, is based directly on his love of Ayn Rand and Objectivism. That entire philosophy is based on 'rational thought' and the idea that thinking rationally can only lead you to one correct answer. The problem when applying this to bodybuilding is as follows:
There is probably one correct answer for how EACH INDIVIDUAL should train, but since each individual is different (height, weight, age, leverages, muscle potential, body shape, etc...), giving the one answer for everyone does not work. You have to find the correct answer for that PARTICULAR person.
You have to be able to find the correct answer for yourself.
But Mentzer did find a niche (and some say defined himself) as being the man alone, preaching rational thought in a sea of irrational people, just like the characters out of Ayn Rands novels, Howard Roark (The Fountainhead) and John Galt (Atlas Shrugged).
Mentzer has become so popular (and will remain so) because of his personality and charisma, similar to a Bruce Lee or Kurt Cobain. Death creates legends and the saying goes, 'better to die than to fade away'.
Don't confuse people's attraction to his personality, with the effectiveness of his training methods.
Top reviews from other countries
Gekauft habe ich es mir ursprünglich, weil mich HIT-Training an sich interessierte und man im Netz kaum sinnvolle Informationen dazu findet. 1-2 mal die Woche trainieren und damit die gleichen oder sogar mehr Fortschritte zu machen, wie Leute die viel mehr Zeit damit verbingen? Klingt natürlich für Anfänger sehr reizvoll, aber unlogisch und somit habe ich es erstmal als Quatsch abgestempelt. Aber Irgendetwas muss ja dran sein, sonst würden nicht etliche (Ex-)Bodybuilder darauf schwören.
Der Beginn des Buches handelt viel von Mentzer selbst und dessen Lebengeschicht, Philosophie, Erfahrung und Einstellung zum Thema Bodybuilding.
Im Hauptteil geht es dann um das HIT-Training selbst, sowie diverse Übungen. Gerade den Teil, in dem verschiedene Übungen näher erläutert werden, habe ich als äußerst interessant empfunden. Es waren einige dabei die man heutzutage garnicht mehr kennt. Ein Wort welches im wieder fällt: "Intensität"!
Der letzte Teil vom Buch handelt eher vom professionellen Bodybuilding, Wettkampfvorbereitung und Posing. Für mich eher irrelevant gewesen.
Das Buch habe ich in 3 Tagen durchgelesen und es hat sich angefühlt wie eine verdammt gute Serie: ... ein Kapitel noch ... ein Kapitel noch ...
Ständig wollte ich wissen wie es weiter geht.
Natürlich habe ich versucht im Anschluss das neue Wissen auch in der Praxis anzuwenden. "Intensität" ging mir immer wieder durch den Kopf. Und so hab ich bei meinen nächsten Trainingseinheiten versucht immer intensiver zu trainieren. Zu dem Zeitpunkt habe ich etwa 4-5 mal die Woche trainiert. Bereits nach kurzer Zeit war mir klar das man es mit genügend Intensität nicht nur nicht nötig hat 5x pro Woche zu trainieren, es ist garnicht möglich.
Auch wenn ich bis heute nicht nach dem Mentzer Prinzip trainiere oder trainiert habe muss ich sagen das mit dieses Buch sehr geholfen hat meine inneren Grenzen zu überwinden. Aus einem "da geht nichts mehr" ein "da sind noch 2 drin" zu machen, ist meiner Meinung nach das schwerste an intensivem Kraftsport und vermutlich das, woran die Meisten scheitern.
Fazit:
Kauft das Buch, auch wenn ihr nichts von Mentzer oder HIT-Training haltet, es hilft.
P.S.: Das ganze Buch ist übrigens auf Englisch. Ich würde meine Englischkenntnisse als recht gut einschätzen, musste somit nur 2-3 Wörter nachschlagen. Generell ist es aber kein "leichtes" Englisch.
However there is a clear understanding of the method suggested and a straight forward training programme listed.
Personally I have limited time in the gym and it gives a great use of time.
My goals are strength and carry over to my other sport.
I have found it really has increased my interest in the gym, improved my strength in a small time.
Great for strength training and those with limited time.
Would recommend the book and method.
I mixed the suggestions with compound movements and it is great.
But you really have to push it to get the benifits with sets to failure.
Comme beaucoup, j'ai cru ce que disaient les coachs fitness et j'ai suivi leur conseil. J'allais donc à la salle de sport 6 fois par semaine, je m'entraînais plus d'une heure à chaque fois et je mangeais beaucoup de protéines. Le résultat ? Aucun progrès ! Non seulement, je ne gagnais pas en muscle, mais en plus cela mes performances ne cesser de se détériorer, j'étais tout le temps fatiguer et pourtant, j'avais du mal à dormir.
Aller à la salle de sport était devenu une corvée et non plus un plaisir. Et si jamais je n'allais pas m'entraîner, je me sentais incroyablement coupable pour le reste de la journée. Lorsque j'ai demandé conseil, la seule explication que l'on m'a donnée était que je devais aller m'entraîner encore plus, plus longtemps et manger encore plus. J'ai fini par abandonner et je ne suis plus retourné à la salle de sport pendant 4 ans.
Jusqu'au jour où je suis tombé par hasard sur une vidéo de Mike Mentzer, expliquant pourquoi s'entraîner plus longtemps ne fonctionnait pas pour prendre du muscle. Intriguer, j'ai donc continué à regarder d'autres vidéos de Mike Mentzer et j'ai fini par acheter ce livre.
Après l'avoir lu et enfin compris pourquoi je ne faisais pas de progrès, en grandes parties parce que les "experts" en fitness sur Youtube ne comprennent pas comment le corps fonctionne et donc donnent des conseils erronés. J'ai donc changé ma façon de m'entraîner grâce à ce livre et maintenant, je ne vais à la salle de sport que 2-3 fois par semaine, pour des séances courtes mais très intense (environ 20-40 minutes), et je mange désormais de façon équilibre avec un léger surplus de calories par jours allant de 200 à 300 calories. Résultat, depuis que j'ai commencé à m'entraîner selon la méthode de Mentzer depuis maintenant un peu plus de 2 mois et demi, je ne cessais de faire des progrès.
Désormais, je ne cesse d'augmenter la quantité de poids que j'utilise à la salle de sport, et je progresse de semaine en semaine. Et plus jamais je ne suivrais les conseils des experts en musculation.
Reviewed in France on February 12, 2023
Comme beaucoup, j'ai cru ce que disaient les coachs fitness et j'ai suivi leur conseil. J'allais donc à la salle de sport 6 fois par semaine, je m'entraînais plus d'une heure à chaque fois et je mangeais beaucoup de protéines. Le résultat ? Aucun progrès ! Non seulement, je ne gagnais pas en muscle, mais en plus cela mes performances ne cesser de se détériorer, j'étais tout le temps fatiguer et pourtant, j'avais du mal à dormir.
Aller à la salle de sport était devenu une corvée et non plus un plaisir. Et si jamais je n'allais pas m'entraîner, je me sentais incroyablement coupable pour le reste de la journée. Lorsque j'ai demandé conseil, la seule explication que l'on m'a donnée était que je devais aller m'entraîner encore plus, plus longtemps et manger encore plus. J'ai fini par abandonner et je ne suis plus retourné à la salle de sport pendant 4 ans.
Jusqu'au jour où je suis tombé par hasard sur une vidéo de Mike Mentzer, expliquant pourquoi s'entraîner plus longtemps ne fonctionnait pas pour prendre du muscle. Intriguer, j'ai donc continué à regarder d'autres vidéos de Mike Mentzer et j'ai fini par acheter ce livre.
Après l'avoir lu et enfin compris pourquoi je ne faisais pas de progrès, en grandes parties parce que les "experts" en fitness sur Youtube ne comprennent pas comment le corps fonctionne et donc donnent des conseils erronés. J'ai donc changé ma façon de m'entraîner grâce à ce livre et maintenant, je ne vais à la salle de sport que 2-3 fois par semaine, pour des séances courtes mais très intense (environ 20-40 minutes), et je mange désormais de façon équilibre avec un léger surplus de calories par jours allant de 200 à 300 calories. Résultat, depuis que j'ai commencé à m'entraîner selon la méthode de Mentzer depuis maintenant un peu plus de 2 mois et demi, je ne cessais de faire des progrès.
Désormais, je ne cesse d'augmenter la quantité de poids que j'utilise à la salle de sport, et je progresse de semaine en semaine. Et plus jamais je ne suivrais les conseils des experts en musculation.