Here’s a quote the late Mike Mentzer, former pro bodybuilder and high-intensity-training advocate (John Balik photo):
[Read more…]More Sets for Mass?
Q: I’ve been training for about 10 years, so I consider myself advanced. Don’t I need more volume (sets) to continue growing?
A: At first glance, that seems logical. But there a few things that make the opposite true, according to hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley…
- A more developed nervous system means you can recruit more motor units and therefore activate and damage more fast-twitch fibers
- The inflammatory response to a workout increases with training status—more secondary muscle damage occurs due to calcium-ion-related fatigue
So basically, being advance means you’re taxing the muscles and nervous system more, creating more fatigue and damage at every workout…
Adding sets piles onto that damage—and could be the very reason so many bodybuilders plateau and can’t grow. Most add sets as they progress…
Kudos to Mike Mentzer, who was saying this back in the ’80s. He went from using more volume early in his career down to three or four sets per muscle in his bodybuilding prime.
And he got bigger, denser, and more defined…
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Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 260: Mike Mentzer’s Mass On the Beach
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Arnold vs. Mentzer—No-Cardio Fat-to-Muscle Training
Q: First off, I just picked up The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout, and it’s fantastic. I learned so much reading it, which I did at one sitting. Great info and easy-to-understand-and-follow workout, just what I need to kick off a new training program. In the first chapter, you tell the story about Arnold getting ripped and vascular without cardio. Didn’t Mike Mentzer do the same thing but with a lot fewer sets? It’s interesting that their training styles were so different, yet they both got very lean without much, if any, cardio. Do you think a lot of it could be genetics, and us average Joes need more cardio?
A: While genetics could have something to do with it, it might not have as big an impact as you might think. As far as Arnold vs. Mentzer, The key to both of their [Read more…]