On Mike Mentzer's Athlete's Routine

[NilbertRafer]

Any experience on Mike Mentzer's Athlete's Routine?
With Workout 1: Deadlifts and Dips; and Workout 2: Squats and Chins; (with 4-7 days in between 1 and 2)
If so, what results did you get?

[Cradler]

First off, I think it needs to have some bench press in there too. Chins and Dips doesn't seem like enough upper body work at all. Also, 4-7 days between 1 and 2? IK said it well in another thread:

On average, most people only need between 2 and 4 days for adequate recovery. And by going too far past your needed recovery period before training said bodypart again, you're not giving adequate (ie; frequent enough) stimulus to the muscle to provoke optimal gains.

Taking a full 7 days off before your next workout is way too much IMO. For Rippetoe's, even, which works at a much higher intensity, the recovery time suggested is only about two days.

-Connor

[NilbertRafer]

Thanks!

[_Wolf_]

there are no absolutes in life.

mike mentzer was full of shit 99.99% of the time. but in order to be successful u need to figure out what the 0.01% of actual truth is and use that. id say optimum recovery. so his rest 3-5 day principle is cool and so is his infrequent traning protocol.

if i had to use this, id tailor it to fit my needs.

id have 2 full body workouts.

workout a
squat variant 3x5
bench press 3x5
rows 3x5
dumbbell shoulder press 1-2 sets to failure
leg press 1-2 sets to failure plus a widowmaker every now and then
weighted chin-ups 2-4 sets to failure
bicep work 1-2 sets to failure
tricep extensions 1-2 sets to failure

then id rest for 3-5 days (and do cardio a few times in the interim) before

workout b
deads 1x5 or 3x3
military press 3x5
box squats 3x5
weighted pull-ups 4x failure
flat dumbbell bench press 2-3 sets to failure
glute ham raises 2-3 sets
bicep work 1-2 sets to failure
tricep work 1-2 sets to failure

3-5 days off

repeat

this is a take-off off rippetoe's and it may benefit a lot of people or it may not. its just some stuff i put together....u can actually tailor this and make it suit u if u know what ur doing.

would i do mike's program ever? no.

[Cradler]

That's true, Anuj - there are times when you'll need a lot of rest. Thanks for pointing that out. Especially given the workload you put up there (which looks good, btw) you'd want a lot of recovery time from that.

I don't actually know much about Mentzer (I'm a newbie), but the OP's routine seemed a little light to earn 7 days off. But that's not always true, my bad.

[Jonson]

Hello Nilbert
I used to do the athletes routine and I used to be a member of High intensity.net which I belive your a member of am I right?
I had progress with the Athletes routine (except dips which ground to a halt quickly) but it was slow to slow.
I ditched the routine for the Mark Rippetoe beginner program and made good progress, as an example I gained 15 kilos on my pulldowns in 6 months on the athletes routine, I gained 15 kilos in one month on pulldowns on the Rippetoe program.
Personally I dont think MM's athletes routine is good and would not reccommend it to anyone.

Cheers Jonson

[_Wolf_]

Originally Posted by Cradler

That's true, Anuj - there are times when you'll need a lot of rest. Thanks for pointing that out. Especially given the workload you put up there (which looks good, btw) you'd want a lot of recovery time from that.

I don't actually know much about Mentzer (I'm a newbie), but the OP's routine seemed a little light to earn 7 days off. But that's not always true, my bad.

i was actually complimenting ur post

what u said is spot on correct. i just said that there are extremes and u need a middle ground. for example, 2 days is too less IMO unless u periodize the workload (which MM does not do) and 7 days is waaaaaay to much. so the middle ground is 3-5 days roughly and u as the trainee should choose ur post is a good one, connor

[Riddick2112]

Originally Posted by Sentinel

there are no absolutes in life.

If that were truly the case then the above statement can not be considered valid!

think about it!

[_Wolf_]

Originally Posted by Jonson

Hello Nilbert
I used to do the athletes routine and I used to be a member of High intensity.net which I belive your a member of am I right?
I had progress with the Athletes routine (except dips which ground to a halt quickly) but it was slow to slow.
I ditched the routine for the Mark Rippetoe beginner program and made good progress, as an example I gained 15 kilos on my pulldowns in 6 months on the athletes routine, I gained 15 kilos in one month on pulldowns on the Rippetoe program.
Personally I dont think MM's athletes routine is good and would not reccommend it to anyone.

Cheers Jonson

good post here too. nice to see u guys interacting. the fact that u just stopped training the HIT way means ur chances of not getting banned here have increased

[_Wolf_]

Originally Posted by Riddick2112

If that were truly the case then the above statement can not be considered valid!

think about it!

of course it would!



lets add a "usually 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the time" to that statement then