BigMass
11-15-2002, 10:18 PM
For intermediate bodybuilding and strength training. For decent strength and size above the average man. All will find interesting and principals should apply to all levels.
I wrote the above disclaimer to state the obvious that if you want to be Mr. Olympia this is probably not for you, but if you want to be above your friends and have kind of like a Gymnast level physique this is good. But still interesting for advanced people to prove that Mentzer’s ideas were true.
This article is from personal experience. I used to work out 5 times/ week with a nice split that I’m sure a lot of you do. I ate well, took in protein, creatine, even tried a little bit of andro here and there but nothing serious. I was taking about 2 protein shakes/day, creatine, choking down canned tuna etc. After a couple of years with good gains (went from 150 to 185-190), due to personal reasons, I stopped.
Fast forward 1.5 years later. I am down to about 170, less muscle and more fat. I looked terrible considering how I looked prior to quitting. I was benching 225 for 8 reps when I quit, and now I was having trouble getting 135 up. Needless to say I was determined to get back into shape and regaining my strength. I stopped caring as much about how I looked and focused more on getting my pathetic strength back up. I no longer had time nor money to go to the gym as much as I did so I purchased a Nautilus bench/rack thing with an Olympic bar and 300lbs in free weights for about $300. Picked up some cheap spinlock dumbbells for $100 too. Up to 90lbs each. At the time I was unemployed and played a lot of computer games, drank a lot of pop and ate like ****. I started eating better, picked up some cheap whey protein and started working out.
This is where the whole pattern started to change. When I went to the gym I was working out about 45min to 1 hour/day. Very intense and did many sets and pumped my muscles to hell. Now I was way more lazy. I did about 2 sets per exercise and that’s it. Sometimes I was stupid and didn’t even warm up. Just when medium weight off the start and lifted about 6 reps until I couldn’t anymore. Then 5 min later again. Then maybe 15min later one last set after watching some TV haha. Sure it was way less strategic and purposeful as I used to work out, but I still lifted intense. When I lift I don’t waste my energy and time. I lift to punish the muscles, even if it’s not for 45 min anymore.
Well to cut a long story short from 45min-1hour 5 times/week I was down to maybe 5min /day of total lifting time. I usually lifted every day because it was convenient. Sometimes I did bench or squats 3 days in a row. But it was all max to failures for a couple of sets. Because I didn’t exhaust my muscles aerobically like I did before, I didn’t require the recovery time I did before. Of course though if I did something like squat 3 days in a row I wouldn’t squat again for 1 week or more. So with this haphazard approach to lifting, I managed to regain every ounce of strength I lost. All this with way less money spent on supplements. Before I was pumping creatine, brand name protein and other crap. Now I was just mixing up some cheap old protein once per day at the most and eating regularly. Not overdosing on tuna and being careful. I had cheeseburgers and anything I wanted. As long as it included some protein. I ate regularly but was not anal about it like most say you have to be every 2 hours and all that. Some days I could only eat 3 times, other days maybe 5.
Now you say, well that’s called muscle memory. Its not hard to regain what you lose, it’s hard to get it in the first place. I did the work to get up there, so it’s not hard to regain and maintain. The funny thing is that now I am bigger and stronger than before just lifting when I have the time and for very short period of time. I never ask myself how I will have the time to work out. If I have 1 min between a TV commercial I will run downstairs and do a heavy set of bench or arm curls, or shoulder press or pull ups. Then run back up and watch my show J. I eat well and I gather that has a lot to do with it. Even though I don’t take much supplements anymore, my food intake is good. I get enough calories and protein. I don’t think I am as fit as before though. I don’t think I would have the stamina and cardio to do a 45 min workout, but for max lifts and size I think I surpass the level I was before.
What conclusions have I reached?
1) Supplements are mostly there to suck up your consumer $$$ and to make the people who market them rich. Yes protein powders are good. Is the $100 whey protein VS the $20 whey really going to make you bigger? No way. It’s not going to add another inch to your arms trust me. Be realistic, don’t be a brain-dead Musclemag follower.
Think about it. Back in the 50s and 60s there were some big and nice looking bodybuilders. Bill Pearl for one. Many others. They didn’t have Muscletech and all that crap back then. They ate meat and drank milk. Had cheeseburgers for lunch back then too I’m sure of it. Had some beers too once in a while. They weren’t anal like today’s new age crap with everyone eating grass and soy and getting most of their protein from Nitrotech or whatever. Heck even just whey protein is pretty new as a supplement. You really think Arnold would have been that much bigger had he access to the wonderful technology in whatever the new Prolab crap is? I don’t think so.
2) QUALITY >>>>> QUANTITY. I much respect Mentzer’s ideas now that I have experienced them first hand. Sure I was sloppy and had I followed them more purposefully and thoughtfully I would of seen better results I am sure. But I am convinced pumping out a few hard sets can be more productive than doing all the pyramid stuff with 100 sets. Is doing all that work bad? No I don’t think so, but I don’t think it’s needed. Am I in as good of a cardio shape as I was back then? No, but I also worked out about 1/20 less than I did back then. Just through in 15min on a bike here and there and I’m sure I can even get my cardio back up.
3) Everyone is different. Following what mags tell you to do is the worst thing you can do. Read and take in everything with an open mind. You will learn to separate bull**** from truths. Buying the new Flex and reading on “Ronnie Coleman’s plan on building YOU 23” Biceps” Is pretty much just good for a few photos of Ronnie pumping up. Nothing more. What Ronnie does should have no impact on how you work out. Be aware, but don’t follow blindly.
4) Creatine and Andro (1 AD and stuff like that), though two of the hottest selling supplements out there are a waste and not needed. Believe my I have an open mind. If I really wanted to be huge I would seriously take a well thought out and planned cycle of steroids. Not crap from GNC that “out pulps Pulp Fiction”. The gains I have now I will not loose in 1 month or 1 year. If I wanted to maintain all it would take are some pushups. I always lost any weight I’ve gained from Creatine (water weight) and Andro (kinda like taking D-Ball with not deca). Even if they did provide some sort of gain. 1 or 2 pounds over what I would have had normally, it was definitely not worth the money, time, and toilet issues. All you need is a healthy diet with a special attention to extra protein and calories. Red meat once in a while is good for getting some creatine in your system.
5) Protein poweder ( Meal replacement) once / day I am for because of convenience. I usually have this for breakfast due to me being too tired and lazy in the morning before work to make real food. Even then I am convinced it’s not needed. But what the heck.
6) Basic Movements work. Unless you’re Ronnie Coleman and need to, “”isolate the 2nd bicep fiber from the left side to perfect the symmetry of the optimus region and spectrocatate solinoid factor of the right side””…. Then just load up a bar and do a barbell curl. You don’t really need stuff like concentration curls. Really you don’t. My arms are my best body part and all I do is standing curls. I have 16.5 “ arms at 190 and 6’0 with not much body fat ( I am to this day a hardgainer ). And no I’m not a kid that lies about their measurements to impress other people on the internet.
Well that’s pretty much it. I am kind of tired now so I cant think up anything smart to say to close this… essay (cough yeah right). But just remember this is from my experience. This is not some scientific stuff I’m trying to push on other people. This is just for people to use as they will, or just read for the heck of it. Hope I didn’t waste your time.
Later
I wrote the above disclaimer to state the obvious that if you want to be Mr. Olympia this is probably not for you, but if you want to be above your friends and have kind of like a Gymnast level physique this is good. But still interesting for advanced people to prove that Mentzer’s ideas were true.
This article is from personal experience. I used to work out 5 times/ week with a nice split that I’m sure a lot of you do. I ate well, took in protein, creatine, even tried a little bit of andro here and there but nothing serious. I was taking about 2 protein shakes/day, creatine, choking down canned tuna etc. After a couple of years with good gains (went from 150 to 185-190), due to personal reasons, I stopped.
Fast forward 1.5 years later. I am down to about 170, less muscle and more fat. I looked terrible considering how I looked prior to quitting. I was benching 225 for 8 reps when I quit, and now I was having trouble getting 135 up. Needless to say I was determined to get back into shape and regaining my strength. I stopped caring as much about how I looked and focused more on getting my pathetic strength back up. I no longer had time nor money to go to the gym as much as I did so I purchased a Nautilus bench/rack thing with an Olympic bar and 300lbs in free weights for about $300. Picked up some cheap spinlock dumbbells for $100 too. Up to 90lbs each. At the time I was unemployed and played a lot of computer games, drank a lot of pop and ate like ****. I started eating better, picked up some cheap whey protein and started working out.
This is where the whole pattern started to change. When I went to the gym I was working out about 45min to 1 hour/day. Very intense and did many sets and pumped my muscles to hell. Now I was way more lazy. I did about 2 sets per exercise and that’s it. Sometimes I was stupid and didn’t even warm up. Just when medium weight off the start and lifted about 6 reps until I couldn’t anymore. Then 5 min later again. Then maybe 15min later one last set after watching some TV haha. Sure it was way less strategic and purposeful as I used to work out, but I still lifted intense. When I lift I don’t waste my energy and time. I lift to punish the muscles, even if it’s not for 45 min anymore.
Well to cut a long story short from 45min-1hour 5 times/week I was down to maybe 5min /day of total lifting time. I usually lifted every day because it was convenient. Sometimes I did bench or squats 3 days in a row. But it was all max to failures for a couple of sets. Because I didn’t exhaust my muscles aerobically like I did before, I didn’t require the recovery time I did before. Of course though if I did something like squat 3 days in a row I wouldn’t squat again for 1 week or more. So with this haphazard approach to lifting, I managed to regain every ounce of strength I lost. All this with way less money spent on supplements. Before I was pumping creatine, brand name protein and other crap. Now I was just mixing up some cheap old protein once per day at the most and eating regularly. Not overdosing on tuna and being careful. I had cheeseburgers and anything I wanted. As long as it included some protein. I ate regularly but was not anal about it like most say you have to be every 2 hours and all that. Some days I could only eat 3 times, other days maybe 5.
Now you say, well that’s called muscle memory. Its not hard to regain what you lose, it’s hard to get it in the first place. I did the work to get up there, so it’s not hard to regain and maintain. The funny thing is that now I am bigger and stronger than before just lifting when I have the time and for very short period of time. I never ask myself how I will have the time to work out. If I have 1 min between a TV commercial I will run downstairs and do a heavy set of bench or arm curls, or shoulder press or pull ups. Then run back up and watch my show J. I eat well and I gather that has a lot to do with it. Even though I don’t take much supplements anymore, my food intake is good. I get enough calories and protein. I don’t think I am as fit as before though. I don’t think I would have the stamina and cardio to do a 45 min workout, but for max lifts and size I think I surpass the level I was before.
What conclusions have I reached?
1) Supplements are mostly there to suck up your consumer $$$ and to make the people who market them rich. Yes protein powders are good. Is the $100 whey protein VS the $20 whey really going to make you bigger? No way. It’s not going to add another inch to your arms trust me. Be realistic, don’t be a brain-dead Musclemag follower.
Think about it. Back in the 50s and 60s there were some big and nice looking bodybuilders. Bill Pearl for one. Many others. They didn’t have Muscletech and all that crap back then. They ate meat and drank milk. Had cheeseburgers for lunch back then too I’m sure of it. Had some beers too once in a while. They weren’t anal like today’s new age crap with everyone eating grass and soy and getting most of their protein from Nitrotech or whatever. Heck even just whey protein is pretty new as a supplement. You really think Arnold would have been that much bigger had he access to the wonderful technology in whatever the new Prolab crap is? I don’t think so.
2) QUALITY >>>>> QUANTITY. I much respect Mentzer’s ideas now that I have experienced them first hand. Sure I was sloppy and had I followed them more purposefully and thoughtfully I would of seen better results I am sure. But I am convinced pumping out a few hard sets can be more productive than doing all the pyramid stuff with 100 sets. Is doing all that work bad? No I don’t think so, but I don’t think it’s needed. Am I in as good of a cardio shape as I was back then? No, but I also worked out about 1/20 less than I did back then. Just through in 15min on a bike here and there and I’m sure I can even get my cardio back up.
3) Everyone is different. Following what mags tell you to do is the worst thing you can do. Read and take in everything with an open mind. You will learn to separate bull**** from truths. Buying the new Flex and reading on “Ronnie Coleman’s plan on building YOU 23” Biceps” Is pretty much just good for a few photos of Ronnie pumping up. Nothing more. What Ronnie does should have no impact on how you work out. Be aware, but don’t follow blindly.
4) Creatine and Andro (1 AD and stuff like that), though two of the hottest selling supplements out there are a waste and not needed. Believe my I have an open mind. If I really wanted to be huge I would seriously take a well thought out and planned cycle of steroids. Not crap from GNC that “out pulps Pulp Fiction”. The gains I have now I will not loose in 1 month or 1 year. If I wanted to maintain all it would take are some pushups. I always lost any weight I’ve gained from Creatine (water weight) and Andro (kinda like taking D-Ball with not deca). Even if they did provide some sort of gain. 1 or 2 pounds over what I would have had normally, it was definitely not worth the money, time, and toilet issues. All you need is a healthy diet with a special attention to extra protein and calories. Red meat once in a while is good for getting some creatine in your system.
5) Protein poweder ( Meal replacement) once / day I am for because of convenience. I usually have this for breakfast due to me being too tired and lazy in the morning before work to make real food. Even then I am convinced it’s not needed. But what the heck.
6) Basic Movements work. Unless you’re Ronnie Coleman and need to, “”isolate the 2nd bicep fiber from the left side to perfect the symmetry of the optimus region and spectrocatate solinoid factor of the right side””…. Then just load up a bar and do a barbell curl. You don’t really need stuff like concentration curls. Really you don’t. My arms are my best body part and all I do is standing curls. I have 16.5 “ arms at 190 and 6’0 with not much body fat ( I am to this day a hardgainer ). And no I’m not a kid that lies about their measurements to impress other people on the internet.
Well that’s pretty much it. I am kind of tired now so I cant think up anything smart to say to close this… essay (cough yeah right). But just remember this is from my experience. This is not some scientific stuff I’m trying to push on other people. This is just for people to use as they will, or just read for the heck of it. Hope I didn’t waste your time.
Later