Reddit reviews High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way

Dorian was a big advocate of Mike Mentzers high intensity training style 'Heavy Duty' and he wrote books and training plans around it.

Exert from one of his books:

According to Mentzer, biologists and physiologists since the nineteenth century have known that hypertrophy is directly related to intensity, not duration, of effort (Mentzer 2003;39). Most bodybuilding and weightlifting authorities do not take into account the severe nature of the stress imposed by heavy, strenuous resistance exercise carried to the point of positive muscular failure.

Mike based his style off the HIT training he was introduced to from creator Arthur Jones who had a very different take on training back when the typical "bro-split" would dare beat questioned. For most exercises only 1 set but that set taken to complete and utter failure. 3 workouts a week. The biggest emphasis was on rest. See the original plan below:

http://www.arthurjonesexercise.com/MuscularDevelopement/Idealworkout.PDF

Mike took those core foundations and reworked them to form Heavy Duty training and introduced Dorian to it around 1990/91. Mikes approach was similar in 3 training days, big emphasis on test but he lowered the rep ranges so the total weight could be increased. His reasoning for this was more stress and thus activation of the muscle fibres to stimulate growth.

This style of training can clearly work Mike and Dorian are proof but you need to bring a level of intensity to the gym that majority of your everyday gym rat doesn't have.

I've read both of Mike's books and highly recommend to anyone who hasn't ive put links below.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Intensity-Training-Mike-Mentzer-Way/dp/0071383301

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071452931/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2DQWMSV5K4C78Q40YY4A&dpPl=1&dpID=51B6x0cKhzL

Take up this type of weightlifting It only takes 2 hours a week with your build and the right diet 3 months you wont recognize yourselfhttp://www.amazon.com/High-Intensity-Training-Mike-Mentzer-Way/dp/0071383301/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348972778&sr=1-2&keywords=HIT+traINING

In the past I would train: Sunday - Back, Monday - Chest, Tues - Legs, Wed - biceps, THurs - Shoulders/Triceps
And I would do 4 or 5 excercises of 3-4 sets for each.
It was just lots of reps/sets, lots of bullshit with no direction.

Then, I studied Dorian Yate's, and gave his "Blood N Guts" routine a try:
http://zajachealthandfitnessblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/7/

Then, I read this bood by Mike Mentzer:
http://www.amazon.com/High-Intensity-Training-Mike-Mentzer-Way/dp/0071383301

I downloaded it on google play.
I highly recommend reading it so you apply the workouts correctly

My current routine:

• I am listing the working sets - you can give yourself 1-2 light/easy warmup sets to get yourself mentally ready for the (1) working set
  
  Workout A
  Squats (Normal pace)
  1 set 12-20 reps
  
  Dips 1 set 6-10 reps
  (SLOW pace - 4 seconds up, 1-2 second pause at top, 4 seconds down)
  
  Underhand Lat Pulldowns 1 set 6-10reps (SLOW pace - 4,1-2,4)
  
  Workout B
  Deadlift 1x 12-16 reps (Normal Pace)
  
  Shoulder Press 1 set 6-10 reps (SLOW pace - 4,1-2,4)
  
  Standing Calf Raise 1 set 12-20 reps (SLOW pace - 4,1-2,4)
  
  I rotate between workout A and workout B every 5-7 days.
  Although there is only 1 working set per exercise - they are done very slow & controlled - very intense.
  AND they are done till complete failure - till you absolutely cannot move the weight anymore.
  Only allow a few minutes rest in between exercises, so that whole thing takes around 20 minutes or so.
  It doesnt matter how tired you are from the previous set - do not save your energy - the key is to shock your central nervous system with as few sets as possible in order to trigger the maximum growth response.

Yep! That's not too different from mine as posted above. Though admittedly I do indirectly hit some groups twice bc of my compound movement "cleanup day" on Friday.

If you haven't read it, High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way by Mike Mentzer it's well worth picking up. Very interesting counterpoint to Arnold's high volume approach.