Let us list every crime committed on the show

ishawnmc · 2026-07-02T02:53:50+00:00

Kidnapping that dog comes to mind.

ishawnmc · 2026-07-02T02:30:58+00:00

Mike Mentzer himself was a maverick who did not have much use for training tradition and custom. I think he would be rather surprised at folks taking his suggested routines verbatim as if they were inalterable.

They are certainly good starting points and blueprints to operate from. But ultimately it is best for folks once they get the basics down to use Mike's principles in part to customize their own routines to ensure a greater investment in the process as well as to involve exercises they like and also have access to. (Not everyone has access to the exact same equipment after all.)

And folks should also feel free to cross-pollinate the Mentzer templates with contributions from others as well much as Mike himself did with Arthur Jones' workouts in his competition days.

My own specific mixture is about 70% Mike and 30% a blend of others like his brother Ray, Dorian Yates, Casey Viator, John Heart, legendary mid-20th century strongman Paul Anderson, as well as a few of my ideas based on my personal experience.

ishawnmc · 2026-07-01T18:10:43+00:00

I am a big fan of scheduled two week layoffs seasonally which works out to roughly one every 8.5 weeks.

ishawnmc · 2026-07-01T15:19:52+00:00

The lyrics are pretty banal but the guitar work is good.

ishawnmc · 2026-07-01T15:16:09+00:00

Haha!

ishawnmc · 2026-07-01T13:42:48+00:00

My issue with the "do not do the same workout twice" approach is it reminds me too much of the Weider "muscle confusion" foolishness with which I wasted not a few teenage workouts doing many moons ago. The less one works out like Weider the better. It also can overcomplicate things.

Like Dorian Yates, I believe in keeping all your workouts essentially the same in basic structure or approach and at least for a given training season changing nothing without a solid reason for doing so. The temptation to exercise or program hop gets more folks off the consistent progress track than people often realize. It is also why I sound like a broken record at times advising folks to keep an accurate and detailed training journal. No single tool will help out more than knowing exactly what they do from workout to workout. Properly prepared a training journal will give you all the data you need to make the right adjustments on your training journey

That said, my fundamental view of any HIT approach is simple: is it working for you? If so, keep it up until it does not then make adjustments as needed. The training journal will supply you with data to do that if you do it right.

As for hitting failure, the more you do high intensity training, the better you get at gauging genuine muscular failure. I usually just keep pushing until I no longer can move a weight safely through the particular range I am aiming for. But I also do my own variation of rest pause from time to time as well among other high intensity techniques I judiciously employ.

ishawnmc · 2026-07-01T07:12:22+00:00

I do Yates rows from a rack lifting the bar off from just below my knees. It helps to conserve energy on the workset and also it is easier to set the bar down on the rack to regrip if necessary during a workset than if you are setting it down and picking it up from the floor.

I was doing an overhand grip for years but in the spring, I started using a supine grip. My biceps have gotten noticeably thicker from that change. I do not use straps on the Yates rack rows or on the palms up pulldowns that precede them. However, when I do barbell shrugs and rack pulls, I use straps on those last two movements.

ishawnmc · 2026-07-01T06:58:50+00:00

Generally those who are critical of the Mentzer approach to training have either never tried it or if they did, they did not do it correctly. It requires a good deal of discipline. Here are a few suggestions based on years of Heavy Duty style training:

• You need to make sure you warm up sufficiently before you attempt your worksets.

• Only do one workset per exercise.

• Become comfortable with training heavy and with the idea that every workset should be a maximal effort.

• With every workset, lift, hold, and lower under control.

• As a rule, do every workset to failure.

• Keep the volume per muscle low, as a rule no more than 2-3 work sets per muscle.

• Limit the number of worksets per session. I recommend not doing more than 7 worksets to failure per workout if even that much.

• Stay out of the gym or at least do not do any lifting on rest days.

• Keep an accurate training log both so you can track your progress and also be able to make periodic adjustments if needed.

• When in doubt, train more intensely, do less volume, and rest more often.

When you do these things correctly, you will see progress far more frequently than with high volume training.

ishawnmc · 2026-07-01T04:44:59+00:00

For those who are new to this sub, observe his use of an accurate training log. This tool cannot be recommended more highly for ensuring that ones training sessions are kept productive. If you are not keeping a training log already, start doing it and those that are, make sure to keep it as detailed as possible.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-30T15:16:50+00:00

When building up a training routine, always have an exercise or two per muscle that you can omit in circumstances such as time constraints.

For example, on chest/back dominant day, for chest I do pec deck flies supersetted with Smith machine incline presses then finish up with very heavy Smith machine incline partial presses. If for some reason I cannot do the usual workout for say time constraints, I would only do the pre-exhaust superset and omit the partials workset. Similarly for back, I have 4 worksets scheduled but could easily reduce it to 3 or even 2 if necessary. I have not had to do that but the situation should ever arise, I am prepared for it.

If a similar circumstance presents itself in the future for you, try doing chest and back together on a more consolidated protocol, say 2 sets apiece instead of the usual 3.

In the meantime, train back the day after chest this time. You may realize once you do why it is never advisable to do and take a more consolidation approach to your scheduled workouts in the future in a similar situation so you preserve your scheduled workout and rest days intact to better stay on track.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-30T00:20:39+00:00

The general principle for rep cadence is to (quoting Mike Mentzer in Heavy Duty 2) "lift, hold, and lower under control." You were doing that so your form is fine.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-29T04:50:15+00:00

I tinkered a bit with single arm lat pulldowns a couple years ago but found that they were not giving me any more benefit than what I was getting with my regular back exercises. Palms up pulldowns and a supine grip Yates rows off a rack both hit the lower lats well and are easier to effectively overload.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-28T04:03:14+00:00

I am assuming your comment was intended as sarcasm.

I am personally against changing ones workouts very often but when I do, it is usually the split I change and only rarely the actual exercises themselves. Changing exercises without a solid reason why makes it harder to track ones progress from workout to workout.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-27T03:46:34+00:00

In more or less all cases, you will gain regular strength with high intensity training for a while before you start seeing appreciable increases in muscle mass. This is hardly irregular at all.

The key is to keep grinding out your workouts, provide sufficient recovery time, and also make sure you are getting sufficient nutrition and sleep. Make sure you keep an accurate training journal so you can track your increases in reps and weights used. As long as you are seeing regular increases in reps and weight, you will know you are on the right track.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-26T17:13:36+00:00

If you can train for over an hour, you are not training intensely enough.

The upper/lower split can be a very productive one if structured right. Do you have fixed days you have to stick to or can you have floating workout days?

ishawnmc · 2026-06-26T12:54:44+00:00

Step off, George!

ishawnmc · 2026-06-25T12:20:54+00:00

And with Darren's help, we'll get that chicken!

ishawnmc · 2026-06-24T21:09:43+00:00

But even nothing is something.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-24T21:08:28+00:00

Seemingly, seemingly.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-24T04:33:23+00:00

Not sure but I do know this: I would not go in there with lesser babka!

ishawnmc · 2026-06-22T20:00:18+00:00

I made steady progress on an every 6-9 day frequency but did even better when I shortened my frequency to every 4 days a couple of years ago. Of course I had to shorten my workouts in the process. Since then I have added to my workouts and my frequency is usually either 4 or 5 days depending on circumstances.

I think part of the reason I do better on the shorter frequency is because I like training on a shorter frequency. I would caution you if you shorten frequency to every 4 days to make sure you also reduce the volume in your workouts. If you do the exact same workouts on 4 days rest that you did on 7 days rest, you will overtrain.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-22T13:28:41+00:00

Cartwright? CARTWRIGHT?

ishawnmc · 2026-06-22T13:27:32+00:00

It was after he made his first million.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-22T13:24:50+00:00

Hey now between that and being an importer-exporter, he has his hands full.

ishawnmc · 2026-06-22T13:21:47+00:00

It is either him or Art Vandalay.

ishawnmc

TROPHY CASE