In the 1970’s, a talented young bodybuilder by the name of Mike Mentzer was doing his best to ascend the ranks of competitive bodybuilding. His journey started out with a very basic training program as an early adolescent. By the time he was 15, he had already developed an outstanding body. Having a taste of bodybuilding success, he began to add on to his basic three sets per muscle group workouts. He reasoned that he needed to do this because all of the top bodybuilders that he knew about were doing high volume workouts.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Ronnie Robinson, Sergio Oliva, and Bill Pearl were just a few examples of the top bodybuilders who commonly did 20 sets or more per muscle group. This being the case, Mentzer believed he needed to turn up his training volume to develop his body to the same extent as the top pros. Oddly enough, as he added on more volume, his gains began to slow down.
Mike knew that just about every bodybuilder finds it harder to keep gaining muscle after a few years of training. This being the case, when he saw that his gains in muscle size had slowed down, he attributed the slower gains to the fact that he had already been working out for several years. He figured the solution was simply to train more. If he increased his training to 10 sets and it stopped working, he would need to up his training to 15 sets, and then 20 sets, and as many sets as needed to keep gaining. It took him a while to figure out that high volume training was incompatible with his particular physiology.
While Mike Mentzer was doing longer and longer workouts, a young phenom rocked the bodybuilding world by winning the Mr. America as a 19 year old. The bodybuilder was Casey Viator who confounded many in the bodybuilding world by developing incredible size and strength with three brief workouts per week. When Mike heard about this, he thought back to his early days of training when he was only doing a few sets per muscle group and making very nice gains in size and strength. He wondered if he was doing more harm than good with his long high-volume workouts and decided to return to the brief workouts that he had done in his early years of training. Suddenly, he started to gain again to the point where he entered the Mr. America Contest and won. He then entered the Mr. Universe and won and came very close to winning the Mr. Olympia with a second-place finish to Frank Zane.
Mentzer realized that volume was not the main training mechanism that triggered muscle size and strength; at least not in his own experience. Mike concluded that intensity of effort was the key to size and strength, and any time he needed to improve, he found ways to increase his training intensity. He became famous for developing a high intensity method that he referred to as Heavy Duty Training.
Mike had a brother named Ray. Both utilized the same high intensity style of training, and both developed amazing physiques with simple, brief workouts. About a decade later, a bodybuilder by the name of Dorian Yates began his reign as a six-time Mr. Olympia. Dorian was also a proponent of high intensity training.
Mike Mentzer, Ray Mentzer, and Dorian Yates, all have one thing in common, they are highly responsive to high intensity training. None of them needed to do long workouts consisting of tons of sets and reps. They responded better to short workouts and only a few sets per muscle group. Among powerlifters, Kirk Karwoski only needed one heavy work set per week for squats, deadlifts, and bench presses to develop an enormous amount of strength and a monstrous set of muscles that many bodybuilders would be envious of. These men are examples of intensity responsive lifters.
I personally do not believe that high intensity training is the best option for everyone, but it would be foolish to deny the tremendous results that some lifters have experienced in response to high intensity training. How do you determine whether or not you are responsive to high intensity training? You must try it to see how your body responds to it.
If you want to explore various high intensity methods that are commonly used by high intensity advocates, go to the home page of this website and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will find a free book that explains the methods that are often used by those who prefer high intensity training. Just click on the cover that says, Intensity Responsive Lifters. Best of training to you.
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