February 2010

After months of going back and forth between various levels of enthusiasm for my traditional volume training, last month I picked up the Mentzer-style HIT again. Last time, I lost a lot of muscle and felt really out of it. But this time... it's working wonders. I can only say that I must be in a different space, mentally and physically right now. However I'm not stepping on the scale yet because I just want to judge by the mirror, by my strength, and by how I feel. And I feel great, and my muscles are all nice and dense, and my appetite is voracious!

I workout ONCE every 4-5 days at this point, although I can conceive of adding an extra rest day as I progressively grow stronger.

My workouts are not exactly as Mentzer outlined in his book, but they are very similar. As an example, here is the workout I have been using for Shoulders & Arms. The cadence is 4 seconds on the concentric part of the movement; then there is a two-second static hold; followed by a four-second eccentric descent. The workouts usually take about 10 minutes to complete, excluding my 5 minute cycling warm-up.

1. DB laterals (1 x 6-10) used as pre-exhaust for
Bent-over DB laterals (1 x 6-10)

2. Barbell curls (1 x 6-10) used as pre-exhaust for
Chin-ups (1 x failure)

3. Triceps pushdowns (1 x 6-10) used as pre-exhaust for
Triceps dips (1 x failure

4. Crunches

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June 2009

Jumping from 45-set workouts based loosely on Cory Everson's Ms. Olympia routines, now I am experimenting with Mike Mentzer's "Heavy Duty" High-Intensity Training techniques. This is a month for Olympians, I suppose!

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February 2009

I'm presently shooting through my microcycles at what seems (to me) an amazing pace. I train regularly for mass, limit strength, and general recuperation using a three-day split. Most weeks I will take one day off from training completely, other weeks I need two days off to adequately rest and recover between my workouts. I perform cardio three times a week, for one half-hour at a time, followed by various stretching exercises.

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October 2008

Presently, I seem to be rotating my split as my body dictates. I shoot for six days a week but sometimes can only physically manage five. Using this demanding, high-volume routine, I take naps almost daily and have noticed I seem to take off from training entirely for three or four days at the end of each month.

Monday/Thursday: Legs & Glutes
Tuesday/Friday: Arms & Shoulders
Wednesday/Saturday: Chest & Back

Cardio is performed M-W-F for 25-30 minutes after ten minutes of ab/core work, with static stretching for 15 minutes after each cardio session.

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March 2008

Presently on a three-on/one-off split. Arms/Delts on Day One; Legs on Day Two; Chest/Back on Day Three. Abs and Cardio in the evenings of Days One and Three. I have versions A and B of my split so rotate through quite a number of exercises during the course of a week's time or so. The program's been working well for about a month now... I'm hoping I can keep up with my diet and continue to make progress with this!! :)

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January 2008

To spice things up, for the next two weeks I'll be looking backward and taking a few tips from one of my favorite first-ladies of bodybuilding, Rachel McLish. She gets such a bum rap anymore, because she was such a comparatively small bodybuilder, but she truly knew her stuff when it came to training and dieting down for competition. So I'm using a number of routines from her second workout book, "Perfect Parts", and am blitzing my so-called nine parts into 'perfection'! We'll see how these two weeks go... already I'm exhausted!!

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November 2007

I've grown a bit mentally bored with my October routine, so now that it's November I'm trying something less directed toward my omnipresent goal of mass-gaining and more "general strength and fitness"--just for a change.

Day One: Back/Calves
Day Two: Chest/Shoulders/Abs
Day Three: Legs/Calves
Day Four: Arms/Abs
Day Five: Rest
Day Six: Plyometrics (Full-body workout)
Day Seven: Rest

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October 2007

I'm back on track with my training the way I want it to be. High reps/lighter weight is good for giving the body an occasional rest, but now I'm back to business! :)

Day One: Arms
Day Two: Legs/Calves
Day Three: Chest/Abs
Day Four: Rest
Day Five: Arms
Day Six: Shoulders/Calves
Day Seven: Back/Abs
Day Eight: Rest


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Beginning of October 2007

While I started out the month on my lovely September schedule, I kind of had a physical/emotional crisis last weekend and have subsequently found it necessary to drop down the intensity of my workouts. So for these two weeks I am going much lighter in poundage, using higher reps and a less strenuous split. I can tell I've shrunk a bit already :( but if my body needs the rest, then my body needs the rest...

Day One: Shoulders, Arms
Day Two: Legs, Calves
Day Three: Back, Chest, Abs
Day Four: Rest

On my "Leg Day" I've been substituting plyometrics with a medicine ball for my squats and other exercises I usually go heavy on. It's a different feel when I'm done