So according to Max_rep how did he train??? I have a copy of his suppossed program from the 70's which I can post if anyone is interested. It was largelt giant/super sets with each bodypart worked twice a week.
If I remember it correctly, it was something like this:
Mentzer would do maybe 2-3 sets of a certain excersise, eg barbell curls, fairly heavy. Then he would do one final set.
After they were done, I think Mentzer would only count the final set as a working set. The other sets were only warm ups or something like that.
But you need to remember that Mentzer didn't fully develop his extreme ideas of training until he himself QUIT. It was only in the end of the 80's/ beginning of the 90's, he really started to get really wild.
My impression is that Mentzer was very influenced by philosophical reason. Herein lies a big explanation as to why he got stuck when he tried to develop a training protocol. From what I gather, he was obsessed with applying the perfect logic reasoning to training. It left no room for science.
If you read Heavy Duty 2, there's a routine called The Consolidation Routine, which consists of the following:
Workout A
One set Squats
One set Close-grip, Palms-Up Pulldowns
rest 5-7 days
Workout B
One set Regular Deadlifts
One set Dips
rest 5-7 days
Repeat
Mentzer never used this routine himself during his competitive days. Or anything resembling it, I guess.
I feel truly sorry for all those who still are buying into the preachings of Mike Mentzer, may he RIP.
He chose to ignore most of the excersise research available. If he had been using his "logical reasoning", he would've seen the obvious, that if the muscle needs shorter time to recover than the CNS, then you should avoid making the CNS having to recover fully after every workout.
YIP
Zack