Mike Menzel, a famous American bodybuilder and bodybuilding training expert, proposed and advocated the high-intensity strength training method, which is the key to training on how to scientifically increase muscle mass in a short period of time.
1Why do many people train hard for years but achieve little results?
I (Mike Menzel) think the main reason is that they don’t know what effect each training method will bring, and they don’t know where to work. They just randomly pick some training plans from newspapers and magazines and practice blindly. They can't change this one to that one. The result is only a waste of time. The reason for this is that they unwisely combine medium-to-high-intensity bodybuilding strength training (using overload training methods) and endurance training (the "more is better" principle), and do not understand that correct training should specifically target muscles. Strength, not endurance (referring to how many times you can lift a light weight). Because the strength of a muscle is directly proportional to its cross-sectional area. If you just want to grow your muscles bit by bit and improve your endurance bit by bit, then you should continue to use high-intensity overload training and the more endurance training the better. If your goal is to maximize muscle mass in the shortest amount of time, don't hesitate to engage in high-intensity strength training.
2How to explain that a person with less developed muscles can lift heavier weight than a person with developed muscles?
However, many athletes dismiss this. They say that the cross-sectional area of a muscle is directly proportional to strength, so how do you explain that a person with less muscular muscles can lift heavier weights than a person with strong muscles? The answer is that this comparison itself is incorrect. . People with less developed muscles can lift heavy objects because their nervous systems can mobilize more muscles to coordinate force. A person with larger muscles should have greater strength, but due to various reasons, his strength is not fully utilized. In other words, he only uses a small part of the muscles involved in exerting force, so the weight he lifts is not large. If he has also mastered the ability to mobilize the muscles of the whole body to coordinate force, then the weight he can lift must be much greater than that of a person with less developed muscles.
3. The most taboo thing about bodybuilding is always comparing yourself to others
Know that the only person you can compare yourself to is yourself. Those bodybuilders who don't understand the role of strength training just perform some ineffective exercises year after year. They seem to be waiting for a myth to appear; one day, their desire and enthusiasm will deliver the muscles they long for.
Building muscle mass is not haphazard and unpredictable. Only high-intensity strength training can stimulate muscle growth. This kind of training should neither last too long nor be too frequent, otherwise it will hinder muscle growth and cause injuries. Once you train the right way, you will immediately feel progress - an increase in strength.
People often ask me if I can see results after six months of heavy-duty training. I tell them that in less than six months, they can see results from the first training session. Arthur Jones once said that if a bodybuilder adopts the correct training method, he can develop his muscles to the extreme within two years. If your current training isn't working, stop using your old methods.
For most people, the increase in strength precedes the increase in muscle volume. In other words, there may be only an increase in strength for a period of time, but no obvious changes in muscle volume. Don't lose confidence at this time. As long as strength continues to increase, muscle mass will definitely increase. The amount of muscle growth and the length of lag (bottleneck) time vary from person to person.
I am the type who grows muscles intermittently. I remember that there was a situation where my strength increased for 7 consecutive months but my muscle mass did not change. Because I didn't understand that muscle growth lags behind strength growth, I was very frustrated at the time and wanted to give up bodybuilding training more than once, but I persisted. My strength gains finally led to significant muscle growth. The same pattern is found in many of the students I train.
My student Christian Obrist practiced strength training three times a week for no more than 20 minutes each time. After four months, not only did his strength increase, but his muscles also grew by 15 kilograms, and his lines became clearer. . After four months of training, the effect was greater than what he had achieved in the past three years, six times a week for two hours each time.
Mike Menzel believes that when training a certain muscle, the number of sets should be very small. Extreme intensity, short training sessions, and all-out effort. Maximum stimulation method to achieve remarkable results. At present, this training method has been accepted by more and more bodybuilding enthusiasts and athletes in the world, and has achieved good results. The articles about high-intensity strength training translated by Mr. Wang Jialin published in the previous issues of "Health and Beauty" magazine are proof. I don't need to go into details. I just want to talk about a few issues that should be paid attention to about high-intensity strength training
1. Movements must comply with technical specifications, be accurate and meticulous. Since high-intensity strength training requires maximum stimulation of the muscles being trained, the movements should beIt must be accurate and meet the technical requirements. The contraction must be thorough and the relaxation must be sufficient. And the movements should be rhythmic, that is, when the muscles contract, they exert positive force and move slightly faster, and when they relax, they give in and move slowly. The weight of the trial lift must be controllable. Do not pursue too much weight, which will cause movement deformation and affect the training effect.
2. Be sure to warm up fully before formal training. Since high-intensity strength training requires every effort to complete the lift, the training intensity is extremely high, so formal training must be started only after sufficient warm-up. Generally, a lighter weight is used to warm up one set first, and then a certain amount of weight is added to warm up one set. The number of warm-up times is higher, usually 12-15 times. Start formal practice after sufficient warm-up, which can effectively prevent the occurrence of injury accidents.
3. High concentration. High-intensity strength training requires maximum stimulation of muscles, so during the entire training process, attention must be highly focused on the muscles being trained to make the movements more accurate and effective. In addition, you should be full of emotions during training and actively complete training tasks through self-motivation and self-suggestion.
4. Regularly adjust training intensity to avoid overtraining. Because high-intensity strength training causes huge bursts of impulses in the nerves, the nervous system can tire quickly. Therefore, this training method should not last too long. Generally, after 5-6 weeks of training, the training intensity should be reduced for 2-3 weeks, and then the training intensity should be increased. At the same time, medical supervision should be strengthened and attention should be paid to recovery and nutrition to ensure the successful completion of training.
The word intensity is used to describe training effort. Take the barbell curl as an example. Assuming you have the ability to do 10 reps with 100 pounds, but you only do 10 reps each training session, your muscles will not be able to further develop their potential. In order to grow muscle, you have to go beyond your limit, like doing 11 or 12 reps. This high-intensity stimulation is necessary for muscle growth.
However, what we often see in the gym is this: many people doing 4 sets of curls with a predetermined number of reps - maybe 12 - and using the same weight in all 4 sets. Do the same number of times. What they do is just useless labor below the limit of their muscles. To ensure a high-intensity workout, pay special attention to the last rep of each set. That last push of all your strength is what flips the switch on the muscle growth mechanism. Once you reach complete failure, there is no need to add another extra set. This is not only unnecessary, but also very dangerous, otherwise you will be waiting for annoying overtraining.
Menzel often reminded me that training is a negative because the only thing you can do in the gym is actually damage the muscles, and each additional set increases the damage. Many people don't seem to believe that muscles will grow after leaving the gym because they have to go to the gym almost every day to "recharge." I suggest these people stop training completely for a week to see if the results are as terrible as they imagined. I promise, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised to find that you're moreStronger. At least, the result won't be a return to the levels you imagined two or thirty months ago. Remember: muscles grow while you are resting. Don't disturb them while they are still growing.
Menzel pointed out that bodybuilding training is not endurance training, and it is not the time you spend in the gym that indicates the training effort. High intensity is the secret to bodybuilding training. Short, low-frequency and high-intensity training are key factors in promoting rapid muscle growth.
By using higher intensity training and doing just one set of any given movement with all your strength, your training will be shortened to 20 to 30 minutes each time, only 2 to 3 hours per week, and your muscle growth will be as fast as unprecedented level.
Now tell me, will you do the second set?
Attachment:
Mike Menzel answers readers’ questions
Question: I have read your articles and teaching materials, and I know that you advocate low-set training, but why do the bodybuilders in the magazines do many sets? If you say that high-set training is not good, then why do they do it one by one? They all look like Big Macs?
Answer: Do you know how many professional bodybuilders there are in the world? There are only more than 100. Compared to the number of bodybuilders in the world, this is an insignificant number. These professional athletes have genetic advantages and strong recovery capabilities that ordinary people do not have, allowing them to use training volumes that often make ordinary people overtrain and make progress more easily.
If there were no genetic and recovery differences, I think there would be thousands of professional bodybuilders in the world. Everyone who trains like them will become as strong as them.
In addition to the advantages of genetics and recovery ability, under the temptation of huge competition prizes, many professional bodybuilders also use some illegal drugs, such as steroids, to promote muscle growth. It is not uncommon for newspapers to reveal that athletes test positive for drugs.
If you don’t believe me above, just spend a few months training like your favorite celebrity, doing the same exercises, the same sets and reps, and eating like them. I bet you'll be overtrained and exhausted. Your enthusiasm for training will quickly diminish and your weight will plummet.
Not only do ordinary people not have good genetic advantages, but most of them have to work and study, and have families and careers, which makes it impossible for them to eat and rest all day long like professional athletes. for better recovery. This is why I advocate low-set, high-intensity training for most bodybuilders. Practice has proven: This is a very effective training method for everyone. It once made me a bodybuilding champion, and also enabled many young athletes to realize their dreams of becoming champions. Even today’s Olympic GamesMr. Pia Dorian Yates said: This is the training method that has brought me the greatest progress. It can produce surprising results. Yes, it can indeed produce surprising results.