Learn how to properly shock muscle fibers in order to 100% start muscle growth and increase the recovery process several times. Mike Mentzer is known not only as the winner of the Olympia, but also for his enormous contribution to the development of modern bodybuilding. It was he who did everything to popularize the effective rest-pause training method, although it was not created by him. But there are several techniques that Mike personally created, for example, hyper-training in bodybuilding.
It should be noted that this system is not as well known among athletes as Heavy Duty. It was used primarily by Mentzer himself and his students, including Dorian Yates. Arthur Jones (developer of the Nautilus simulators) took part in the creation of this system together with Mike. According to this technique, each positive phase of the movement must be accompanied by a powerful negative one, which is achieved with the help of a partner.
Mike himself talks about hyper-training as one of the variants of the already mentioned "rest-pause" method. The main differences between them are the absence of pause and the performance of negative repetitions. The first athlete to test the new training method was Dorian Yates. In the course of the experiment, we performed a bench press in an incline simulator and bending arms in a Nautilus simulator. Each movement was performed in one set. Working in this mode, Dorian was able to perform four repetitions in the press and three in the curls of the arms.
Hyper-training zone in bodybuilding
It should be admitted that this is a very extreme way of increasing the intensity of training. However, a powerful stimulating effect is produced on the muscles. Unfortunately, Mentzer was unable to perfect the hypertraining method due to his premature death. However, he left behind all the records of his experiments.
It is well known that even the use of classical high-intensity training is a huge stress for the body and affects its ability to recover. When doing a simple set to failure, you stimulate the muscles in half as much as possible through the use of hyper-training in bodybuilding. It is physically impossible to perform more than 4 or 5 approaches using this technique, and Mike himself advises not to exceed this number in one training session. For example, when training the muscles of the back, hyper-training can be used when doing a press down on a high block; to work out the biceps, perform arm curls using this technique.
You should use your maximum performance as a guide, and the number of repetitions should not exceed 4 to 6. This is due to the high intensity of the technique and with its more active use, you will simply overtrain. If after one or two sessions you find that your strength indicators have not changed or have completely decreased, then start using hyper-training in bodybuilding less often. Do this every second or even third session. If your body is recovering relatively slowly, then be careful with this method. Of course, the effectiveness of any system for you can only be determined experimentally.
Very often, athletes do not attach much importance to overtraining until they find themselves in this state. All Mentzer students who used the hypertraining method did not exercise more often than once every 4-7 days. It must be remembered that the higher the intensity of the exercise, the more time it takes for the body to recover. If you don't get enough rest, you will not be able to progress with either system.
Learn more about Mike Mentzer's super training in this video:
