3 months on Mike mentzers HIT review

[unbuff]

Hey. Letting everyone know where I'm at these days. I gave billstarr 5x5 the flick. Hitting 195kgx5 below parallel squat, 145kgx5bench and 210kgx5 deadlift, and being only 80kgs with a 34" waist (around 17% bf) I decided I wasn't getting bigger and with the risk of injuries approaching from all the weight I had to stop... plus I wanted size and not so much ridiculous strength.

I talked about mike mentzer a while back, so I bought 2 of his books "HIT training the mike mentzer way" and "mike mentzers wisdom" I found them to be absolutely fantastic, so I finished up with 5x5 and began his routine immediately.

I'm just finishing 3 months of his routine, following all the principles of his theory to building muscles. So basically, its a '3 day' split. To be performed Chest/back.... legs/calves... shoulder/arms.... and legs once more. Then rotate back to the start. Days off for me were around 5/6 days, I'm now believing I need even more then that. I had a few setbacks during these 3 months. To start, the first month with all the rest days, took me 1month to just get through each workout only once, and picking the right weights for pre-exhausting and hitting the right reps proved a little difficult, but by the second month all was ok. Each workout is meant to take 25 - 35mins, it was taking me 1hour, just from setting up to packing up.. but now they are very very short as I'm in the groove now. I had a few weeks of a pretty upset stomach, I was missing meals, getting constipated, not sleep etc. The first half I ate at my maintenance, but then started eating over 4000cals again, seems to be on the money for me. Finally half way through I had to make 3 changes in the exercises I was doing as they weren't working for me.

My gains were. 1kilo + 1/2" lost on my waist. Increases - 1/8" on arms, 1/2" on chest, 1/2" on legs and the loss on waist. I have to add, I do keto for diet (25% protein, 75%fat), and found since doing so and only consuming few carbs around workouts, I have stopped putting on fat.

I spoke to a few people about it already and all the feedback I got was negative. As in, the gains I made wasn't good enough for 3months. I beg to differ though, I think they were great considering everything that happened. Consider only getting 1kilo every 3months, while leaning up, in 3 years thats 12kilos of muscle, thats good in anyones book for a natural trainer, with already almost 5 years of training and learning

I have to mention the benefits of this kind of training

1. Only 1 workout a week. Its been fantastic for getting back into old hobbies again, and re-establishing a social life, since 3 - 5day training splits really cut into those things, along with working 6 - 7 days
2. Increased energy. I can't stress this enough, I can't believe how FUKED I was doing volume training. Getting up in the morning is constantly improving. I'm still tired in the afternoons from work, but, I no longer need to nap every afternoon for an hour like I was before
3. Shorter workouts. They weren't that short when I began, but now as im getting into it, im setting up quicker and ending quicker. Todays leg workout was 20mins.
4. Increased strength. Its very hard to gauge my strength with benching and leg strength, since the training involves pre-exhausting etc, but I worked out I'm only 1 workout away from hitting my 1RM in deadlifts again, and thats with a totally cooked back from 2 other exercises to failure. That means I'll be going OVER my best deadlift effort from 5x5 training which was done with a FRESH back.

There are negatives

1. The workouts are ridiculously intense. I thought DC training was hard, which it is and im glad I did it along with all the other years of training I have done. During that time, I learned a lot about what my body and mind is capable of doing and HIT really exploits this. The training is so severe, I genuinely feel like quitting forever, during and after each workout... I'm only gald I can rest as long as I need really, or else there is no way anyone could train like this naturally... especially for me since I work physically. You really have to be a sadist for HIT to work. lol
2. I'm a lot sorer for longer, and I always make sure the next day after training is a day off from work (weekend) because I'll be really lethargic all day and not feel centered again till nighttime. I always make sure that before I train I'm not sore and 100% feeling good.

So thats basically it so far. The next 3months I'm going to be very focused on what I want, along with keeping calories nice and high, no snacking on shit and hopefully not getting sick and improve on my weight and muscle size.

The only supps I took was an intra workout supp "Synthesize" and 'superpump250' I quit that stuff half way through, as its just not needed, the workouts are intense enough to wake up anybody, plus when ur fail training ur heartrate is already skyrocketting... you don't want a supp thats going to make that worse. I also tired 3/4 bottle of 'EBOL' by thermolife which is just ecdysterone and some other crap. I had been reading up on ecdy for awhile now, and I'll be doing it again, longer to see its effects.

[dave]

Interesting, sounds like you like the training. I don't agree that 1kg is great but if you are liking what you are doing and will stick to it then I think it may be best for you.

I also think 5x5 can kill you with volume too. After this maybe look into hitting some high frequency to change it up (not too much volume though).

[Derek Amos]

Thats a lot of setup/fine tuning to do, just to learn a new system. I just hope you get the results you want at 3 months, or it will be a waste of training time.

Isn't 5x5 a strength accelerator, not a bulk builder? (unless your on the gear?) DA

[scotty]

While I did this program I found every 4 days I was ready to workout. It lasted about 10 months where I hit peak, weights/reps were not moving up etc. I found Mentzers program was excellent for short term change, but kept going back to De francos WS4SB training for continous strength and growth. Mentzers programs I found are probably the better ones for maitaining what you got. A 20min workout is a good concept though.Good luck with it mate.

[unbuff]

Lol this is slightly embarrassing, but I started HIT on the 21/3/10

That review I made was only on may 18th.... I don't know how the hell I stuffed up, just got my dates wrong. I still have another 9 days to go before the 3months is up, so I'll weigh in and get some more measurements. As of now I have gone over the 1/2" mark on my quads, only problem is, the cramps are still there. I worked out my quad would cramp at full contraction on the hacksquat and for me thats just past halfway. I found the lock up would happen quickly, the faster I completed the positive, its fine at static and on the negative. So now I do the positive very very slow, much slower then before. It wants to cramp up at that peak contraction part, but I find it now takes a lot longer, and I can reach failure before it happens. I have to say, its painful, but i literally grin and bare it. haha.

Sorry about this date stuff up!!!

[dave]

Nice stuff up The 1kg gain sounds better now. Also I was just re-reading the initial post and how you were worried about injuries. Just remember that Mentzer style HIT can lead to injuries very easily, just be careful especially with free weight compound stuff.

[unbuff]

Nice stuff up The 1kg gain sounds better now. Also I was just re-reading the initial post and how you were worried about injuries. Just remember that Mentzer style HIT can lead to injuries very easily, just be careful especially with free weight compound stuff.

I can't see how you could injure yourself more easily using the principles of strict form and very slow and controlled reps, against heavy weights and explosive reps. Especially if your pre-exhausting 1 muscle group, before a compound exercise, the lift itself is going to be a lot lighter...

[dave]

Fatigue, that's the problem it weakens your muscles and can lead to easier tears. But as long as you are watching what exercise you use once you have a fatigues muscle and are keeping the form
very strict you should be fine.