Wow,
Seems like this thread turned into a weight training discussion; my area of expertise.
Regarding Mike Mentzer, I don't agree with most of his premises, especially the ones that he developed in the mid 90s, years after his involvement in competitive bodybuilding. I do give him credit however for being one of the first bodybuilders, if not the first, to bring forward the fact that there is no need to live in the gym in order to get in shape.
Mike's premise was "if one set is performed until absolute failure {using enough weight to do between 6-10 reps to get to failure} you are forcing more muscle growth than by doing 3 sets not performed to failure." Mike then went on to say that this was "the only valid training system", just like "there is only one valid way to bring a man from Earth to the Moon" and just like "there is only one way to solve a math equation". Needless to say, Mike's logic is flawed as there is more than one way to solve the problems of routine design, taking a man to the moon and solving an equation.
Most of Mike's ideas originated by Arthur Jones (creator of the Nautilus machines) and Mike later popularized them. While during the period of Mike's competitive bodybuilding he did 2 or 3 sets per exercise (I have the old magazines where he presents his routines), by the mid 90s he somehow concluded that all is required to achieve growth is 1 set of 1 exercise per body part. Typically he recommended each body part to be trained only once a week as well with a split like Mon: Ches/Back, Wed: Legs, Fri: Delts/Arms.
Here is the problem with that philosophy: Studies show that 1 set is not nearly enough to recruit the entire motor unit pool of Type I, Type IIA, and Type IIB fibers (check out my article on muscle fiber types:
http://www.hrfit.net/articles01/Article45.shtml ). To say otherwise (as these authors claim) is not only physiologically impossible but also defies all laws of neurophisiology. There are only two times when the 1 set to failure system works:
1-When you are an absolute beginner as the stress is absolutely new to the body.
2-If you are a bodybuilder that is grossly overtrained by doing 2 hour sessions six days a week. In this case, muscle growth is being prevented by chronic fatigue so once the bodybuilder reduces training volume then muscles begin to grow. This will only happen for about 2-3 weeks which is the average time that it takes the body to get used to a routine. After this ALL GAINS WILL STOP. Therefore, stick to multiple sets per exercise and vary the volume and intensity of the workouts for continued gains.
While I have several best-sellers on the subject (namely
The Body Sculpting Bible for Men,
The Body Sculpting Bible for Women, and the
Hardgainer's Handbook of Bodybuilding-soon to be available), Gene and I are almost done putting together an e-book that will be available through Audioholics.com detailing a system we designed during our days in engineering when our time schedule was short and we did not have time to do more than five 40-minute workouts per week. The name of the e-book is the Executive Workout and I feel that anyone that implements its principles will improve greatly. If your goal is to lose body fat while gaining muscle or just toning, keep in mind that bodybuilders are the best and most successful dieters in the world.
Regarding Gene's capabilities in the gym, for those of you that just know how as the "The Man from Audioholics", I'll just say this. Most people cannot do the distance with me in a workout. Because of that I train most of the time alone. When I met Gene back in college he was one of the many who requested to be able to be my training partner. I agreed and like all others, 20 minutes later he is lying nauseous on the gym floor. What Gene had, that no one else did, was determination because 3 days later, much to my surprise, the man calls me asking to work out again. I was so impressed that even though I had killed my legs in the morning I told him that I had not worked out so he was more than welcome to come by my gym to train legs. He survived that session and from there on he became the best and strongest training partner I've ever had.
Best of Health,
Hugo A. Rivera
President
HR Fitness Inc.
http://www.hrfit.net