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How Much Muscle Can You Gain
A Logical Approach to Muscle Building
Mike Mentzer was bodybuilding's foremost iconoclast, who smashed through suspect bodybuilding tradition with a revolutionary and logical training system that is supported by the world's top exercise physiologists but shunned by dogmatic, out-dated, non-scientific trainers.
Even today bodybuilding fans are still taking about the Mike Mentzer Heavy Duty Training System and want to learn more about it. Well, here it is!
Learn the Mike Mentzer Heavy Duty Training System, go to https://www.trulyhuge.com/Mike_Mentzer_HIT_Video.htm
How Massive Can You Get Using HIT?
High-intensity training (HIT) is a popular protocol for gaining muscle and getting fit, but it’s also controversial.
Supporters claim that HIT can do just about everything but make your hair grow back, while detractors will tell you it’s dangerous and unproductive.
What hardcore bodybuilders really want to know, though, is whether HIT can help you get really massive.
Here are a few examples of HIT in action that should make you feel good about its potential.
The Colorado Experiment
In the summer of 1973, Nautilus founder Arthur Jones and bodybuilder Casey Viator underwent a concentrated program in which they exercised in HIT fashion for four weeks. Jones was aided in conducting and recording the so-called Colorado Experiment by Dr. Elliot Plese.
Each man trained his entire body three days a week, with one set of about 15 different exercises in each session. By modern HIT standards, that’s pretty high volume, but it was very minimalistic for the time. Each set was trained to a point of muscular failure.
At the end of 28 days, Viator had gained about 45 pounds of bodyweight while shedding 18 pounds of fat, meaning he added 63 pounds of lean tissue to his frame. The older Jones gained 18+ pounds while losing nearly two pounds of fat, for a net lean gain of about 20 pounds.
Now, it should be noted that both men had fallen into an untrained state and a large portion of their gains were not “new” … they were regaining for much of the experiment. Still, their results were impressive, and Viator ended the month at a solid and massive 212 pounds
Tim Ferriss
Decades after the Colorado Experiment, author Tim Ferriss decided that he had had enough of being “kind of” in shape and that he wanted to pack on some serious muscle. Inspired by Jones’ work but armed with the refinements that 30 years of additional knowledge can teach, Ferriss set off on his own experiment.
Over four weeks, Ferriss performed two weekly workouts of 4-8 exercises for one to-failure set each. His workouts lasted just 30 minutes apiece.
At the end of his run, Ferriss had gained 31 pounds and lost three pounds of fat, weighing in at a hard 177 pounds.
The Boise Experiment
In 2010, two gym buddies from Boise, Idaho, decided they were ready to make some REAL progress with their physiques and undertook a 60-day challenge. Rather than adopt the “old-school” HIT approaches of Jones and Ferriss, though, the duo opted to follow Mike Mentzer‘s “Heavy Duty” philosophy. In particular, they split their body over four workouts (1 for chest and back, 1 for shoulders and arms, 2 for legs) and trained once every five days. They took each set to failure and obviously left plenty of time between sessions for recovery.
The results?
“RonnieB” gained 25 pounds while slight increasing his bodyfat percentage.
Meanwhile, “Big Andy” dropped 16 pounds while markedly increasing his strength.
BIG
Dr. Ellington Darden is one of the pioneers of high-intensity training and, in fact, came up with the name back in the 1970s. Dr. Darden has conducted and published countless studies on using HIT to increase muscle mass over the years, but none other was as dramatic as “BIG.”
In that book, Darden describes how he led Eddie Mueller through four weeks of SuperSlow training that resulted in 19 pounds of new body mass. Mueller did get a little softer during the experiment, but even he admitted that dietary indiscretions got the better of him.
What Can YOU Do With HIT?
Will you be able to match the great results that these men achieved using HIT? That’s a tall order and may be a stretch for most, but these “experiments” in intense lifting make it clear that HIT can and will deliver big muscle gains if you use it wisely.