The FASTEST Way to Build Muscle (Says Mike Mentzer) 

Hey All! - Alpha Progression App: alphaprogression.com/HOUSEOFHYPERTROPHY Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 6:51 Part I: Static Contracted Holds 11:40 Part II: Lifting vs Lowering 20:28 Part III: Regional Hypertrophy 22:24 Part IV: Mentzer was WRONG on This 25:34 Part V: Slow Down the Lowering? 28:03 Part VI: Summary

ive been trying to master lifting the barbell bench press with two arms, but lowering with one. Should get it right soon. Ill try again when im out of the hospital

As I suspected from the beginning. What really matters is proximity to muscular failure.

longest intro in history , not complaining tho

It is the resistance of motion that tells the body it needs to adapt, not the motion of the load.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🏋️ Introduction to the concept of static holds in muscle training. - Mike Mentzer's claim that lifting weights is a waste of time for muscle growth. - Emphasis on the importance of the negative (lowering) part of exercise. 01:07 💪 How to implement static holds and slow lowering into your training. - Mike Mentzer's approach to using static holds and slow lowering with specific exercises. - Mention of exercises where this method can be applied. 02:13 🤔 Alternative methods to challenge the lowering part of an exercise. - Discussion of methods such as lowering only, the two1 method, and the cheat method. - Mention of special machines designed for greater challenge during the lowering phase. 03:39 🧐 Anecdotes and early evidence supporting the effectiveness of static holds and slow lowering. - Mike Mentzer's client's experience with improved leg extensions. - Arthur Jones' experiment with a football player's chin-up performance. 06:11 🔍 Examination of the scientific research on lifting vs. lowering for muscle growth. - The importance of training near failure for optimal muscle fiber recruitment. - Discussion of passive forces, including Titan, in muscle strength during lengthening. 11:54 💡 Comparison of muscle growth between lifting-only and lowering-only training. - Japanese study results on elbow flexor growth in different training groups. - Speculation on the role of proximity to failure in training effectiveness. 14:43 🏋️ Accentuated lowering training and its potential effectiveness. - Explanation of accentuated lowering training and its impact on muscle growth. - Comparison of accentuated lowering training to normal training. 17:41 📊 Speculation on muscle growth type and cellular changes. - Discussion of how different training methods may affect muscle growth in different muscle regions. - Speculation on the practical significance of these differences. 21:23 🤔 Consideration of muscle recovery and the impact of lifting on fatigue. - Mike Mentzer's concern about lifting being fatiguing and its impact on recovery. Made with HARPA AI

I’ve been doing his ideal program for 2 months now and seeing results every workout. After doing high volume and multiple sets and workouts for years. I’m 43 and been working out since my teens. You have nothing to lose if you haven’t tried it.

This is what I get for and all-rounded method: Explosive lifting, hold in the contracted position for a little bit, then control the lowering.

I think Mike's view was : There are 3 types of strength - Isometric, COncentric and eccentric and of those 3, lifting is the "weakest". His point was that even when you can't lift anymore, you can still hold and when you can't hold anymore, you can still control to lowering. I think at one point his view was to train ALL 3 to failure as one set - As much concentric reps to failure, then hold to failure and then do eccentric to failure. I think that may be way to taxing though... Not sure since I never tried it myself.

"Being natural is a waste of time." -Every juicehead

Mechanical tension is key, basically, whether its positive, negative or static.

Funny how most of the findings you've ever shown just lead to "chose the one you like the most, makes no diference"

I started doing static holds on cable side laterals. Look at the crazy delts on male gymnasts. They do a lot of static holds. The past few months I do legitimately think I've gotten better gains by adding these in. I usually do 4-5 static holds per shoulder day (once at the end of each set,held until l simply cannot hold any longer)

Mike and I discussed statics mid-90's. Following the success he was having with his clients. But even then, due to the toll they take, he was reserved on their usage. Remember, he was still in his experimental stage. 1/3 reps are a whole other story, one of the best moves I ever made in 40+ years! Mike would have embraced them.

WAITTT THIS VIDEO IS ACTUALLY SO HELPFUL WTF NOW I CAN LITERALLY SAVE HALF THE TIME LIFTING THANK YOU ❤

This is great because I've recently have had my feeds with Mike Mentzer. Honestly I was inspired by his eloquent speech and was convinced this might be the way. Luckily, there are youtubers such as the House of Hypertrophy that will do the research and give us ALL of the information we need to better make a solid decision on how we approach our physical training. Thanks to all @ the House of Hypertrophy!

Love your summaries

Awesome video mate! Keep it up.

Bro as soon as I turn in an argumentive essay about Mike menzter you upload this 😭😭😭😭😭

Mike Mentzer is him. He deserves to win the 1980 Olympia

Just gained a subscriber. As soon as I started questioning your conclusions, you tackled the gaps in it. Very good thought process with the info taken from the articles.

Thank you so much, I was trying to find a scientific video on this topic for 2 weeks!

I'm an avid watcher of Dr. mike israetel and his RP videos and what i learned is that although the speed is not a direct indicator as to which does more muscle growth, the faster tempo allows people to use heavier weights with more reps compared to the slower one, although it doesn't give an advantage whatsoever in regards to muscle growth, it is disadvantageous in the aspect of eventual joint damage. Lifting fast with heavier weight is just not considered great bodybuilding technique because it eventual wears down your joints compared to slower tempo with lighter weights yielding the same amount of gains but being less aggressive on your joints. This is a great study but I'd suggest that you make a comparative study between the two tempos again but in regards to their eventual effects on the health of people's joints and overall lifting safety.

Mentzer would sub this channel. So did I

Well, i'm going to lower more slowly now and see what happens.

The guy behind this channel has to have the best physique or best training style with all these videos 😂 keep it up 💪

Thank you so much for sharing this insightful video! I'm truly grateful for the valuable information provided by Mike Mentzer and the research findings discussed. The practical methods outlined here not only offer new perspectives on muscle growth but also inspire a renewed approach to training. The emphasis on negative work and innovative techniques like static holds and controlled lowering opens up exciting possibilities for maximizing gains. I can't wait to incorporate these strategies into my workouts and witness the results firsthand. Many thanks for sharing such empowering knowledge!

Thanks again for a great video! Muscle building is a great sport because you can always experiment and look for that Holy Grail 😁

Biology major here I'm not picking on you it's just the internet is getting the CNS and the PNS completely backwards when you mentioned the CNS it is the brain in spinal cord but it is the PNS that has neuromuscular junctions thank you

Train normally. People already get injured on the lowering phase without overloading it. It's a gift from heaven that 40% extra strength, otherwise injuries would be even more prevalent.

Please do a video on overcoming isometrics vs yielding isometrics.

Thank you for this awesome and informative video!

Could you make a video on recovery methods effect on muscle growth. For example contrast therapy, sleep,protein intake,active recovery massaging etc

Very good. You are beyond thorough.

Thanks for the info

I'm in the start of the video. The part with Arthur Jones the audio is only for one side. I'm mostly view the video by using one side of the pods. Anyway thanks for the video. Always top quality.

Literally finished reading John Little's book about Menzter today and this video drops, nice

there is one static hold which by all means worked for me, but for stength. There is that world power lifting female and one thing she does it for bench press, she sets the safety bars high, lays down, and unracks about 40% mre than she can actually bench press and holds it until you fail and it drops on the safety bars. (only a drop of about a few inches). I tried this and boy does it help for bench press. Not for chest size though. I liken it to a dead hang, weighted, to train foreamrs for chin ups. Which works very well for helping to get more reps. The static bench seems to work muscles that my be weak in comparison to the chest. Helping with strength, but not size in the target area.

I would imagine that the leg extension heavy hold and lower increase neural drive and muscle recruitment, especially for highly trained individuals. I have seen several other videos on potentiation through heavy static holds, especially to break through plateaus. Progressive overload is what causes adaptation. Ultimately, not just our muscles, our connective tissue, nervous system, and even bones have to adapt and be progressively overloaded.

Overall you provide great content. However for me I feel you get it done in half the time. Thanks for your time.

Good video. I've been doing Mentzer's version of HIT since 1981, so I know a thing or two about the practical application. The point is that it's a more efficient way of reaching the desired outcome......more muscle size and strength. Training for 2-3 hours a day is a massive waste of time.

I have been waiting for this video for soo long! Definitely worth the watch 👍

I love the snappy info, references and especially animations! Very good stuff! Do you use a specific animation program it’s like a mash up of kurzkesagt and infographics?

This confirms what my experience: Control the lowering, lift heavy and close failure. Squeeze at the "top" aka at the end of the rep where you feel most tension.

Bro this green yellow anatomy guy goes harddd dayum

This video is great

Aaah, at last your vid about static holds!

Just train normal using slow eccentrics. Job done

Love the Mentzer approach for me, little time used very good results. Unbeatable time efficiency. I still do normal lifts wjth concentrated holds and slowed negatives and I love it for my results

I personally got great benefit from a combination of static hold and slow negative while going successive no/little rest drop sets.

The thing with lowering vs normal or lifting is that with lifting one is focused on getting the weight up. On normal I think most think much the same way as lifting in that with many exercises its safe to do an uncontrolled lowering. However, for a lowering it is kind of like a controlled hold. Failure is when you can't hold it any longer and part of why it likely showed more growth than lift only is that with lowering is it can be made as hard as possible, without adding more weight, and thus one can always push themselves into muscle growth stimulation. Where with lifting people less focus on time under tension but rather reaching a goal fast. That is doing the motion fast or reaching a rep range fast. If people approached lifts like one naturally approaches lowering then the pursuit would naturally be time under tension. It would be slow controlled contractions with good form until tired instead of attempting to hit some arbitrary metric.

I think that the static hold may change with the excercise, for example: The tricep kickbacks. The tricep's long head contracts the most when its behind the body with a slight hyper extension, which makes the most important part of the excercise the contraction part to truly have the best results. Thats it

About considering lowering only as a training method; as the lowering is shown to cause more fatigue, perhaps lengthen the interval between trainings. Just as Mike Mentzer mentioned, at least 72 hours between trainings to allow for recovery

I've always found the concentric portion much more systemically fatiguing than the negative or isometric, if I get close to failure. This is most noticeable in compound lifts. Conversely, I've never really experienced that cheat reps or eccentric focused training resulted in more local muscle fatigue. Which is why I tend to favor it. Maybe I'm an outlier.

awesome!

Mentzer the GOAT.

When looking at the nordic hamstring curl (eccentric only) studies, muscle gain plateaus relatively fast (~6 weeks) compared to traditional strength training. This makes sense when considering eccentric only training biases sarcomere addition in series. More sarcomeres in series results into more distribution of passive tension across the titin structures. Therefor mechanical tension per sarcomere reduces overtime. Also, I think the sarcomere addition in series is the main explanation for less fatigue overtime beyond the first few training sessions, NOT the repeated bout effect. Some more mechanistic data suggests the repeated bout effect plateaus quite quickly.

If HIT achieves one thing, let us hope that it’s putting an end to people dropping the barbell on deadlifts 🤦‍♂️

I love this channel

All the points mentioned in this video are vry useful, personally i mix some of it with my regular training, works for me. 😁 just doing this things alone wont be sustainable in the long run.

Fantastic videos! Are you planning to do video about what does the current research say about the "effective reps" model? Does it support it or not. I think that would be very interesting topic.

Game changer! When I first implemented this program I put on 20 pounds of muscle in a couple monthes, and even then I was far from a noob.

Thanks for this research. I've always been a fan of the slower tempo HIT methods, but I recognize it's not necessarily better or even optimal. I find it's a more relaxing and meditative practice that also gets me (close to) failure. Just the style I enjoy more, can do without injuring myself and the one I can consistently stick with without talking myself out of going to the gym. At least the science shows I'm not wasting my time.

TUT time under tension is the key With Mentzer method. It makes it harder and more gain productive. Reducing Concentric energy spending is the other.

The pull up example impressed me.

This sounds like torture...

I wish i was told accentuate the lowering. This made me explode.

hell yeeeeahh this is the video of all time

badly need this

excellent vid

Eccentric overloaded dips (if you have the mobility) and pullups are goated and nothing can change my mind

I lift the barbell dynamically in the entire range, hold for 1-2 seconds and slowly lower it. I have been practicing this method for about 3 months. It's incredibly exhausting, but the results are incredible. I won't train any other way.

Thanks for looking into this instead of repeating the same thing everyone else says.

Flywheel training is the real deal! Me and my training partner increased squat and deadlift strength and also overall size after a plateau of classic lifting. The most special thing about flywheel training is the unique feeling of high tension. It's also very motivating in a strange way. It's really unique no choke. Sadly it's only possible for certain exercises (squats, pulls, but not bench)

Glad people are starting to wake up

16:51 this leg press machine sound overloaded my ears

Right on I just asked about this on your previous video

The real key to muscle broth is how many rest day's you take between workout and how much protein you consume. I've been lifting for 40 years and tried all forms of exercise.

Great video as always. To add on because it was the next evolution of Mentzer's Heavy Duty, Dorian and his HIT teaches perfect form, do the positive, static contraction, negative for 3 seconds, go again. The idea is to fail on positive, static, and negative at the same time, then you cheat for 1 or 2 when safe.

Great video seems the only component you left out is recovery, which you may have other videos on, but I'll add... An easy way to tell if youre recovered enough to train again is by taking 5 deep breaths and on the last exhale as slowly as possible. If over 30secs you should be systematically recovered enough to have at it. The other way is grip strength but requires items to determine.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the true value in a slowed negative is simply the divergence from usual training methods. As HoH mentioned, the repeated bout effect occurs after repeated training in a particular fashion. It may be possible this is the reason the subjects from the anecdotes mentioned in the video saw great strength gains in a particular exercise, because it's simply a different training method than what the subjects were used to. Possibly the Mentzer method could work to help break plateuas within an accustomed workout routine?

Somebody try this mike mentzer style of training

So I do the static hold specifically on the leg extensions as I am doing Mike Mentzer's workout. I'm not sure about whether that stimulates as much muscle growth as partial reps. HOWEVER, it increases the strength of my legs incredibly! And with more strength it has to increase size as well and I can tell you that my quads are absolutely growing. I also do drop sets from time to time because I have no partner it's just me. And I am going to incorporate "1/2 reps" as well to hopefully stimulate maximum muscle growth as I just learned about "1/2 reps". All I can say is that Mike Mentzer was on to something HUGE decades ago and it was met with harsh criticism and doubt just like it is met with now. But his methods were way ahead of his time and in many ways still ahead of today. Because most of bodybuilding magazines suggestions and even RU-vid suggestions tell you to do lots and lots of sets and 3-6 times a week and every once in awhile try a movement to failure. And most people are wasting massive amounts of time at the gym overtraining their bodies and getting very little for it.

Well Both are essential, either the positive and the negative part of any exercise. If the positive didn't do nothing, we didn't feel any effort when doing the positive portion, which we all know is not true. I can even say that, we know that the positive yes it reaches to a breaking point earlier, and I believe it's because the negative is when the muscle is going to reach the relaxion state / The starting point. In my perspective, the TUT combined with technique are the most important. There's no way you can maintain "forever" a certain % of your RM, with proper technique and so being the most TUT possible. So if you use between 60% to 80% of your RM for every exercise, you eventually reach muscle "failure" and by failure I mean you can not perform the X amount of reps you were doing in the 1st working set with the technique and TUT. That's why you see athletes and coaches saying something like "I doing those with my heart" "I know you have nothing left" "you have to have heart here!" etc.. They are doing the since the first 2/3 reps with kind of momentum bc the level of fatigue is high already, they are reaching failure every 3 reps or so, give it or take. And no, we do not have athletes for that, but just to notice that we are capable of so much! Nevertheless, don't forget, as much as you do effort you will need as much as rest to recover and there's nothing wrong with that. So beware of your effort/recover ratio and see what fits well for you. Maybe ABC, or maybe ABCDE, maybe ABCD, maybe AB/AB, maybe A/B/C. Test it out each for 1 month and see/feel it. Everything is possible and there is no just 1 way to do it. Blessings ;)

All types are good..the key is not to overtrain...switch things up..believe in your training..cut out exercises that cause joint issues..eat good..rest well...learn to lower stress...everyones brain is not linked into their muscles equally...take time to find your sweet spot..i have been lifting for over 55 years and still have not figured out the perfect routine..but the key is get as close as you can with your training to obtain the results you want...in time you will get there..

Funny, as for the story with the Bengel-Player. In the beginning of the 90s, when I was around 17 years old and very skinny, I worked as a metal-worker. Once day I welded a bar with chain in the middle and a squared, 9 hole-mounting plate on top and bolted that into the ceiling in my room. Could not do one wide grip pull up. So what I did was jumping up and lowered myself slowely (but not super slowely) and so learned to do pullups fast. Never saw this as very scientific though :)

It all comes down lifting close to failure/to failure. Just control the weight and train the muscle, not your tendons.

i’m thinking the growth comes from remaining under high tension to or very near failure.

When a machine’s (resistance) become fully electronic and monitored by an AI, things will get super interesting!

5:23 _"Well, you can't train him in a positive manner"_ Excuse me? Have this guy not heard about rubber straps? You can't be saying this kind of stuff as a training coach of, I assume, top caliber in the whole world. This is exactly how I did it when I could only do 2 pull ups after years of not doing exercises(after college, where I could hit 17). I didn't do negatives, I just bought 10m of a long rubber rope, cut it into 5 pieces and connected to the pull up bar with carbines to control how much easier or heavier I wanna make it on myself. So I started with 2, now I'm at 13 reps for 6 sets with 10kg of weight on me. I also gained like 25kg since the moment I started training, which is exactly what I wanted and needed, too. It would be no different if I could do 0 pull ups, because after I used all the ropes, I could do 10 reps instead of just 2. So I'd jump from 0 to some number of reps, like 4 or 6.

In a practical sense : watching all bodybuilders of name train , it's obvious they just focus on moving the weight in an explosive but controlled manner on the concentric part , with not much attention payed to the eccentric part , except for bringing the weight back to the starting position in a safe manner. Anecdotal maybe , but proof is in the pudding. Eccentrics are not essential.

So i would guess the active force is most likely at higher capacity during the concentric, but since eccentric has passive forces too along with the active forces (active forces being a bit diminished relative to the concentric i think, i just feel weaker on the eccentric) and total mechanical force is higher during the eccentric thus more gainz on the eccentric generally. But full ROM as long as it can be done is still key.

Looking at this data it possible that sarcomeres in series contribute to strength gains more so than parallel sarcomeres as series sarcomeres tend to increase more with the lowering movement. That is derived from the strength gains discovered i.e... the football player doing pullups, going from zero to 4+ by starting with negative movements. Makes me wonder if parallel sarcomeres contribute more to endurance than strength. And overall strength and endurance will vary based on the genetic predisposition to produce more of one over the other. Back to the series vs. parallel theory, Power lifters are gaining more out of the negatives as they use higher weight lower rep therefore increasing strength before hypertrophy. I used a method back in the 90's developed by Cybergenics. I gained more strength, endurance and mass using this technique than I did any other method. I still use it periodically. The method uses the principles of training the muscle to absolute failure on both the lift and lower (positive and negative movement). Example: Bicep curls 90% max weight to positive and negative failure, no rest Bicep curls 50% max to positive and negative failure. I do believe Dorian Yates used a very similar training method.

Could you make avideo on wether a csloric surplus is required to build muscle ?

Would love to see links for all the papers to which you refer.

The Japanese study is quite interesting to me. If all of the groups did indeed train with the same weights I would think the lowering only would be furthest away from failure (considering you are stronger when lowering the weights), yet seeing alot more gains than than lifting only, who trained closer to failure (unless I misunderstood something) and almost the same as lifting and lowering who trained closer to failure aswell. This is interesting as it could be possible that if they all trained as close to failure, lowering only could have seen more gains than the other groups. Anyone any thoughts on this?

This video is goood

All I can say is that doing negatives, which is what this video examines along eith static holds, has been known to be the most destructive to tissue since I started in the early 80s. It's known that it takes longer to heal so you do do it once a week at most. It also helps to break plateaus. The other INTENSE method is the "Penn State Training", where someone steadily opposes your muscle contraction. This is a killer even more so than negatives. I did pushups like this during convid, where my son would push on my back while I extend my arms. This is like wrestling snd will build GREAT strength.

Never believe what steroid kings told you. Just do your best and be content with what you are.

The main takeaway I get from this contradictory research is: Don't overthink it. Just get in there, grunt and sweat for a while and, as long as you do your best (i.e. go close to failure) and don't injure yourself, it will be fine.