Read a lot of it last night. As I said in a previous post, I’ve been a Mike Mentzer fan for years and currently using his Ideal routine. I’d like to try Dr. Darden’s approach but think I will have to take a longer rest than what is in the book. I just can’t do twice a week as suggested. That may work for beginners. The book does mention as you get stronger you need more rest, and that’s certainly what I have found. I like the selection of exercises Dr. D has in the book. Thinking of doing 2 different WO, as @fitafter40 listed, doing them 5-7 days apart. Also want to include deadlifts. I was a powerlifter 45 years ago and the DL was my favorite lift. I still like doing them and can still do twice my bodyweight. Would love to hear Dr. Darden’s suggestions here. I’m thinking I’ll add them at the end of a WO every 3 weeks, which is about how often I’m doing them now.
Not Dr Darden, but for what it’s worth I’m training twice weekly since 5 years back (HIT based). For the past two years or so I’ve been experimenting with powerlifting/HIT combinations. I found over time that HIT strength progression tended to stall a bit, why I wanted to push it further (through powerlifting).
One day a week heavy powerlifting strategies combined with one day a week Darden HIT strategies is a perfect match! I’m continuously progressing, probably because this combo fuels one another with different stimulus. Powerlifting for strength (to precede gains) and HIT for metabolic conditioning/endurance. I constantly apply emphasized negatives, which is one of my all time favourite techniques (thank you for introducing me to it, @Ellington_Darden)!
It seems I’m the only one (here) doing it like this? For some reason (injuries?) the aging lifters step away from heavy basic compound movements. This is a mistake, in my opinion. It’s better to make proper adjustments (go lighter, apply proven set/rep schemes, never hit 1RM, use a different barbell or equipment - Trapbar, belt squats, flywheel etc., use straps/sleeves as needed etc.).
For what it’s worth, I’ve also tried cycling (periodization) of these strategies, which also works well. I’m considering going all HIT through the summer, before powerlifting only through the autumn.
Another interesting thought I’m considering is to have the powerlifting excercise as primary movement, and HIT as an accessory/secondary movement. This may increase the volume and subsequent need for recovery significantly though.
That said, to use DL as a finisher after HIT, is something I would never dare to do. Why use the heaviest movement after your regular HIT routine (when you’re the most fatiqued)? But, anything may work, as long as you believe in it.
Yeah, I like lifting what is relatively heavy weights once in a while. Of course they are much less than I used in my youth but I still like it. While following Mike’s Ideal routine he has DL at the end of chest/back day. I am beat by then and do them nice and slow and since I am tired I don’t use a lot of weight. Currently 200 for 12 reps. Got a wild hair last year and did my BW (165) for 100 reps as a 1-set WO. Might benefit me to do DL at the beginning of the 10-10-10 sets once in a while. You’ve given me some new ideas, thanks for that. I also like doing dips, would probably do them regular style at the start as well, since I sure can’t do a 10-10-10 set of dips! Not yet, anyway.
You train once per week and are unable to recover from training more than 1x weekly?
Do I have that right?
I can’t recover training the same body part more than 1x a week. But, I train to failure, where I am gasping for air and lying on the floor after most sets. When I was using Mentzer ideal routine every 4 days I made progress for a few weeks but then stagnated. Now I’m lifting every 5-7 days and gaining again.
I see in Chapter 19 that Richard West mentions “that weekly workout”. I assume that means he only lifted once per week. @Ellington_Darden can you verify that? And, which exercises was he using? That’s quite an impressive increase in arm size in 12 weeks. I think that is what I will do for a few weeks, since I seem to need a greater rest period than most.
Richard trained once a week. He did one set of eight exercises. For example: Leg Curl, Leg Press, Calf Raise, Pullover, Chest Press, Negative Chin, Triceps Extension with One Dumbbell, and Ab Coaster.
Thank you very much. Negative chins have helped my biceps size, might have to add those back in, maybe alternate with pulldowns. I just finished my first 10-10-10 WO. I only did OH press, Pulldown, Bench press, DB curls and DB triceps extension. My muscles are pleasantly tired but not exhausted like when doing a Mentzer style WO. my regular reps were slower than 1-2 as I just try to do them without momentum. Will add some leg work next time and maybe mix it up once in a while.
" Negative chins have helped my biceps size" THIS is so true it is undeniably the best bicep growth i have seen and i’v done every “hit the bicep from this that and that angle” but nothing gave me actually noticable DENSE biceps without the pump being necessary to show. I believe that trick with negative only exercise is that it allows you to hit positive failure without giving up too early like with a positive set. Once you’ve hit a negative failure you have undoubtedly hit positive failure so it’s a fail safe sure fire way to stimulate growth.
Another thing i found was overhand deadlifts growing the rear deltoids
Added them in last night. Did 7 reps of about 10 second negative. I hope to get where I can treat it like a regular 10-10-10 set but for now I’ll just do negatives. I also think I’ll alternate with pulldowns as it is hard to tell progress with negative reps. Did I do 9 seconds, or was it 11, etc. I’d like to see if doing the negative chins helps my pulldown strength. Did have a little cramping in my left bicep last night, so I know they were worked. I’ll never have huge arms but will take anything I can get. Started with a whopping 11 inch arm and once hit 15, would like to get back there. Getting close now.
I agree with his.
I alternate weighted negative chins with one arm DB rows. I use rest pause on the negative chins.
Completed 3 of these workouts now and it may be my imagination but my shirts feel a little tighter. I don’t pay too much attention to my weight short-term as it fluctuates quite a bit but I think things are moving in the right direction. Did pull downs last week as part of alternating with negative chins and did more weight and reps than the previous WO which was 2 weeks prior. Always happy to see any kind of increase.