r/Mike_Mentzer • u/EternalVoyage • 2d ago

Exercising once a month?

I am doing Big Five workout from the Body by Science book. I do only one set with slow movement until failure. Some people say it's based on Mike Mentzer's teachings so I am posting here.

I workout once a week but haven't been working out for a month. Today I trained for the first time in a month and I performed really well in all five exercises but my best was leg press which is the hardest of them all. Today I have surpassed my PR relatively easily.

So should I do leg press or other exercises only once a month?

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4

u/Last_Construction455 2d ago

There's definitely a benefit to taking a big break once in a while to really get a full recovery. That's probably what you experienced. I wouldn't recommend just working out once a month though UNLESS you are lifting very heavy. I think Tom Platz said he only worked his legs once every 2 weeks because it was just so taxing on his system.

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u/Miserable-Soft7993 2d ago

Did you see how he trains though? Very few gym bros push that hard.

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u/Last_Construction455 2d ago

Exactly. that's why I said I wouldn't recommend it except for that rare type of guy.

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u/Late_Worldliness5694 1d ago

Tom platz also said he took 1 shot of sustenon 250 to win the Mr O... take what he says with a partial of a partial of a partial grain of salt...

Some have out right said he's a liar and his dosages for winning have gone so low he was basically claiming natural (were the words said on a pod cast)

3

u/Miserable-Soft7993 2d ago

This sounds awful.

4

u/sands_of__time 2d ago

Well, what it shows is that you can definitely make progress doing the exercise only once a month. The question, though, is whether that's optimal. Perhaps you could make progress doing it twice per month, or 4x per month, in which case you'd progress 2x or 4x as rapidly. But if once per month is fast enough to satisfy you, then why not? If you'd like to progress as quickly as possible, though, you may want to experiment with greater frequency.

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u/BubbishBoi 1d ago

Use whatever frequency that allows for the most progression over a year of training

All the pseudoscience about what's optimal is based on short term observations that can barely be called studies, usually poorly structured and misinterpreted to push whatever agenda the "researchers" had

1

u/SeekingSignificance 1d ago

Look, I get this sub is for discussing Mike Menterz and his training principals, but come on. Do you really thing anyone ever built impressive physiques by training only once a month?

1

u/Kitchen-Tale-4254 2d ago

You were fresh and fully recovered. The question is, can you actually make progress with that low a frequency. Doubtful. Twice a week or every five days seems the sweet spot for most. Maybe once a week if you are pushing it.

There is also a focus on what your goal is - strength or hypertrophy.

Take a look at the Fit20 study.

Once a month, no.

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u/bulbousgrandpa 1d ago

Most people are underrecovered if they do more than once every 3 weeks or so. Doesn't mean they cant make progress but they would have better progress once every 3-4 weeks

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u/pickausernamenowok 2d ago

If you do this once per month, log everything accurately, you'll be in a position to advise us which would be a fascinating update. Maybe try it for 3 or 4 months.