tl;dr I tried something akin to Mentzer's consolidation program for 6ish weeks, I could see how it could probably work in the appropriate situation given some tweaks.
Like most of us, I have been hearing about Mentzer's ideology from the fitness talking heads over the past 6 mos - 1 yr. I read about his consolidation program (https://www.mikementzerheavyduty.com/mike-mentzer-consolidation-program.html) a while ago, was interested, but not sure how to appropriately apply it to my own training. About 1.5 mos ago, I was getting ready to work a bunch of overtime and had been pushing hard on my normal programming for a while, so I thought the consolidation layout would be a good way to 1) experiment with something new, 2) take a volume deload, and 3) cut down on time in the gym.
The prescribed layout is Day 1: DL 1x5-8, Dip 1x6-10; rest 4-7 days; Day 2: Squat 1x8-15, Reverse grip pulldown 1x6-10. One all out, near death set on each exercise and that's it. Forgive me here, because I don't care to understand or quote the science on why this strategy may or may not work, but it just doesn't pass the eye test on paper. That said, I made some small adjustments, but tried to keep with the spirit of the program. Firstly, there is probably way too little volume to progress for any meaningful period of time on the prescribed movements, so I added a single down set of 70% to the barbell movements and BW to dips and pullups (substituted for pulldowns, addressed below). Secondly, a frequency of every 4-7 days is way too low. I try to lift every 2-3, but due to the fatiguing nature of the effort level required for this program, every 3-4 seemed to be appropriate. Thirdly, and maybe most drastically, I added some movement variety so as to mitigate some fatigue and changed the upper body pulls because I do not have a pulley machine in my home gym.
I ended up arriving at this for my layout:
Day 1 (hamstrings, press)
DL 1x5-8, RDLx70%xfailure
Weighted dip 1x6-10, BW x failure
Day 2 (squat, upper pull)
Pause squat 1x8-15, 70%xfailure
Yates (supinated) row 1x6-10, 70%xfailure
Day 3 (hamstrings, press)
Rack pull 1x5-8
BtN press 1x6-10, 70%xfailure
Day 4 (squat, upper pull)
Front squat 1x8-15, 70%xfailure
Wide grip pullup 1x6-10, BWxfailure
To be brief, I did not gain any significant amount of strength or muscle mass as I only ran this layout for six weeks (2.5 cycles) and did not finish my third cycle due to low back fatigue. It was also not my intent to train like this for very long. I finished up with top set numbers DL 365x5, HBPS 225x6, Rack pull 385x8, FS 155x13, dip 35x7, row 205x6 (novel movement for me), BtN press 95x9 (novel movement for me), wide grip pullup 25x8. There are some observations I want to share if someone is going to try something similar.
1) I absolutely believe given some added volume (similar to above) that an approach entirely predicated on high effort, high intensity, weight on the bar over everything can work. If you are short on time, going into the gym and attempting to add 1-2 reps at a given weight may be the fastest and most efficient means for you to progressively overload. That said, the fatigue generated by a program that requires this level of effort is very real.
2) My exercise selection kind of sucked. First, I think Mentzer intentionally programmed a movement that does not heavily rely on the low back when he selected the pulldown over a row. DL, squatting, rowing, rack pulling, and front squatting at max effort within a two week period torched my lower back which caused me to jump off this program two sessions before I intended. Second, I am not entirely sure rack pulls are appropriate for a hamstring slot. It seems something like good mornings make more sense.
3) This program/layout is certainly suboptimal (duh) when compared to anything that features more movement variety, volume, and allows for individual nuance. That said, I think this layout is fantastic for someone who is short on time or needs to deload, but wants to keep effort level high.
Like most of us, I have been hearing about Mentzer's ideology from the fitness talking heads over the past 6 mos - 1 yr. I read about his consolidation program (https://www.mikementzerheavyduty.com/mike-mentzer-consolidation-program.html) a while ago, was interested, but not sure how to appropriately apply it to my own training. About 1.5 mos ago, I was getting ready to work a bunch of overtime and had been pushing hard on my normal programming for a while, so I thought the consolidation layout would be a good way to 1) experiment with something new, 2) take a volume deload, and 3) cut down on time in the gym.
The prescribed layout is Day 1: DL 1x5-8, Dip 1x6-10; rest 4-7 days; Day 2: Squat 1x8-15, Reverse grip pulldown 1x6-10. One all out, near death set on each exercise and that's it. Forgive me here, because I don't care to understand or quote the science on why this strategy may or may not work, but it just doesn't pass the eye test on paper. That said, I made some small adjustments, but tried to keep with the spirit of the program. Firstly, there is probably way too little volume to progress for any meaningful period of time on the prescribed movements, so I added a single down set of 70% to the barbell movements and BW to dips and pullups (substituted for pulldowns, addressed below). Secondly, a frequency of every 4-7 days is way too low. I try to lift every 2-3, but due to the fatiguing nature of the effort level required for this program, every 3-4 seemed to be appropriate. Thirdly, and maybe most drastically, I added some movement variety so as to mitigate some fatigue and changed the upper body pulls because I do not have a pulley machine in my home gym.
I ended up arriving at this for my layout:
Day 1 (hamstrings, press)
DL 1x5-8, RDLx70%xfailure
Weighted dip 1x6-10, BW x failure
Day 2 (squat, upper pull)
Pause squat 1x8-15, 70%xfailure
Yates (supinated) row 1x6-10, 70%xfailure
Day 3 (hamstrings, press)
Rack pull 1x5-8
BtN press 1x6-10, 70%xfailure
Day 4 (squat, upper pull)
Front squat 1x8-15, 70%xfailure
Wide grip pullup 1x6-10, BWxfailure
To be brief, I did not gain any significant amount of strength or muscle mass as I only ran this layout for six weeks (2.5 cycles) and did not finish my third cycle due to low back fatigue. It was also not my intent to train like this for very long. I finished up with top set numbers DL 365x5, HBPS 225x6, Rack pull 385x8, FS 155x13, dip 35x7, row 205x6 (novel movement for me), BtN press 95x9 (novel movement for me), wide grip pullup 25x8. There are some observations I want to share if someone is going to try something similar.
1) I absolutely believe given some added volume (similar to above) that an approach entirely predicated on high effort, high intensity, weight on the bar over everything can work. If you are short on time, going into the gym and attempting to add 1-2 reps at a given weight may be the fastest and most efficient means for you to progressively overload. That said, the fatigue generated by a program that requires this level of effort is very real.
2) My exercise selection kind of sucked. First, I think Mentzer intentionally programmed a movement that does not heavily rely on the low back when he selected the pulldown over a row. DL, squatting, rowing, rack pulling, and front squatting at max effort within a two week period torched my lower back which caused me to jump off this program two sessions before I intended. Second, I am not entirely sure rack pulls are appropriate for a hamstring slot. It seems something like good mornings make more sense.
3) This program/layout is certainly suboptimal (duh) when compared to anything that features more movement variety, volume, and allows for individual nuance. That said, I think this layout is fantastic for someone who is short on time or needs to deload, but wants to keep effort level high.
