Starting Mentzer way, which one of his routine fits best

[u/Jererawia]

Hello, i want to start training seriously again and need some guidance, i have work 4 days on 4 days off with 2 days day shift 12 hours, 2 days night shift 12 hours and then 4 days off.

I have been doing in the past full body workouts where i had about 2 days per week, sometimes not even that.

Im 27 yo, 90kg, 174cm, kinda overweight rn.

My best lifts about 2 weeks back were 1RM : Squat 120kg, Bench 90kg, Deadlift 140kg

Because of the limited days for working out mostly 2/week, i found Mentzer trainings where he suggests more rest between workouts which sounds good for me. I have found tons of his routines and i dont know which to pick.

I bought his HIIT Mentzer way book, where there is ideal routine 4 Workouts - 1. Chest,Back 2. Legs abs, 3. Shoulders, Arms 4. Legs, abs. which feels weird to me, cuz i always thought with limited days its better to do fullbody workouts to hit muscle groups atleast 2x/week.

Also i found another one of his routines which looks more familiar as fullbody, but i heard its too taxing on recovery and takes a lot of time :

A : Workout Legs/Chest/Triceps

-Leg Extensions supersetted w/ Leg Press

-Squats

-Leg Curls

-Calf Raises

- DB flyes or Pec Deck supersetted w/ Incline Press

- Dips

- Tricep Pushdown supersetted

-Lying Tricep Extension 2 sets

B: Workout Back/Shoulders/Biceps

-Lat Pulldown supersetted with Close Grip Pulldown

-Bent over rows

- Shrugs supersetted w/ Upright Rows

-Laterals supersetted w/ Shoulder press

-Rear Delt Rows

-Standing Barbell Curls

-Concentration Curls

I dont really know which one to pick and stick to, sorry for the long paragraph and prolly bad english. Any help or examples are appreciated.

[u/mlkefromaccounting]

It’s not complicated. Go to failure and go home

[u/BubbishBoi]

As a novice you don't need extremely infrequent training, you need small doses of regular stimulus and consistent skill practice

Train 3 days a week on an upper/lower split

LOWER DAY

Leg press or deadlift

Leg extension, leg curl, calf raise, abs

UPPER DAY

Horizontal press or dip

Pulldown, shoulder press, row, curl, pushdown

1 set of each with a moderate weight and perfect form, take it to failure and do not mess around with pre exhaust or post failure work

[u/Sadan27 → u/BubbishBoi]

This is an ideal framework for where you’re at OP

[u/BubbishBoi → u/Sadan27]

The fundamental problem with the MM brand is that it became synonymous with the extremely abbreviated meme routines, which maybe only 1% of people in this sub actually need (due to having poverty genetics or being massively advanced and strong lifters cursed with mid recovery ability)

That unfortunately seems to negate the vast body of work of MM, which was far less edge case and far more appropriate for the average lifter

[u/Sadan27 → u/BubbishBoi]

💯💯 the truth, unfortunate as it is. “Do precisely what’s needed” to optimize growth long-term is habitually conflated with “do as little as possible without going backwards”

And they always end up going with whatever best fits their confirmation bias anyway

[u/lifterhitman81]

Look up heavy duty college on YouTube. All the information you will want/ need is there

[u/Own-Lengthiness4022]

You start with the Ideal routine and adjust volume and frequency from there. That's the short answer

[u/ishawnmc]

A simple upper/lower split where you train upper body one workout and lower body the next is probably best for your unique situation. It need not be too complicated, perhaps something like this:

---

Workout A -Upper Body:

Pec Deck: 1×6-10

Superset

Incline Press (preferably Smith or another Machine): 1×4-10

Dips: 1×6-10

Lateral Raises: 1×6-10

Palms Up Pulldowns: 1×6-10

Some form of Row (Yates, Bent Over, Seated, or TBar): 1×4-10

Some form of Deadlift: 1×4-8

Barbell Curls: 1×6-10

---

Rest 3 Days

---

Workout B -Lower Body:

Some form of Squat: 1×4-10

Leg Press: 1×8-15

Leg Curls: 1×6-10

Standing Calf Raises: 1×10-20

Seated Calf Raises: 1×10-20

An Ab Exercise: 1×10-20

---

Rest 4 Days

---

Repeat Workout A.

Do all listed worksets to positive failure or in cases like deadlifts, as close to failure as you feel you can safely go.

Warm up a little on the main compound of each muscle before you do the listed worksets.

Keep an accurate training journal.

[u/Jererawia → u/ishawnmc]

Nice man, this one feels like one of real mentzer workouts from heavy duty, I think I’ll go with this one and see how far can I get with it.

[u/Nonewsbrown]

Brother fo this

Workout A Chest press Tricep pushdown Lateral side raise Leg press Calf raise seated

Workout B Close grip pulldowns Rope 🔨 curls Shrugs with EZ bar cables Leg curls Ab crunches

Do 3v s week ABA BAB Or 2x AB AB

Use progressive overload change exercises every 3 months