Edited by Dr. Davide Marciano
In my opinion there is a small revolution in the world of gyms today.
Many of us abandon an "idea of bodybuilding as an end in itself, intended as large muscle masses for display, marrying a harmonious and proportionate philosophy combined with a dynamic and functional body for everyday life.
Riding this innovative wave, I included Total Intensity in my students' workouts with which I saw the true and "natural" evolution of the human body as a whole, a "360 ° evolution. Construction of a good physique combined with outstanding performance. .
We are definitely talking about a very intense and advanced workout suitable only for those who like to sweat. Cadences of 1 - 3 weekly workouts lasting about 15 "- 20", but I repeat, do not be fooled by the shortness of the sessions, you will work like never before.
There is nothing particularly new but, I simply combine (never before) 2 exceptional methods: Heavy Duty + Functional Training. Apparently completely different but complementary techniques for building a muscular and defined body. bound to the tool room only.
The "INTENSITY" and the drastic reduction of the VOLUME of work come together in these two techniques giving life to the Total Intensity.
While the first technique is aimed at building pure muscle mass, the second wants constant and continuous improvement in performance.
Every time you train you know exactly what to do and how much more you have to push to improve compared to the last workout. For this reason you absolutely must get a training diary and write down every slightest variation.
L "Heavy Duty
Based on 3 - 6 mainly multi-joint exercises (pull-ups + dist. C / bil. Panc. Horiz. + Squat + Military press + any exercises for arms).
The good Mentzer, the creator of the method, believed that it was completely useless to do several sets for the same exercise. Once you have taken a single set to the limit you have to stop and wait for the muscle to grow; other work would slow down the recovery, therefore the hypertrophy .
There is no fixed training frequency for everyone (1 - 2 - 3 times per week). We must learn to listen to our body and only then will we be able to understand when we are ready for a subsequent workout. Only if we learn to do this will strength increase by inducing increases in load or repetitions.
Functional Training
Impossible not to mention the indispensability of this training that completely abandons the controlled and cadential movement typical of weights.
It's a 360 ° all-round workout. Here everything is brought up: strength, endurance, control.
Only those who have mastery of their body and their movements can do a real session of fuctionl training (for further information, I refer you to the following video):
Watch the video
- Watch the video on youtube
Typical training - bi weekly
Training A
- Squat
- Stretching with a horizontal bench barbell
- Pull-ups or lat machines
- Military press
This workout must necessarily be performed with a partner or a personal trainer.
Before starting, do a good warm-up with increasing load.
Each exercise, described above, consists of only 1 series.
Use a weight that allows you to do about 7 - 8 repetitions to exhaustion and get help to complete a forced rep.
Without putting the bar down, hold (isometric) at the point of maximum contraction for 10 seconds and complete the series with 1 eccentric (negative) repetition of at least 10 ".
At the end of the exercise you will feel full of lactic acid but "swollen" as never before.
This is all a muscle needs to grow. If you feel like doing a second series it means that you haven't given everything in the first, so you have everything wrong.
Repeat the workout the following week; if you have recovered by sleeping at least 8 hours a day and eating 5 - 6 times a day, you should be able to do at least 1 more repetition. When with the succession of weeks you reach 10 rip. slightly increase the load (about 10%).
Workout B
- Burpees 5 rep.
- Push-ups 10 reps.
- Squat 15 reps
The sum of these 3 exercises (5 + 10 + 15) represents a complete series. In the 10 - 15 minute interval you have to enter as many series as possible. As the weeks go by you have to increase the number of series in the same time interval.
This is one of many functional workouts. I chose it for its simplicity of execution, but believe me if I tell you that it is only the beginning, together we will discover this wonderful and new world.
