By Dr. Davide Marciano
In my opinion, we are currently experiencing a small revolution in the world of gyms.
Many of us abandon an idea of bodybuilding as an end in itself, understood as large muscle masses for exposure, marrying a harmonious and proportionate philosophy combined with a dynamic and functional body for everyday life.
Riding on this innovative wave, I added the Total Intensity with which I saw the true and "natural" evolution of the human body as a whole, a 360 ° evolution. Building a good physique combined with terrific performance.
We are certainly talking about a very intense and advanced workout suitable only for those who love to sweat. Cadences of 1 - 3 weekly training sessions lasting about 15 '- 20', but I repeat, do not be fooled by the brevity of the sessions, you will work like never before.
There is nothing particularly new but, simply, I unite (never happened until today) 2 exceptional methods: Heavy Duty + Functional Training. Techniques, apparently completely different but complementary for the construction of a muscular and defined body not bound to the equipment room alone.
INTENSITY and the drastic reduction of the VOLUME of work come together in these two techniques giving rise to Total Intensity .
While the first technique is aimed at the construction of pure muscle mass, the second wants constant and continuous improvement in performance.
Every time you exercise you know exactly what to do and how much more you have to push to improve yourself compared to the last workout. For this reason, you should absolutely get yourself a training diary and note down every little variation.
The Heavy Duty
Based on 3 - 6 exercises mainly multiarticular (pull-ups + dist. C / bil. Panc. Oriz. + Squat + Military press + possible exercises for arms).
The good Mentzer, the creator of the method, believed that it was completely useless to do more series for the same exercise. Once a single series is reached, you have to stop and wait for the muscle to grow; another job would slow down recovery, hence hypertrophy.
A fixed training frequency is not established for all (1 - 2 - 3 times weekly). We must learn to listen to our body and only then will we be able to understand when we are ready for a subsequent training. Only if we learn to do this will the force increase, causing increases in load or repetition.
The 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 into play: strength, resistance, control.
Only those who have mastered their bodies and their movements can do a real fuctionl training session (for further information, I refer you to the following video):
Watch the video
X Watch the video on youtubeType training - bi weekly
Training A
- Squat
- Relaxing with horizontal bench rocker
- Bar traction or lat machine
- Military press
This workout must be performed by force of circumstances with a partner or personal trainer.
Before starting, warm up with a rising load.
Each exercise, shown above, consists of only one series .
Use a load that allows you to do about 7 - 8 repetitions until you run out and get help to complete a forced repetition.
Without placing the barbell, hold a (isometric) retention 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" like never before.
This is all that 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 it all wrong.
Repeat the training the following week; if you have recovered, 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 the weeks you arrive to 10 rip. slightly increase the load (about 10%).
Training B
- Burpees 5 rip.
- Bending 10 rip.
- Squat 15 rip.
The sum of these 3 exercises (5 + 10 + 15) represents a complete series. In the range of 10 - 15 minutes you must enter as many series as possible. As the weeks go by you have to increase the serial number in the same time interval.
This is one of many functional workouts. I chose it for the 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.
