Has anyone tried these parameters/types of programs? What were your results? How well did recovery go?
This was the first program that I followed when I got into the iron game. I followed it exclusively for two years without ever changing programs. After two years I was 23 pounds heavier, and my lifts were drastically higher. For instance, I went from squatting 135 lbs. for reps to 275 lbs. for reps. This is an excellent program to follow if you are new to the game or are looking to throw in a new routine. Because of the rep parameters, this program tends to emphasize strength over size, yet you will get bigger if your diet is solid and you are training hard.
The authors of the official website claim that this program should be followed year in and year out. However, I can say with certainty that this program will become stale if you follow it for longer than 16 weeks. After two years I noticed that my strength gains were continuing to steadily improve, yet my size gains were not. I therefore switched over to a hypertrophy-oriented program.
Even though I was lifting on a five-day split, I never had any problems with recovery due to the fact that I was training each bodypart once a week, and none of the workouts lasted more than 50 minutes. For instance, the bicep workout took me around 25 minutes to finsih. Give the program a shot; it is solid, although be sure to diversify your routines after 8-16 weeks or your size gains will become stagnant.
Max-OT is a great system. Especially if you are coming off a high-total-rep or high-weekly-frequency system like HST or EDT. If you are coming off a low-rep system or a plan where you are already training everything just once a week, it might not work as well.
Max-OT emphasizes the legs less than many of the systems on T-Nation. So you might want to make some adjustments based on your current goals.
I got good gains on Max-OT lifting on a five day split with my weekends off.