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He said something to denigrate Samir Bannout that I thought was uncalled for. I passed on that, feeling Samir should have defended himself. As the debate progressed, there was a lot of arguing between Arnold and some of the guys. I wasn’t really concerned one way or the other – I thought I could win anyway. Then Boyer Coe stood up and, as the gentleman he is, said, ‘Why don’t we let Arnold explain to us right here and now his exact reasons for wanting to have two weight classes?’ No, perhaps not,” he said. “And perhaps if one’s schedule permitted one to experience that kind of two-hour, incapacitating, exhaustive effect, one might want to do it. I suggest that anybody who is not familiar with high intensity but wants to try it might start out with that three-days-a-week routine. If they find it’s too exhausting, try the four-day.” Finally, I asked Mike to summarize his experience for the benefit of all those bodybuilders looking to build mass. Mentzer died on June 10, 2001, in Rolling Hills, California. He was found dead in his apartment, due to heart complications, by his younger brother and fellow bodybuilder Ray Mentzer. Two days later, Ray died from complications from his long battle with Berger's disease. [2] See also [ edit ] Khzokhlachev, Yegor (February 19, 2016). "Mike Mentzer". Built Report. Gallery . Retrieved November 9, 2016. I was training on that kind of routine; that is, the full-body, three-days-a-week routine performed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, when I was at college,” he related. “And while keeping up that kind of training in addition to a full college schedule, a part-time job with a physician and the demands of an ongoing relationship with a nice young lady, I found that I just didn’t have the energy. That three-days-a-week program left me so exhausted that when I did another full-body program on Monday, I was so shot afterward that all I could do was go home and sleep for a while.”
According to David M. Sears, a friend of Mentzer and an editor and publisher of his Muscles in Minutes book, he stated that: [6]Not for the first time in the history of bodybuilding, Joe Weider stepped in and defused the situation. He advised Arnold to accept the voices of the other 15. The debate ended as Arnold proclaimed, “I withdraw my objection.” The formula is: brief training, intense training, infrequent training,” he said. “Young bodybuilders reading this should be cautioned against doing too many sets on too many days for all bodyparts. Their enthusiasm is often a hindrance; they’re so willing and able to train marathon-style to acquire a muscular physique that they often overtrain. I train in Gold’s, when I do train, and I see this as probably the most pervasive mistake among bodybuilders, including advanced bodybuilders. I would just suggest that no matter what methods you use, you don’t do more than four to six sets per bodypart, use strict form, train to failure, use forced reps occasionally and don’t overtrain. That is, don’t train so frequently so that you exceed your body’s ability to overcome the exhaustive effects of exercise and don’t have enough recovery ability left over for growth.” In the following year, he was a big opponent to the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger. The finals in 1980 are one of the most debated finals in the history of bodybuilding. Arnold won in controversial finals, regardless of the fact that he was preparing for a movie shooting, not the competition. Mentzer, Zane and other contenders complained fiercely as the new champion was clearly not in the shape worthy of winning Mr. Olympia. The controversy made Mentzer so furious that he quit competitive bodybuilding. Arnold barked, ‘Boyer, let’s talk like adults here.’ That really irked me, because Boyer made his plea with no hint of malice. In addition, this was the IFBB’s event, but here was this big Prussian son of a bitch standing there and trying to walk all over us. I interjected and asked Arnold why he was so reluctant to see the open class introduced. For more than ten years, Mentzer's Heavy Duty program involved 7–9 sets per workout on a three-day-per-week schedule. [13] With the advent of "modern bodybuilding" (where bodybuilders became more massive than ever before) by the early 1990s, he ultimately modified that routine until there were fewer working sets and more days of rest. His first breakthrough became known as the 'Ideal (Principled) Routine', which was a fantastic step in minimal training. Outlined in High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, fewer than five working sets were performed each session, and rest was emphasized, calling for 4–7 days of recovery before the next workout. [14] He pushed sets beyond failure with such techniques as forced reps, negative reps, and rest-pause. [17] According to Mentzer, biologists and physiologists since the nineteenth century have known that hypertrophy is directly related to intensity, not duration, of effort (Mentzer 2003;39). Most bodybuilding and weightlifting authorities do not take into account the severe nature of the stress imposed by heavy, strenuous resistance exercise carried to the point of positive muscular failure. [13]
Mentzer started bodybuilding when he was 11 years old at a body weight of 95lb (43kg) after seeing the men on the covers of several muscle magazines. His father had bought him a set of weights and an instruction booklet. The booklet suggested that he train no more than three days a week, so Mike did just that. He attended the first Mr. Olympia and later said: “The 1965 Mr. Olympia contest was almost a religious experience for me." [10] By age 15, his body weight had reached 165lb (75kg), at which Mike could bench press 370lb (170kg) [ citation needed]. Mike's goal at the time was to look like his bodybuilding hero, Bill Pearl. After graduating high school, Mentzer served four years in the United States Air Force. It was during this time he started working out over three hours a day, six days a week. [6] Mike and I talked about a great many subjects during that trip, but first and foremost on my mind was finding out what Mike Mentzer’s most productive training routine had been. I knew that he’d been all over the board in terms of sets and reps throughout his early career, starting out with a whole-body workout performed three days per week, on which he gained no less than 70 pounds over three years, bringing his bodyweight up from 95 pounds at age 12 to 165 pounds at 15. From there Mike moved on to the routines advocated in the various muscle magazines that espoused 20-sets-per-bodypart training, even at one time extending that to 40 sets per bodypart. That brought his bodyweight up again, but only slightly. In the late 1980s, Mentzer returned to training bodybuilders and writing for Iron Man magazine and spent much of the 1990s regaining his stature in the bodybuilding industry. Mentzer had met Dorian Yates in the 1980s and made an impression on Dorian's bodybuilding career. Years later, when Yates won Joe Weider's "Mr. Olympia", he credited Mike's "Heavy Duty" principles for his training. Mike, his brother Ray, and Dorian formed a clothing company called "MYM" for Mentzer Yates Mentzer, also known as "Heavy Duty Inc", in 1994. MYM was based on the success of Don Smith's "CrazeeWear" bodybuilding apparel. The three principals wanted to capitalize on the physically fit lifestyle, which today has gone mainstream. With the blessing and promotion of Joe Weider, the trio manufactured and distributed their own line of cut-and-sew sportswear. [6] In 1986 I was living in Canada and searching for answers concerning the “ultimate truth” of bodybuilding, and I set out to interview those who, in my estimation, had tried to decipher this Rosetta stone themselves. I interviewed Lou Ferrigno, John Grimek, Paul Anderson, Doug Hepburn, Frank Zane, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Lee Labrada, Steve Reeves and both Mike and Ray Mentzer, among others. It was during a trip to California to interview Steve Reeves, in fact, that Mike invited me to stay with him as his guest at his apartment in Hollywood. I readily accepted, for I knew that it would afford me an opportunity to talk not only bodybuilding but philosophy, a passion that Mike and I shared for more than two decades.
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High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way was Mentzer's final work. In it, he detailed the principles of high intensity weight training. Weight training, he insisted, had to be brief, infrequent, and intense, to attain the best results in the shortest amount of time. Heavy Duty II also espouses critical thinking. In this book, Mentzer shows why people need to use their reasoning ability to live happy, mature, adult lives, and he shows readers how to go about doing so. Bodybuilding was endorsed as only one potential component of an individual's existence, encouraging many other worthwhile pursuits throughout his books. [14] Diet and nutrition [ edit ] Recovery always precedes growth, and growth was our ultimate goal. If we had not recovered, then, in fact, there was no way we could have grown from the first workout. In that kind of a case the best thing that can happen would be that you merely wouldn’t make any progress; you’d just spin your wheels. But carried on for too long, that kind of effort actually causes you to lose muscular mass and strength, you’ll always be making inroads into your recovery ability and never allowing yourself to recover, let alone grow, which is secondary.
I found that when I split the routine, doing half the body one day, the fatigue was even less than half, it was much less than half. You would think it would only be half, but apparently, after a certain point, in terms of volume of training, the exhaustive effects grow geometrically as opposed to arithmetically. I found that I could get the same benefits from the high-intensity training while avoiding the overwhelming exhaustive effects of the three-days-a-week routine.” The radical approach was criticized at first, but later on, open-minded people started using the method, and the results in muscle growth were incredible. Mike’s obsession was not to be defined or strong; Mike aimed to gain as much muscle as genetically possible. He was one of the most controversial bodybuilders at the time and a creator of an incredible physique. Mike Mentzer changed the course of history and professional bodybuilding. 10 Inspirational Mike Mentzer Quotes: 1. “Any exercise carried on beyond the least amount required to stimulate an optimal increase is not merely a waste of effort, it is actually highly counterproductive.”– Mike Mentzer Quotes Printed on high-quality, durable paper, this poster boasts vibrant colors that stay true to the original artwork. The impressive size ensures that every aspect of Mike Mentzer's muscularity is displayed in its full glory, making it a captivating centerpiece for any gym, home workout area, or fitness enthusiast's space. Whether you're an avid bodybuilder, fitness enthusiast, or simply admire the indomitable spirit of the human body, this poster is the ultimate visual inspiration. Carrying a set to a point where you are forced to utilize 100 percent of your momentary ability is the single most important factor in increasing size and strength.”– Mike Mentzer Quotes 5. “Man, is an indivisible entity, an integrated unit of mind and body.”– Mike Mentzer Quotes Mentzer followed the bodybuilding concepts developed by Arthur Jones and endeavored to perfect them. Through years of study, observation, knowledge of stress physiology, the most up-to-date scientific information available, and careful use of his reasoning abilities, Mentzer devised and successfully implemented his own theory of bodybuilding. Mentzer's theories are intended to help a drug-free person achieve his or her full genetic potential within the shortest amount of time. [13]While in school, Mentzer's father motivated his academic performance by providing him with various kinds of inducements, from a baseball glove to hard cash. Years later, Mike said that his father "unwittingly ... was inculcating in me an appreciation of capitalism." [6]
Transform your fitness space and channel the spirit of a true bodybuilding icon with the extraordinary Mike Mentzer Poster. This stunning piece of art captures the essence of a man whose name became synonymous with dedication, discipline, and unparalleled physical achievement. Pay homage to a legend and inspire your own fitness journey with this visually striking masterpiece.
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Without question genetics played a huge role in providing the foundation for the muscular mass that Mike built, as he was the first to admit. In later years, however, he confided that he had reservations about making such a strong case for genetics. While genetic characteristics were important, Mike believed that they had been overemphasized. He worried that the notion that you have to have good genetics to achieve a championship physique had actually served to destroy the motivation of certain bodybuilders. “Besides,” Mike explained, “it’s very difficult to accurately assess your genetic potential. At best you might be able to get a suggestion of where you might go based on your muscle belly lengths, your bone structure and metabolism and neuromuscular efficiency, but the most important thing, I think, is motivation, everyone can improve themselves, and that’s important. Not everyone is going to become Mr. Olympia, but we can all improve ourselves.” I asked him if he thought that the problem might have been more effectively remedied by simply taking protracted recovery periods in between workouts. It is the body that produces growth but only if left undisturbed during a sufficient rest period.”– Mike Mentzer Quotes 7. “Man’s proper stature is not one of mediocrity, failure, frustration, or defeat, but one of achievement, strength, and nobility. In short, man can and ought to be a hero.”– Mike Mentzer Quotes 8. “It is only within the context of having properly developed your mind that you will be able to truly enjoy the achievement of your material values, including that of a more muscular body.”– Mike Mentzer Quotes 9. “One cannot actualize his goals until he visualizes them clearly in the minds eye.” Mike Mentzer Quotes Mike Mentzer (November 15, 1951–June 10, 2001) was an American IFBB professional bodybuilder, businessman and author. [6] [2]
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