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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.” 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 ] I once asked Mike what his arms had taped at their largest, and his answer startled me: “About 18 1/2 inches.” I was incredulous. “But they look well over 20 inches!” I exclaimed. “Pumped, they probably are, John,” he replied, “but measured cold, which is how you should measure your arms, they never stretched the tape beyond 18 1/2.”
Mentzer's training courses (books and audio tapes), sold through bodybuilding magazines, were extremely popular, beginning after Mentzer won the 1978 IFBB Mr. Universe contest. This contest gathered a lot of attention, because at it he became the first bodybuilder ever to receive a perfect 300 score from the judges. Some time later, Mentzer attracted more attention when he introduced Dorian Yates to high-intensity training, and put him through his first series of workouts in the early '90s. [13] Yates went on to win the Mr. Olympia six consecutive times, from 1992 to 1997. 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.” Khzokhlachev, Yegor (February 19, 2016). "Mike Mentzer". Built Report. Gallery . Retrieved November 9, 2016.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. 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.
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 wasn’t interested so much in his theories (they were not as advanced as they would become from 1993 on, when he reduced the sets to one on a split routine that saw his clients training but once every four to seven days) as I was in learning what he actually did; i.e., how he’d trained to build the incredible muscle mass that he was known for and what he’d personally found to be the most productive muscle-building routine of his entire career. Mike was seated at his desk, and I was directly across from him on a sofa in the living room when I first asked him about it. Mike smiled, knowing that it was the question all aspiring bodybuilders wanted the answer to and, indeed, the very question he himself had posed to his idols, like the great Bill Pearl, when he was starting out in bodybuilding. While Mike Mentzer served in the United States Air Force, he worked 12-hour shifts, and then followed that up with 'marathon workouts' as was the accepted standard in those days. In his first bodybuilding contest, he met the winner, Casey Viator. Mentzer learned that Viator trained in very high intensity (heavy weights for as many repetitions as possible, to total muscle fatigue), for very brief (20–45 minutes per session) and infrequent training sessions. Mentzer also learned that Viator almost exclusively worked out with the relatively new Nautilus machines, created and marketed by Arthur Jones in DeLand, Florida. Mentzer and Jones soon met and became friends. [16] Mentzer was an Objectivist and insisted that philosophy and bodybuilding are one and the same, stating that "man is an indivisible entity, an integrated unit of mind and body." His books therefore concern themselves equally with philosophy and bodybuilding. [6] Mike Mentzer was born on November 15, 1951, in the Germantown section of Philadelphia and was of German descent. In grammar school and Ephrata High School, he received "all A's." He credits his 12th grade teacher, Elizabeth Schaub, for his "love of language, thought, and writing." In 1975, he started attending the University of Maryland as a pre-med student where his hours away from the gym were spent in the study of "genetics, physical chemistry, and organic chemistry." After three years of study at the University of Maryland he dropped out. He said his ultimate goal during that period was to become a psychiatrist. [6] [9] Bodybuilding career [ edit ] Amateur [ edit ]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. Diet has always been as important, if not more, than weight-training for bodybuilders. However, in his book Heavy Duty Nutrition, Mentzer demonstrated that nutrition for athletes did not need to be nearly as extreme as the bodybuilding industry would lead one to believe. His recommended diets were well balanced, and he espoused eating from all four food groups, totaling four servings each of high-quality grains and fruits, and two each of dairy and protein daily, all year-round. [15]
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