Mentzer "stole" nothing from Arthur Jones. If you were around at the time Mentzer came on the scene he made it abundantly clear describing his journey into what he would later term HIT the influence Jones had on him. He described how he wasn't progressing and was getting discourage until he came across Casey Viator and Arthur Jones. He describe how Jones changed his life. He gave credit and quoted Jones often in his writings Those who erroneously state that Mike built his physique using volume before meeting Jones simply ignore the facts before your eyes. You see early pictures of Mike when he first started training with Jones and you see the progress he made while being with Jones.
Are you saying that Mike didn't act like he invented HIT?
Come on.
Even Frederick Hatfield used to make fun of him over it. (RIP Dr. Squat).
And Mike did not die poor and living in a tiny apartment. Where do you guys get this? How do you know?
I lived in Redondo Beach at the time and around two miles from the Mentzers. Though I saw Ray around town way more than Mike ,and though I wasn't privy to their W2 forms, their apartment was not a tiny little dive. Even the apartment unit I was living in at the time was a three bedroom, two bath unit and had a bigger living room and kitchen than my house does now and was just walking distance to the beach. The Mentzer's place was much more up scale.
Why would he need his brother to live there and help with the rent?
We heterosexuals have these things called women.
If you need help with the bills, get a live-in girlfriend.
As for the quality of the abode, well, neither of us can truly say.
In all fairness, Mike did have some bad habits but that is well documented. His impact, legacy and influence on bodybuilding is arguable second only to Arnold. Before Mike, no one talked about intensity,recovery and progression (only the pump). There was no talk about localized recovery versus system recovery. It was just do more sets to bring up weak parts. Even the role of genetics was never discussed pr cpnsidered before Mike. We were led to believe that if we just followed the Weider principles and take the supps we all could build Mr. America physiques. It was Mike that said that what Arnold did wasn't as important as what Arnold was. That Arnold would have been Arnold even if he trained with rocks.
Compare how much Mentzer is discussed on boards with how often Zane is.
One can be a topic of discussion. It doesn't automatically mean agreement. Most don't agree with HIT.
And this is coming from a guy who believes in lower volume (no. of exercises/sets/frequency) and more rest.
I think most would rather be Zane and have had his life rather than Mentzer's.
And let us not forget that he still has life.
He didn't destroy his organs with steroids and still has three Sandow statues.
Mike has...
