Did they even meet more than a couple of times?
Let's put it like this:
T: Earlier in your career Mike Mentzer was taking a great deal of credit for putting you on the road to "Heavy Duty" training. Did you ever train with Mentzer, and was he ever really associated with you in any way?
Dorian: When I first started training, I read as much as possible; it was trial and error in the gym. I read a lot of stuff by Arthur Jones [Nautilus inventor], and Mentzer was in the magazines at the time. Through trial and error I noticed that if I went over a certain amount of volume in the gym, my progress would come to a stop. I'd become overtrained. I was always training with a lot of volume, high intensity, along those lines.
I met Mike Mentzer after I won my first Olympia in '92. I was at Gold's Gym in Venice doing photo shoots and met Mike. Of course he was someone I'd admired when I started training, and we were talking about training principles and so on. He had a personal training business and felt that when he was still competing he still overtrained, even though he was doing a lot less than everybody else. He felt it was possible to do even less, in terms of volume, and get even better results.
So yes, I did a few workouts with Mike and we exchanged ideas. He did have some input in my training at that time. I tried to reduce the volume a little bit more, but it was a minor adjustment because I was already training like that. So it's not correct to say Mike trained me. We did maybe three workouts together in Gold's Gym.
T: So he was an influence, like many people have been an influence?
Dorian: Yeah, he was an influence. I'll learn from wherever I can learn. I've probably learned many things from people during my career, but it would be incorrect to say anyone trained me or coached me or anything like that. You should never be too big to be able to pick up tips and learn. You have to keep an open mind. Mike was one of quite a few people who had some influence.
Of course, it was good for Mike's business to be associated with me, which I didn't particularly mind. Great, if it was going to help him. I wouldn't want anyone to take credit for training me 'cause it wouldn't be correct. Even if someone was training me, there's a whole bigger aspect to the sport than that. There's the nutrition and pre-contest prep and everything, which would be a totally different ballgame than when Mike was competing.
Source:
https://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do;jsessionid=8B6FE83D014CD3A1AE527D07B8662FF4.hydra?article=156yates2
