Any truth to what I heard about Mike Mentzer? I heard he was an addicted drug addict who became mentally ill from it.
Mentzer was a great bodybuilder by he was beaten bad by Kalman in the Universe. He looked smaller and less ripped in comparison. All anyone can say negative about Kalman is that his calves weren't as good as Mentzer. I would counter that everything else was better from back, chest, delts and arms.
Mentzer also lost the Universe to Robby. Again Robby looked in ripped condition and Mentzer didn't. Some again will say Mentzer had calves and Robby didn't.
I liked Mentzer back in the day. He has been a huge influence on my training. I used to buy anything he wrote in the magazines. I would rip the article out and put it in a binder. I wonder if anyone has the amount of Mentzer articles that I have? It's just that many HIT guys won't accept that he wasn't always the best in contests and volume guys beat him.
I think the best thing that Mike did was he put out an alternative toi the training of the day that could work for those who did not respond as well to the then high volume. The smart people were the ones who took that advice and applied it to their bodies finding where it best fit them, ie look at the way Labrada and Yates praised Mike as a mentor/influence, however their training styles were adjusted to their own personal needs in a way where there was some similarities to Mike's system, but not the exact same way over time.
My only issue with him and his training system is that he did not even seem to train the last several years of his life. With his brief training system, he would have had more validity if he practiced what he preached, then again Arnold probably is guilty of the same although he has continued to work out in some fashion since he retired save that couple year period when he was governor I believe
