Mike Mentzer - Discussion

[oldschoolfan]

mentzer looks better in these pics than these bloated clowns competing today

[The Scott]

So how many sets in those 5 hours did you think you did?

Arm day was 50 total sets.  That was 2 to 2.5 hours for the second workout of the day which was arms, calves and abs.  Chest and back were much the same.  Some days I would do those crazy fast "giant sets" of five bicep or tricep exercises in a row and then rest/repeat for a total of 25 sets for each.  I thought I would puke.  If memory serves, I think I did a few times.   I pretty much did calves and abs every day.  Stupid, huh?  Shoulders were done in the mornings along with ab and calf work.  I was overdoing it but I thought that was the way it was done and did so for years.

Thighs were done alone except for ab and calf work.  I was so crazy to get as big as I could. I ate tons of food and even drank whipping cream for the calories.  Squats were my favorite and I got quite good at them.  Same with what we all called the "real leg press" (inverted).  I really enjoyed leg pressing on the inverted machines.  Much better than those angled jobs.

I hated doing legs until some of my powerlifting friends introduced me to the 20 rep set routine and from that moment on it was my favorite exercise, bar none.  Was I training hard? On leg day, no doubt.  The other days I now think I trained pretty damn hard but I over trained too. I did get to 250 lbs but  my size was nowhere near my friends on steroids.  Also my bodyfat was probably in the low 20% range.  Again, nothing like a competitive bodybuilder although I did compete a few times.  I was not good enough but I was no Genova,LOL!

Today was a total of 4 sets back and 4 sets of chest.  That would include a couple of warmup sets for each body part before doing the pre-exhaust isolation movement followed by the compound one.  I train at home most of the time but have considered joining a gym.  I fear I would get envious and at my age, I cannot afford a new kidney.  Dammit! 

Sometimes I get out the 2.75" bar for curls but not very often now. It bothers my elbows.  I am far from well built but I am still training and that is what matters.  My ego gets in the way every now and then but that's to be expected.  I watched the Mentzers train in the late 70s at Gold's.  They and Viator trained brutally hard or at least the few times I saw them.  Impressive. 

[Simple Simon]

Arm day was 50 total sets.  That was 2 to 2.5 hours for the second workout of the day which was arms, calves and abs.  Chest and back were much the same.  Some days I would do those crazy fast "giant sets" of five bicep or tricep exercises in a row and then rest/repeat for a total of 25 sets for each.  I thought I would puke.  If memory serves, I think I did a few times.   I pretty much did calves and abs every day.  Stupid, huh?  Shoulders were done in the mornings along with ab and calf work.  I was overdoing it but I thought that was the way it was done and did so for years.

Thighs were done alone except for ab and calf work.  I was so crazy to get as big as I could. I ate tons of food and even drank whipping cream for the calories.  Squats were my favorite and I got quite good at them.  Same with what we all called the "real leg press" (inverted).  I really enjoyed leg pressing on the inverted machines.  Much better than those angled jobs.

I hated doing legs until some of my powerlifting friends introduced me to the 20 rep set routine and from that moment on it was my favorite exercise, bar none.  Was I training hard? On leg day, no doubt.  The other days I now think I trained pretty damn hard but I over trained too. I did get to 250 lbs but  my size was nowhere near my friends on steroids.  Also my bodyfat was probably in the low 20% range.  Again, nothing like a competitive bodybuilder although I did compete a few times.  I was not good enough but I was no Genova,LOL!

Today was a total of 4 sets back and 4 sets of chest.  That would include a couple of warmup sets for each body part before doing the pre-exhaust isolation movement followed by the compound one.  I train at home most of the time but have considered joining a gym.  I fear I would get envious and at my age, I cannot afford a new kidney.  Dammit! 

Sometimes I get out the 2.75" bar for curls but not very often now. It bothers my elbows.  I am far from well built but I am still training and that is what matters.  My ego gets in the way every now and then but that's to be expected.  I watched the Mentzers train in the late 70s at Gold's.  They and Viator trained brutally hard or at least the few times I saw them.  Impressive. 

what an incredible waste of time...

[The Scott]

what an incredible waste of time...

Yup.  That it was.  I bought into the Weider lie.    Dammit! 

[Eric2]

Still finding rare pictures! Cool stuff.   Yes the weider training system, what a crock. Just as bad as Arnolds encyclopedia of overtraining. Total waste of time.

[NotMrAverage]

Arm day was 50 total sets.  That was 2 to 2.5 hours for the second workout of the day which was arms, calves and abs.  Chest and back were much the same.  Some days I would do those crazy fast "giant sets" of five bicep or tricep exercises in a row and then rest/repeat for a total of 25 sets for each.  I thought I would puke.  If memory serves, I think I did a few times.   I pretty much did calves and abs every day.  Stupid, huh?  Shoulders were done in the mornings along with ab and calf work.  I was overdoing it but I thought that was the way it was done and did so for years.

Thighs were done alone except for ab and calf work.  I was so crazy to get as big as I could. I ate tons of food and even drank whipping cream for the calories.  Squats were my favorite and I got quite good at them.  Same with what we all called the "real leg press" (inverted).  I really enjoyed leg pressing on the inverted machines.  Much better than those angled jobs.

I hated doing legs until some of my powerlifting friends introduced me to the 20 rep set routine and from that moment on it was my favorite exercise, bar none.  Was I training hard? On leg day, no doubt.  The other days I now think I trained pretty damn hard but I over trained too. I did get to 250 lbs but  my size was nowhere near my friends on steroids.  Also my bodyfat was probably in the low 20% range.  Again, nothing like a competitive bodybuilder although I did compete a few times.  I was not good enough but I was no Genova,LOL!

Today was a total of 4 sets back and 4 sets of chest.  That would include a couple of warmup sets for each body part before doing the pre-exhaust isolation movement followed by the compound one.  I train at home most of the time but have considered joining a gym.  I fear I would get envious and at my age, I cannot afford a new kidney.  Dammit! 

Sometimes I get out the 2.75" bar for curls but not very often now. It bothers my elbows.  I am far from well built but I am still training and that is what matters.  My ego gets in the way every now and then but that's to be expected.  I watched the Mentzers train in the late 70s at Gold's.  They and Viator trained brutally hard or at least the few times I saw them.  Impressive. 

Thanks for sharing! I got to 265 at 5.9 using more dorian oriented training. In good shape 235. But i did use steroids. Eq and test. Still interesting about that enormous amount you did.

[NarcissisticDeity]

 

[PJim]

No weak points in that particular photo, great condition and fullness everywhere, superb.

[The Scott]

After many years of over training I came to the realization that if both H.I.T. and volume training both produced equal results, why would I want to be in the gym up to 5 hours a day, 6 days a week when I could accomplish the same results in less time?

The answer is I would not.  And I no longer do.  And the truth of the matter is that Arthur Jones, Casey Viator and Mike Mentzer didn't blaze a new trail, they just put us back on the right one. 

I have no desire to  be a gym rat ever again.  Even if the gym is in my garage. 

[NarcissisticDeity]

 

[The Scott]

From left to right  -  Schmoe Weider, Lou Ferrigno, Mike Mentzer, Kent Keuhn, Robbie Robinson, Rick Wayne, Buttslut Sprague ("Sprayed"?).

[NarcissisticDeity]

 

[burnout666]

I hear tell he used to drink his own urine and spend bouts in the mental hospital under involuntary commitment.

[DarthSidious]

I hear tell he used to drink his own urine and spend bouts in the mental hospital under involuntary commitment.

Nuthouse?  Yes.

The piss thing?  No.  He was pissing into a jug to track something for medical purposes.

[NotMrAverage]

He spent 5 years in the nutter after running naked in the streets of venice beach. He saw ufo:s coming and shit. The urine thing was bullshit though. Atleast from himself.

[NarcissisticDeity]

 

[NarcissisticDeity]

 

[Hypertrophy]

I always like Mentzer's physique- it just looked solid. But I wonder what he would really look like, minus steroids or other drugs. Not a knock on people who use- I don't care either way. But it would be interesting to see how he would be totally natural. Or at least what his training method would lead to.

I followed his methods for several years and made little progress. I think it was because it was so frequent- he used to talk about 3 days a week heavy, like Casey Viator did. I switched to one day a week heavy lifting for the whole body and made the fastest muscular gains- about 20-25 pounds over a few years, drug free.

[Straw Man]

I always like Mentzer's physique- it just looked solid. But I wonder what he would really look like, minus steroids or other drugs. Not a knock on people who use- I don't care either way. But it would be interesting to see how he would be totally natural. Or at least what his training method would lead to.

I followed his methods for several years and made little progress. I think it was because it was so frequent- he used to talk about 3 days a week heavy, like Casey Viator did. I switched to one day a week heavy lifting for the whole body and made the fastest muscular gains- about 20-25 pounds over a few years, drug free.

are you saying you worked the whole body in one workout - one day per week

or are you saying you switched to training each bodypart 1x per week?

[Hypertrophy]

are you saying you worked the whole body in one workout - one day per week

or are you saying you switched to training each bodypart 1x per week?

I did (and still do) the whole body in one workout. Pretty basic routine- about 10-12 exercises, one or two warmups, 1 strict heavy set of 8-12 reps or so, till positive failure, periodically altering the movements when I'm getting stale. I found that anything beyond that didn't work; I would just get tired and have joint pains. This works perfectly.

My current routine:

Over head press/pulldowns/incline bench/row/decline bench/incline row/leg press/leg curl/calf raise/curl/triceps pressdown.

I did the single body part routine 1x a week, such as chest day 1, back day 2, legs day 3 but I found I ended up easily over training because I kept  adding extra movements in. Plus I travel a bit on business so I wanted to consolidate gym time.

I'm 5'9" 200 pounds when living the easy life . When I get super lean (I bicycle a lot), I am about 180 with abs, veins. On the Mentzer routine I was stuck at about 160 forever. I was very much an ectomorph. I then read an article about Dorian doing one day a week heavy and tried it. Boom- I grew so quickly I was amazed. It eventually slowed when I reached the mid 180's  and lean but that is quite a dramatic gain in about 2 years. Now I just maintain my strength.

[Straw Man]

I did (and still do) the whole body in one workout. Pretty basic routine- about 10-12 exercises, one or two warmups, 1 strict heavy set of 8-12 reps or so, till positive failure, periodically altering the movements when I'm getting stale. I found that anything beyond that didn't work; I would just get tired and have joint pains. This works perfectly.

My current routine:

Over head press/pulldowns/incline bench/row/decline bench/incline row/leg press/leg curl/calf raise/curl/triceps pressdown.

I did the single body part routine 1x a week, such as chest day 1, back day 2, legs day 3 but I found I ended up easily over training because I kept  adding extra movements in. Plus I travel a bit on business so I wanted to consolidate gym time.

I'm 5'9" 200 pounds when living the easy life . When I get super lean (I bicycle a lot), I am about 180 with abs, veins. On the Mentzer routine I was stuck at about 160 forever. I was very much an ectomorph. I then read an article about Dorian doing one day a week heavy and tried it. Boom- I grew so quickly I was amazed. It eventually slowed when I reached the mid 180's  and lean but that is quite a dramatic gain in about 2 years. Now I just maintain my strength.

I don't recall ever reading about Dorian training the entire body at one time and only 1 day a week.

Sounds more like one of Mentzer's very abbreviated routines that he promoted at the very end of his life

whatever works for you is all that matters

[Hypertrophy]

I don't recall ever reading about Dorian training the entire body at one time and only 1 day a week.

Sounds more like one of Mentzer's very abbreviated routines that he promoted at the very end of his life

whatever works for you is all that matters

No- I meant he (Dorian) trained each body part once a week! He had different goals and used far more sets and exercises than I would, or could handle. And yes, it works for me- and has kept my interest for many years.

[NotMrAverage]

I mentzers look is like the ultimate bodybuilder. It just looks good. Today guys are just to much. Its overkill ever since Dorian hit the scene. What is interesting about Dorian is that he is a very average guys size. I could never been able to tell he was even working out when i met him. So what really good genetics is seems to be quite hard to answer really.

[dj181]

No- I meant he (Dorian) trained each body part once a week! He had different goals and used far more sets and exercises than I would, or could handle. And yes, it works for me- and has kept my interest for many years.

curious, did your strength increase on that routine?

If yes, give examples of the increases for example curl went up from 80x6 to 115x9

[pellius]

I mentzers look is like the ultimate bodybuilder. It just looks good. Today guys are just to much. Its overkill ever since Dorian hit the scene. What is interesting about Dorian is that he is a very average guys size. I could never been able to tell he was even working out when i met him. So what really good genetics is seems to be quite hard to answer really.

It's a person's response to training and supplements that is a key component to the genetically gifted.
Two people can do the exact same thing but one is going to respond better. Same with talent. It's not like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan trained harder than their competition. They just had the God given talent that most don't have.

Of course hard work and discipline is required when you are talking about the best of the best but as much as people don't like to hear it, champions are BORN not made, which is the opposite of what we are taught.