Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mike Mentzer in 1979

[NarcissisticDeity]

A year before the bottom dropped out  shit would never be the same

[Slik]

Jesus. Pointing even back then.

[Tha Grim Lifter]

He was right. Mike does have a big belly.

[NarcissisticDeity]

He was right. Mike does have a big belly.

  I was waiting for someone else to notice it

[Natural_O]

Great pic, that looks like it was from the 1979 Mr. Olympia.

[tommywishbone]

WTH? A GH belly before HGH was actually really available. Genentech's Protropin received FDA approval in October of 1985.

[Eric2]

A year before the bottom dropped out   shit would never be the same

Notice how trained Arnold is for the camera shot. He always knows where it is so he can smile and look like a million bucks.
Mike is either looking at another camera or unaware.

[dj181]

2 fine fellas of outstanding GERMANIC ANCESTRY 

[ratherbebig]

arnold getting the upper hand in that hand shake

[bigbychoices]

they used cadavaer  growth hormone.  got it from dead people. thats all they had. so if the person had a disease or something there was a good chance you got it too. i still think mike used insulin. you really get the gut from insulin not from gh. but if you combine the 2 your gut gets even bigger.

[dj181]

they used cadavaer  growth hormone.  got it from dead people. thats all they had. so if the person had a disease or something there was a good chance you got it too. i still think mike used insulin. you really get the gut from insulin not from gh. but if you combine the 2 your gut gets even bigger.

what was the most that dyke weighed on stage?

210 or so

in 76-77 he weighed like 200 on stage and looked his best

so it seems that the slin just put 10 or more pounds on his belly, coz he pecs were actually smaller in 79-80 than they were in 76-77
 

[Megalodon]

Mentzer arnoldized. The original mentzer starts looking like a bad posture photoshop.

[Hypertrophy]

they used cadavaer  growth hormone.  got it from dead people. thats all they had. so if the person had a disease or something there was a good chance you got it too. i still think mike used insulin. you really get the gut from insulin not from gh. but if you combine the 2 your gut gets even bigger.

bigbychoices- you really know your stuff! I found this medical paper from 1987 (!) already showing the problems with growth hormone taken from human cadavers!

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3474545

As for insulin, bodybuilder Tim Belknap used it because he was a diabetic and was actually huge for the time. Dave Palumbo wrote an interesting article about this. Since Belknap was around the same time as Mentzer I wouldn't be surprised if he started experimenting with insulin as well.

www.davepalumbo.com/members-dpdotcom/MuscularArchives2003/INSULIN%20ARTICLE.pdf

[Hypertrophy]

Mentzer arnoldized. The original mentzer starts looking like a bad posture photoshop.

Really good Photoshop- and that is exactly why Mentzer never looked as imposing as Arnold, proportion wise.

[BSN]

A year later..

[The Scott]

Jesus. Pointing even back then.

He was most likely thinking along the lines of popular T-shirt of the day, "I'm With Stupid". 

Both look good and I can only wish that Mike had taken his frustration out preparing for the next Olympia instead of whining about the '80.

[tommywishbone]

they used cadavaer  growth hormone.  got it from dead people. thats all they had. so if the person had a disease or something there was a good chance you got it too. i still think mike used insulin. you really get the gut from insulin not from gh. but if you combine the 2 your gut gets even bigger.

I'm aware of the talk of cadaver based HGH, also the use of Rhesus monkey "HGH" Evidently the Rhesus monkey is our closest DNA-based relative. I was competing in AAU bodybuilding and powerlifting in 1978... been involved in both sports ever since... I've never, not even one time, seen either one of those products in real life. Could bodybuilders get them? Probably. Would they have been incredibly expensive and extremely rare? Hell yes.

[Schnauzer]

 

[PJim]

A year later..

Bar chest, Mike is considerably thicker and more conditioned.

[Eric2]

Bar chest, Mike is considerably thicker and more conditioned.

Yep, bigger legs, bigger forearms, upper arms look bigger, calves are bigger than Arnold's as well. Better conditioning all around, this shot makes Arnold look like he is soft and small when contrasted with Mike.

[bigbychoices]

yes they had access to them both. the rhesus monkey hormone was used actually more often than the cadeavar  stuff because they assumed it was safer ( you might get whatever the human died from when you used the human stuff) dont really know how well the rhesus stuff worked if at all. seen some athletes who used it in other sports and it did make their hands and face change alot. ( and no not from dieting) if you had access to a university where they did studies you could get both kinds. and like anything else the black market was widely available back then as well.

[Rmj11]

Yep, bigger legs, bigger forearms, upper arms look bigger, calves are bigger than Arnold's as well. Better conditioning all around, this shot makes Arnold look like he is soft and small when contrasted with Mike.

Wrong. When seen from a side view you can clearly see Arnold was way bigger and better than the manlet mentzer. It's not even a debate,

[Royalty]

I bet that Mike Mentzer would’ve been fine if he had placed 2nd. Placing 5th was the real problem for him.

[Rambone]

Did Mentzer invent this pose? Combined with the GH gut, dude was way ahead of his time

[Royalty]

Did Mentzer invent this pose? Combined with the GH gut, dude was way ahead of his time

It would be funny to know that Arnold, while smiling, was actually trying to crush Mentzer’s hand during that handshake moment