Like a lot of us, I was impressed with Mentzer's physique and assumed his training methods were revolutionary. But i was also naïve and only later realized all of pro bodybuilding was all drugs. So I then came to the genius conclusion that without drugs "Heavy Duty" was a joke. Even now I don't think that was an incorrect assessment.
I'm not surprised that Mentzer eventually slipped into a world of other drugs that probably accelerated his death. He was definitely not a role model anymore.
As for him being gay or not? Honestly, who cares. It's not a stigma like it used to be.
I'm not the smartest but when I came across Mentzer's writings at about 14 years old he got me
thinking LOL. Mentzer said, paraphrased, "how come 20 sets twice a week like Arnold and Weider say is the 'correct' volume and frequency, who decided that and on what basis? Why not 30 sets or 40... or 100?" Yes, he had a point I think. I wasn't naive, ever since I picked up a bb mag at 8 (!) freakin' years old I knew bodybuilding involved drugs because as it happened there were some drug references in the mag and just looking at the physiques you saw something was not 'right' LOL.
I even picked up
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand because of Mike LOL. I loved that book but later understood that the 'objectivism' philosophy had some problems with it. Mike tried to use objectivism in his training philosophy and it became a mess. Whether by sheer luck or something else, I think Arthur Jones and him got the exercise volume prescriptions about right, I mean the earlier Mentzer stuff and then Dorian's style. After lifting for a lifetime and tons of observation I believe you don't need much volume nor frequency to maximize growth, drugs or not. The 'scientific' data that we have now seems to support that as well.
Like Mike I love stims and I believe if they are kept at approximately "prescription doses" they aren't that bad. Hell, think of how many millions in the U.S. are on long term Adderall. If you don't sleep every night you will probably run into problems sooner or later though. I forget the name of the dude that said Mike came onto him, he said he drove Mike to crack houses to score meth so the use wasn't moderate obviously.
Just some thoughts
Edit: there's some stigma to the 'fag business' (Arnold's phrase) still and some of the reasons for it are rational IMO LOL. If there wasn't no one would make a thread with this title "WTF"
