Athletes - Mike Mentzer

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	Athletes - Mike Mentzer

Mike Mentzer (November 15, 1951 to June 10, 2001) was a former IFBB professional bodybuilder, businessman, author and philosopher.

Bodybuilding philosophy

Mentzer took the bodybuilding concepts developed by Arthur Jones and attempted to perfect them. Through years of study, observation, knowledge of stress physiology and the most up-to-date scientific information available, and careful use of his reasoning abilities, Mentzer tried to devise and successfully implement a theory of bodybuilding. Mentzer's theories are intended to help a person achieve their full genetic potential within the shortest amount of time.

Mentzer was an Objectivist, and he insisted that philosophy and bodybuilding are one and the same. He said "Man, is an indivisible entity, an integrated unit of mind and body." Thus, his books contain as much philosophy as they do bodybuilding information.

High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way was Mentzer's final work. In it, he detailed the principles of high intensity weight training. Weight training, he insisted, had to be brief, infrequent, and intense, in order to attain the best results in the shortest amount of time. Heavy Duty II also espouses critical thinking. In this book, Mentzer shows why people need to use their reasoning ability to live happy, mature, adult lives, and he shows readers how to go about doing so.

Mentzer was also known for his adoption of the approach that "a calorie is a calorie", and would often torment bodybuilders who were strictly dieting, by freely eating Danishes and other off-limit foods close to competitions.

Mentzer's training system

Mentzer was originally an advocate of pre-exhaustion weight training. For example, leg extensions are done before squats, side delt raises before shoulder presses, flyes before bench presses, and stiff-arm pulldowns before standard lat pulldowns. Mentzer was also famous for going "beyond failure" with forced reps, negative reps, static holds, and forced negatives.In general, one only used 1-2 sets per movement, with no more than five movements per muscle group.

After renewing his training business in the 1990s, Mentzer became convinced that even the relatively low-volume routines advocated by Arthur Jones and himself were, in fact, too exhausting for average trainees. Mentzer later advocated a build-up routine involving two leg workouts, one pec-delt workout, and one lat-bicep workout every 10-14 days.

After the trainee' results plateau, he switches to an advanced system involving a very brief full-body workout, to be followed once every 6-10 days. Some Mentzer pupils report training each muscle group only once every 21 days.

Mentzer and advocates of "high intensity" training believed that one must train very hard, using the heaviest weight one can manage in good form and without injury. In general, high intensity trainers eschew the use of Olympic lifts, Olympic lift derivatives, explosive or ballistic lifts of any kind, and plyometric drills.

In general, high intensity advocates believe the opinion of Jones, that while strength can be increased by 400% in an average individual, recovery capacity can only be increased by 50%. Therefore, the stronger one becomes, counterintuitively, the less one must train.

Below is a sample powerlifting routine inspired by Mentzer priciples:

Monday: Bench press- five singles, or one set of 8 to failure

:Side raises or overhead presses- one set.

Thursday: Deadlift- five singles or Dumbell shrugs- one set

:Pulldowns or chins- one set

Tuesday: Squats- 10-6-4-2 working up to a heavy weight.

:Frontal squats or leg presses- one set. Begin again on the third Monday.

Competitive history

1971 Mr. America - AAU, 10th
1971 Teen Mr America - AAU, 2nd
1975 Mr. America - IFBB, Medium, 3rd
1975 Mr. USA - ABBA, Medium, 2nd
1976 Mr. America - IFBB, Overall Winner
1976 Mr. America - IFBB, Medium, 1st
1976 Mr. Universe - IFBB, MiddleWeight, 2nd
1977 North American Championships - IFBB, Overall Winner
1977 North American Championships - IFBB, MiddleWeight, 1st
1977 Mr. Universe - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 2nd
1978 USA vs the World - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 1st
1978 World Amateur Championships - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 1st
1979 Canada Pro Cup - IFBB, 2nd
1979 Florida Pro Invitational - IFBB, 1st
1979 Night of Champions - IFBB, 3rd
1979 Mr. Olympia - IFBB, HeavyWeight, 1st
1979 Pittsburgh Pro Invitational - IFBB, 2nd
1979 Southern Pro Cup - IFBB, 1st
1980 Mr. Olympia - IFBB, 5th

Bodybuilding career

Mentzer started competing in local physique contests when he was eighteen. His first contest was in 1969. In 1971 he suffered his worst defeat, placing 10th at the AAU Mr. America, which was won by Casey Viator. Mentzer considered his presence at this contest important later on as it was here that he met Viator who gave Mentzer the contact information for his trainer Arthur Jones. (Mentzer would contact Jones in later years to learn the latter's theories which he would then incorporate into his own training system.) After a layoff of a few years, he returned to competition in 1975 at the Mr. America placing third behind Robby Robinson and Roger Callard. Mentzer went on to win that competition in 1976. He won the 1977 North America championships in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1977 and competed a week later at the 1977 Mr. Universe in Nimes, France placing second to Kal Szkalak.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Mike Mentzer ]

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Athletes - Mike Mentzer

Bodybuilding philosophy

Mentzer's training system

Competitive history

Bodybuilding career

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