Mike Mentzer
Encyclopedia
Mike Mentzer was an American
IFBB
professional bodybuilder
, businessman, and author.
. 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. 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 the next year, in 1976. He won the 1977 North America championships in Vancouver, British Columbia, and competed a week later at the 1977 Mr. Universe in Nîmes, France placing second to Kal Szkalak.
In 1978, Mentzer won the Mr. Universe in Acapulco
, Mexico
with the first and only perfect 300 score. He became a professional bodybuilder after that 1978 Universe win. In late 1979, Mentzer won the heavyweight class of the Mr. Olympia
, again with a perfect 300 score, but he lost in the overall to Frank Zane
who was awarded the title for a third time that year. In the 1980 Mr. Olympia he placed fourth (in a tie with Boyer Coe
) behind Arnold Schwarzenegger
, Chris Dickerson and Frank Zane. He retired from competitive bodybuilding after that show at the age of 29. He maintained that the contest was rigged until the day he died, and never said he thought that he should have won, but that Arnold shouldn't have, though he eventually got on good terms with Schwarzenegger.
Mentzer took the bodybuilding concepts developed by Arthur Jones
and attempted to perfect them. Through years of study, observation, knowledge of stress physiology, the most up-to-date scientific information available, and careful use of his reasoning abilities, Mentzer devised and successfully implemented his own theory of bodybuilding. Mentzer's theories are intended to help a drug-free person achieve their full genetic potential within the shortest amount of time.
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. Bodybuilding was endorsed as only one potential component of an individual's existence, there being many other worthwhile pursuits that he encouraged through his books.
Mentzer believed that Carbohydrates should make up the bulk of the caloric intake, 50-60%, rather than protein as preferred by others. Mentzer's reasoning was simple: to build 10 pounds of muscle in a year, a total of 6000 extra calories needed to be ingested throughout the year, because one pound of muscle contains 600 calories. That averages 16 extra calories per day, and only four of them needed to be from protein—because muscle is 22% protein, about one quarter.
), for very brief (20–45 minutes per session) and infrequent training sessions. Mentzer also learned that Viator almost exclusively worked out with the relatively new Nautilus
machines, created and marketed by Arthur Jones
in Deland, Florida
. Mentzer and Jones soon met and became friends.
Jones pioneered the principles of high-intensity training in the late 1960s. He emphasized the need to maintain perfectly strict form, move the weights in a slow and controlled manner, work the muscles to complete failure (positive and negative), and avoid over-training. Casey Viator had seen fantastic results training under the direction of Jones, and Mentzer became very interested in this training philosophy. Eventually, however, Mentzer concluded that even Jones was not completely applying his own principles, so he began investigating a more full application. He began training clients in a near experimental manner, evaluating the perfect number of repetitions, exercises, and days of rest to achieve maximum benefits.
For more than ten years, Mentzer's Heavy Duty program involved 7-9 sets per workout on a three day-per-week schedule. With the advent of "modern bodybuilding" (where bodybuilders became more massive than ever before) by the early 1990s, he ultimately modified that routine until there were fewer working sets, and more days of rest. His first breakthrough became known as the 'Ideal (Principled) Routine', which was a fantastic step in minimal training. Outlined in High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, fewer than five working sets were performed each session, and rest was emphasized, necessitating 4–7 days of recovery before the next workout. According to Mentzer, biologists and physiologists since the nineteenth century have known that hypertrophy
is directly related to intensity, not duration, of effort (Mentzer 2003;39). Most bodybuilding and weightlifting authorities do not take into account the severe nature of the stress imposed by heavy, strenuous resistance exercise carried to a point of positive muscular failure.
Mentzer's training courses (books and audio tapes), sold through bodybuilding magazines, were extremely popular, beginning after Mentzer won the 1978 IFBB Mr. Universe contest. This contest gathered a lot of attention, because at it he became the first bodybuilder ever to receive a perfect 300 score from the judges. Some time later, Mentzer attracted more attention when he introduced Dorian Yates
to high-intensity training, and put him through his first series of workouts in the early '90s. Yates went on to win the Mr. Olympia six consecutive times, from 1992–1997.
to help facilitate a hectic lifestyle. Mentzer left his position at Weider
Publications shortly after his loss at the 1980 Mr. Olympia contest and suffered financially as a result. He did land a job in 1985 as publisher and editor-in-chief of the newly launched WorkOut magazine, a venture of Stewart Communications Inc. in Tarzana, California. However, when WorkOut failed during the same year that his father died, Mentzer reportedly suffered a mental breakdown. According to Peter McGough, editor-in-chief of FLEX magazine, stories began to surface of Mentzer exhibiting some very erratic behavior. Stories of him running naked through the streets, directing traffic, telling prophecies about the end of the world, being arrested by the police numerous times and even waiting for aliens to land were all published in magazines at one point or another. Popular bodybuilding writer Dan Duchaine
even suggested that Mentzer was drinking his own urine
at the time. Mentzer denied this in a 2001 interview with Ironman magazine. Nonetheless, according to McGough, some of these stories are true. Mentzer was also regularly institutionalized between 1985 up until 1990, when he finally kicked his amphetamine habit. Drug-free, Mentzer returned to training bodybuilders and writing for Iron Man
magazine and spent much of the 1990s regaining his stature in the bodybuilding industry.
Mike had met Dorian Yates
in the 1980s and made an impression on Dorian's budding body building career. Years later when Yates won Joe Weider's "Mr. Olympia", he credited Mike's "Heavy Duty" principles for his training. Mike, his brother Ray, and Dorian formed a clothing company called "MYM" for Mentzer Yates Mentzer, also known as "Heavy Duty Inc", in 1994. MYM was based on the success of Don Smith's "CrazeeWear" bodybuilding apparel. The three principals wanted to capitalize on the physically fit lifestyle, which today has gone mainstream. With the blessing and promotion of Joe Weider
, the trio manufactured and distributed their own line of cut and sew sportswear.
Mentzer died on June 10, 2001 in Rolling Hills, California
. He was found dead in his apartment, due to heart complications, by his younger brother and fellow bodybuilder Ray Mentzer
. Two days later, his brother Ray also died in his sleep after complications from his long battle with Berger's disease.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
IFBB
International Federation of BodyBuilders
The International Federation of BodyBuilders is a competitive bodybuilding organization founded in 1946 by brothers Ben and Joe Weider and is the highest level of competitive bodybuilding in the world. Currently, the IFBB consists of seven different sub-divisions for different competitors ,...
professional bodybuilder
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
, businessman, and author.
Bodybuilding career
Mike 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 ViatorCasey Viator
Casey Viator was the youngest ever AAU Mr. America - gaining the title at the age of 19 in 1971....
. 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. After a layoff of a few years, he returned to competition in 1975 at the Mr. America, placing third behind Robby Robinson
Robby Robinson
Robby Robinson is an American former bodybuilder who won the IFBB Mr. America, Mr. World and Mr. Universe titles. He was the Masters Olympia overall champion the first year that the event was held in 1994 and then went on to win the 50+ division at that same contest in both 1997 and 2000...
and Roger Callard. Mentzer went on to win that competition the next year, in 1976. He won the 1977 North America championships in Vancouver, British Columbia, and competed a week later at the 1977 Mr. Universe in Nîmes, France placing second to Kal Szkalak.
In 1978, Mentzer won the Mr. Universe in Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
with the first and only perfect 300 score. He became a professional bodybuilder after that 1978 Universe win. In late 1979, Mentzer won the heavyweight class of the Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
, again with a perfect 300 score, but he lost in the overall to Frank Zane
Frank Zane
Frank Zane is an American former professional bodybuilder and teacher.- Education :Zane received a B.Sc in Education from Wilkes University in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1964. For 13 years, he taught mathematics and chemistry while living in Florida and California. Later he earned a B.A...
who was awarded the title for a third time that year. In the 1980 Mr. Olympia he placed fourth (in a tie with Boyer Coe
Boyer Coe
Boyer Coe is an American former professional bodybuilder.Coe is the only contestant to achieve a perfect score in the World Bodybuilding Championships...
) behind Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, Chris Dickerson and Frank Zane. He retired from competitive bodybuilding after that show at the age of 29. He maintained that the contest was rigged until the day he died, and never said he thought that he should have won, but that Arnold shouldn't have, though he eventually got on good terms with Schwarzenegger.
Bodybuilding philosophy
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.Mentzer took the bodybuilding concepts developed by Arthur Jones
Arthur Jones (inventor)
Arthur Allen Jones was the founder of Nautilus, Inc. and MedX, Inc. and the inventor of the Nautilus exercise machines, including the Nautilus pullover, which was first sold in 1970...
and attempted to perfect them. Through years of study, observation, knowledge of stress physiology, the most up-to-date scientific information available, and careful use of his reasoning abilities, Mentzer devised and successfully implemented his own theory of bodybuilding. Mentzer's theories are intended to help a drug-free person achieve their full genetic potential within the shortest amount of time.
High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way was Mentzer's final work. In it, he detailed the principles of high intensity weight training
High intensity training
High Intensity Training is a form of strength training popularized in the 1970s by Arthur Jones, the founder of Nautilus. The training focuses on performing quality weightlifting repetitions to the point of momentary muscular failure...
. 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. Bodybuilding was endorsed as only one potential component of an individual's existence, there being many other worthwhile pursuits that he encouraged through his books.
Diet and nutrition
Diet has always been as important, if not more, as weight-training for bodybuilders. However, in his book Heavy Duty Nutrition, Mentzer demonstrated that nutrition for athletes did not need to be nearly as extreme as the bodybuilding industry would lead one to believe. His recommended diets were well balanced, and he espoused eating from all four food groups, totaling four servings each of high-quality grains and fruits, and two each of dairy and protein daily, all year-round.Mentzer believed that Carbohydrates should make up the bulk of the caloric intake, 50-60%, rather than protein as preferred by others. Mentzer's reasoning was simple: to build 10 pounds of muscle in a year, a total of 6000 extra calories needed to be ingested throughout the year, because one pound of muscle contains 600 calories. That averages 16 extra calories per day, and only four of them needed to be from protein—because muscle is 22% protein, about one quarter.
Mentzer's heavy-duty training system
While Mike Mentzer was serving in the US Air Force, he would work 12-hour shifts, and then follow that up with 'marathon workouts', as was the accepted standard in those days. In his first bodybuilding contest, he met the winner, Casey Viator. Mentzer learned that Viator trained in very high intensity (heavy weights for as many repetitions as possible, to total muscle fatigueMuscle fatigue
Muscle fatigue is the decline in ability of a muscle to generate force. It can be a result of vigorous exercise but abnormal fatigue may be caused by barriers to or interference with the different stages of muscle contraction...
), for very brief (20–45 minutes per session) and infrequent training sessions. Mentzer also learned that Viator almost exclusively worked out with the relatively new Nautilus
Nautilus, Inc.
Nautilus, Inc. , located in Vancouver, Washington, United States, is the marketer, developer, and manufacturer of branded health and fitness products sold under such names as Bowflex, Nautilus, PEARL iZUMi, Schwinn Fitness, StairMaster, Trimline and Universal.Nautilus and its corporate...
machines, created and marketed by Arthur Jones
Arthur Jones (inventor)
Arthur Allen Jones was the founder of Nautilus, Inc. and MedX, Inc. and the inventor of the Nautilus exercise machines, including the Nautilus pullover, which was first sold in 1970...
in Deland, Florida
DeLand, Florida
DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006...
. Mentzer and Jones soon met and became friends.
Jones pioneered the principles of high-intensity training in the late 1960s. He emphasized the need to maintain perfectly strict form, move the weights in a slow and controlled manner, work the muscles to complete failure (positive and negative), and avoid over-training. Casey Viator had seen fantastic results training under the direction of Jones, and Mentzer became very interested in this training philosophy. Eventually, however, Mentzer concluded that even Jones was not completely applying his own principles, so he began investigating a more full application. He began training clients in a near experimental manner, evaluating the perfect number of repetitions, exercises, and days of rest to achieve maximum benefits.
For more than ten years, Mentzer's Heavy Duty program involved 7-9 sets per workout on a three day-per-week schedule. With the advent of "modern bodybuilding" (where bodybuilders became more massive than ever before) by the early 1990s, he ultimately modified that routine until there were fewer working sets, and more days of rest. His first breakthrough became known as the 'Ideal (Principled) Routine', which was a fantastic step in minimal training. Outlined in High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, fewer than five working sets were performed each session, and rest was emphasized, necessitating 4–7 days of recovery before the next workout. According to Mentzer, biologists and physiologists since the nineteenth century have known that hypertrophy
Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy is the increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells. It should be distinguished from hyperplasia, in which the cells remain approximately the same size but increase in number...
is directly related to intensity, not duration, of effort (Mentzer 2003;39). Most bodybuilding and weightlifting authorities do not take into account the severe nature of the stress imposed by heavy, strenuous resistance exercise carried to a point of positive muscular failure.
Mentzer's training courses (books and audio tapes), sold through bodybuilding magazines, were extremely popular, beginning after Mentzer won the 1978 IFBB Mr. Universe contest. This contest gathered a lot of attention, because at it he became the first bodybuilder ever to receive a perfect 300 score from the judges. Some time later, Mentzer attracted more attention when he introduced Dorian Yates
Dorian Yates
Dorian Andrew Mientjez Yates , is an English professional bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Olympia title six consecutive times beginning in 1992. He is fourth on the list of most Olympias won, and out of the seven in which he competed, he won six and placed second in his debut...
to high-intensity training, and put him through his first series of workouts in the early '90s. Yates went on to win the Mr. Olympia six consecutive times, from 1992–1997.
Competitive history
- 1971 Mr. America - AAUAmateur Athletic UnionThe Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
, 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 ChampionsNight of ChampionsNight of Champions is a bodybuilding contest held every year in New York City, USA. It began in 1978 and is considered one of the top professional bodybuilding events, with the top five finalists qualifying for the Mr. Olympia contest....
- IFBB, 3rd - 1979 Mr. OlympiaMr. OlympiaMr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
- IFBB, HeavyWeight (over 200 pounds) 1st, Overall 2nd - 1979 Pittsburgh Pro Invitational - IFBB, 2nd
- 1979 Southern Pro Cup - IFBB, 1st
- 1980 Mr. Olympia - IFBB, 5th
Final years and death
Following the loss at the 1980 Mr. Olympia, Mentzer reportedly ran into numerous problems. In the late 1970s, he was reported to have begun using amphetamines, claiming he took them only as an ergogenic aidErgogenic aid
Ergogenic aids are any external influences that can be determined to enhance performance. These include mechanical aids , pharmacological aids, physiological aids, nutritional aids , and psychological aids....
to help facilitate a hectic lifestyle. Mentzer left his position at Weider
Joe Weider
Josef E. "Joe" Weider is co-founder of the International Federation of BodyBuilders along with brother Ben Weider and creator of the Mr. Olympia, the Ms. Olympia, and the now-defunct Masters Olympia bodybuilding contests...
Publications shortly after his loss at the 1980 Mr. Olympia contest and suffered financially as a result. He did land a job in 1985 as publisher and editor-in-chief of the newly launched WorkOut magazine, a venture of Stewart Communications Inc. in Tarzana, California. However, when WorkOut failed during the same year that his father died, Mentzer reportedly suffered a mental breakdown. According to Peter McGough, editor-in-chief of FLEX magazine, stories began to surface of Mentzer exhibiting some very erratic behavior. Stories of him running naked through the streets, directing traffic, telling prophecies about the end of the world, being arrested by the police numerous times and even waiting for aliens to land were all published in magazines at one point or another. Popular bodybuilding writer Dan Duchaine
Dan Duchaine
Daniel "Dan" Duchaine was a former American bodybuilder, author, and two time convicted felon. Nicknamed the steroid guru, Duchaine gained worldwide notoriety due to his outspoken opinions on the use of performance enhancing drugs, and made numerous television appearances discussing the subject...
even suggested that Mentzer was drinking his own urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
at the time. Mentzer denied this in a 2001 interview with Ironman magazine. Nonetheless, according to McGough, some of these stories are true. Mentzer was also regularly institutionalized between 1985 up until 1990, when he finally kicked his amphetamine habit. Drug-free, Mentzer returned to training bodybuilders and writing for Iron Man
Iron Man (magazine)
Iron Man Magazine is a publication which discusses bodybuilding, weightlifting and powerlifting. It was founded in 1936 by two Alliance, Nebraska natives, Peary Rader and his wife, Mabel Rader.-History:...
magazine and spent much of the 1990s regaining his stature in the bodybuilding industry.
Mike had met Dorian Yates
Dorian Yates
Dorian Andrew Mientjez Yates , is an English professional bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Olympia title six consecutive times beginning in 1992. He is fourth on the list of most Olympias won, and out of the seven in which he competed, he won six and placed second in his debut...
in the 1980s and made an impression on Dorian's budding body building career. Years later when Yates won Joe Weider's "Mr. Olympia", he credited Mike's "Heavy Duty" principles for his training. Mike, his brother Ray, and Dorian formed a clothing company called "MYM" for Mentzer Yates Mentzer, also known as "Heavy Duty Inc", in 1994. MYM was based on the success of Don Smith's "CrazeeWear" bodybuilding apparel. The three principals wanted to capitalize on the physically fit lifestyle, which today has gone mainstream. With the blessing and promotion of Joe Weider
Joe Weider
Josef E. "Joe" Weider is co-founder of the International Federation of BodyBuilders along with brother Ben Weider and creator of the Mr. Olympia, the Ms. Olympia, and the now-defunct Masters Olympia bodybuilding contests...
, the trio manufactured and distributed their own line of cut and sew sportswear.
Mentzer died on June 10, 2001 in Rolling Hills, California
Rolling Hills, California
Rolling Hills is a city in the Palos Verdes Hills, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,860, down from 1,871 at the 2000 census...
. He was found dead in his apartment, due to heart complications, by his younger brother and fellow bodybuilder Ray Mentzer
Ray Mentzer
Ray Mentzer was the brother of Mike Mentzer and winner of the 1979 AAU Mr. America competition. Mike won the rival IFBB Mr America in 1976. Ray also won the 1976 Junior Mr. America and the 1978 IFBB Mr...
. Two days later, his brother Ray also died in his sleep after complications from his long battle with Berger's disease.