My
Mike Mentzer Training Experience
By Paul Becker of http://www.trulyhuge.com
Let Paul take you through an eye-opening workout
with bodybuilding legend and High-Intensity Training
pioneer Mike Mentzer.
|
I
first got interested in bodybuilding back in 1978. At
that time Mike Mentzer was rocketing up the bodybuilding
ranks. He won the 1978 Mr. Universe and became the first
bodybuilder in history to get a perfect score from the
judges, the next year he placed second to Frank Zane
at the Mr. Olympia, some felt Mike should have won that
contest. His last contest was the infamous 1980 Mr.Olympia,
where Arnold himself came out of retirement, the rumor
was that Arnold was tired of hearing Mike say that Heavy
Duty was the only way to train, and that by beating
Mike he would prove him wrong. Arnold won the contest
even though he wasn't in top shape, Mike who was in
better shape then the previous year only placed 5th,
people yelled "FIX!" and Mike, fed up, retired
from competition.
You
see Mentzer created quite a lot of commotion with his
Heavy Duty training articles. Mike said that all bodybuilders
were overtraining and this was slowing down their progress,
and while most bodybuilders like Arnold were training
for 2 or more hours a day 6 days a week and doing 20
or more sets per body part, Mike was only doing 30 minutes
3 to 4 times a week and only about 5 sets per body part
(later he would suggest doing even less, as you will
soon see).
The
debate raged on: "He's wrong." "He's
Crazy." "He just is trying to make a buck."
"No, Mike is right." "He's a genius."
"He has showed us the way", and so it went
and still goes on to this day.
But
this article is not to prove Mike right or wrong, it's
just to share my experience and let you try the routine
he put me on.
I
was in California in 1999 when Mike was training people
in Santa Monica, I was moving in a few weeks and I felt
this was my last chance to meet and train with my boyhood
hero (I never realized how right I was as Mike passed
away a little less then 2 years later).
I
called Mike and scheduled an appointment to meet him,
I arrived at the gym and when I spotted Mike walking
towards me, the first thing I noticed was he looked
like he was in pain, I said "Mike, what's wrong
with your back?" "Oh, I've had bad back troubles
for years." He told me. Many have tried to attack
Mike's latest training theories on the fact that Mike
himself was in such bad shape in the late 90's, and
if all it took was a few sets per workout, then why
wasn't he in shape? The truth is he was no longer able
to train as hard as he felt he had to, because of his
back.
The
next thing I noticed was he wan't in shape, but he was
not as bad as some made him out to be, his forearms
and upper arms were still very big!
He
told me he would put me through a leg workout, and the
first thing he showed me was the form he wanted me to
use on all exercises, this was very slow, about 4 seconds
up and 4 seconds down. And if there is resistance in
the contracted position, like in the leg extension hold
for 2 seconds, this makes the exercise very hard, yet
extremely safe, he told me he had trained over 1,000
different people and never was anyone injured in a training
session with him.
After
a brief warm up, Mike had me do 1 set of painfully slow
and heavy Leg Extensions to failure then with no rest
a set of Leg Presses to failure. It is quite different
having someone there pushing you compared to training
alone, Mike would tell me "Ok, you can do more,
if there was an earth quake or if your life depended
on it you'd get 2 more reps, and if there were ten naked
girls watching and waiting you would get 3 more!"
I did way more reps then I ever though I could, and
when I really did hit failure he said "Ok, that's
enough, that's failure."
One
of the questions, I had and you might have is "What
did Mike consider failure?", well if you get to
a point where you can't complete another full rep on
your own, that's failure. No need to do forced reps,
etc.
I
had only done two sets but my legs were very pumped
and I felt a deep growth stimulation in them. He had
me take a short rest and then we did calves, most people
say they can't get their calves to grow, but I see them
bouncing up and down very fast on calf raises. Well
try them the way Mentzer made me do them, "SLOW
UP, HOLD AT THE TOP, HOLD, RAISE UP HIGHER, HIGHER,
HOLD, LOWER SLOW." You do 12 to 20 reps that way
and see if you feel a difference.
Believe
it or not that was the whole workout!
Mike
then took me outside and talked with me for about half
an hour and answered any questions I had. He was very
polite, even soft spoken, he didn't try to shove his
ideas down my throat. He was a very intelligent man.
Was he crazy? No. Was he eccentric? Well, a little,
for example when we first sat down he was drinking a
big cup of coffee and then takes out a pack of cigarettes,
"Do you smoke?" He asked. "No."
I said., He then lit up, took and huge drag and said
"I love it!"
My
next workout a few days later was a chest and back workout,
again after a brief warm up, He had me do a set of Pec
Deck to failure then with no rest a set of Incline Press
to failure. We rested a bit then did Close Grip Lat
Pulldowns, the first rep was hard, I told Mike, "This
is too heavy a weight for me." He said, "No,
it's fine you'll get 6 to 8 reps."
And
to my surprise I did, I knew there was a big difference
having someone like Mike pushing me, I was thinking
what would happen if I trained with Mike for a while.
It was like he read my mind, he said "Man you got
a good build already, I wish I could work with you for
a few months". Sadly that never happened because
I had to move.
The
second workout ended with 1 set of deadlifts, again
that was the full workout!
Mike
was going out of town and we were planning to do another
workout when he got back, but it never happened because
our schedules didn't match up. But Mike did write out
a full routine for me to follow, I have included it
below, in case you want to give it a try.
Workout
1
Pec Deck 6 to 10 reps
With no rest do Incline Press 2 to 4 reps
Close Grip (Palm Up) Lat Pulldowns 6 to 10 reps
Deadlift 5 to 8 reps.
Rest
at least 3 days.
Workout
2
Leg Extension 8 to 15 reps
With no rest do Leg Press 8 to 15 reps
Calf
Raise 12 to 20 reps
Rest
at least 3 days.
Workout
3
Dumbell Laterals 6 to 10 reps
Rear Laterals 6 to 10 reps
Barbell Curls 6 to 10 reps
Tricep Pressdowns 6 to 10 reps
With no reps do Dips 3 to 5 reps
Rest
at least 3 days.
Workout
4
Leg Extentions 8 to 15 reps
With no rest do Squat 8 to 15 reps.
Calf Raise 12 to 20 reps.
Rest
at least 3 days.
Go
back to Workout 1, etc.
Some
points of importance are:
*
Slow controlled reps.
* Only one set to failure, per exercise.
* Add weight as often as possible, while keeping form
perfect.
* Have someone there to push you.
* Keep a training journal.
This
article is dedicated to the memory of Mike Mentzer,
whether right or wrong he sure made us think.
As
always, if you have any questions or comments feel free
to e-mail me at thmuscle@aol.com and be sure to visit
my website at http://www.trulyhuge.com
(c)
Paul Becker 2007
