Daniel Sanchez, Fitness Enthusiast

My Introduction–and Reintroduction, to Mike Mentzer, a Bodybuilding Legend

Last modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago.

Years ago, before the internet had become anything close to what it is today, the holy grail of training information for young athletes and lifters was probably bodybuilding.com. It was back when even Layne Norton contributed to the site, posting his training progress, advice, and probably how many grams of protein and creatine he was taking each day. (This was before he finished up a PhD).

It was a halcyon time. I recall several contributors responding to my emails when I asked even simple things like, “what are cruciferous vegetables?” One strength coach–I think it was Josh Henkin, gave me quite a few tips when I was designing my sports-conditioning program before my sophomore year of high school. Nowadays, sending emails like that is not likely to get a reply. Again, it was a halcyon time before everyone was bombarded by “DMs,” requests, and disturbing social-media advertisements. (OK, enough nostalgia).

Anyway, one day, as a nascent student of the iron game in middle school, I saw it was announced that a bodybuilder named Mike Mentzer had passed away. It struck me that he was quite young to have passed. I looked at his bodybuilding record, which struck me as quite brief, as well. He had competed in just a couple of Mr. Olympias. A few people wrote about training with him at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California. They wrote about training sessions that used only one working set to failure per exercise. I couldn’t even fathom the principle at the time–I lacked the cognitive horsepower.

In the proceeding years, confirmation bias furthered the divide. Even competent coaches and professionals, like Pavel Tsatsouline and Ori Hofmekler advocated strongly against going to failure when weight lifting.

Tsatsouline wrote in Power to the People, “If you are training to failure, you are training to fail. HIT Jedis, the ‘Force’ is clearly not with you.”

And Hofmekler wrote, “When you’re used to failure, it stops your body from crossing barriers. In other words, if you train to reach failure, you will fail.”

Within the context of their own programs, Tsatsouline and Hofmekler are correct–but it is within those contexts. The hard line in the sand is unwarranted. Training to failure, in the context of low-force, high-intensity training, as espoused by Arthur Jones, Mike Mentzer, and Doug McGuff, is training to be your best.

I remember my sociology professor in college telling our class, “you never know what you need to know when you need to know it.” Occasionally, it was true for me. I wonder how much the trajectory of my athletic career would have changed for the better if I had known what I know now about exercise. But that does not have to be the case for you. Your timing can be right. You can know what you need to know when you need to know it. Keep an active mind.

Here's a link to a PDF file of my notes from a popular video available online of Mike Mentzer’s bodybuilding seminar from 1998 in Canada. They provide an index of key points with time stamps, as well as memorable quotes from the seminar. (To find the video, search, “Mike Mentzer Seminar 1998” on YouTube.)

The seminar is a potent mixture of wisdom, irreverence, philosophy, memorable quotes, and practical advice. I recommend trying to appreciate the principles, rather than just the applications. The consolidated training program he recommends may not be the best application of high-intensity training (HIT) principles for everyone. However, it is the principles that allow us to develop the application that is right for us. Occasionally, Mentzer contradicts himself or provides overly-simplistic advice, such as on dieting, but on the whole, Mentzer gives a compelling and inspiring presentation.

Resources:

References:

Really enjoyed the article? Hit the "like" arrow at the bottom of this post, and subscribe via email and RSS.

#HIT #fitness #resistance training