The late great Mike Mentzer

[w.p.o.]

The greatest mind in the history of bodybuilding (and the field of fitness for that matter) is heard here in some of his brilliant interviews. The man who was screwed over in the 1980 Mr. Olympia (85% of the world had him winning the show, yet the judges granted him 5th place) was highly influenced by another genius - Arthur Jones (creator of nautilus equipment). He took the 40 years of scientific research Jones shared with him and just took it to another level. Mentzer was not only a man of great intelligence, but was also a no nonsense guy. An avid reader and admirer of Ayn Rand and Aristotle, he used irrefutable scientific research, evidence and common sense to not only his own workouts during his competitive years, but also to his clientele; most notably 6X Mr Olympia Dorian Yates. The first to receive a perfect score (300) in the Mr Universe passed away in 2001 at 49. A man who inspired me in regard to exercise and reading books on philosophy (particularly Ayn Rand and Aristotle) is also perhaps responsible for me being a full-blown objectivist. Already a free thinker, but I want to say thanks to the man who triggered the spark. How ironic it is that we learn more from the dead than from the living!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf9d4UO7BUY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSRU8o8QWwY
20:50 - 22:42 deserves an Amen

[cdnFA]

There are those like Yates and the Mentzers [he had a bro who was also big], and Victor who were big. However has there been anybody who got top ranked huge on a one set to failure problem. Yates and Mentzer were big beforehand and Victor was regaining muscle mass and regardless of what Jones says was obviously roided up to the gills.

I used to be a one set kind of guy, and I think you can get reasonably far in it, back in my early 20's when I had a training partner I got to 225 for 5 before I plateaued out and eventually gave up on it. However I do suspect that to get to your genetic limits you might need more.

Also more recent studies seem all over the place but from what I figure for advanced trainies you will get more from 4 or 8 sets to momentary failure than one, but who would want to spend the extra time.

[w.p.o.]

Every increase in intensity requires a decrease in both duration and frequency. You can train hard or you can train long but you can't do both at the same time. You can sprint the 100 meters but you can't sprint the mile (biological law). The only way to hypertrophy are high intensity contractions. I always use a log book. It's an apparent indication of progress or the lack thereof. I'm still progressing. Instead of training once every 5 days, I have to train once every 9 days. Even that will change (I started training 3 times per week). Science, you can't get around it. The same principles that make medical science a viable discipline are the same that makes exercise science a viable discipline. Although we're all unique, we are all the same, which is why medicine and most surgeries has an extremely high success rate. Some may be allergic to certain meds, but you get the drift. Imagine if everyone WAS different. You would have to devise medicine around every individual SEPARATELY on earth (don't forget a child is born every 5-10 seconds). I don't think anyone would want to be a doctor! Little Jimmy may change his mind and become a firefighter instead lol. Just as it takes longer to build a 2 story building than a 1 story building, so it is with the recover time with a muscle. A larger muscle takes longer to recover than a smaller one (20 inch arm takes longer than 17 inch arm). Hence the need to spread your workouts further apart. Homestasis (exterior grows bigger/stronger but the organs/interior remains the same) is one of the many inevitables that most people don't know (or care to know) about. No matter how big one gets, your nervous system and lymphatic system remains the same as it were when you walked in the gym for the first time. This is where individuals get lost. They don't fully understand the nature of the human body (principle of identity first pointed out by Aristotle). So far, the only thing I complain about are the "light" weight stacks these gyms are equipped with. Plate loaded hammer strength machines are a bodybuilders best friend.

There are many books that deserve consideration:
- Wisdom of Mike Mentzer
- high intensity training the mike mentzer way
- static contraction training
- max contraction training (an updated/revised version of static contraction training)
- body by science
- power factor training

"One cannot evaluate the significance of exercise until one identifies the nature of the organism."