High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way (NTC SPORTS/FITNESS)

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Push sets past failure with forced reps and negatives. Train with a partner, so he or she can assist you. Mentzer was the first man ever to achieve a perfect score in an elite contest, the 1978 Mr. Universe. He helped popularize Arthur Jones’ high-intensity principles, and his training books were littered with philosophy. Mentzer was also an advocate of calorie-countinglong before the IIFYM diet emerged. Competitively, some consider him to be among the best to never win an Olympia, and he retired from the sport well before his prime in protest of questionable judging. In 1985 Workout ceased publishing, Mentzer’s father died, and his near-decade-long relationship with Cathy Gelfo ended. The next several years worsened his mental health. Dealing with personal traumas and a narcotics dependency (he began taking amphetamines in 1979), Mentzer spent a great deal of time in and out of the hospital. It was not until 1990, when he ended his use of amphetamines, that his life slowly improved. One of the great lessons of this books is the importance of process and valuing small victories. We are trying not to be perfect but to constantly work at perfecting our process. We aren’t competing with anybody in the gym, we are competing with history and that narrative of our ego that makes us doubt ourselves. If you feel you can attempt a second set, then you couldn’t have been pulling out all the stops during the first set.” — Dorian Yates DORIAN YATES’ HIGH-INTENSITY WORKOUT BASICS

Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bill Dobbins. The new encyclopedia of modern bodybuilding (Simon and Schuster, 1998), 205. This was a problem. During the 1950s and 1960s, workouts in fitness magazines were often high volume, high-frequency training programs that neglected to consider the genetic (and later chemical) advantages elite bodybuilders had. In his last interview before his death, Mentzer said he was delighted to get so many phone clients and close personal bodybuilding friends, such as Markus Reinhardt, who had been influenced by him to become Objectivists. He described Objectivism as the best philosophy ever devised. He also criticized the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, which he described as an "evil philosophy," because according to him Kant set out to destroy man's mind by undercutting his confidence in reason. He also criticized the teaching of Kantianism in schools and universities and said it's very difficult for an Objectivist philosopher with a PhD to get a job in any of the universities. [13] Final years and death [ edit ]

While in school, Mentzer's father motivated his academic performance by providing him with various kinds of inducements, from a baseball glove to hard cash. Years later, Mike said that his father "unwittingly ... was inculcating in me an appreciation of capitalism." [4]

After years of essentially starting and stopping again and being bored with weight training reading this book reignited that love I had for weight training and the allure of bodybuilding. The book at first is what you expect from a weight training guide. For the most part its a book about lifting advice and principals. But unexpectedly the book then morphs into an almost philosophical insight into the mind of a bodybuilder. From reading this book I learned about Mike Menzter’s 'achieving failure’ philosophy with lifting weights. He advocates for only doing six to twelve reps per exercise but with a very heavy weight. This is because research suggests that taking a muscle to failure creates more micro tears in the muscle, resulting in increased growth. This is shown when he says, “You have to achieve failure, you have to take it that far, but nobody wants to go that far, it's too scary.” He doesn't use failure with a negative connotation, instead, after each workout template he says, “Congratulations, you have achieved failure.”

Mentzer followed the bodybuilding concepts developed by Arthur Jones and endeavored 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 his or her full genetic potential within the shortest amount of time. [8] For modern trainees, Mentzer’s life and writings should act as a call to arms to question everything, discover what is best for one’s body, and, more importantly, train with purpose and intensity. That alone makes Mentzer a worthy bodybuilding legend. References