MIKE MENTZER: HEAVY DUTY

BODYBUILDING’S REBEL PHILOSOPHER TAUGHT US HOW TO TURN DOWN THE VOLUME AND CRANK UP THE INTENSITY

To understand Mike Mentzer you have to understand bodybuilding in the ’70s. Physique champs typically worked out twice daily and trained body parts thrice weekly with 20 or more sets each session. Mentzer called this madness, claiming there was too much endurance-style toil and not enough growth-stimulating sets or rest. He adopted the high-intensity beliefs of Arthur Jones in formulating his own philosophy: Heavy Duty. His recipe was low-rep sets pushed to failure and beyond in brief and infrequent workouts. Mentzer’s competitive career was as intense and abbreviated as his routines. He won the Mr America at 24, but after a controversial f ifth at the 1980 Mr Olympia he retired at 28. Still, the iconoclast espoused Heavy Duty until his death in 2001, and his tenets—adopted by six-time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates— continue to impact on training routines