Remembering Mike Mentzer–10 Years RIP

June 10, 2011 · Posted in Fat Loss, Muscle Building

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of the death of arguably one of the most influential bodybuilders ever… Mike Mentzer. After spending many hours reading Mike’s training philosophies, I finally met Mike and his brother Ray during the summer of 1980 and had the opportunity to train with Mike and Ray on three occasions at Gold’s Gym in Venice, CA. Then, in 1983 I trained at Ray’s Gym in Redondo Beach––Muscle Mill––where he and Mike ‘held court’. A large group of us would train together then go to dinner and ‘discuss’ training. A better terminology might be… we’d go out to attend a seminar.

The training sessions were always brutal. As most people know, Mike and Ray were friends with Casey Viator and all of them were protégé’s of the late Arthur Jones, the father of HIT (High Intensity Training). Mike would always offer his three rules of training. Exercise must be intense. Exercise must be brief. Exercise must be infrequent.

Mike was strongly outspoken and dogmatic in his adherence to those rules and anyone who failed to follow them would quickly receive a tongue-lashing. However, Mike had a great level of tolerance for other IFBB Pro bodybuilders who didn’t follow his training philosophy as Mike likened them to “Genetic Muscle Building Geniuses” meaning that these elite bodybuilders had superior genetics so they could “get away with over-training”.

He also believed that most people fall far short on genetics for building muscle and cannot get away with what he and Ray always called “gross over-training”. While many of us don’t share Mike and Ray’s philosophies to the letter, many of us have been influenced by their trained methods ever since.

Of course, in a very strange and sad turn of events, Ray passed two days after his brother Mike. I’ll get into their training philosophies in a future post. Today I’d just like to remember two good people whose path crossed mine and who’s influence and contribution lives on.

RIP Mike Mentzer June 10, 2001. RIP Ray Mentzer June 12, 2001.

-->

Tags: building, California, Casey Viator, Dave, David Young, fast, Gold’s Gym Venice, IFBB, Iron Man Magazine, Mike, muscle, Ray Mentzer, tip

Comments Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Email Notifications

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Feed ToolsCategoriesFat Loss (29)Motivation (17)Muscle Building (63)Positions of Flexion (3)Uncategorized (2)X-Rep (11)SectionsAboutArchivesJune 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011January 2011December 2010November 2010October 2010September 2010.dmcontent_container {margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;width:158px;height:93px;border:1px solid #e8e8e8;background-color:#f8f8f8;}.dmcontent_title {text-align:left;line-height:18px;width:158px;height:20px;font-size:14px;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Verdana;}.dmcontent_body {line-height:16px;float:left;overflow-y: auto; text-align: left;margin-right: auto;width: 154px;height: 70px;//height:68px;}.dmcontent_body a:hover {text-decoration:none; color:#aa1313;}.dmcontent_link {text-decoration:none;font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Verdana;color:#2255aa;font-size:12px;} Local Guides All Local Guides
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
DC
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
SubscribeEntries RSSComments RSSFavorite SitesIron Man MagazineX-Rep.comBlogsJohn BalikRoland BalikJerry BrainumDoug BrignoleSean Zilla KatterleJerry FredrickDave GoodinSteve HolmanTad InoueBrent KutlesaRuth SilvermanLonnie TeperJoe WheatleyDavid YoungTagsArnoldArthur JonesBill Pearlbodybuildersbodybuildingbuildingbuild musclecarbohydratesCasey ViatorCharles PoliquinDanny PadillaDaveDavidDavid YoungEric Broserfastfast muscle building tipfat lossfreegaining muscle massGold’s Gym Venicegrowth hormoneHITIron ManIron Man MagazineLarry ScottLean Mass Gainslean muscleMike Mentzermotivationmusclemuscle buildingmuscle growthmuscle massproteinRay MentzerROC BoxingSamir BannoutSteve HolmanstrongertestosteronetiptipsVince GirondaYoung  In This Issue | Training | Nutrition | Lifestyle | Products Reviews | News | Photos | Videos | Contests | Blogs | Forum | Search | Subscribe | Shop Top Searches: X-Reps | Home Gym | Lose Fat | Ab Exercises | Success Stories | Beginning Bodybuilding | Dumbbell Workout | Rachel McLish | Hardbody | Creatine Loading Copyright © 2010 Iron Man Magazine | www.ironmanmagazine.com · About Us | Advertising | Privacy | Contact Us | Site Index

View the Original article