In the 1970s, Mike Mentzer and Arnold Schwarzenegger stood directly opposed to each other. Both on stage and in discussions about the best training method to develop muscle mass: HIT vs. Weider system. To this day, there is debate over who deserved the victory, both on stage and in discussions.
Mike Mentzer (November 15, 1951 – June 10, 2001)
Arnold Schwarzenegger has probably done more for the popularity of bodybuilding than any other bodybuilder. He gave bodybuilding a face that appealed to the world and opened doors for other bodybuilders. For years, he dominated the sport until his departure and comeback.
The downside of such a period of dominance is that history tends to forget people who were not (much?) less impressive. People like Mike Mentzer. Of course, the old guard of bodybuilding will immediately know that I am referring to “Heavy Duty Mike,” but a younger generation may not recognize the name.
Mike participated in his first bodybuilding competition at the age of 18. From ’69 to ’71, he stood on the podium, but then he stopped competing for several years. In ’75, he placed third in the Mr. America. In 1976, he won the North American Championships. A week after that victory, he placed second in the Mr. Universe, which he would win in ’77. With that win, he became the first bodybuilder to achieve a perfect score. After this, he turned professional and participated in the Mr. Olympia in 1979, the most prestigious prize in bodybuilding. He won in the heavyweight class.
What had happened during those years of absence that led to Mike’s successful comeback?
Arthur Jones, the Founder of HIT and Nautilus Equipment
Mike’s worst performance in a competition ever was years earlier, a tenth-place finish at the Mr. America in 1971. This may explain his choice to take a break from competitions for a few years and come back new & improved. His presence in ’71, however, was important for his development as a bodybuilder because he met trainer Arthur Jones (inventor of Nautilus fitness equipment) as a result.
Jones developed HIT in the late sixties. Its key aspects were good, slow repetitions and controlled form (hence the equipment), training to failure with heavy weights, and finally, short and irregular training sessions (in terms of frequency). Mentzer adopted many of his ideas. The one who had pointed him to Jones was Casey Viator, who had won the Mr. America of ’71 when Mike placed tenth. Casey had achieved very good results under Jones’s guidance.
However, Mike struggled with the idea of training “infrequently.” The number of days Jones recommended was simply half of the “Weider system,” which Jones believed involved too many training days. Mike didn’t find this scientifically sound enough; he wanted to calculate the ideal number of days precisely. He also experimented with the ideal number of repetitions with his own clients.
The Rise of High Intensity Training (HIT) vs. Weider System
There have been numerous articles written about HIT, explaining how to practice HIT. Here, I’m mainly interested in the historical context, so I won’t delve too much into the details of HIT in practice.
When Mentzer participated in his first bodybuilding competition in ’69, Arnold Schwarzenegger had already won the Mr. Universe several times, both in the amateurs and pros. From 1970 to 1975, Arnold won the Mr. Olympia six times in a row, making him the most successful bodybuilder ever. In 1975, Arnold retired from bodybuilding, just as Mike Mentzer re-entered the competition circuit and won Mr. America.
Arnold trained, like most bodybuilders at that time, frequently and for long hours. Arnold usually trained six days a week, 2 hours a day, and performed 20 or more sets per muscle group. This system was so often defended by Joe Weider (among others, co-founder of the IFBB) in one of his many publications that it soon became known as the “Weider system”.
Today, many see this as too much. Mike Mentzer thought so too, influenced by Arthur Jones. He believed that most bodybuilders overtrained, hindering progress. Mike himself trained three to four times a week, half an hour per session, and did about 5 sets per muscle group.
As described above, Mike Mentzer did well from ’75 to ’79. He won the Mr. Universe and in ’79 participated for the first time in the Mr. Olympia, the highest achievement in the sport. With Arnold absent, the chances for the Mr. Olympia after ’75 were open again. Mike won in the heavyweight class, again with a perfect score.
At that time, the Mr. Olympia had a class for men weighing under 200 pounds and the heavyweight class for heavier men. A winner was selected in both classes and, in addition, the overall winner of the Olympia. Mentzer won the heavyweight class, while Frank Zane won in the 200-pound class. Often, the winner in the heavyweight class was also the overall winner, but in ’79, Frank Zane became the overall winner for the third time in a row.
Although he didn’t win the overall title, his result in his first Mr. Olympia was fantastic. Mike received more and more publicity and wrote multiple articles and books promoting his HIT method. “The excessively high volume with which most bodybuilders train limits their muscle growth,” he argued. The bodybuilders he spoke of responded by saying that Mike was just trying to capitalize on his success as a bodybuilder by selling books.
HIT vs. Weider System: Mike vs. Arnold
Arnold trained with such a high volume, often training, long training sessions, and many sets per muscle group. The results spoke for themselves: six-time Mr. Olympia and star of the documentary “Pumping Iron”. Mike was the “up and coming man,” the promising “rookie” (although he had been training for more than ten years) who won the heavyweight class in his second participation in the Mr. O. The class Arnold had previously dominated.
There were thus two camps: those who followed Arnold on the one hand, and those who saw something in the (adapted from Arthur Jones’s ideas) ideas of Mike on the other.
“The Comeback 1980”
According to some, Mentzer’s “trashtalk” was the reason Arnold decided to participate in the Mr. Olympia again in 1980 after five years of absence. Arnold and Mike together on stage to determine whose method was better. However, there were more reasons for Arnold to participate. He had just been training for seven weeks for his first major role in Conan the Barbarian and was in reasonably good shape. He was also asked by several people if he was going to compete again. This probably made him consider participating.
Initially, he flew to Australia to report on the competition. Since his arrival in Australia, Arnold trained at a gym at Bondi Beach. Everyone thought he was in very good shape, especially considering he had only trained for seven weeks before arriving. It was expected that he would make a guest appearance alongside another legend, Reg Park.
Mike can never win the Olympia with a big gut
However, on the day of the competition, Arnold caused a stir by announcing that he would participate. This led to objections from other participants who felt he should have registered a month earlier like everyone else (and saw their chances of winning decrease). Ben Weider (co-founder of the IFBB along with his brother Joe) held a meeting with the participants. During that meeting, there was a heated discussion between Arnold and Mike, almost resulting in a physical altercation. Arnold allegedly said, “Mike can never win the Olympia with a big gut.” Eventually, it was decided that he could participate, albeit with objections from some present.
Arnold spoke about Mike’s “gut,” but he himself was not in his best shape. The same was true for Frank Zane, who had recently suffered a serious accident from which he had barely recovered and had lost a lot of mass. However, this was not the case for Mike Mentzer, who according to many was in even better shape than the previous year when he won the heavyweight class.
The result of that year would become the most controversial decision in bodybuilding ever. Arnold won, Chris Dickerson came second, Frank Zane came third, Boyer Coe took fourth place, and Mike…? Mike Mentzer came fifth. As the results were announced, cries of “Fix! Fix!” could be heard in the hall. People thought Arnold had won the title for political reasons. Frank Zane smashed his trophy against a wall, and Dickerson angrily jumped off the stage. Mike Mentzer spoke of political games. Both Zane and Mentzer decided to boycott the Olympia the following year.
Mike always maintained that Arnold should not have won that day, although he never said he himself should have won. Ultimately, it’s a jury sport, and you’ll always have these kinds of discussions. Arnold cleverly used his immense charisma and tricks like stepping out of line to draw more attention to himself. Even when I watched the footage of that event for the first time over twenty years later in the documentary “The Comeback,” I could still feel the excitement of the moment when Arnold stepped on stage again after five years.
Dorian Yates Takes Over the HIT Baton
Mike Mentzer died in 2001 from a heart attack. His younger brother Ray, who was also a dedicated bodybuilder (including Mr. America) and practiced HIT, died two days later from Berger’s disease. Before that time, Mike had already passed the HIT baton to Dorian Yates.
In the early ’90s, Dorian Yates discovered HIT. Mike guided Dorian in his first HIT workouts. Dorian would then win the Olympia six times from 1992 to 1997. However, Dorian applied HIT in a different way. He did even fewer repetitions with even more weight and used more momentum in his exercises to lift the weight. According to Mentzer, this is why Yates eventually had to retire from competitions due to injuries. When I knew I would interview Dorian this year, I had intended to ask him about this. However, given the number of interviews I did that day and the reporting of the competitions, there was little time, and I forgot to ask several questions, including the one about HIT.
Dorian appears to be the last big name to use HIT. However, that doesn’t mean much. According to some, the training methods of today’s pro bodybuilders are aimed at men using steroids with enormous potential for muscle growth. HIT may be more suitable for “normal” people. In a future article, I will compare HIT and “traditional training” with higher volume to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of both systems.
Sources
- Mike Mentzer Heavy Duty. Published 1993 by M. Mentzer
- Mike Mentzer Heavy Duty II: Mind and Body. Published 2002 by Mentzer-Sharkey
- Mike Mentzer. Mike Mentzer’s Complete Book Of Weight Training.Published February 1st 1983 by Quill
- Mike Mentzer, John Little. High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way. Published January 3rd 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies(first published December 13th 2002)
- Mike Mentzer. Mike Mentzer’s High Intensity Training Program: Secrets to Building Muscles in Minutes. Published December 1st 1997 by Access Publishers Network
- “Mike Mentzer’s Last Interview”. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
