Bodybuilding was marked by some of the greatest icons to have pioneered various ideas that led the sport to its current state. Mike Mentzer was one of these torch-bearers who stunned at the Olympia and set the blueprint for many upcoming bodybuilders. Over the years, the late bodybuilder preached a lot of his principles in the form of training modules and books.
In one of his popular guides ‘High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way’, the icon talks about ‘The Olympian way’. How the best of the best bodybuilders prepared themselves for the ever-demanding challenge that a contest like Mr. Olympia presented.
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Preparing for competitive bodybuilding wasn’t for the average fitness enthusiast. Mentzer often specified how his signature high-intensity workouts were curated to be more grueling for aspiring bodybuilders. So what would mark the difference between a person casually hitting the gym vs. one who has their eyes on the Sandow? Mentzer boils it down to an individual’s upper limits.
“In the 1960s brain research demonstrated that humans could control delicate internal processes long believed to be impossible to control consciously”
Studies observed that challenging activities such as voluntarily slowing down the heartbeat, were indeed possible. This presented a new facet to the human mind and body collective that proved that one could alter physiological changes depending on their mind’s ability.
“As bodybuilders, we naturally ask if such abilities can be used to alter our muscle cells, the appearance of our bodies. The answer is an unqualified yes!”
Mentzer listed down how icons like Frank Zane, Dorian Yates, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc. were testimonies to this theory. All of them developed immense mental power to get through not one but multiple Mr. Olympia championships. He recalled Schwarzenegger’s stance on building a career in bodybuilding:
“When he started training, he didn’t know what his future had in store for him. Neither did I when I began as a skinny 12-year-old from Pennsylvania with plenty of desire and nothing else”
How Mike Mentzer viewed intensity and time taken to exercise
Across multiple resources including lectures and audio tapes, Mentzer made sure to point out a different perspective on bodybuilding. While the common approach would be to stretch out intensive training and nutritional choices for a long time, the veteran believed in a different philosophy.
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The idea wasn’t to curb the intensity. It was to reach a sweet spot between not pushing oneself at all to pushing oneself till complete failure. Mentzer theorized that an increase in intensity leads to less time taken to achieve optimum gains without injury. And that’s why he called for his techniques to be exclusive for bodybuilders and not casual fitness enthusiasts.
