Mike Mentzer paved the road to efficient muscle training with his heavy-duty routine. So much so that even current-day bodybuilders have adopted his principles and ideas to gain muscles. But one of the highlights of his career was the chance to train the mass monster Dorian Yates for the Olympia.
Six-time Mr. Olympia king Dorian Yates already had a beast-like size even before he went up on stage. Mentzer’s guidance helped him take his fine physique to the next level. With trial and error, the late icon curated successful workout routines that Yates would follow to the T to win the title.
When Yates first approached Mentzer to learn from him, he had gotten an entire gym space for himself, where he could train in isolation. The Temple Gym served more than as a Mecca for him and Mentzer, who immediately began advising the bodybuilding icon from training too much. Yates switched to one working set throughout his training and immediately saw the difference.
Workouts with Mentzer started with a warm-up on the intended machine or equipment for the day. This technique helped the muscles open up and the mind-muscle coordination to kick into action. Yates soon switched to the final set after a couple of reps.
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“Onto the final set, this was it, heavy-duty, blood & guts, balls to the wall ferocious intensity that would be exerted into each and every rep.”
And when Yates said full intensity, he meant it earnestly. He recalled how his stack went up to the entire capacity of the machine, along with an extra 88 lbs on each side. Nothing was rushed. He performed every rep to the fullest potential.
“Each rep was executed with immense attention to detail. Nothing was rushed, each portion of each rep was accounted for.”
Firmly proclaiming that bodybuilding was all about intensity instead of endurance, Yates resonated with his mentor’s long-standing opinion about the same. That’s why Mentzer took pride in what he preached.
Mike Mentzer didn’t think bodybuilding was an aerobic sport
Often witnessing bodybuilders spend long hours at the gym, performing multiple sets of exercises, Mentzer would slam such acts. He believed that to grow in size, the focus shouldn’t be on performing the maximum number of sets. On the contrary, that would lead to shrinkage of muscles.
Instead, Mentzer recommended heavy-duty training to enable growth. Just one set performed with all the intensity possible and pushing oneself to failure, combined with a longer recovery period, ensured that the muscle got stronger and grew in size. The method guarantees success, and current-day bodybuilders are a testament to its results.
