Mike Mentzer had tweaked workouts and built up his empire by popularizing high-intensity training after experiencing its benefits for himself. Out of all the reasons why he vouched for it over other training techniques, one of the key reasons was its benefits apart from muscle growth. He once talked about an interaction at Gold’s Gym where he stressed why high-intensity training was better.
Traditional volume-based training involved spending more time at the gym, performing multiple sets, and leaving little room for recovery. As a result, muscle growth in such situations was uncertain, and Mentzer would often highlight how it left more room for muscle injuries.
High-intensity training, on the other hand, involved a lot more power, less time, and gave more room to recover. As a result, individuals who practiced that not only grew in size but also grew stronger as they trained.
“If you want to get bigger, you need to get stronger.”
Mentzer had been noticing a trend amongst bodybuilders surrounding their hesitance to get strong despite their innate desire to grow big. Recalling his conversation with one of the gym goers who had been arguing aggressively about not wanting to get strong but get big.
“I finally stopped him and asked ‘what are you supposed to do to get bigger? Get weaker?’ and he kind of giggled.”
According to Mentzer, it was nearly impossible for strength and muscle growth to not go hand-in-hand. If they were independent of one another, some of the popular bodybuilders known for their massive sizes wouldn’t have been able to lift as heavy as they did back then.
“It would be conceivable that people like Dorian Yates could only curl 50 lbs, when in fact, he curls over 200 lbs.”
Yates was one of the pioneers of the mass monster era at the time, and his six consecutive Mr. Olympia titles were a testimony to the trend he set. He trained under Mentzer who not only introduced him to the heavy-duty training technique but also brought him to the pedestal once again by perfecting his size and conditioning.
Dorian Yates recalled training hard with Mike Mentzer
After winning his first Mr. Olympia title in 1992, Yates knew he had to go a mile further to make sure he retained his crown for the upcoming years. That brought him to Mentzer, whom he invited to train later at his newly acquired ‘Temple Gym’.
Yates once recalled in an interview how Mentzer had immediately pointed out that he had been training too much and too soon to gain mass. They worked together to design a plan suited for him and focused on going all out on one set to failure. Yates took these training sessions so seriously that he not only ended up growing into a humongous giant but also got extremely strong after lifting and benching with ungodly amounts of weights. To date, he expresses his gratitude towards his coach and friend Mentzer, who helped him achieve one of the biggest honors in the bodybuilding world.
