Mike Mentzer Once Revealed His Go-To Upper-Body Workout Protocol

Mike Mentzer had pioneered the heavy-duty training plan during his prime. In resurfaced videos posted by the YouTube channel Your Gym Rat, he would often focus on various aspects of workouts, listing the pros and cons of them. In a recent segment, he revealed the best upper body exercise that an individual could try out.

Mentzer’s tips often gave fitness enthusiasts a new approach to working on their physiques. As a bonus, they didn’t have to spend a lot of time in the gym. Heavy-duty workouts focused on putting in a lot of intensity to each exercise, thus cutting down on the number of sets and time spent at the gym.

The recent video talks about the efficiency of upper-body workouts, particularly various forms of dips. Mentzer suggests that an exercise like the upper-body squat manages to work many groups of muscles at the same time, especially pecs, shoulders, and arms.

Calling it the “best” form of exercise, the late bodybuilder emphasized how the upper-body squat helped build the torso. Working on the pecs meant a decent burn on the chest muscles. Similarly, since the exercise involved exerting pressure on the core and arms, an individual’s shoulders and triceps were also covered.

“The upper-body squat…you cannot beat it. It is the best pec exercise in the world. The best shoulder and tricep exercise…”

The way he expressed his affinity for the exercise made it clear that different forms of dips were Mentzer’s go-to essentials. He claimed that no other exercise could match up to the versatility of dips since they cover such a large group of muscles.

“Dips are by far, without a doubt…unparalleled. They are the best exercise for pecs, delts, and triceps.”

Over the years, Mentzer charted a specific plan meant to build arms and delts. He focused on a few exercises then, under the condition that they were followed according to the heavy-duty training program.

What did Mike Mentzer suggest to build arms and delts?

In an older video posted by Heavy Duty College on YouTube, Mentzer listed some of his go-to exercises to build arms. Individuals had to almost always perform these exercises in multiple reps and single sets. Pushing to failure was necessary for many of them as well.

He recommended six to ten reps of side raises or dumbbell laterals and bent-over dumbbell laterals for the delts. Whereas he suggested barbell curls and tricep press-downs with a straight bar for the arms. These exercises, together, were a tried and tested formula for a jacked torso.