One cannot think of high-intensity training without remembering Mike Mentzer and his contributions to the sport. The late bodybuilder had detailed many anecdotes and observations in his memoir ‘High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way’. One of them was the principles of working out that he learned from fellow bodybuilder Casey Viator.
Mentzer and Viator were fellow competitors at the Mr. America competition. The duo began interacting in the early 70s before the latter won the Mr. America 1971 at 19. This was also when Mentzer tried switching up his workout techniques from volume training to something more efficient.
The late bodybuilder developed an interest in the sport when he was 12. Back then, he recalled how he idolized Bill Pearl, aspiring to look and train like him. But soon, he realized that spending more hours at the gym didn’t always give him the gains he needed. That’s when he met Viator and learned his tricks.
“Casey was only 19 years old when he won the Mr. America title, but to my mind he was the best Mr. America we’d ever had. What made Casey’s win even more interesting was that he was engaged in what at that time seemed to be a very unusual type of training.”
Mentzer observed that his fellow bodybuilder never spent hours training at the gym. Instead, he would only work out for an hour a day, thrice a week. This routine went against every principle that top bodybuilders at the time preached about.
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He then met the person who pioneered this technique and mentored his colleague. Arthur Jones, who invented the Nautilus machine and the high-intensity training method, explained how short bursts of intense routines gave better gains than traditional volume training.
“Specific principles that—once I understood and employed them—allowed me to reduce my training time even more drastically and to increase my results beyond my wildest expectations.”
Mentzer went on to win the Mr. America in 1976, Mr. Universe in 1978, and the heavyweight Mr. Olympia title in 1979. For all these titles, he only worked out for roughly 45 minutes twice or thrice per week. Later, he put his twist on the high-intensity technique to create his version of it.
Mike Mentzer invented the heavy-duty training method
The key difference between high-intensity and heavy-duty training was the rest period between workouts. Arthur Jones’ HIT was effective but led to exhaustion quickly. Therefore, Mike and his brother Ray devised a modification to curb this problem.
He revealed in a couple of old interviews how he managed to overcome the hurdle. The heavy-duty training principles were similar but called for a 72-hour rest period. This extra step enabled muscles to recover and repair the damage caused by intense exercises. They grew stronger and bigger in comparison.
