Bodybuilding history would be incomplete without the inclusion of Mike Mentzer. Both as a bodybuilder and a mentor, Mentzer pioneered a new era of the sport. One of his prominent mentees was the English bodybuilder Dorian Yates, who proved to be a monster on stage with his humongous size and conditioning.
However, Yates credited Mentzer for his first-ever Sandow and the consecutive wins. The 6-time Mr. Olympia followed the late bodybuilder’s principles to the T. In a recently resurfaced video, the 61-year-old reminisces how training would go with Mentzer back then and how they came up with an ideal plan for him.
In a conversation with Mike Thurston, Yates clarified that, while he did train with Mentzer, the late bodybuilder was more than just a gym buddy. He took up the responsibility to train Yates for all of Olympia. In an old audio recording, Mentzer reported:
“One month after the 1992 Mr. Olympia, which, according to all reports, he won easily, Dorian was back in Gold’s Gym during a stop on an exhibition tour. Convinced that the abbreviated system had helped him gain more muscle and win the Mr. Olympia, he asked me for further advice…”
The veteran’s idea was to gain maximum potential in the shortest amount of time. Say if Yates were to train for 15 minutes, how much intensity would be required for optimum muscle growth?
“The question should not have been how much exercise do we need, but how little do we require.”
He instructed Yates to re-evaluate his training volume and make a plan. This plan pushed him to the top at every single Olympia for the next few years. The former bodybuilder wistfully recalled:
“You know, Mike was my hero when I started. He’s a thinker, he’s an intelligent guy, and, uh, I like to think a lot of things through as well, so we had that in common.”
Mentzer’s principles and innovation led bodybuilding as a sport to new heights. Such was his thinking that even modern-day fitness enthusiasts swear by his techniques.
Mike Mentzer once theorized about the dark ages in bodybuilding
Apart from taking Dorian Yates under his wing, Mentzer was an innovator who saw the scientific side of bodybuilding. However, when compared to philosophy, the late bodybuilder mentioned how it felt like Greek philosopher Aristotle’s teachings to society.
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Idolizing inventor Arthur Jones, Mentzer noted that the former’s observations of the bodybuilding world were like the Greek figure’s teachings. When society didn’t listen, it went through the dark ages. Mentzer was one-of-a-kind and proliferated ideas surrounding the fitness industry that generations followed. That’s why he’s one of the icons of the field.
