One thing about Mike Mentzer and his heavy-duty training plan was guaranteed visible changes. The technique of exerting as much intensity as possible and consequently cutting down time spent in the gym gave way to healing and growing during recovery. The plan included a variety of exercises, but the late icon had his favorites.
In a recently resurfaced video of one of his lectures, Mentzer talked about the advantages of his preferred bicep exercise – the pull-down. However, he believed that this particular exercise needed a modification that was advantageous to both the lats and rear delts.
The late icon began by acknowledging how people usually associated pull-downs with lats exclusively. While that was applicable, Mentzer believed that close-grip variants of pull-downs were more beneficial. They not only targeted the lats but also the rear delts.
“While most people think of them exclusively as a lat exercise, and they are very good for the lats, they are also very effective in working the rear delts…the close grip palms up pull down is the best bicep exercise in the world.”
This exercise, Mentzer claims, is better than any form of bicep curl performed on various equipment. Be it with dumbbells, barbells, the Nautilus machine, and more, the close-grip pull-down is superior. The reason behind this is the kind of muscles and joints worked upon by the exercise. Curls limit the movement of these parts, thus keeping the effect more concentrated on one part.
“You’re working this muscle around a single joint axis – the elbow. Which is why the stress is limited exclusively to the lower bicep.”
On the other hand, the close-grip lat pulldown works not only on the bicep but its effects are spread throughout the arm. Mentzer believed it included not just the elbow joint but also the shoulders. Hence, it works the rear deltoids efficiently.
This wasn’t Mentzer’s only logical way of looking at exercises that helped target more than one part efficiently. For him, heavy-duty was not only about intensity but also smart work through a strength training program. That’s why he guaranteed muscle growth through techniques that may seem skeptical but worked wonders for many.
How Mike Mentzer transformed Dorian Yates’ career
After winning his first Olympia, Yates urged to meet the visionary that Mentzer was, to gain insights on his journey. The Temple Gym that the bodybuilding champion had acquired back then was the perfect playground for the late legend to train Yates into becoming the ruling king of the mass monster era for six years.
Mentzer introduced Yates to the heavy-duty program, where the beast would put all his intensity into a few exercises with one set each. They would push to failure till the bodybuilder couldn’t go further. And before one knew it, Yates began seeing the results he wanted to. That’s why Mentzer’s techniques are still applicable to those who need to grow bigger.
