HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

im shocked to find out that mentzer was a smoker..im not 100% sure if he was when he was competing but i seen a video on youtube of him smoking like a chimney..i also herd rumors of schwarzenegger being a smoker when in his prime..kind of interesting to know..just goes to show that smoking cant hurt bodybuilding gains to much..

I don′t know if MM smoked while competeing but in the out takes of his HIT DVD there is a section in which an older MM is chain smoking.

I think smoking is detrimental to the average trainee. Top performers who smoked, as I have heard Casey Viator did and as you say MM, were genetic anomolies.

Smoking is bad for anyone.Being able to breathe is essential.
Perhaps Mike was under a lot of stress knowing that his health was failing as well as his brother Rays.Along with making a great video,I′m sure Mike had a lot on his mind.

I agree with HD27: smoking is bad for anyone. Mike loved smoking, perhaps influenced by two of his main idols, Arthur Jones and Ayn Rand, who both were smokers, too.

When I was a teenager, I thought all professional bodybuilders cared for their health. How naive I was! I can clearly remember, for example, when I first saw the Austrian bodybuilder and strongman Manfred Hoeberl* judging at a world strength competion in my homeland the Netherlands. I was literally shocked when I saw him smoking cigarettes and drinking beer.

*) Manfred Hoeberl claimed to have the largest arms in the world. Check his website:

http://hoback.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~prajlich/manfred/

Ya I read that in a magazine awhile back, wasnt sure if I believed it though. I guess that confirms it. To be honest, Mike loses some credibility with this in my eyes. There is no excuse for that, stress or not.