HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

i recently bought the HIT dvd and it says that mike and ray died and ive been told that they both died of a heart attack could this have anything to do with the high intensity training because when you do the training you are putting alot of stress on your body could this be true
i hope no one takes offence to this but i hope people will reply to this topic

Hi Denon,

I asked myself the same question about three years ago when both former champions died. I really don′t know, but I certainly hope not! I also heard both their parents died at an early age, so maybe it was something genetic? The Mentzer brothers also used steroids and other drugs, and Mike loved to smoke too.

Hi Denon,

I guess no one could say for CERTAIN that HIT did or did not contribute to heart problems (my guess is not). However, one thing that CAN be said for certain is the Mentzer′s had a GENETIC history of heart problems. B-Wine is correct in that their father died very young from heart problems too, and obviously he didn′t use HIT. Also, there are MANY other people who have used HIT (Casey Viator for example) and have lived to be old, so there is more "proof" that it doesn′t hurt you…

Darrell

There are a lot of big dudes that seem to die young from heart problems, put that with Mike′s probably genetic heart defects and it really explains it.

But, here are some other things to consider..
I would never say HIT itself would do this, but it could be a lot to do with the lifestyle preached by many of these guys.

What comes to mind when you see someone who is overweight, eats fatty foods and doesn′t exercise? Walking heart attack right? Why? The more mass the body has, the more blood there is in the system. The more work the heart has to do. It doesn′t matter if the extra tissue is fat or muscle, in fact, muscle needs more blood and maintenance than fat. So huge muscled physiques cause much work for the heart. Now combine that with the fatty super high calorie diets many follow to get huge, and the absurd phillosophy of avoiding aerobics and there ya have it.

BTW, weight training only increases the function of one of the heart chambers and strengthens, but does not enlarge arteries.
We DO need aerobic type exercise to increase the capacity of the rest of the heart and the diameter of the arteries.
Look how long Vince Gironda lived? Look at Frank Zane, Steve Reeves…. Their old and look great and are still vigorous.

Az

Analyzer has some good points there. I think the BIGGEST factor is genetics though. I don′t think aerobics has much, if any at all, to making one′s heart in better shape. The reason? There are MANY people who do absolutely NO aerobics at all and live to be over 90 years of age. I think that aerobics being good for the heart is HIGHLY overrated. Also, weight training DOES increase the size of the arteries. In fact, there are some weight lifters who′s blood pressure actually goes DOWN during an intense set of exericse! I worked with such an individual. Their circulatory system′s adjust to the high intensity load and actually make the heart more efficient. Resting blood pressure also goes down for such individuals. I′ve noticed my blood pressure has been much lower since doing HIT. I was doing NO exercise at all before then, so I can′t compare it to aerobics though. I do no aerobics and my blood pressure has been regularly around 110 over 70. Pretty darn good if you ask me.

I do agree that added mass increases the load of the heart though. I′m not really massive (only 170 pounds or so) and I′m young (27), so maybe that contributes to good blood pressure without aerobics. Also, I eat like crap. I eat mainly fast food and it has no effect on me. This is another reason I believe genetics is 95% of our heart′s fate.

Darrell