HighIntensity.net View Mike Mentzer Bodybuilding Topic

I have a few issues of Musclemag Magazine from 80/81 that I ordered as back issues a while ago. In one of the issues Arnold has a monthly Q & A column with contains a question about Mentzer. Keep in mind that this was back in 1980 so I don′t know if his opinion would been any different now.

Q: You have been quoted as saying that if Mike Mentzer trained correctly he would have been even better. What did you mean by that?

A: What I meant by that quote was that if Mike Mentzer trained correctly he could be very good. Meaning that Mike Mentzer is only training those areas very hard that are already good, which means size. He′s improving the size of muscles which can be done through basic exercises and a limited amount of sets with heavy weights, but he′s not going to get any quality into his body as long as he keeps this training routine that he has, which is the Heavy Duty training principles. I think he should get into more detailed work, meaning that he should be doing 4 to 5 sets per muscle group.For example, our back needs many different exercises: We have to train th outer back, the side of the back, the lower back, the upper back, the center back and so on. Also, with biceps we have the inner bicep, outer bicep, lower bicep, and upper bicep. We have to d o different exercises for each part of the body. There is no one exercise that covers it all. What Mike is doing is just using one or two exercises that cover the basic size and bulk of the muscle, but not really all the details, so therefore he will never have the quality of a Frank Zane, Franco Columbu, Bill Pearl or somebody like That. What he will do is get bigger, and those areas which are already fantastic will get even more fantastic, but he will never look complete or the Mr. Olympia shape. People will always say he′s terrific but doesn′t possess the quality physique of a world champion.

*Note: It appears that either there was a typo or the Arnold really never tool the time to take a better look at Mentzer′s training back then as far as the remark that he should be doing 4-5 sets per bodypart as we know that Mike did use 4-6 sets per bodypart back then.

LOL Amusing,

Arnold was basically talking out of his arse! Mike′s quality of development was at least up there with everyone else at the time, and at best far better. There was no substance to what Arnold said because Mike proved that he could develop complete physique without all these millions of sculpting excersises that Arnold performed.

LOL ′never have the quality of a Frank Zane or Franco???!!!′ what?????! Mike was far better.

this is from the same guy who said Zane beat him in 79 because of his "fat belly"!
as if Mike ever got onstage with a fat belly!!
in fact Mike′s vacuum pose is fairly mind-boggling, especially considering the amount of mass he carried on his frame. but i digress.

this is all just another case of Arnold yet again talking a lot of BS to say what he thinks people want to hear and/or what serves his best interests at the time i.e. to continue to promote the Weider machine, his own BBing books, his public image, etc.

objective? i think not!

regards,
B&G;

Ahnuld : God built me strong forgets to give me brain!!!!!

i think that covers all comments 😛

who cares, arnold is the best bodybuilder ever!

arnold did more for the sport of bodybuilding than anyone ever has. lets all be honest, arnold would have been just about everyone in this forum′s favourite bodybuilder when they began training.

can′t see why everyone is knockin him, just all to do with 1980.