This would require a weight that would take you to failure in between 6 and 9 reps. Then, once you hit failure, keep going. While a person could learn most of what they need to know about training by just reading the first two Nautilus Bulletins, there is a lot of great information in Ellingtons books and some really interesting historical information and interviews in the more recent ones. 06-08-2013, 11:15 AM Ray Mentzer Workout Here are some excerpts, from a 1979 interview where Ray talks about his workouts leading up to his Mr. America victory. Halfway through the photo shoot, I could tell that Carol was quickly getting a handle on the subject matter. It was starting to become a sideshow then. . Then again on things like squats they trained more traditional (but of course very heavy). Studies since then have confirmed much of what Jones believed concerning negative work. Squat One drawback is, the ROM gets awkward beyond 90 degrees in the latter exercise. Calf Raise1 1/4 reps In fact, Cirulli has been testing it for the last six months in his fitness center in Gainesville. I took accurate measurements of Hudlow before and after, as well as photos of him from the front and back, which you can examine in the HIT book on page 202, so Ive tried to present the results in as factual a way as possible. And his size increase is all the more impressive for having been accomplished while getting leaner. Ray went to bed after a long and demanding day at work, but Mike continued to work late. Was Arthur Jones the first person to introduce negative work to bodybuilding? Weight: 220 lbs. Mike Mentzer's brother, Ray, put three-eights on an inch on his presumably larger upper arm in six weeks, performing no more direct arm work that chins and dips. Barbell Curls - 1 x 10 reps Pullover Hey Fred, glad you like the interview. Instead, the book was assigned to Carol Angstadt, of Rodales womens publishing group, who had never before been involved with a bodybuilding book. Leg Curls . After a while, Ken asked me what I thought about his new section, which he called Exercise Versus Recreation.. Family, Partner, Biography, How to make Garlic Dressing? One of the greatest bodybuilders of his time was Ray Mentzer. Mike Mentzer's training routine Triceps Choose two different exercises and do them both for two sets. Arthur Jones was a genius, but he had a tendency to be abrasive with some people, and if it were not for people like Ell Darden and Jim Flanagan who were much better with people the Nautilus company and Arthurs training principles probably would not have been as successful as they are. My first response is to say that intensity is more important when youre younger (from 15 to 40 years of age), and form is more important when your older (over 40). After graduating from high school, he worked in United States Air Force and started working out 3 hours a day and 6 days a week. The lobby was even more crowded, so I had to kneel on the floor beside Hutchins. Of all the champions Ive known and trained with I probably get the most questions about Mike Mentzer and his brother Ray. Disclaimer: This website is an educational service that provides general health information. He achieved the same in the AAU Mr. America competition one year later. Olivas arms, from any angle or position, both relaxed and contracted, were absolutely HUGE. Ray quickly surpassed the 250 lb weight threshold thanks to an excessive intake of calories. Drew Baye: Ive read that Ray Mentzer was somewhat of a comedian. As much as any of those Mr. America winners, I appreciate and admire Wilbur Miller. Proper strength training, we felt, was more than an adequate way to work the muscles and heart. Thank you for your reply; I appreciate that this is stuff yet to be fully resolved by science but for me your considered opinion nevertheless carries weight. Dip All of these champions were drug-free and I must emphasize that there were some very well built men in the 40s and 50s. I assumed one of the Mens Health design team would be assigned to do the layout of my book. Edit: two DAYS not years, my b He reached a bodyweight of 75kg by age fifteen. I have read before that Mike and Ray Mentzer were really into using amphetamines to train harder. !,especially now that hes dead and kept on raving about Casey Viator. Drew Baye: Im surprised you failed to place Schwarzeneggers arms in the top category as Viators, Olivas, and Coes. And Whitley achieved that without the help of creatine. As a result, Hutchins and I improvised a plan. Press Behind Neck. Similar things can be said of delts, calves and abs based on the same principle. Do Your Hormones Affect Weight Gain and Loss. On a beach, Ray and Mike Mentzer engage in some joint flexing. Furthermore, he was generally thought of as being anti-strength training, anti-HIT, and anti-Nautilus. Mentzer would spend hours in the gym every day when he began training. Ray Mentzer has weighed in at 270 and Lou Ferrigno has competed around 300 pounds. Doesn't he realize I plan to win Mr. America next year looking like Larry Scott? The Mentzer family, unfortunately, has a history of heart disease. One workout every 96 to 120 hours, depending on how my . This article is from 2003 to read a more updated article on how Mike Mentzer had a "Heavy Duty" mindest and workout regime Click Here. His reps and negatives were similarly sluggish. Learning logic and acquiring the ability to think critically is not easy, though not impossibly difficult. The exact physiological processes aren't completely clear, but what happens on a muscle-training level is clear. I dont believe Arthur really hired Ell for research and development, I believe he hired him because he knew he needed someone who was intelligent and charismatic and could write and speak well to be a spokesperson for Nautilus. Tricep Extensions- 1 x 10 reps, Wednesday Mike and Ray Mentzer Heavy Duty Training Mentzer's Lost Heavy Duty Secrets. There we were: Ken Hutchins and Ellington Darden kneeling at the feet of Dr. Kenneth Cooper, while he lectured to us on aerobic exercise. That reinforced to me that Ray Mentzer was the strongest man Ive ever trained, and Ive been training people for more than 40 years. Here we can see Mike mentoring Markus Reinhardt on the heavy duty stuff. Answer: To paraphrase Arthur Jones, Rather than the best, Ill tell you the one that I like the least, which will be the routine that I need the most.. He started to sculpt his body after falling in love with the iron right away. And he did so 41 times in 1970-71. Staying off stages for most of the rest of the decade, Viator worked for Jones at Nautilus until 1978. I was going to watch the deliberations from my angle for 10 minutes, and join the action. If any nontheoretical, real-life example will serve to prove the efficacy of indirect effect. Height: 5'9" Since then, hed regretted not speaking up. He developed Bergers illness. The next morning he instructed Ray Mentzer to meet Martina at the airport and escort her back to Lake Helen. Leg Press In the end for me, I consider him a genius in his principles (as well as Yates, Jones, Viator, Ray Mentzer). I admire big, muscular arms, broad shoulders, thick chests, and great legs but I dont admire them when theyre connected to bloated, 42-inch waistlines. Ellington Darden: It was less than that. For more than ten years, Mentzer's Heavy Duty program involved 7-9 sets per workout on a three day-per-week schedule.With the advent of "modern bodybuilding" (where bodybuilders became more massive than ever before) by the early 1990s, he ultimately modified that routine until there were fewer working sets, and more days of rest. Workouts one and three are the ones that stress your largest muscle masses in the upper and lower body, with the first emphasizing the legs, while the torso is hammered in the third. As I focused on the guy, I recognized him. HIT, of course, is the system of high-intensity training developed by Arthur Jones and codified and popularized by Darden, who was director of research for Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries, the company Jones founded, for more than 20 years. He stood only 58u2032 yet packed 215 pounds of rock-solid muscle on his frame. They shared an apartment after moving in together, and during the ensuing months, they became closer. In Pennsylvania, the United States, Ray Menzer was born in August 1953. Ellington Darden: Great question, in fact, I could make a winning case for each one, or the idea that they are equally important. This is a great way to isolate a muscle that tends to miss it due to less-than-perfect form. Finally, the storm cleared, and the three of us boarded the same plane to Daytona Beach. Of course Ell writes and says a lot of the same things Arthur did it was his job. He passed away in 2001 at 49-years-old due to a heart attack. Yates' drug routines have been published and were an earlier version of today's polypharmaceuticals - far beyond the relatively lightweight stacks of the 70s. . Ray and Mike Mentzer used to write to me when they were young children back in Pennsylvania, according to what Bill had to say about them. Today, that percentage of involvement has shrunk by half, which leaves approximately 8 percent. In this interview the author of the best-selling Nautilus book series retraces his early training days with Arthur Jones and Casey Viator and talks about some of the golden-age bodybuilders who inspired him. So were all the negative reps, extended sets, stutter reps, rest pause and hydraulic assisted reps any more productive than the traditional set training? That fourth repetition will be a bear, but you should be able to finish it which will build your confidence for your next workout. How were they to work with? Drew Baye: I also think that the bodybuilder you use to illustrate your HIT exercises has an outstanding build. Arthur Jones had some of that ability, too. I found out in 2001, when Andy was selected to demonstrate the exercises for my book, The Bowflex Body Plan. timed static contractions have become popular with some instructors for use with clients who cant perform certain exercises through a full range of motion due to physical problems or injuries. We read the sarcastic and bitter attacks of strength coaches and naturally gifted weightmen who try to tell us that everyone knows that one-set-to-failure is an exercise philosophy that never really worked. Life is too short to be small. He consumed more than 60% of his daily calories as carbohydrates. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Just like his brother he strongly believed in training with a high intensity doing heavy weights with only 6 to 8 reps. That stated, Casey Viator gained 39.87 thats right, just 0.13 shy of 40 pounds of muscle in two weeks. Ray had become a full-time competitor by the age of 23. And when an almost unbelievably muscular Mentzer materialized in 1979, once again it was due to another application of increased intensity. HEAVY DUTY BASICS Look at the workout accompanying this article for a few minutes. . I guarantee . He achieved the same in the AAU Mr. America competition one year later. Of course Grimek and Reeves stood out, but so did Steve Stanko, Mr. America 1944, who was more massive than Grimek. Ellington Darden: Now were talking about a probable world record for muscular growth, but as I point out in chapter 3 of my book, Viator had been in a disabling accident and his muscles had atrophied. Coes arms, because of their unusual shape, always looked bigger than they measured. The man seemed to project a mesmerizing spell on us and we soon found our heads nodding to concepts that were directly against what we believed. His triceps, in particular, when viewed from behind, reminded one of two . When I went to Baylor University in 1962, there was a guy on the football team named Bobby Crenshaw. First, you need to have access to an efficient leg-press machine, one that you can adjust by moving the seat forward to prevent you from locking the knees. I could feel myself actually growing during and after the workout.. Thats why I had Hudlows resting metabolic rate checked before and after the 14 days. Interestingly, I replicated the 14-day experiment with another Gainesville Health & Fitness subject, Michael Spillane. When Ken started high school he became a friend to one of my Conroe classmates, Philip Alexander, who was in medical school in Houston. Ellington Darden: Yes thats precisely what we were thinking. But once you increase your daily calories to the 3,000-plus range, then the number of exercises should double. The stronger he is, the more a set of exercise can make an inroad into his existing abilities. I read all the bodybuilding magazines from 1959 until 1972, and I never came across anything remotely similar to the emphasis and guidelines Jones placed on lowering a heavy weight. . Thus, I spend about half of my 272-page book relating the stories and experiences of Jones. Mentzer died on June 10, 2001 in Rolling Hills, California. When Hutchins was a senior in high school, Conroe had one of the best football teams in Texas. It's part of bodybuilding legend how the squat affects overall body strength and size. The last of the three exercises: extremely slow leg presses, 4 repetitions in 120 seconds, will rock your world but good. He also has several bars and 400 pounds of free weights. I first noticed McCutcheon six years ago, when close-ups of his arms and torso were featured on the award-winning Bowflex commercial. "The routine I followed was the essential basic Heavy Duty routine consisting of four to five sets per bodypart and broken into two workouts - The first workout would be legs, chest and triceps; the . At about the same time, he hired Kim Wood to take charge of the Quonset Hut workout room at DeLand High School, where all the training occurred. A few years later, a significantly more muscular Mentzer emerged in the IFBB and began an incredible career, climbing the ladder of national and international physique titles, growing gigantic in the process. Ellington Darden: I certainly did. "Editing Workout was one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done," Mike claims. His triceps, in particular, when viewed from behind, reminded one of two large watermelons hanging out of a T-shirt. that would be a real eye-opener. The information contained within is not intended to provide specific health advice, or any other advice whatsoever, for any individual or company and should not be relied upon in that regard. Im grateful that Ive spent as much time as I have with both Jones and Hutchins. Friday Today, he weighs a lean 220 pounds and has muscular forearms, thick wrists, and a vise-like grip. It works. Rodale also is behind a number of magazines, such as Mens Health and Prevention. Joe Mullen, a former Nautilus club owner, recently told me that he saw Ray go through a HIT workout in 1999. Heavy Duty: Mike Mentzer's Most Productive Routine, by John Little. However, Ray used a variety of techniques to up the ante on his training. If Mike would have won the Olympia, the world of professional bodybuilding might now be significantly different. In actuality, Rays workouts were limited to 45 minutes. While many people know the basics of Heavy Duty training, the advanced techniques are known by only a few. Make them alternate days, and try to rest on your off days. Drew Baye: When Jones trained someone, was he a stickler for form? Did he ever do any amusing things around Nautilus? However, a number of trainees seem to suffer overtraining even from such brief workouts once they genuinely achieve an intense level of effort. Joness measured Arnolds flexed right upper arm cold at 19-1/2 inches. Some of the football coaches, who encouraged me to lift weights from 1958 to 1962, also encouraged Hutchins in the late 1960s. Only then do you let it return to full extension. While a very high level of strength is possible without equipment, I do not believe ones optimal level of strength can be attained without some kind of external resistance, or as quickly. Fred, In fact, Ive never seen anybody better at keeping a relaxed face during HIT than Jones. Back. Maybe it was Martinas tone of voice, or maybe she forgot to say please, whatever it was, it didnt set right with Jones. Mike Mentzer Photo Album. nurse at Ephrata Community Hospital years ago. Because thats now my age and someone needs to write sensibly for this group of men. Benny Podda told me they would have five and six guys and squat for hours (how many hours was never defined), multiple sets, long rest periods, etc. Ray Mentzer who was the brother of Mike Mentzer was born in Pennsylvania on August 2, 1953. Sorry for the humungous post Drew; hope it is useful. I remember one day, we had Casey on the duo-squat machine and our goal was 20 reps with each leg, which would be more than hed ever done with us training him. I can now see why! . He quickly competed in and won the Junior Mr. America and IFBB Mr. America competitions. My original Nautilus book, initially published in 1980 and revised five times, sold more than half a million copies. Ray handled the entire weight stack, 500 pounds, on the Nautilus duo-squat machine with ease. My reasoning is that a younger body can handle cheating much better than an older body, so as you get older, youd be wise to focus more on form than intensity. Ken and I, for several years, had tried various approaches during Nautilus seminars to debate people who believed they needed daily aerobic activity to be healthy. Ray Mentzer's Mr. America Pec Routine Ray Mentzer Workout Here are some excerpts, from a 1979 interview where Ray talks about his workouts leading up to his Mr. America victory. It was the essential basic Heavy Duty routine consisting of four to five sets per bodypart and broken into two workouts. At a powerful 5'4", Franco was able to deadlift 750 pounds, bench press 525 pounds, and squat 655 pounds. And there was Marvin Eder, who never achieved Mr. America, but it was clear from the film that he should have won in the early 1950s. Here we have a sound explanation for recommending multiple joint exercises for bodybuilders seeking muscle size increases. The sad story does not end here. She had promised to help me later with my tennis serve. Ill report on the discovery this fall, so I encourage interested readers to give me a holler at www.DrDarden.com. Multiple sets, warm ups working up to heavy all out sets but there were no negatives or forced reps. Breakfast. Much of the credit goes to its nature as a big, three-joint exercise (hips, knees and ankles are all involved). Drew Baye: Shoot straight with us. Rest 2 to 3 minutes Crenshaw inspired me to work my neck. Ellington Darden: I certainly think timed static contractions have value. No problem, he simply dropped down on one knee in front of Cooper and continued. Whole-body routines: To quote Arthur Jones, Split routines make about as much sense as sleeping with one eye open. Each routine in the new HIT features at least some exercise for both your upper body and lower body. But first, the medical professionals had to determine whether Mikes kidney was compatible with Rays. There are a few in that category today, but there werent any in 1983. Ive experimented with all styles of leg presses and this one is the hardest of all. What happened to Mike and Ray Mentzer? It will be reintroduced under the name of DrDarden.com, and it will include a lot of new and old stuff related to HIT. Then release it for another positive. Number of Bodybuilders Using High Intensity Training. Ray kept up his arduous training in 1983 while utilizing different programs. Bodybuilder Ray Mentzer was Mike Mentzer's younger brother and training partner. There were Clancy Ross (45) and George Eiferman (48), with their massive chests, as well as John Farbotnik (50). Let's start by acquainting them with you. I figure that one set of this will hit all fibre-types; I often have vicious recovery-pains following this protocol. Mentzer was inducted in the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2002. The website's content is not a substitute for direct, personal, professional medical care and diagnosis. Ray Mentzer Workout Here is a sample Ray Mentzer style high intensity training workout routine: Monday Bench press - 1 x 8 reps Incline press - 1 x 8 reps Flyes - 1 x 12 reps DB shoulder press - 1 x 8 reps Tricep Extensions- 1 x 10 reps Wednesday Squats - 1 x 16 reps Leg ext - 1 x 16 reps Leg curl - 1 x 16 reps Calf raise - 1 x 12 reps Friday He seemed to be in a perpetual training drift, looking for someone or something to take his oars and row him to shore. How much of an effect an unexercised muscle receives from an exercised muscle depends mainly on two things - the size of the worked muscle and its proximity to the unworked muscle. Ellington Darden: People ask him that all the time, and Ill shoot straight with you. Thanks to Lou Schuler, who did a superb job with editing my words, and Carol Angstadt, who made the format and illustrations pop with excitement, The New High-Intensity Training is going to be, in my opinion, my best book yet. But he had recently signed off on the purchase of two lines of Nautilus machines for his Aerobics Center in Dallas, primarily because of two hospitable Nautilus guys hed talked with one stormy night in the Atlanta Airport. We researched the HIT interest and heres what we concluded about our audience: In the early 1980s, when HIT was at its height of popularity, about 16 percent of bodybuilders in the United States were involved with it. It was Dr. Kenneth Cooper. Whats up with the whole black or white thing? As you can see, my book is distinct from the others. With the plan in mind, Hutchins hurried over but just as he approached, an older woman took the seat beside Cooper. Wrist roller, Day Three Drugs, hormone injections, implants, and who knows what else, have destroyed professional bodybuilding today. Day One And it can still be accomplished without drugs today. Overall, Im very pleased with whats happening with the book. Gday Drew No other training book has this type of history or background material, which I believe is worthwhile and meaningful in understanding the why of HIT. The #1 Source For Oldtime Strongman Training Secrets. John Little. Drew Baye: In Joness 1973 Colorado Experiment, how much muscle did Casey Viator gain during the first two weeks? But the arithmetic of bodybuilding soon presents a difficult problem, If he needs, say, 20 exercises to work everything, and he's decided to cut back to 16 total sets of high intensity work in order to keep gaining, how does he cover all bases? McCutcheon placed high in a few contests in Great Britain and relocated in 1992 to Portland, Oregon, where he became an engineer for Novellus Systems. Drew Baye: The publisher of your new HIT book is Rodale. Bodybuilding Titles Won Family, Partner, Biography, Easy easy to make Popcorn Shrimp (Perfectly Tender and Crispy), Who is Tiya Sircar? Also, Im in the process of updating my Web site, which was called Classic X. In two weeks, Caseys body weight was up to 210 pounds. The downward spiral began at this point. Ray would approach failure after the ninth rep because the weight would be too heavy. If they had two or three guys they would do negatives and incorporate stutter reps. Rest pause can be incorporated without too much outside assistance or energy expended for training partners if you have the right machines and even with free weights on some exercises like barbell curls, laterals, etc. But I believe its a reasonable goal to aim for one-tenth of that number during the first year after publication. Shoulder presses, declines, inclines, pull-downs, curls, etc. (Cooper was speaking at a hospitals grand opening the next morning.) What do you think of his not to fail sets? It wasnt unusual for Jones to discuss various deals with well-known athletes, or their agents. Ray would throw Saturday night squat parties every Saturday night. Rodale is the best of the bunch. He built a super, heavy duty hydraulic with a control that a training partner could operate. He started competing at the age of 18 in local contests. Net Worth, Partner, Biography, Who is Paris Berelc? At any rate, Ray was actually a really big, strong dude in his peak years, sometimes weighing in at a massive 270 pounds or more. Our double-team plan had failed. Home BLOG Products Online Courses Videos About Support Search. Over the course of several videos, the brothers put Markus through three high intensity workouts: 1. The very first things a musclehead will notice is that upper arms are exercised only once during the three workouts. He has a Bowflex Ultimate machine and he uses it two or three times a week. Also, my soreness from deadlifts lasted an entire 7 or 8 days! But when someone or something emerged, Mike would jump overboard or make himself invisible. Learn how to use high intensity training to build muscle! Roy Hilligen (51) impressed me with his overall muscle density combined with extreme definition. By age 15 he weighed 165 pounds and could bench press 370 pounds. If on Monday, for example, you performed 200 pounds for 10 repetitions on the bench press with a barbell, then on Wednesday, you still take 200 pounds, but you stop the set after repetition 8. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. You can make it work for you. It was about 20 degrees outside and the Atlanta airport was the middle of an ice storm, so all flights were delayed. Calf Raise Breakdown (two drops) Each set lasted more than 20 seconds longer as a result of the stutter reps. Darden says that isotonic work provides more work for the cardiorespiratory system, but in my experience isometric work can also be very taxing. Mike Mentzer. Remember, this was on an advanced bodybuilder, the hardest specimen to realize real muscle growth because of being so close to his genetic potential. I know a lot of people believe that adding that much muscle so quickly is impossible. According to him, 1-2-3 diets (fat-carb-protien)aminos, vitamins, and a strict training routine is much much better than juice. About 75 of my old friends were there and we had a great time reliving the good old days. One of the highlights was a film that Terry Todd, of the University of Texas, had assembled that showed black-and-white movie clips from the AAU Mr. America contests, 1940 through 1954. Rest 2 minutes A situation of increase and decline Less than 48 hours after Mikes passing, he passed away, leaving the bodybuilding community in complete darkness. Drew Baye: Are you saying that you absolutely have to have help in applying high intensity training the Arthur Jones way? Ray Mentzer Stats I suspect that due to something about the nerve-function some muscles are really reluctant to give 100% voluntarily. At that time, Cooper was the #1 running guru, as a result of a couple of best-selling books on aerobics. Likewise, some of us even recall the few pictures published of a 19-year-old Mentzer in York the year Casey Viator won the AAU Mr. America. Furthermore, the chart and routines extend for longer than a year. And when you actually train with high-intensity, you don't need a lot of volume," Arthur Jones said.