Binges on spoonfuls of butter straight from the carton. Mentzer's dedication never wavered. Not-to-failure (NTF) workouts: Several chapters and a detailed chart illustrate precisely how to integrate NTF workouts into your standard HIT routines for best-possible results. The sad story does not end here. Drew Baye: How about a little word, or phrase association test that relates to the bodybuilders youve trained or seen? (Cooper was speaking at a hospitals grand opening the next morning.) And although their lights have faded, Ray and Mike Mentzer built some of the biggest muscles the world has ever seen using these methods. I trained him multiple times. No other HIT books covers NTF training. His first scheduled contests under Joness guidance were Teenage Mr. America, during the last week of July, followed a month later by Mr. USA. 1 1/4 Reps - After bringing the bar into a contracted position, let it return only one-quarter of the way, then contract it again. As I focused on the guy, I recognized him. Perhaps during the early 1970s, when he was training so many bodybuilders, it was simply easier to drive home intensity, than be so concerned with form. I do this by sharing stories, techniques, and routines the basics of which I experienced from being around Arthur Jones for more than 30 years. What muscular biceps and full triceps he possessed. - 6 day rest - Day 2. 1-2 Sets of 6-8 Reps. Yates Barbell Row or One Arm Cable Row. Ive seen visitors at close range, suddenly back off, as if they thought his gradually contracting biceps was going to explode. The #1 Source For Oldtime Strongman Training Secrets. 2022 Sugar Zam. Instead, the book was assigned to Carol Angstadt, of Rodales womens publishing group, who had never before been involved with a bodybuilding book. Try this routine and let the detractors claim you do 'roids, sneak in extra sets after the gym closes or you're naturally muscular. But my books differences can be grouped as follows: History: In my opinion, Arthur Jones, more than any single individual, developed high intensity training. I guarantee . To compound the loss of Mike, on June 11th, at approximately 9:00 PM, Ray died in his sleep. . Drew Baye: Whats your opinion of Hutchinss SuperSlow? None of the suggestions (including exercise, diet, products or services) mentioned should be performed or otherwise used without clearance from your physician or health care provider. He was frequently up for a hard workout. 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. Press Behind Neck. Is the science of microtrauma and its alleged role in hypertrophy well understood? I offered to drive her back even told her Id run the car through a Jiffy Wash, Ray deadpanned afterward. 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. Our double-team plan had failed. I told Ken that compartmentalizing exercise and recreation was on-target and I thought his new concept was going to help our cause. So a quality, set of curls ought to take longer to recover from that is used to, 20 muscular pounds and an inch of size ago. The results in his book, The New HIT, used slow rep training with great results any reason why you passed on asking these questions? Another option if someone wants to train more frequently is to follow a split routine. Height: 5'9" I am in no way against slow reps a person is better off moving too slowly than too quickly during exercise I just havent seen any convincing evidence that moving any more slowly during exercise than necessary to maintain strict form provides any additional benefit in terms of strength or hypertrophy. What happened to Mike and Ray Mentzer? I was going to watch the deliberations from my angle for 10 minutes, and join the action. As we discussed the topic further, I glanced across the lobby, which was in the center of four departure-arrival gates. Hutchins was mostly involved in the physical therapy side of Nautilus, which finally led to his supervisory position in a Nautilus-sponsored osteoporosis research project at the University of Florida Medical School in 1982. The Mentzer brothers were fairly candid about the steroids they used, especially Ray if I remember correctly. He stood only 58u2032 yet packed 215 pounds of rock-solid muscle on his frame. But now, judging from the photo spreads in the magazines, its ridiculous. The 18-1/2 pounds of muscle occurred in 11 days, not 14. I was impressed. Who took a cookie from the cookie jar? Platz sets seemed to last forever and be more painful whereas Mike and Rays sets were shorter with lower reps. Ray really liked stutter reps where as Mike liked rest pause reps. Much of it depended on where they were training, who they were training with and what equipment was available to them. Ellington Darden: Great question, in fact, I could make a winning case for each one, or the idea that they are equally important. His greatest asset was his physical strength. Im grateful that Ive spent as much time as I have with both Jones and Hutchins. Drew Baye: Thanks, thats a fascinating story. He quickly competed in and won the Junior Mr. America and IFBB Mr. America competitions. I assumed one of the Mens Health design team would be assigned to do the layout of my book. Here we have a sound explanation for recommending multiple joint exercises for bodybuilders seeking muscle size increases. Calf raise - 1 x 12 reps Mentzer preached high-intensity exercise once a week or once every five to seven days and stressed that 20-30 minutes were ideal for achieving maximum muscle stimulation. Question: Given your disdain for slow rep training, why did you not ask Dr. Darden specific questions as to why he felt slow training was so beneficial (which he does). Interesting to see the split: Day 1. The downward spiral began at this point. He developed Bergers illness. After Ray retired from completion he continued to workout with his high intensity training approach he called "Intensity For Immensity" and reached a peak body weight of 270 pounds in fairly lean condition. "For a while Mike and I strayed from our high intensity, heavy poundage workouts into a program using lighter weights and higher reps. Finally, the storm cleared, and the three of us boarded the same plane to Daytona Beach. He would exert himself to the point of muscle failure because of this. Thus, he simplified his routine to upper body only. 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. But trainees have found overall strength and size increases as a result of squatting - even when it is the only exercise performed for long periods. HIT training w/deads can be brutal, squats are equally brutal. 1976 Jr. Mr. America (Tall) But it wasnt until Jones started experimenting and writing about negative work in 1972, that any bodybuilder took it seriously. I should make a minor correction: the exercises that give me really vicious soreness are the isokinetic exercises, like the drawer-handle biceps-curls I mentioned on another thread. He consumed high-quality dairy, chicken, and beef as sources of protein. There was talk of the unusual arms on the boy (Mentzer) as good, some said as Viator's arms. Or a training partner with a watch can talk your through each phase. As a result, Hudlow made steady progress for the entire 6 months that I trained him. Regarding what he learned from Ayn Rand, Mentzer said in an interview:. Durning his interview with John Little, Mentzer opened up in great detail about the routine that earned him the famous physique we know today. Doesn't he realize I plan to win Mr. America next year looking like Larry Scott? If isometrics are doing something to foster the creation of cross-bridges, I wonder if theres a performance-price to be paid elsewhere? Spillane was younger, 21, lighter, 132 pounds, and had less genetic potential than did Hudlow. He seemed to be in a perpetual training drift, looking for someone or something to take his oars and row him to shore. Take the hips and thighs as an example. The Ray Mentzer story is one of success, but also tragedy. He was thoroughly worn out and his muscles were primed for rest by the 45-minute mark. The very first things a musclehead will notice is that upper arms are exercised only once during the three workouts. . Im not sure why he permitted it because he certainly understood what proper form was. Incline Flye Ray Mentzer's experience is it. Mike was 11 years old, while Ray was 9 years old. Here is where indirect effect comes in. Life is too short to be small. When we took the HIT photography, 38-year-old McCutcheon weighed 184 pounds, at a height of 6-feet even, and I personally measured his body fat at 3.4 percent. The three techniques Heavy Duty prescribed most were forced reps, negative reps, and rest-pause. And, hes into the martial arts, so he does some of that several times a week. This is a reposting from 2004, during which time I was still working with Hutchins at the SuperSlow Zone. 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. Net Worth, Partner, Biography, The Untold Story of Ice-Ts 44-Year-Old Daughter Letesha Marrow. One of the funniest Ray Mentzer/Arthur Jones stories occurred during the summer of 1983. That sounds like a long workout but marathon training sessions where common practice amongst the Golden Era Bodybuilders. Incline press - 1 x 8 reps Then, the high altitude associated with being in the mountains of Fort Collins, Colorado, had him feeling somewhat dizzy, especially during his workout. And when an almost unbelievably muscular Mentzer materialized in 1979, once again it was due to another application of increased intensity. Ray lost his fight against Bergers Disease and was found dead in his apartment less than 48 hours later. For the first time in years, Im actually very psyched about my training again. When Ray and his brother were little, they would write letters to Bill praising his body and expressing the hope that they would one day be able to build strong, ripped muscles like Bill. Gday Drew The death of his beloved brother proved to be too much to bear for Ray. He had a lot of questions for me and I had to dig pretty deep for some of the answers. He built a super, heavy duty hydraulic with a control that a training partner could operate. Flat barbell bench press (5 sets, 6-8 reps) 3. I met Mike seven years ago in Gold's Gym in Venice, when I was one of his numerous in-gym clients. Also, Ive worked out with Ken Leistner, Pete Grymkowski, Robby Robinson, Jim Haislop, Richard Baldwin, Chris Dickerson, and Lee Haney. Start your reps immediately with each breakdown; don't spend an extra moment as a breather. Proper strength training, we felt, was more than an adequate way to work the muscles and heart. Rays brother Mike was the first and most obvious candidate for a kidney transplant. Kens exercise/recreation section explained how to define exercise (which involved disciplined overload and was not fun), and then how to separate it from recreation (which required no overload and was enjoyable). Twenty reps, Arthur repeated, after asking us about his progress, hell, he can do 50 with each leg. Over the next three minutes, Viator not only did 50 reps, but 2 more for good measure. Here we can see Mike mentoring Markus Reinhardt on the heavy duty stuff. But perhaps more importantly, research shows that with that sliding 8 percent, if there was a unified HIT push, it could rather quickly increase back 16 percent, or 3,200,000 trainees. Arthur almost killed me, Viator remembered. But once you increase your daily calories to the 3,000-plus range, then the number of exercises should double. The website's content is not a substitute for direct, personal, professional medical care and diagnosis. He won both the AAU Mr. America and the IFBB Mr. America and year later in 1978. I think that a little articulateness goes a long way here; the standard is way above that of the average muscle-mag and the result is a more penetrating Q&A that the reader can draw useful conclusions from Darden expresses himself well. Delayed onset muscular soreness is not completely understood, but there does appear to be a relationship with microtrauma. Hutchins wanted to respond, but didnt. We never heard from him. Look at the workout accompanying this article for a few minutes. Jones was briefly introduced to Viator at the 1970 Mr. America contest in Los Angeles, where Casey placed third. Sadly the whole Menter family seemed to have health problems and all died at a fairly young age, the most shocking was that Mike Mentzer died of heart failure at 49 years old and Ray from kidney failure just a few days later at only 47 years old. The result: Jones built 11-1/4 pounds of muscle in 14 days, which is not bad at all for a man almost 50 years of age. Home BLOG Products Online Courses Videos About Support Search. There is nothing wrong with repeating things other people have said if those things are right, if you give credit where credit is due, and if you are adding value to it or making it accessible or understandable to a new group, and Ell accomplishes all of these with his books. And yet, Ellington Darden, Ken Leistner and Peary Rader have watched hundreds of men and women gain real muscle that was impossible for them to build before training harder and briefer. Ray was able to develop his body significantly during this time. Ray and Mike were putting the finishing touches on their newest training DVD, HIT, on June 9th, 2001. We had been steam-rolled, and worse captivated somehow by what we heard. 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. When I went to Baylor University in 1962, there was a guy on the football team named Bobby Crenshaw. Not surprising to me, the addition of 18-1/2 pounds of muscle increased his resting metabolic rate by 530 calories, or 28.6 calories per pound of added muscle per day. Ellington Darden: Ray did have a sense of humor and he often had a joke up his sleeve. Ray quickly surpassed the 250 lb weight threshold thanks to an excessive intake of calories. 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. The primary reason I wrote The New High-Intensity Training was to help bodybuilders learn how to train, and more importantly, how to train themselves. McCutcheon believes in simple, get-as-strong-as-you-can, basic exercises. So he hired Mike and Ray Mentzer in early 1983 with the notion that they'd come in and make a big . all at 19 years of age. Tricep Extensions- 1 x 10 reps, Wednesday Ellington Darden: When I joined Arthur Jones and Nautilus in 1973, it wasnt long before Hutchins drove to Florida to see for himself what was happening. In mid-February 1971, Jones noted that Casey was down to 205 pounds and was smoother than hes been since he moved to Florida. Drew Baye: Dr. Darden, which do you think is more important in getting the best results from HIT, intensity or form? Ellington Darden: Jones said he had every intention of training his legs, but when he arrived he had a bit of a chest cold. Who is he? Thank goodness, Hutchins and I were not seated near Cooper, as our heads and necks needed rest. (Delicious, Fresh, and Simple to make), Who is Michael Deluise? And his size increase is all the more impressive for having been accomplished while getting leaner. If Ray Mentzer taught us anything, it would be to never take life for granted, to make every day count, and to avoid wasting time on things you dont enjoy since life is too short for that. Once he had reached that stage, Ray would ask his workout partner to assist him in performing another 2 to 3 forced reps while maintaining slow, precise form and controlling the weight. Ray might actually have been the first bodybuilder to weigh that much and still be fairly lean. Preacher curls - 1 x 10 reps, Note: Ray Mentzer's Routine is based on High Intensity Training for more info see The Colorado Experiment Workout. Ray and his teammates would move incredibly heavy objects while taking a lot of pauses. Hutchins lifts, he said, always motivated the players to get stronger, but none ever exceeded Kens poundages. Put simply, when you work one muscle, other unworked muscles are affected; when it grows, they growto a smaller extent, of course. His breakfast includes: Half cup of orange juice; 1 cup of oatmeal; 1 cup low fat milk; 1 slice toast; 1 tablespoon butter; Lunch. At a powerful 5'4", Franco was able to deadlift 750 pounds, bench press 525 pounds, and squat 655 pounds. How were they to work with? As a result, Hutchins and I improvised a plan. (By the way, I agreed with Mikes assessment.) Ken was sitting next to me and we began sorting through our strength-training slides, since we had both given talks using a 35mm-slide projector earlier in the day. Conroes head football coach, W. T. Stapler, who had been there for 10 years, told me that Hutchins bench-pressed 50 pounds more and dealifted 100 pounds more than the strongest guys on the team. The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results by Ellington Darden. Plus, I had a fairly good setup in my parents garage, and when I visited my parents during the holidays and summer, Hutchins would often join me for workouts. At that time, Cooper was the #1 running guru, as a result of a couple of best-selling books on aerobics. and a mutual friend told me that Cooper still didnt care for strength training. When I visited Rodales main photography studio in Emmaus, I met with my editor, Lou Schuler, who also is the fitness director for Mens Health. He admitted to spending three hours a day in the gym as a young man while serving in the United States Air Force. In the end for me, I consider him a genius in his principles (as well as Yates, Jones, Viator, Ray Mentzer). No problem, he simply dropped down on one knee in front of Cooper and continued. This chapter describes a three-exercise leg cycle. Increase The Bar, (Workout) Ray won the title of IFBB Mr. USA in 1978. 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.. Ray Mentzer was even stronger than Mike, right? Drew Baye is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Reverse curlStage reps Viator trained himself and slowly lost muscle and gained fat. Because thats now my age and someone needs to write sensibly for this group of men. In the summer of 1979, if you had viewed an upstart, 27-year-old philosopher and former pre-med student with the alliterative name Mike Mentzer as he prepared to make his Olympia debut by trading sets with his youngest brother Ray (who won that year's Mr. America), it would've looked like some sort of madness. The lobby was even more crowded, so I had to kneel on the floor beside Hutchins. 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. I figure that one set of this will hit all fibre-types; I often have vicious recovery-pains following this protocol. Thats why I had Hudlows resting metabolic rate checked before and after the 14 days. I have read before that Mike and Ray Mentzer were really into using amphetamines to train harder. I had a tremendous pump throughout my upper body. Weight: 220 lbs. Studies since then have confirmed much of what Jones believed concerning negative work. Mike could still look after his younger sibling, though. Employ forced reps when possible. The video, available on Youtube, shows Mike and his brother Ray, train Markus Reinhardt at the Angel City Fitness gym in Los Angeles. This is something I will be covering in the book, with references. He built a super, heavy duty hydraulic with a control that a training partner could operate. Leg curl - 1 x 16 reps This new one will be directed to men over 60 years of age. Sitting beside me as we watched the movie clips was a 69-year-old lifter from Kansas (yes, there were a few out-of-staters who attended). 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. Ellington Darden: Arnold had a great peak on his right arm. Ray would subsequently go on to become a legend in the bodybuilding world with his vascular 20+ inch arms and then-unimaginable weight of 275 pounds. Use about half the weight (50 percent) that youd normally use. After a while, we would have to pin additional weight on most of the Nautilus machines. That would amount to 160,000 copies sold of The New High-Intensity Training in 12 months. Breakdowns - This practice involves stripping off about 10% of the resistance you're using and grinding out a few more reps. You can opt to drop the poundage once or twice a week, depending on how much intensity you're ready for. It was Dr. Kenneth Cooper. Concerning frequency, I believe the results from the vast majority of the once-a-week training could be improved with the addition of one not-to-failure (NTF) session each week. If you have any questions about Mike Mentzer or High Intensity Training email us and we'll get back to you with an answer as quick as we can. Drew Baye: When Nautilus hired you, did Ken visit you in Florida? Drew Baye: The publisher of your new HIT book is Rodale. I never attended because I worked at a club. This is a great way to isolate a muscle that tends to miss it due to less-than-perfect form. Viator had never experienced a workout like Jones put him through and Jones had never exercised anyone with Viators genetic potential. In actuality, Rays workouts were limited to 45 minutes. Ive never taken Drews writings, comments as disdain for slow rep training. - 1 x 8 reps Cooper, answering a question, knocked strength training. The reason his workouts were referred to as HIT (High-Intensity Training). Interestingly, I replicated the 14-day experiment with another Gainesville Health & Fitness subject, Michael Spillane. Each set lasted more than 20 seconds longer as a result of the stutter reps. Who framed Roger Rabbit? Joe Mullen, a former Nautilus club owner, recently told me that he saw Ray go through a HIT workout in 1999. And laugh all the way to the big-shirt store! But it was no use. Again, he was judged an easy winner. In fact, Ive never seen anybody better at keeping a relaxed face during HIT than Jones. There are a few in that category today, but there werent any in 1983. One of the most intense training regimes out there for bodybuilding is known as the "Heavy Duty" method. Drew Baye: Are you currently working on anything new and exciting? 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. He was always clear about his goals and diligent in pursuing them. It's easy to drift away from high intensity principles. Drew Baye: In Joness 1973 Colorado Experiment, how much muscle did Casey Viator gain during the first two weeks? Over the last 30 years, Ive been around Arnold four or five times. The idea is that by stopping short of failure you spare your recovery ability the task of having to overcompensate from a much deeper inroad. Evidently, her interest in seeing the video studios had vanished. And youre correct, youd have thought that with his devotion to hard training, hed have been on cloud nine. His Heavy Duty formed the cornerstone of six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates' regimen, and it continues to influence bodybuilders today. To be specific: Hit: 100kg- 140kg squat 4 reps - long time Starting strength: 100kg - 170kg squat 5 reps - 4 months. In fact, NTF workouts may speed recovery by supplying some of the chemistry to guard against atrophy and to facilitate active rest. Here is a sample Ray Mentzer style high intensity training workout routine: Monday DW: I was wondering when you talk about training 20 sets for the biceps 3 times a week, what you think about the lower-volume, high-intensity training that Mike and Ray Mentzer use. Was Arthur Jones the first person to introduce negative work to bodybuilding? Don't let'em food you. In a local physique contest, however, Hutchins would have been pressed to finish in the top 10 (just kidding, Ken). We then expected some locking of horns to occur. Mentzer wrote several books about weight training. Ellington Darden: I certainly think timed static contractions have value. Also make sure to increase the weight in a particular exercise whenever possible. Bodybuilding was a lot healthier then. And Whitley achieved that without the help of creatine. I once read about Ray Mentzer training legs once a month! Ellington Darden: I like SuperSlow. Arthur told Ray to put on his brightest, horizontal-striped shirt (he didnt want Martina to miss him) and be sure and drive the old, unwashed, company car, which had a broken air-conditioner (that meant hed have to roll down all the windows so air could circulate). This crazy author thinks I want spaghetti arms! During the competition, Mike and Arnold had a bitter argument that was never settled, and worse, continued to fester. Mike and his girlfriend, Julie McNew, came over to my home several times for dinner and we had some far-reaching conversations, none of which had much at all to do with bodybuilding. Someone somewhere should be doing a large-scale research project to help us understand more about their place in short- and long-term exercise. The latest statistics from the Sports Goods Manufacturers Association reveals that approximately 20,000,000 males in the United States are actively involved in bodybuilding and strength training. Olivas arms, from any angle or position, both relaxed and contracted, were absolutely HUGE. All the other HIT books eventually have you performing split routines. If you are serious about your physique, youll seriously want to Are you tired, irritable, and lacking motivation? Without getting into the finer points of the SuperSlow philosophy, I want to say simply: Ken Hutchins carefully studied repetition form, which was and is a subset of HIT, and turned it into a full-fledged business. Then, perform slowly paced reps in the hardest one-third (or stage), first; the second hardest, next; and the easiest thirst, last. Ray was the first bodybuilder I ever saw who weighed 250 pounds or more, in fairly lean condition. For those recommendations to come close to producing maximum results, the trainee would have to extremely big, strong, and advanced. Indirect effect can be thought of as a sort of ripple effect. First off, if I may say, what an exceptional interview, Drew: you clearly went out of your way to make the most of the opportunity. Ray learned that Mike had severe cardiac problems while he was waiting for the kidney transplant, and Mike passed away on June 10th, 2001 as a result. You can build up to it. Does recovery-pain have anything to do with microtrauma? Bench press - 1 x 8 reps Also, Im in the process of updating my Web site, which was called Classic X. "The secret, if there is one, is high intensity.