Having read almost all of Mike's books but nothing even close to hearing the man tell the story himself. Thank you, Mr.Litte for keeping putting out these videos.
Thank you Mr. Little for all these great videos. I am a 66-year-old former lifter and I remember reading about the Colorado Experiment. I am so giddy right now because I started laying the groundwork for getting back to work, I plan on using Mike's and Arthur Jones's science to get strong again. Thank you.
The fact that Arnold came in my mind in all these years was definitely Media influence, but now after realising who was Mike I’m kinda pissed off on how unfair is everything, even in sports. After seeing lots of materials about Mike my perspective has changed drastically and i gotta say that I’m more impressed about Mike than i ever was for any bodybuilder. No words to describe him! So happy that this channel brings a lot of gold content. Peace!
When the story proceeded to the part of the 80 Olympia, I was literally hanging off the edge of my chair with what mike reviled about the contest. Really well put together John
Read this article, it will reveal even more in depth details about the real reason Arnold came to compete and behind the scene antics. starkcenter.org/igh/igh-v11/igh-v11-n1/igh1101p04.pdf
Thanks for the tribute The great Mentzer is no longer among us but his "Heavy Duty" legacy lives on............his heavy duty legacy has given us "the Shadow" Yates least we forget......another unforgettable legend of the sport
Kudos to the making of this biographical video. Not just because we got to listen to the candor of Mike Mentzer, as he was very polished and eloquent speaker. But the video itself and the smooth transitions into each aspect of Mentzer’s life. This is a five star video
When a documentary can grip you from start to finish and have you thinking, then you know it was infused with a spirit of power and truth. Excellent work.
Amazing, incredible, MORE!! I saw somewhere his reaction filmed when lost MR.O 80..He clearly said B******T!! when receiving the trophy, and flapped his arms like rejecting it above his head !
Simply phenomenal Mr Little. Mike is smiling up there somewhere knowing now thst so many millions of people like me have come to regard him as one of the greatest minds ever. Also just so happens that in his prime, i dont think anyone could fathom just hoe godlike his physique was. a marvel superhero couldnt have been drawn any better than the legendary almighty Mentzer 🙏 thank you for keeping him alive
That was an excellent documentary, just listening to Mike after so many years of bodybuilding and understanding the amount of knowledge this man had and him being a gentleman it’s so awesome to hear, RIP
Mike Mentzer will always be my top 10 bodybuilders of his era..strong,thick, and underrated by some..powerful bodybuilding ethics ..his brother Rey was very good too....💪💪💪
One can only imagine or maybe not of putting together a coherent story of a legends life out of interviews and recordings of conversations, that too in his own words. The world of strength training would always be indebted to you sir , for gifting them this gem Thank you.
Mike Mentzer: " I don't want to end up at 50 or 60 yrs. old and look back and say.." How unintentionally prophetic those very words would be for MM. He died when he was only 49 yrs. old.
John you gave me what I was looking for. Without purchasing individual contest tapes you gave me what I was looking for. The step by step progression. Thankyou for this because hearing in mike's own voice made the story of his personal and contest story was very inspirational to me. Texting is difficult for me. I'm diagnosed with a physical and cognitive issue.This has taken a while for me to text. Before I wound up in my current position my wife was able to see me compete as an Amateur. After having surgeries for Hydrocephalus I managed to defy what what the doctors said a relatively short lifespan I proceeded to tell defy all that he had claimed would be my fate. After 4 competitions part of these thing began to occur. Did I push my body to hard trying to achieve something that should have been done sooner. Most likely but at the time being a Father was prioritized. After my kids were grown and on their own finally did this. What's special to me that you can look up the contest placing a over 40 Division and my name is there as 3rd in Over 40. My wife passed away in 2020 but got to see this happen. Was it worth it. Oh Yeah
Hi Bryan your brief story here is inspiring as well ! Life is precious and I admire your fortitude! So sorry for the loss of your wife , wishing you the best moving forward.
@@wintertime331 Thankyou for the kind words. I really appreciate that. I can still train but my frequency is much less and know it more about fighting Spinal Stenosis and neuropathic pain. My mindset had to be reset back to that of the Recreational Trainee. That's still tough because my issues remind me that that season of my life is over and movement is the most important thing. I thank God for every day that I can move without pain and that is sporatic. Like the song says One day at a time sweet Jesus. That's all I'm asking of you. I'm told I need surgery on my Foramen in my Cervical and Thoracic Spine. That I'm walking and intermittently limping is all God's Blessing in Jesus name.
Fantastic documentary!! My favourite bodybuilder! Hearing him talk there’s no doubt he was a good person willing to help , no BS kind of guy! Thanks so much for this 😊👍👍
Bravo! What an awesome production. I was sorry to see it come to an end. I think of Mike Mentzer the same way I think of John Lennon on how they left us so soon. What more they would have accomplished, how much better off our lives would've been because of their influence and knowledge. These videos of Mike and Lennon's music are all historical documents that will be shared and remembered for all time, for all generations. Peace, Sal 💪
I remember going to a Mike Mentzer seminar in the early 80s at Middlesbrough Town Hall. We were stood with him talking to him and I bought a heavy duty t shirt. He was very down to earth. His forearms were huge. But what stood out to me the most was his skin. It was flawless and a lovely tone. Tragic what happened to him and Ray.
Thank you so much John, for preserving Mike's greatness! Your videos on Mike are simply the best I've ever seen! Thank you for taking the time to address this fantastic bodybuilder!
So great to hear from the man himself. He made so many great distinctions during his life journey and I'm the happy recipient of some of them. A person I admire even more for his mind and intellect than for his physique, which was immense!!
@@HEAVYDUTYCOLLEGE No, I started to read the muscle magazines in the late 70's and he quickly got my attention. As I live in. Sweden, all the knowledge we got around training came from the magazines and the typical routines didn't work for me. Mike Mentzer wrote and spoke so eloquently about training and life that he helped me in my own intellectual development. I wish I had met him, but I continue to read his books as well as yours, John. If I outframe from all the things you two spoke and wrote about I think the value is way above and beyond mere. physical training. Thank you so much for sharing. the. videos and audio files, much appreciated ...
I've just found your channel and I am loving these uploads, I'm amazed you have so much of the man's words recorded for us to hear, just finished the storm and the light and and am now hearing in depth about his body building career and early life, brilliant work, one of my heroes and you should be just as praised for these videos. Thank you.
John, Fantastic! Many thanks for keeping Mike's flame burning brightly. There is much darkness in this sport of ours and Mike's training wisdom has, and always will be the LIGHT for smart, sensible and safe training!!!
Hi John again another excellent compilation, most interesting this one as most of this I have never heard before, most interesting the comments to different parts of his career again very well done.
It is likely the corruption of the 1980 (and 1981) Olympias cost the world a chance to see Mike reach his absolute potential as a bodybuilder. Can't really blame Mike for pulling out of the competitive world after such blatant criminality. Who knows how Mike's life would have unfolded if he had stayed in the game.
I’ve only learned now of Schwarzenegger’s childish, backstage behaviour at the 1980 Mr Olympia. How Mentzer and Coe didn’t give this epic loser a beating right then and there is beyond me.
I give Arnold a pass on that behavior - psyching out his opponents is part of his game in competitions....Arnold knew how to get under other people's skin, and use it to his advantage....a lot like Ali. What is inexcusable is how the judges knowingly gave the title to Arnold knowing he was not in shape. Every other competitor knew Arnold was not the rightful winner. Bill Pearl even pulled out of the judging prior to the competition having heard Arnold was being lined-up to be the winner, and Bill wanted no part of it.
John, nice video. I'm John Myers's son (his name is spelled wrong in the subtitles). I was very young back in the day but have so many great memories of traveling around with Mike and Ray and the lifting sessions with my father and Russel. My father and I last saw them both (Mike and Ray) in Redondo beach weeks before their end. My father and Russel were always so proud of them. I miss them all.
Hi Brian. Thanks so much for your post. It's a pleasure to e-meet you. I would like to speak with you more in depth if you have time and are willing. Is it possible for you to message me on Facebook? Thanks again for your post.
There with Larry Scott and Dave Draper......fantastic. Larry's biceps are still up there in the best 10. And to think Mike's calfs became cows. Mike had it all...good looks, great genetics and a fantastic physique.....my buddies and I were always in awe of the man in the late 70's early 80's. Holy cow....the vacuum at 21:26....awesome. Thanks for this John Little.....you have done well.
@@HEAVYDUTYCOLLEGE Thank you John....this is one on the best video tributes to any bodybuilder I've seen and I'm 64. Mike was a special guy....he deserves to be remembered and respected. thanks again brother.
@@mikerieck306 Thanks very much again, Mike. I always think it’s best to let the person speak for himself, as it is more authentic. I’m glad you liked it.
I am from India, actually Delhi. Used to lift weights back in 1985/86 as school kids, in poorly equipped gymnasiums run by Municipal corporations consisting of rusted weights and barbells and rickety wooden benches but guess what , we always trained to failure with forced reps. But then we trained every single day !!!
@@soumenpaul7544 When you are quite young, you may recover more quickly, but it has been proven workouts 3 to 4 days a week to failure you will make even FASTER gains as you MUST fully recover. Whenever you work out too much, your muscles will be brutally sore, if you don't heal you will stop growing...
@@TheSpritz0 well at that age i suppose it didn't matter. However, the point I was trying to make is that without having access to any muscle magazines or any knowledge of HIT, all of us by default always trained to failure. The rep range used to be 10-15 usually, later on with experience i found that i could make even better gains with 5-6 reps!!
@@soumenpaul7544 Ric Drasin who won a few contests and did a lot of acting, etc... says he could never do more than 7 reps, and Gary Stydom would say to do 15-20 reps-it is all an exposition on how we are all different.
Hey John, if l remember correctly, Paul Graham was one of the judges for the 1980 Mr. Olympia, right? This is the same man who made a documentary about Arnold during his stay in Australia for the contest. The film was produced by Paul Graham who at the time was the current Australian Mr. Universe and who hosted Arnold during much of his stay in Australia. His partner Geoff Bennett edited THE COMEBACK (1980). Arnold also trained at Paul's gym. Can anyone say, conflict of interest!
Paul Graham was not a judge at the contest , but was the contest promoter. The replacement judges chosen after Bill Pearl and Roger Schwab declined to judge (due to helping Dickerson and Mentzer respectively for the contest) though were questionable at best , and without their marks Arnold would have placed 5th.
Hi Dboz Expat. Actually, Paul Graham was the promoter of the 1980 Mr. Olympia and so had a say in picking the judges for the contest (most, if not all, were either friends or business partners of Arnold's). Graham was also the producer of THE COMEBACK documentary (which was being filmed during the contest and it wouldn't have been much of a "comeback" if Arnold didn't win). Definitely a conflict of interest, but such ethical breaches were par for the course in professional bodybuilding.
Felt like a spy listening in on Mike ... great show ... Wish Mike was still around ... very humble man .. robbed of his Mr O .. wish he continued .. could have won in the 80 to 85 period
Thank you John Little for keeping Mike's Memory in the public eye. He was a crusader who walked the walk and talked the talk. One of a kind, we were Blessed to have him. Do you know if Joanne Sharkey is still helping out with Mike's Heavy Duty brand?
Very sad to hear of Joanne passing. After Mike and Ray's deaths I had a few conversations with her. A remarkable spiritual woman who loved Mike and Ray. She told me they always called her Big Sister with affection. God rest her soul. John you are a remarkable person. Mike was my bodybuilding hero, I met him twice and became a better person because of him. I want to personally thank you for standing by him during his dark period, when everyone else abandoned him. God Bless John Little!
It's productions like this that make RU-vid worthwhile for me. Careful curation and compilation of historically important footage. Not some half-witted self-publicist spouting their opinion on something about which they know almost nothing. It seems sensationalism will always trump quality in the media. 😥
@@HEAVYDUTYCOLLEGE Au contraire John. Thank you for taking the time to make the videos. I'd read a bit by Mike Mentzer. I was an evangelical advocate of heavy duty training in my time. But it's only hearing him speak does he really come to life in my mind. At least I know now his training articles in Flex were not ghost-written, unlike the majority. I realise now Flex and M&F were guilty of creating a Disneyland image of bodybuilding culture that never existed. At least modern media has pricked that bubble.
@@michaeltatham7987 I agree with you. I was duped back in the day with the "take the pixie dust" supplements they were selling with the promise of "you, too, can look like this." Mike was the first bodybuilder I encountered who revealed the Emperor's New Clothes of it all.
Pretty damn impressive. Very articulated and seems like a genuine guy. TRUE greatness, never bothered to come in second as long as he kept going and standing up. Unfortunately, competitions can get rigged and that seemed to clearly have been the case in the 80'' Mr. Olympia in Sydney. A real loss for the sport, MENTZER is a giant. Very pathetic that Arnold uses child like intimidations techniques. It seems to me that he used the sport as part of his business model to close some deals after the show. That casts a shadow on him.
Wow. Good question, Ryan. I'm not really sure if there is an ultimate lesson to be learned from Mike. His honesty was admirable, particularly in the face of an industry that is built largely on deception, but that was just one facet of his life. I learned a great many lessons from Mike's example, but at the end of the day his is a very human story from which lessons are there for those who are interested, but the most important lesson (I guess) is to live your own life as authentically as possible. Even tragedy and mistakes surmountable if you keep a fair measure of adherence to reality and make the effort to obtain what Mike would call philosophic consistency. However, you may see something else. His enemies clearly see something other than I do, but, in the final analysis, his was in many ways a remarkable existence.
@@HEAVYDUTYCOLLEGE Yes-that was similar to my perception. I learn from the wisdom and triumphs, but also from the mistakes. That he had rough periods in his life reminds me to be humble, because if it happened to him, it could happen to anyone.
This is an amazing list of bodybuilders that Mentzer would surpass with his 1978 Mr. Universe: 12:10. Names like Pete Grymkowski (Mr. World 1977) and Bob Birdsong and of course, Viator.
In the 1980 Olympia Arnold looked more like an Olympic swimmer than a Mr. Olympia contestant. The biggest problem with Arnold was that he was a sociopath: no viable conscience to understand fair-play concerning others.
Hi John, maybe we can connect somehow. I very much appreciate your content. I'd like to explore the Dorian connection here as, (as you probably already know), he was not only inspired by Mike Mentzer but also by Bruce Lee - as you may have seen if you've had a chance to read the book I worked on with Dorian, titled: From The Shadow - or from other of Dorian's interviews, etc. Whatever you decide, I wanted to thank you again for sharing these excellent insights into the life and mind of Mike Mentzer. I spoke with him briefly and would have very much liked to have had a chance to get to know him and Ray. I did meet, and discuss book publishing with, Casey Viator in London too - he was also an interesting man and remained very powerful (again, as you're likely aware) even into the latter part of his life. All the best!
He was awesome, his genetics were unreal as you can see how good he looked at 15 yrs old ... At 15 I was training hard, but tall and skinny, and remained skinny till my senior year in high school going from 6'1"and 125lbs to 6'5" 225lbs with terrible genetics! LoL!
I actually became more intellectually inclined because of Mike Mentzer introducing me to Ayn Rand (Alice O'Connor) and objectivism…Not college philosophy professors , but Mike Mentzer . Simply calling Mike a “Bodybuilder “, is just not accurate . Mike was a genius who happened to perfect his physique. A picture of Mike should be above the term “Renaissance man “in Webster’s .
The absolute saddest part about the Classic Physique division today is not taking into account anything but height to weight. That would disqualify Mike from competition because he weighed close to 215lbs on stage in 1979 at the Olympia and I believe closer to 220lbs in 1980. If his physique is not a "classic physique" I don't know what would be. He would simply blow Chris Bumstead off the stage. There would be no competition. He also used probably 1/3rd-1/4th the gear of most of these guys taking just something like NPP 300mg EOD. That is insanely low dosage by pro standards who are taking up to (and sometimes over - but obviously some people take much less like Kamal) 4 grams per week.
The Mentzer's had a lot of genetic gifts; it's easy to see they had the potential from the start, but their attitude, particularly Mike's, showed that they were insecure about a lot of things. Their father bragging about his rugged individualism shows a certain amount of insecurity as well. If you're that self-confident, you don't brag about it; you do it. As for his training, you'll hear a lot of conflicting reports about how Mike actually trained. Some say he did what he said he did, while others said he was a first-class BS-er. What's indisputable is that he built a world-class physique and should've done better at the 1980 Olympia. Mental issues--he had 'em. Use amphetamines long enough, you'll fry your brain, which is what happened to him, and I don't think he ever fully recovered. Ellington Darden has his own stories about Mentzer. It is sad that he and his brother passed away so early.
@@PhiyackYuh It might have been a contributing factor. Ray had Berger's Disease--not caused by steroids--and it damaged his kidneys. He also didn't take care of his health after retiring. As for Mike, he also didn't take care of his health, he might have had heart disease--not sure on that--and all his past excesses eventually caught up to him. Smoking didn't help his cause, either, or his attitude. "I'm a bodybuilder, not a health nut," he once said. No, he was a nut, IMO.
