MIKE MENTZER: THE VALUE OF CARBOHYDRATES 

Mike explains things far better than anyone else I’ve ever heard in the health & fitness world.

On a super low carbohydrate diet, I find it hard to get a pump, and strength is decreased. Mike is correct.

The man is a mentor. Always and forever.

I saw a video where Tom Platz spoke of this giving Mike credit for convincing him to try a higher carbohydrate diet for his preparations for the Olympia. He went on to say that his condition and mass were much better as a result.

man what I would do to just sit in a class and listen to Mike and just absorb the information! He is incredible!

Mike Mentzer was the most intellectually gifted bodybuilder in history. Thanks to John Little for sharing these informative videos to inform mankind and contradict the confusion that is so prevalent in the sport of bodybuilding.

After following Mike for 2 months i literally see more changes in by body

Absolute legend. Miles ahead of his time in terms of his knowledge for the human body in bodybuilding

This is the best video I have ever seen on the subject of carbohydrates to help build muscle. Thanks again!

Thank you so much for continuing with these videos John Mike was so far ahead of his time a true genius in his field and so forward thinking

These short beds are absolutely incredible… Being a mentzer fan like myself this is like finding one eyed Willy's treasure chest ha ha Ha ha ha keep up the great work… The intro music and picture is just so perfect for the timeframe of Mike's career being a 70s 80s etc.… Everything flows on an intro I love it💪🏻

I’m 61 and a fan of MM. all this info is like mind blowing to me! All the crap about low carb has never worked for me but I thought maybe it was my poor genetics. I have a new way to look at training now. thanks for bringing this to light👍🏻

Truly genius bodybuilder, i was so misguided about carbs and everyone said u need to cut carbs to lose fat....

These are great edits keep them coming please!

Happy to see more followers for genius loyal Mike

Thanks John , for bringing this to us . And keeping Mikes teachings at our fingertips. 👍

I never met my uncle phineas but he was legendary from all the stories I heard. He used to always carry around a half gallon of whole milk with a cup of sugar added and a bunch of raw honey 🍯… he swore by drinking before , during and after… back on the 70s early 80s he had 22 inch arms bulky but still… he wrestled a bear at nys state fair. He was the only guy to not get taken down and he even took the bear down once .. so sugar is power

sir john little. i really respect you keeping all these records. thank you much

Mike makes so much sense when he talks about the importance of carbohydrates to fuel the body for high intensity training.

What he said is exactly it, we had this knowledge decades ago. in an Anaerobic exercise, you cant supply enough oxygen, So Lipolysis is very difficult on Anaerobic activities. Now there is a metabolic pathway that works perfectly without oxygen, is pretty much fermentation, the use of lactic acid, some amino acids (only 10% is from muscles, this is the part Mentzer mentioned) and the most important one Glucose, the metabolic pathway for the use of glucose is glycolysis. Now... don't be an idiot and start eating pizzas, burritos and stuff, eat healthy carbs like vegetables, rice, grains, some fruits (not a lot unless you like sugary stuff and fruit is better than a goddamn kilogram of ice-cream). even though it is true that, you can eat all of these and lose weight by being in deficit, usually these foods are very calorie dense and you wont feel full, you need to stretch your stomach at a certain point too (there are other ways the body stop the production of ghrelin and start production of glucagon and leptin). and IF you don't do anaerobic exercise (medium and intense jog, run, weight lifting) then you don't need that much amount of carbs, I mean, if you want to reduce your fat tissue without using Anaerobic exercise, then what you can do is walk in Zone 2, there you will have enough oxygen to kick lipolysis and fat oxidation AND be on a calorie deficit (I would not push more than 400, some people do 500 but I think is a lot). Also, don't cut proteins here, because you still need protein to at least maintain your muscles. If you do both (Anaerobic and Aerobic) you will need good carbs 1st to fuel your anaerobic exercise, don't worry, you will still use fat, less, but you will lose, there are studies out there that you don't need to lose your glycogen levels to start using fat, you can start lipolysis too (but not that good if it is anaerobic, I mean, in anaerobic exercises you use 80% glucose, glycogen, blood glucose, lactic acid, some amino acids), the other 20% or less is fat usage. And if you do Aerobic, do Zone 2 1st, which will mean you will make more mitochondria and you will improve their metabolic flexibility (the change from fat to glucose, from glucose to fat), after that you can go Zone 3-4 (The improvement of your heart and lungs, here you will need a little bit more carbs as you are getting close to pure anaerobic), plus your body need more energy. I would not go jog 1st specially if you are overweight, walk, calorie deficit, weight lifting, good combination. Don't do aerobic before anaerobic, you will use a good portion if not all of the glycogen, and you need that for your anaerobic exercise, while your aerobic exercise needs more the use of fat.

Just an absolute genius. There is genius in simplicity.

Greatest mind in the sport of all time next to Arthur Jones. Absolutely brilliant minds. Forever Mentzer.

Thanks Mike

Thank you for sharing this video with us.

Glad I stumbled onto this . I knew I was onto something when I would try cutting out carbs . Strength going .. size .. pump .. you lose fat also but the cost is too high .. another approach was needed for me

2:15 He looks amazing almost unreal. This is my goal. God give me strength and longevity and knowledge. Thank you all again for the wisdom

This here puts everything into perspective.

i love the knowledge of mike

Man, MM was so ahead of his time. The fact that there is space in the "fitness industry" for a variety of influencers and fake doctor to dispute this is appalling

Love these talks from Mike and that you Have published them Johny🙌💪👊

I have been doing the opposite because of what people wrote online and youtube videos. I am going to try this- thank you for these videos.

This is very well said but also very easy to understand. Learning new things every day I've been enjoying these videos 💪

These videos are changing my perspective on my diet.

This is pure gold thanks

Mike definitely ahead of his time

He’s right as far as keeping the carbs high to maintain muscle while dropping overall calories for fat loss while still looking full. The issue is high carbs for a long period is very inflammatory so this can be an issue for people with autoimmune conditions.

Bravo John !

Wow, super fascinating...and relieving to hear, actually. What he said about losing water from muscle loss as a result of a low-carb diet blew my mind! I had never heard. nor considered that before; great video!

Mike was a bodybuilding professor

The view is too simplistic. There is more to it. Mike mentioned low glycogen and the body use muscle for energy, instead, fat is highly available to be used, then also, depends on body composition and hormonal factors. Exercise physiology is more complex than what Mike describes.

So brilliant! I idolize this guy!!!

Thanks John Little your videos are awesome!! Very Helpful!

Weight training does not burn fat however when muscle mass is increased your body burns more at rest. Meaning when you sleep your body will use fat as energy to rebuild your body. The more muscles you have, the bigger your resting energy expenditure, which means that your body burns more calories “while doing nothing”.

This is awesome info man! Especially with me being in the muscle building stages of my power lifting! You just gained a new subscriber! Let’s get it!

Carbs are the most important thing for your muscles, your muscles are 78% water making carboHYDRATES very important, you are literally dehydrating your muscles on a no carb diet which is why you also look drier but smaller mass wise. And yet so many people ganged up against me once in an argument in a RU-vid comment section for saying a scientific fact about carbs. So many people demonize carbs or act like its bad for you when Carbs are just as important as protein and fats, or even more.

CAN YOU IMAGINE IF HE WAS ALIVE TODAY? WHAT HE WOULD SAY ABOUT TODAY'S BODYBUILDERS?

He is 10000% right based on experience. Im a woman. I was eating 150 grams of meat 7xs a day carbs only onces a week. Lost fat but was flabby. Butt went down and i was working 7xs a week I asked thebtrainer why!!!. Now I eat carbs healthy ones and have seen great changes tighter sking bigger butt😂🤩🤩

Awesome video. Thank you. I was messing up my diet.

With carb I got mad pump and much more strength

I’ve done fine building muscle and maintaining on carnivore and keto diets. If what he’s saying is true, then I would have lost all my muscle just eating meat and fat for months but instead I gained muscle. Gluconegenesis can provide the necessary fuel from dietary protein. You have to be pretty far into protein deprivation before the body starts cannibalizing skeletal muscle tissue for glucose. Now all that being said, carbs along with protein is still optimal for protein synthesis.

Mike Mentzer and Frank Zane are the thinking man’s bodybuilders.

Interesting that this video started out with an ad about diabetes

Excellent

"Weight training does not burn fat as fuel, It's a simple medical fact, it's not even open to debate" Muscles can use ketones just fine.

I also heard that to burn fat for energy you have to have the proper heart rate. During a weight lifting set our heart rates are supposed to be high thus initiating the glucose source for energy. To switch to fat you have to be in the moderate to high moderate. Sugar/glucose is in the higher realms. I forgot since it was back in 2016 since I heard lectures on this stuff.

It's very noticeable. I have gone low carb/high fat and protein but the pump just isnt there. Its not like you gain fat, but youre muscles dont look full and inflated, more of flat and thin. Carbs are absolutely essential

Sugar to loose fat but keep muscles ? This one was a hard one to swallow Mike.. but loved the heavy duty you taught us .

❤

There's no one size fit all ! Listen to YOUR body instead of RU-vid 😂 . I did the carnivore diet which worked extremely good. About 6kg in one month. But my strength and energy for workouts was gone. Actually i was fatigued all day long . When i added the GOOD carbs back in my diet my body felt alive again after just a day ......so each to their own

I do wish Mike was alive to debate this with the keto people and so on .

Look I grew up Ukrainian, and the most cut up dudes were never cutting carbs. They ate potatoes, they ate bread, and salo (high fat bacon). What always determined how big, they were was their activity level.

Ahead of his time with limited resources in comparison to what’s available today. 🙏🏽

And when you have a carb sensitivity ? What about other animals in the wild on keto

Hey, that was an interesting and useful piece of Science. Mike was really smart. Of course this applies to people that are actively weight trainning. Thanks for that. Great video.

What about Ketones?

What about if you get fat adapted and jack up the salt and most of your calories come from fat? Could this work as well?

When I first tried HD back in the day, I was pretty much low carb, high protein and fat aka heavy meat/omnivorous diet. I had some what strength gains keep going up, but the recovery time, high level of performance, pump and fullness was not even there or close to what it should be. It took ages to recover and I just felt flat and flaccid; even though I halted a lot of my other types of training and focused on HD; with a lot of rest. Now eating a Whole Foods and refined High Carb Vegan Diet, its night and day, to what I was.

all these money spinners,celebrities, you tubers, influencers who dont know JACK .. telling people what to do, writing books, making videos and saying all kinds of CRAP! MIKE speaks FACTS!!.... he has done it... at the PRO level!!! and got educated.. everyone who says CARBS are bad are IDIOTS!!!

Awesome thank you, where did you find this??

Mike was right about a lot of things, but on this matter he was limited by the medical literature of the time. Our bodies convert sugar to fat, so it is only logical that it has a process to reverse the process and convert triglerides to carbohydrates. And we now know that is true, as 3 glycerol cleaved off of 3 triglycerides is used to make 1 carbohydrate, with the fatty acids being used to fuel the body on a low carb diet.

the lesson here: work smart and not hard. you can consume sweets and use them for energy if you know how to count the numbers

Damn the Last Picture ,His six Pack was beyond good and evil.never would have thought that carbohydrates are so important.for me my diet was Always with a Lot but Just because iam used to it .i Just thought i need more Protein to gain more muscles.while Training i Like to Drink Applejuice Mixed with Water and i Just Had the Feeling i can train longer than with pure water

You can get a pump on low carb if you crank the sodium and potassium

how can i have High Carbs diet and also being lean?

Some of the logic applied to other precepts should be applied to carbohydrate consumption. For instance, more is not better, so what is the optimal amount? Typically, 500-600 kcal per day is used. Yes you can eat beyond that and still lose weight, however the excess produces more insulin that is detrimental to long-term health. As with the principle that less than an ounce of protein is necessary each day above maintenance levels to facilitate growth, only 20-25% of maintenance kcalories should be carbohydrate. Again, the excess is turned to fat by de novo lipogenesis, and this is what accumulates as the harmful visceral fat/VLDL, atherosclerosis.

So much like keto and fat being protein sparring . The same can be said for carbs . A high protein diet pushed by many is not exactly optimal I found . I have digestive issues the high protein really throws my system off !

Tal vez una dieta baja en carbohidratos no es buena para la musculación, pero si para la salud. Que pensais? Porque con una dieta alta en carbohidratos me suben los triglicéridos.

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As a guy with a skinny fat body I always wondered about Mike’s Carbohydrate teachings in what kind and how much carbs to eat on the off days and how much and what kind on training days because I think he has trainings of once or twice a week. I recently saw the UFC women’s Champion Valentina Shevchenko say on Joe Rogan’s podcast that she loves to eat cakes and chocolate cakes but stops eating at 5 PM.. If anybody has expertise on what kind of carbohydrates to eat and how much of it for a 120lb weight body let me know please

What a fucking legend, the man i look up to my mentor and teacher. Mike mentzer 💪💪

So true. Matches my own experiences. The theory that you need to eat a shit ton of protein to make your body retain protein (muscle) is just complete nonsense. Low carb just makes you flat and weak.

Mikes a great guy but his advice is wrong. You can bulk on a keto/low carb diet very easily. Back then not much was known about ketones and their superiority over sugar for fueling the body - if u keep you fat intake high you will never dip into burning muscles - fats are always the better energy source than fast burning carbs.

He is a genius

The liver produces plenty of glucose, unless you are metabolically inflexible.

I love the way he speaks and is method but I don’t believe that training for muscle growth need sugar and not fat . I’m on carnivore diet and hit so means I don’t make any muscle but I use them for fuel?

I do love carbs. There was a time I did Keto. If you go keto. You CAN train your body to require an increase in carbs only before and within 2 hrs aftet a HIT routine. But, it must ONLY be on those days. I.e., only taken in 4 to 8 times a month, depending on IF you are on the main routine, or consolidated. If you are on the consolidation method, you have to bring your carb intake on those days down by 25 to 35%. You'll eventually find yourself leaving keto. As over time, your development will plateau. You'd have no choice but to either continue as maintenance ONLY. Or, you will leave it entirely for the 60% Carbs. 25% Protein. 15% Fats.

Love you Mike.. More i watch your videos... More i fall in love with Bodybuilding sport... Ur God for me

eating 300 g of carbs at 160 lbs and still losing weight ... some cardio and lifting and u good

It's makes sense

So how much carbs we can eat ??

It’s true what they’ve said about Mike, he never skipped brain day!

I feel like shit on low carb...

Any nutritionists in the chat?

Jesus, i always thought muscle training can burn fat if you are fat, so i trained in a fasted state for months..

is this Mike Mentzer speaking? sounds very different

Yeah idk if I can trust the statement that sugar is necessary for you and it's good for you when keto is the most effective diet I've tried in my life and I've tried a lot of them.

What about if you have body fat for fuel

What if I am in a deficit Cal? Is it okay if my macros are these? 1800 45%carb 35protein 20% fats. Since I need to hit my protein 1gram per pound of body weight that is why I only 45%carbs.

I struggle with this , i believe low carb like animal based fruit meat honey is most healthy, although everytime i cut carbs i am so weak i. The gym

John, could you please say where we can watch the actual seminar Mike's voice is coming from in these videos you post? Thank you. I training with Mike many years ago. Wish I could do it again and ask him about Starting Strength.