People talk a lot these days about how well Mike Mentzer understood the human body. He was fairly knowledgeable, but he kinda BS'd his way through a lot of what he said. And it should be noted that he never actually trained the way he later taught others to train.
In fact, his entire Heavy Duty system came about after he split off from Arthur Jones' High Intensity Training (he worked for and tested Arthur's HIT and Nautilus programs for years after his competition days were over. But, as Dr. Ellington Darden observed, Mike didn't really like training. Food for thought on why he began promoting and justifying 1 set to failure of just a handful of exercises).
But, at least he tried to approach hypertrophy training from an intellectual standpoint.
His knowledge, however, paled in comparison to Vince Gironda's knowledge. Especially with diet. Vince was so far ahead of his time and is still ahead of most researchers in today's day and age when it comes to maximizing body composition. There're some theories held by Vince that I disagree with, but overall, he was a true mad scientist, researching tirelessly, reading everything ever written on the topic of nutrition, exercise, strength training, and fat loss, paired with endless self experimentation and client experimentation with different protocols while training more people (from bodybuilders to actors to regular joes looking to improve their appearance) than any trainer before or since.
Before any diehard Mentzer disciples get on my case, I own and have read every book written by Mike Mentzer. I own John Little's "The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer." I own and have read Vince Gironda's, "Unleashing the Wild Physique," as well as books written by his former mail-order (how they did virtual training before the Internet) client, Darryl Conant, titled "ConVINCEd" and "InVINCEable," and I've also read Karl Coyne's 3 Books – a collection of Gironda's articles, Q&As, programs, rants, stories from those that trained at his gym, along with a history of silver and golden era bodybuilding – "Vinces Secret Locker."
I've also done exact programs from both Mentzer and Gironda and recorded those experiences. So I'm pretty familiar with both.
In fact, I wrote a detailed 12 week experiment following 3 of Vince Gironda's program templates (though, some of my exercise choices would be frowned upon by him – but I maintain the right to having a difference of opinion from "the Iron Guru" when it comes to certain things). You can download that 160 page PDF, "The Rocket City Experiment," by clicking this link: https://garagegymbro.gumroad.com/l/VdiYD
This isn't to discredit Mentzer, or to say that I agree with everything Vince Gironda preached (I don't). Both were smarter and more successful than I'll ever be in the world of training. Both gentlemen did a great deal for the fitness industry. Both competed at elite levels and both trained high level clients.
Their approaches definitely differ, but also overlap on many topics. Neither felt it necessary to train more than 45 minutes per session. They both promote focusing on fewer exercises within a program.
Both believed in very short rest periods at one time or another. Vince Gironda was convinced that cumulative fatigue — straight sets with 30-60 seconds of rest between each set — was key to maximizing gains. The Strength & Conditioning certifications in the US still teach this as the optimal way to maximize hypertrophy, though, recent research seems to suggest 2-3 minute rest periods are more appropriate. For what it's worth, I have been resting 2-3 minutes between sets for the last 3 years, but maybe I'll take another crack at cumulative fatigue training again soon. Maybe...
I appreciate Mentzer's focus on compound exercises. I think it's pretty obvious that I don't follow Vince Gironda's preferred exercise selections very closely. He was firmly against unilateral exercises and even unfavorable towards many compound exercises that I find to be very productive.
To wrap up, while Mentzer is getting a lot of hype lately, it's important to look at the entire story and consider if his recently popular, "Heavy Duty System," is actually appropriate for you.
Vince Gironda doesn't get nearly enough credit for his findings. In fact, many people thought he was out of his mind, yet, nowadays we have exercise scientists claiming new findings that actually are confirming what Gironda was saying as early as the mid-1950s.
I would also stress the following:
Vince Gironda was adamantly natural, believed in holistic health and body composition as opposed to pure muscle mass at all costs, and while mentzer's physical peak was around age 27 (again, training totally differently than his famed, "Heavy Duty System") Gironda's peak was in his mid-40s. He looked awesome all 79 years of his life.
That's just some of my thoughts today. Take care, now!
Comments