John Little
Who is Mike Mentzer, really, and why is he considered so controversial?
Prolific Author and High-Intensity Training Expert John Little returns to talk about the new book on Mike Mentzer: American Odysseus — why is it so important to know the truth about Mike Mentzer and everything that happened to him?
John goes into Mike’s confrontation with Arnold Schwarzenegger, how his views on high-intensity training changed over the years, what type of HIT workouts he may prescribe if he were training clients today, and more.
With the surprising amount of misinformation about and pushback against Mike Mentzer today, you’ll want to tune in to this episode to learn why all of this is really going on.
Want help scaling your strength training business? Book a free strategy call here
Free course to grow your strength training business
Join More HIT Experts in the HIB Pro Community here
***
- Listen to it on Apple Podcasts
- Stream by clicking here
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”
Show Notes
- 00:33 – About the new book on Mike Mentzer: American Odysseus
- 03:00 – When Mike Mentzer confronted Arnold Schwarzenegger — why?
- 11:00 – The reactions to the new book
- 12:12 – John’s motivations for writing the book
- 16:43 – John’s thoughts on the days of Bruce Lee and Mike Mentzer’s respective deaths
- 18:23 – The process of writing the book and why John did it the way he did
- 26:12 – How Mike Mentzer would actually think about strength training
- 28:51 – Mike’s little-known mental health challenges
- 34:14 – Mike Mentzer VS Dr. Doug McGuff and John Little on HIT
- 37:32 – If Mike were alive today, how would he approach exercise?
- 54:29 – John Little’s approach to HIT workouts nowadays
- 1:02:30 – How does John’s current approach affect his business?
- 1:08:11 – On acquiring the Mike Mentzer estate with Simon Shawcross
Note: these are the timestamps for the audio edition. For the video edition’s timestamps, please see the YouTube description box for this episode.
The Books Mentioned in this Episode
- Mike Mentzer: American Odysseus – John Little
- High-Intensity Training The Mike Mentzer Way – Mike Mentzer and John Little
- Heavy Duty II: Mind and Body
- Mr. America: A biographical novel – Nicolas Chemla
- Body by Science – Dr. Doug McGuff & John Little
- Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors – Randy Roach
- The One-Minute Workout – Martin Gibala
- The Ultimate Exercise Bulletin #1 (through a link in Dr. McGuff’s web shop)
People Mentioned & Selected Links from this Episode
- John Little | Nautilus North | Books | Heavy Duty College (Mike Mentzer YouTube Channel) | HIB Episodes
- John’s Mike Mentzer Course on HITuni (Use Code “HIB10” for a discount!)
- The Official Mike Mentzer Website
- Randy Roach
- Boyer Coe
- Ben Weider
- Joe Weider
- Bruce Lee
- Dorian Yates | Official Website | HIB Episodes
- Dr. Doug McGuff | Official Website | Ultimate Exercise Studio | | The Body by Science Q&A Book | HIB Episodes
- Dr. Ellington Darden | Dr. Darden on Amazon | On Google Books | The New High-Intensity Training (book)
- Ryan Hall | Exercise Science LLC | On Facebook | HIB Episodes
- Bill DeSimone | Bill DeSimone on Amazon | Bill on Instagram | Optimal Exercise | Bill’s YouTube channel | Joint-Friendly Fitness YouTube Channel | HIB Episodes
- Simon Shawcross | HITuni | HIB Episodes
- Nicolas Chemla
- Martin Gibala
- Ayn Rand | Official Website
- IFBB | Official Website
- A Beautiful Mind (film)
477 – Muscle Gains or Marketing Gimmick? The Truth Behind the Colorado Experiment (with Pete Cerqua)
461 – Simon Shawcross and John Little: The Life and Legacy of Mike Mentzer
417 – Efficient Fitness: Unpacking the ‘Done in One’ Method with John Little
Overall, I enjoyed listening to Mr. Little, and especially the part
describing his current workout routine. In the same vein of thought, I believe that I have reached my genetic limits as regards any additional muscle hypertrophy. Therefore, I too started experimenting with one set workouts.
Pete Sisco wrote many years ago that the leg press was the greatest stimulus for muscle hypertrophy, as no other exercise could claim to lift a weight over a distance that compares to the leg press. It stands to reason
that the greatest indirect effect would be present while utilizing the leg press.
Christopher, over on highintensity.net had a file on a Leg Press Only routine which concurs with Mr. Sisco’s belief on the leg press. There was discussion of the isometronic leg press being used.
I started with a leg press, pulldown, Nautilus decline press done 1 set to failure on MWF’s followed by a 5-minute ReHiT on an Assault Bike. this quickly led to staleness; I switched to one exercise a week followed by a 5-minute ReHiT. This quickly made a huge difference as training enthusiasm returned and mood and energy improved. I use pure static hold on the decline press and leg press, and SuperSlow on the pulldown.
In The future, I may go to every 2 weeks if progress goes stale, but ReHit will continue, as this is an area of exercise I cannot agree with the HiT mainstream. Cardiovascular conditioning is not as simple as “Pyruvate stacking up” at the mitochondria.
I agree with Mr. Little that Mike Mentzer would have moved to even less exercise and dietary calories. I was shocked when he mentioned 550 calories in his dairy prior to the 1979 Mr. Olympia.
Dr. Roy Taylor, and Dr. Michael Mosley championed 800 calories daily for 12 weeks. It’s also rewarding to see Mike Mentzer did lots of cardio. What could have been!
I’ve been thinking about the Power Factor Training range of motions and the Static Contraction Training ranges that John and Pete wrote about way back in the 90s. There is also another trainer the advocates doing isometrics in some of the same and or very similar ranges, that got me thinking as well. The effort that I will be contracting with though won’t be a maximum effort. Also I will likely be doing the dynamic contractions and with maybe more range of motion than what was recommended in Power Factor Training, or maybe not, but still conservative. Not locking out. I am interested in the neural, strength stimulation, the bone stimulation, and staying in leverage advantaged ranges.