Mike Mentzer

Training approach

Mentzer built his Heavy Duty system on the opposite premise to the volume training of his era: one all-out set per exercise, carried to failure, with long recovery between sessions — a body part roughly every seven to ten days. The load had to go up over time; everything beyond that he considered wasted effort that only eats into recovery. His ideas later shaped Dorian Yates, who trained with him and carried the approach to six Olympia titles.