I was born the same year he died and he has absolutely changed my life. I cannot believe someone I’ve never known has made such an impact on me and I am so grateful to you John for posting these videos.

These old conversations before cellphones were amazing.

Pretty cool you knew Mike on such a personal level. He seemed like a very smart man and will always have a lasting imprint on the sport of bodybuilding.

John I rarely write KZfaq comments but I have to personally thank you for all your Mike Mentzer content. I’m only 30 but I’ve been bodybuilding since 15 years old and follow mikes principles. He was ahead of his time. He’s one of my heroes that I wish I had the opportunity to meet in person. Thanks again and keep up your good work sir.

This video really shows another side to mike how genuine and caring he was to the people he respected. It’s hard to believe that since the passing of mike, bodybuilding training has gone so far backwards into the overtraining regiment. The world needs another mike now more then ever.

I forgot I had that Heavy Duty book by Mentzer. Your books you wrote for Bruce Lee's family and Mentzer and Darden made huge impacts on my physical and phylosophy of my life. Thanks for what your doing by putting out these important interviews. Almost makes me cry hearing Mentzer. My buddy had a phone interview with Mentzer in 1993.

This is an absolute master piece.Thanks John for sharing your personal archives with us.Knowing Mike on a personal level like you did is a blessing.Mike truly knew what was going on and was completely straight forward and never told anyone what they wanted to hear but what they needed to hear.Thanks John💪

Damn Mike was Genius …..he was always looking for the perfect scientific answer. It’s funny to me that people say, we’ll look at all the people that do mass training and gain. That doesn’t in any way disprove Mike. You can get lots of people to the moon. But, what’s the most efficient way? Like science hasn’t grown in 20 years since Mike passed? Mike was an Icon!

Now THIS is the true Mike Mentzer, thank you so much for sharing this John. Mike truly was one of a kind, he is greatly missed.

There is power in clarity, logic and common sense. Mike’s thinking helps to clear away m own mental fog. Highly appreciated!!

I feel so privileged that I was able to listen to this conversation.thank you from the bottom of my head ❤

I like how Mike never missed to give credit to Arthur Jones and pretend like it's his idea, like all of the world today

This is priceless. 29 years have passed really fast. I had the poster of the 1992 Mr. Olympia on my wall as a 17 year old wannabe muscleman and Dorian Yates was my favorite guy. I like Mentzer's individualist approach to exercise application. It is nice to hear the use of "bad words", it makes it real. It is good to see Pete Sisco helping hyper-load the leg press.

I love how rational mike is. I always get fired up from these videos

Such a powerful voice I guess that comes with the confidence and passion he truly had for the sport. Forever the most balanced proportionate physique rip mike you will always be remembered and thank you John for this video.

Rest in peace Mr. Mentzer, you've opened my eyes to the proper training and I've truly evolved.

Thank you for sharing this priceless moment. Thank you again John

Jesus Christ !!!…. This is GOLD!!! Thank u so much

I just love that thumbnail pic of Mike lol. So cool.

This has by far been the most interesting upload! You guys were ahead of your time by having recorded your conversations.

Hard to believe the Mentzer trolls have not infiltrated this cast. In 1979 I worked out a couple of times with Mike Mentzer and Casey Viator. I also watched them train over the entire Summer as they were preparing for the 1979 Olympia. They both grew like crazy just doing 30 minute workouts with 2-4 sets per body part. Even today as I do one or two sets per body part, I am sore for almost a week because I'm able to take it to such a wall of intensity. Every time I take two or three weeks off, I come back stronger. What does that say? The volume guys don't have an answer to that....

I remember the days when people used to talk on phones and just have casual conversations. Now we avoid each other. Thanks for this little time capsule, loving the channel!

Two absolute legends. Thanks John for providing this insightful recording.

Always loved mikes writing I’ve pretty much trained no other way my whole adult life than a version of his programs and still do I’ve been reasonably successful winning many titles along the way upto notional level. Listening to this made me feel like I was part of the conversation in fact several times I felt like I needed to interact with the conversation! Simply incredible to listen to, what an incredible driven but genuine guy Mike seemed. Fantastic to hear keep up the videos I’m loving them all. Regards John

I love these videos John! Keep em coming if you can!

Amazing as always, John. Thank you for all you have done to keep the legacy alive.

what a jewel!!!! You got such a rich material on Mike! super super rare stuff! Thank you!

Thank you so much for putting this material out there, John. Please don’t stop until every picture and video and voice clip of Mike ever made is on the internet. There it will last forever, so that his ideas will never die.

this is probably the greatest conversation about bodybuilding I have ever heard. Mike was way ahead of his time and history has proven that already. Any young aspiring bodybuilder or weightlifter could get more out of this conversation then reading every muscle and fitness magazine back to back for 30 years, which are published just to make money for the Fitness industry and the truth is not the priority and it just keeps everybody running in a hamster wheel spending as much money as possible to attain goals that are unrealistic and misleading. I would never come to this understanding if it weren't for Mike Mentzer. He was a true rebel with a cause. Thank you so much John for sharing this with us you are really doing Mike justice on your channel. Peace, Bob Marszalek

Thanks for sharing that (Always Enlightening) I know you miss those conversations. "Don't Cry that it's over, smile that it happened".

Thanks John for sharing all this fantastic history of a fantastic BB with us

Beautiful. Such a determined kind helpful personality. Thanks for this. 👍🥇🏆💫✨💕

nostalgia does something to me . I cant imagine what must be going thought John littles mind when he hears all records things there must be so much details so much information so many stories. The fact that John is taking so much pain and.time making these videos also shows how much he values his philosophy . Thank you John Little

That was a really cool listen. Such a straight shooter. So happy that I have come across Mike and his teachings. Giving me real dividends in the gym and quality of life. So thankful.

This is gold,thank you very much....That book is a treasurer...Big hug from España

What a great guy. Didn't skip a beat in offering to help you with investment and talk you through the book business. I discovered his work through this channel so many thanks to yourself for keeping his valuable work alive. I'll do my best to pass the knowledge on too.

Gosh, what a great recording. I could listen to these all night long. Hope you have more of these to play. Mike knew so much more than anyone else it was not even funny. He changed my thinking on training and still to this day at 63 years of age I use his principals in all my workouts. Thanks John!

John, thanks for sharing this! I always loved the foreword you wrote! I’m grateful to have had 2 phone consultations with Mike and going to one of his seminars. He had a big influence on me in many areas of life.

Thanks John much appreciated keeping MM relevant

These are gold! Thanks John, keep them coming.

Omg! I can't wait to listen to this. Fantastic John thanks so much 😊

This channel is gold. Keep it up. HEAVY DUTY is the only way to train.

I didn't know who the creator of this channel was until reading the description of this video. I have really enjoyed this channel and have been listening to it at home, on the way to work, and sometimes during my lunch break at work. It's a real shame Mike passed so early. Thank you for uploading all these videos and sharing Mike's content.

I just came off a one week layoff from the gym. Priceless information! Thanks John. 💪👍💯

John thanks for sharing this valuable information and personal moments with one of the greatest. I bought your book "the Wisdom of Mike Mentzer", Great book with so many awesome pictures, a must have for any bodybuilder/fitness enthusiast. Thanks again!!!

Absolutely awesome to listen to that, thanks brother.

Thank you for upload. This is fantastic.

I still listen to Mike daily. Gone way to soon

This channel is gold! Thank you!🙏

John These Mentzer treasures you are sharing are priceless. I wish there was a way to purchase all of his Heavy Duty books..etc (Original Heavy Duty Book, Heavy Duty nutrition...etc.) It would be amazing if all of this was reprinted and sold online. Mr. I've always wondered how different his life would have been had he won those. Mike could have easily went with the establishment BUT he chose to be an independent thinker and tell the TRUTH. It cost him dearly and took away from the fans seeing him compete in his prime because he walked away. What he went through saddened me. I was Happy to hear that he was in a good place in life when he passed. There will never be another Mike Again, Thanks for sharing these pleasant surprises.

Thanks John this is absolute gold as someone who trains heavy duty religiously, I've studied it for years but due circumstances only got back into bodybuilding 7 months ago or so, I've been teaching a friend I made at the gym the ways and ins and outs of heavy duty he's 17 natural benching 140kg etc, I clearly remember after his first 3 weeks training with me from two sets of curls his arms grew over a inch, he wasn't a beginner but a religious 5 times a week volume trainer (trained pretty hard to for a volume trainer), on my first um 🚲 I gained 13kg and kept it, mike changed the game and possibly saved my life, thankyou

My fucking god I have been subscribed to you for like two month thinking "where does this guy finds all this things on Mike Mentzer", and I just now realize you’re the guy who cowrote "High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way". What a privilege.

Legendary.

Looking forward to this John! Invaluable!! 💪

Hey John, Eloquent conversation, it shows a fluid means of acquiring knowledge. I like the Dorian part, where Mike uses a light push to seed Dorian's mind... funny stuff. Good to see that you and Mike supported each others endeavors,' and bring knowledge to the masses. Thanks again for sharing the Mentzer and Lee stuff.

great information John, Thanks for sharing, Stay Strong and Best regards Si

Would have loved to been able to talk to Mentzer.

Thank you first class👍

He was such a nice guy. Wish he was still with us. İ truly believe he had so much more to contribute. RİP Mike 😢

Regarding training frequency, Arthur Jones did change his original opinion of performing three full-body HIT sessions a week (which of course, back then, was already outrageously low). In the articles I mentioned in a comment before, "My First Half Century in The Iron Game", he said something along the lines: Training twice a week is rarely tolerated and may never be necessary, training once a week works well for most people. There are some people who achieve the best results training once every two weeks. There was even one individual on their team, he said, that got weaker training once a week, stayed the same training every two weeks and improved only when training once every three weeks.

Another gem. Thanks John.

These are gold John, absolute gold , when I think of all hero’s of mine growing up ( including my dad , grandpa )Mike is one of them , and John so are you for these valuable videos ( and I’ve read your work over the years as well ),thanks for these, please keep them coming😊👍👍

Wow! Amazing conversation! Thank you so much!

I did do heavy partials w/ isometrics on a smith machine around 10 years ago for a period of about a year and the time between workouts quickly got stretched out to every 21 days. You quickly run out of space on the bar, especially on deadlift/shrugs. I have the 1 Ton Hooks, but never tot to the 1,000 pound shrug. Several years ago, I did a big 3 on an Exerbotics Machine and my legs were fatigued for 3 weeks. If you can go hard enough, you can and will need long recovery periods. I just bought an Isochain (ala Bruce Lee with a digital readout) and am waiting for it to arrive. At 46, I am not expecting to set the world on fire, but I want to delay father time an mother nature from last call.

That is very good ! Thanks for sharing .

John Little! Sir! I feel like I know you as a friend. I have followed you for many years, and exclusively employed your weight training methods. From the late '80s, with your incredible Flex magazine routines, (which I still follow to this day; Squats, Weighted Pull ups, Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Barbell Curl, Weighted Dips! ) through to your later High Intensity Max Contraction theories, your ideas have continued to inspire me to this day. You are the true spiritual successor of Mike Mentzer. You have had more of an impact on my weight training than any other person on the planet. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks so much for this golden content.. this is such a precious archive.. thanks

Just fantastic… From beginning to end…

love all soundtracks you use

Started reading the muscle rags in the late 70’s. I didn’t buy them unless it had an article with Mike in it. I was always curious if they tracked how important he was to sales.

Having read Mike’s most recent books, I was lucky enough to find heavy duty and heavy duty 2 used online in absolutely pristine condition. I can appreciate the care and straightforwardness of Mike’s writing and what he was up against to fight against the “Weider principles”. The challenge that he said in this video was that everyone has to figure out the practical application of heavy duty or HIT… It took me years just to even mentally allow myself to try less is more training… once trying it, I quickly realize that it’s the most productive training I’ve ever done… And I’m constantly refining the application.

كنت اتمرن على طريقة ماك مانتزر كانت نتائج رائعة)شكرا لك يامايك انت كنت ملهمي وقدوتي في هذه الرياضه شكرا مايك❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🤝🤝🤝🤝💪💪💪💪💪

Excellent!! Thanks for posting this

Great Content. Thanks John.

Mike comes across as very intelligent and analytical here. Sometimes he seems to just be saying some phrases he has said many many times before, but here he is actually thinking on his feet.

Thank you John Little

Thank you. Arthur Jones explained in some articles written during the times of MedX, that for most people, strenght gains in only certain parts of the movement (i.e. partial reps) do not tead to gaining strenght at the unworked parts at all. One may even get weaker at the parts of the movement not involved. This was measured with the MedX prototype, a leg curl machine, i believe, and probably validated with the finished MedX Lumbar Extension as well. I do not remember, but I believe he said that for 20% of the people or so, it actually appears to be the case that they make strenght gains even at the unworked parts of the movement. I can't exactly tell you the article in which he layed this out, but it was from the series "My First Half Century in The Iron Game", starting 1993, and you can find all the articles online on a website of a person called John Turner.

Wow!! Priceless😁

John you were lucky to have him as a friend , thanks for sharing

Awesome John …I’m experimenting the mix between heavy duty consolidation program with your max contraction training combined with my little experience in powerlifting lifts …I’m glad to hear in this tape what mike thoughts about this….the problem in my opinion is to find the right percentage of load to work with … Greetings from VENICE ITALY

Mike Mentzer.....Arthur Jones.....Bruce Lee. Heroes of the 20th Century. When Men were Men and not Women.

Great call.2 legends

Thanks John really enjoying the content 👍

Brilliant!

WOW, Amazing stuff, thank you for sharing

Awesome conversation.Mentzer was a thinking man’s bodybuilder

Awesome interview !! I'm from Reading,pa not far from Mike & his brother grew up in Ephrata,pa

Fantastic video. 👍

Great Guy would have loved to have had the opportunity to meet him. It's surprising how brainwashed people are about how often they need to be in the gym, not allowing for recovery and then muscle growth to occur. I think as Mike illustrated with the 3 square meals a day illustration we're too bound by our days weeks & months structures which make it hard to allow proper times for our routines. I've personally got to a point where I'm able to use a push pull legs split giving my muscle groups 3 weeks rest before hitting them again but allowing my system at least the week to recover before being used again. I think I could even push to probably 10 days but then I once again run into the problem of scheduling my workouts. Thanks for Uploading this John. It's a great piece of insight on not only the man but your shared friendship.

What a fucking top guy Mike was. I’d have loved to have been friends with him

Intervista bellissima grazie John

This is awesome.

That's right, I bought and read power factor training a long time ago, although I never read heavy duty

This explains a lot. Please forgive my ignorance. Great video.

Im crying

Thank you!!!!

Tremendous Work and information from Mike

I used to read his articles in late eighties, early nineties. I still remember he used the word 'commensurate' & I was 16 & had never seen that word in print. I think the magazine referred to him as Mike Mensa as a nickname. The thing that has stood the test of time, is he really cared about everybody getting results, there's a sense he suffered for his knowledge & felt the responsibility to help others, out of a duty & humanity.

You have been mentioned as one of the only two people ( other was a female)that “stuck by him through thick and thin”. The video was simply golden . Thanks for sharing such a treasure of useful intel. John, do you still push weights ?

I wish I had discovered Mike a long time ago. I used to kill myself working out, being sore and tired all the time and its true, you don't really get anywhere or it takes longer. I changed and I am losing body fat and gaining muscle