How many sets did Mike Mentzer recommend?

The Golden Era had many bodybuilders who changed the industry, and the late Mike Mentzer was one of them. He always followed a scientific approach to bodybuilding and trained in high-intensity programs. Mr. Heavy Duty's philosophy was to do one or two sets of 6 to 8 reps (per set) for each muscle group per week, considering it an ideal range to build his massive muscles. Mentzer believed your last rep should be your failure, leaving you unable to lift further.

The former Mr. Amreica's principles involved training beyond failure, as was often seen in his videos. He always trained with a partner to push his limits, generally with his younger brother Ray. Mentzer did forced reps, negative reps, rest pauses, and pre-exhaust supersets to build his gigantic and symmetrical muscles. Let's understand these terms.

• Forced Reps: In this approach, the spotter helped him enough so that he could keep the heavyweight going for further reps.
• Negative Reps: The spotter plays a major role in the positive halves of reps, and then he helps him lower the weight in six seconds.
• Rest-Pause: Mike Mentzer did 4 to 6 reps with max weight and then took a rest of 10 to 15 seconds to catch his breath. Then he reduced 20% of the weight to push beyond his limits.
• Pre-Exhaust Supersets: Mr. Heavy Duty performed isolated sets before performing compound sets.

Mike Mentzer's training split

Mr. Heavy Duty trained his chest and back together and started his workout with a dumbbell chest fly, cable crossover, or pec deck. He performed only a single set of 6 to 10 reps, following a superset approach. Then the former Mr. America did a single set of incline Smith machine presses with the same rep approach. Further, he did machine pullovers or straight bar lat extensions. Then Mentzer did a closed grip underhand lat pulldown and ended his workout with a deadlift.

Mike Mentzer trained his legs and abs together. He kicked off his workout with a leg extension and did 12 to 20 reps. Following this, the former Mr. America did barbell back squats or leg presses and did 6 to 10 reps. Then he did leg curls and standing calf raises with the same set approach. To end his workout, Mentzer did one set of weighted decline sit-ups.

Mr. Heavy Duty trained arms and shoulders together and began his workout with a machine or dumbbell lateral raise. Then he did a reverse pec deck or dumbbell rear raise, followed by barbell curls. The former Mr. Amreica ended his arms workout with cable triceps press downs and weighted dips.

Many bodybuilders from the Golden Era, like three-time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane and Tom Platz, opted to train like Mike Mentzer. His videos continue to influence younger bodybuilders of this generation.