A story about Mike Mentzer - fascinating guy
(Copyright © - This is first draft - English is not my native language. Please comment with better information or better grammar to make this better..)
By Per-Gunnar H. Ågren,
2020-03-29
About a couple of weeks ago I started getting interested in Mike Mentzer. His name always seems to pop up so I figured he made a mark even though he’s been gone for a long time (2001). I checked out some pictures of him and yes he had a great looking body.
“How can you have self esteem without being
selfish? Selfish merely means concern with your own issues and values. What’s
wrong with being concern with your own values?” – Mike Mentzer,(18.20, Philosophy Interview, 2014)
What really caught me was hearing him speaking on diffrent topics. I though he sounded like a bright mind, really smart. They are not so common. I was right it turns out that Mike Mentzer was a rebel of conventional thinking among the masses which is found in a few. He was also into art and philosophy, which seams to be a common pattern of interesting people. Some writers he liked was Ayn Rand
, R.D. Laing and Arthur Jones who he thought had a pretty similar style to Ayn Rand. Also Victor Hugo and William Faulkner.
“He was the man you've learned to respect as the lone voice of reason, truth and integrity within the sport.” – Val Segal
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Picture from Instagram @heavydutymikementzer
|
He also questioned the establishments where profit and deceit happen. While also a lot into identifying the normal confusions the average and most man suffers from.
Or as John Little writes in his book ”The WISDOM of Mike Mentzer . the art, science, and philosophy of a bodybuilding legend” (with Joanne Sharkey. )
”When he first arrived on the bodybuilding scene in the mid 1970, he was received as a breath of fresh air by a public that had grown tired of hype and had become hungry for substance. Most certainly he attracted attention; possessed of that rare combination of chiseled good looks, Grecian statuesque muscle, and a professorial mind. He was a man who was just as comfortable discussing the psychoepistemology of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism, the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre, the Will to Power of Friedrish Nietzsche, or the novels of Henry Miller as he was discussing the sets and reps of the pumping-iron fraternity.” (Little J. The WISDOM of Mike Mentzer. Introduction, 2006)
When Mike Mentzer wrote his short book Heavy Duty Nutrition, he was puzzled by how much he had accomplished despite his almost total ignorance from the beginning. Over the years, he became less ignorant.
At an enthusiastic age of 12, he says he is misled and confused from reading all the muscle magazines. Especially from the seductive advertising ads that promised amazing results only people invested their money in a special product.
An advertisement promised a pound (0.45 kg) a day in muscle gain provided you drank a certain drink. For Mike, there was a lot of milk instead. Mike hooked up on the milk idea and went from 180 to 250 pounds (82 kilos to 113 kilos) in 7 months. Most of the weight, however, was body fat.
Two reasons stopped him from continuing up to 127 kg. On the one hand, his mother could not afford the milk bill. And secondly, his dad refused to buy him any new clothes as he grew out of 2 to 3 closets.
Mike says he drank almost 2 gallons, which is equivalent to 7.5 liters of milk a day. Mike Mentzer later spent the rest of his life trying to think logically and rationally and that's why he became interesting to so many, including the undersigned.
Mike writes:
”Never did it dawn on a young Mike Mentzer that if he were to gain a pound of muscle a day, he could gain 365 pounds of muscle in a year merely by drinking a crash formula!” (Heavy Duty Nutrition. Kapitel 1. Nutritional Illusion, Delusion and Confusion)
“Had I thought about it, I would have realized that no one could gain 365 pounds of muscle in an entire lifetime, let alone one year.” - Mike Mentzer, (Heavy Duty Nutrition. Kapitel 1. Nutritional Illusion, Delusion and Confusion)
So over the years he diligently trained himself to use logic to be able to make valid philosophic scientific identifications of the facts of reality.
It turns out Mike was also into Aristotle, the discoverer of the laws of logic. And the system that took us from being cave animals to more civilized people.
”If you want to lead the
orchestra, you have to turn
your back on the crowd.”
- Mike Mentzer
Reason and the search for a better life is what lifted people out of the caves, allowing people to make logical and informed choices about their daily lives by illuminating the paths they choose.
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Picture from Instagram @heavydutymikementzer
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In his latest book High Intensity Training he writes:
” Specifically, I value reason, objectivity, logic, knowledge, science, human progress and happiness. The reason why the world has descended to the lowest rung of Hell in man's history is because, despite the lip service paid them, such life-affirming values no longer predominate. The fact that so many bodybuilders possess a pro-mind, pro-life philosophy, or sense of life, means that there is still hope for man's long-range survival and success.”
In swedish:
” Anledningen till att världen har sjunkit ner till det lägsta steget i helvetet i människans historia är för att, trots läpparnas bekännelse, sådana livsbejakande värderingar inte längre förhärskar.” – Mike Mentzer
Arthur Jones, who was a child during the Depression years, is thinking along the same lines, he writes in his Autobiography And God Laughs..
"Having been given an almost free hand since Roosevelt’s first days in office, the self-proclaimed ‘experts’ in Washington have destroyed practically everything of value that existed in this country sixty years ago. Having been there then, and being here now, and having experienced what happened in the meantime, I believe that most people in this country were better off, and far happier, during the Great Depression than they are now." (Arthur Jones, chapter 2, 2004).
As Mike writes in ”The Integrated Man” included in his book The Revised Heavy Duty Journal, published by Mentzer-Sharkey Enterprises, Inc.
“As reason is man’s fundamental, defining characteristic, the one that distinguishes him from all other species.”
Which in turns sound like something out of a Ayn Rands book. He then continues:
“It was a man’s commitment to reason as an absolute that should serve as the proper standard for measuring his stature. This was a biological fact of reality, and could not be debated.
Those who had defaulted on their fundamental philosophic responsibility (namely, thinking) were of no concern to me. They were hapless individuals, who were constantly buffeted about by every chance intellectual trend that came along. … When I attempted to politely explain this to the hysterics—the mystics, who were emotionally driven—in the gym, they seemed to regard it as heresy and declared me a lunatic.
Not only did they not care, it frightened them, as what was most shatteringly terrifying to them was to be regarded as different, to lose approval of the pack. I, on the other hand, never suffered such a vice, the dire need for approval. Rather than be like a creeping vine climbing up a tall tree where I could not stand alone, I preferred to be intellectually, emotionally, and morally self-sufficient.”
Mike thought that the meaningful rewards a person receives in life are the ones achieved by the quality of their work. And the quality of ones works is in turn determined by the validity of one’s ideas and the actions one choose to realize them. Pretty simple right. If you follow bad ideas the result is logically bad. So with reason help you can find a smarter path through life and also better way.
Mike came to realize his points to at least the bodybuilding audience. Who attented his seminars, read his books or saw his videos.
“The vast majority still believes
the erroneous notion that more is better with regards to bodybuilding, fitness
training which again is wrong. Many have mistakenly taking my stance to be that
less is better, that’s wrong also. I operated on that notion as a trainer for
several years and my clients weren’t making the progress that I knew deep down
was possible. When you have a valid theory and you’re making the proper
practical application of the theoretical principle progress no matter what the
field, including bodybuilding should be nothing less spectacular all the time.”
[. . .]”After years of research and thought I realized that the problem had to
do with the idea that less is better. Now I’ve come to understand that not more
is better, not less is better, but precise is best, just like in medicine. There’s
something in medicine called the narrow therapeutic window, “ [. . .].”There’s
a certain amount of medication you take, the narrow therapeutic window and you
cure the disease, cure the symptoms’. Anything beyond the narrow therapeutic
window and you go into the negative, you overdose.” – Mike Mentzer, (15.40, Philosophy Interview, 2014)
“Aristotle said, the perfect is the enemy of the good." –Erika Karp
In the book Ego is the Enemy - The Fight to Master Our
Greatest Opponent written by Ryan Holiday, he tells us:
//p.150 //
”The philosopher Aristotle was not unfamiliar with the worlds of ego and power and empire. His most famous pupil was Alexander the Great, and partially through Aristotle’s teachings, the young man conquered the entire known world. Alexander was brave and brilliant and often generous and wise. Still, it’s clear that he ignored Aristotle’s most important lesson—and that’s partially why he died at age thirty-two, far from home, likely killed by his own men, who had finally said, “Enough.”
It’s not that he was wrong to have great ambitions. Alexander just never grasped Aristotle’s “golden mean”—that is, the middle ground. Repeatedly, Aristotle speaks of virtue //p.151 // and excellence as points along a spectrum. Courage, for instance, lies between cowardice on one end and recklessness on the other. Generosity, which we all admire, must stop short of either profligacy and parsimony in order to be of any use. Where
the line—this golden mean—is can be difficult to tell, but without finding it, we risk dangerous extremes. This is why it is so hard to be excellent, Aristotle wrote. “In each case, it is hard work to find the intermediate; for
instance, not everyone, but only one who knows, finds the midpoint in a circle.”" (Ego is the Enemy, 2016)
Mentzer understood that what we focus the mind and thinks about, is what we chose to entertain. So if you followed better ideas and values it had an immeasurable effect upon a person’s character and outlook on life. Of course to find the better ideas you have to be a life long student (or have some really bright people around you who alread figured something out.)
"It's an instinct - meaning. It's the instinct of life." - Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
"If you say 'My life is meaningless', it means the spirit has gone out of you." - Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
Mike was a vivid learner, . he studied philosophy to better determine truth from falsehood. He studied psychology to learn the workings of the mind, the biology of human kind and he studied logic to learn the rules of correct thought. He studied art to understand both its meaning and purpose, he also studied the sciences to understand the workings of human physiology and how best to strengthen his body. He studied how to earn money, to be able to live by not working for others but for himself and on his own terms. Finally he studied communication to better express the knowledge he had obtained. He succeeded because he was interesting to listen to.
(Little J. The Wisdom of Mke Mentzer, 2006)
“It is only within the context of having properly developed your mind that you will be able to truly enjoy the achievement of your material values, including that of a more muscular body.” -Mike Mentzer
So Mike was preaching reason and had a scientific approach to solving challenges at the top of his carrier.
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| Picture from Instagram @heavydutymikementzer |
Mike Mentzer won Mr. Olympia 1979 but lost to Arnold Schwarzenegger the next one, in 1980. Schwarzenegger was back. After Arnold winning the 1975 competition, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement, but he returned and beat Mentzer who only finished on fifth place.
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
The loss and resulting controversy had a major impact on Mike Mentzer personally and professionally. Several people attest to this, and it would be the last time he competed in professional bodybuilding. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Mr._Olympia
“No great mind
has ever existed without
a touch of madness.”
- Aristotle
Mike had a beautiful physique though and he had what appeared to be a sharp brain, which made many people follow him and find him interesting. Similarities with Rich Piana are striking. Both had a large following and both died in their 40’s. Mike died at the age of 49. Piana dies at the age of 46. Both were pretty heavy drug users as it turns out, at least at times. Mike said himself it was for being more productive, but he had to struggle for a couple of years in institutions. There's always a negative with the positive, right. Maybe he was just too bright to handle a more common life and thought he could master the chemestry..
”I don’t
think it’s anybody’s business what I put in my body.” – Mike Mentzer
“I’ve
always maintain that it comes down to a very personal decision [. . .] whether
an individual should take drugs. I don’t want any part of that. That’s your
decision. I arrived at my decision having revived the literature and thought
about it in reference to my carrier and
goals. That’s what each individual has to and I don’t want any part of
that. I have enough hard time taking care of my own life. I’m not going to make
decisions for other people.” – Mike Mentzer, (IN-DEPTH PHONE INTERVIEW, 1990)
38.45 ”Lying
is just as immoral if not more immoral than taking steroids. I think the
bodybuilding world has forgotten about this that Lying is immoral. Taking
steroids is not immoral, it’s a personal decisions that affect no one but the
individual.” – Mike Mentzer, (IN-DEPTH PHONE INTERVIEW, 1990)
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| Mike Mentzer, Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger |
A year after his loss at the 1980 Olympia Mike appears in a video saying:
2.20 ”Alcohol? So what about it? I drink it every night. I’m not a health food fanatic, I’m a bodybuilder. Two different things.”[. . .]”Not that much really, I don’t get drunk every night. I reserve that for each post Olympia.” – Mike Mentzer, Nutritional Supplement, seminar given by Mike Mentzer in 1981
“Looking good on the outside isn't the whole story.” – Jerry Brainum
"One cannot assume muscles = health. Genes and the proper tests are SO very important for everyone, despite the outward appearance.” – Jerry Brainum
So how come he died so early. How come? Did he not live as he preached? A logically sound life? Here are some thoughts:
"He was very frustrated about a lot of things in his life." - Jerry Brainum
Don R. Mueller had some thoughtful comments on one of Mikes videos, he said:
“Mike had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. It is the same as saying you've got two strikes against you before you reach the plate. In other words, it is difficult if not impossible to educate the stupid.”
“The days of critical thinking may be over, but like the Phoenix they may rise from the ashes...when the UFOs land.”
“There is more, but like the saying goes: Correct the wise man never the fool.”
Val Segal who worked with Mike on his last day of his life said:
“There was a history of heart disease in the Mentzer family.” - Val Segal
“On the day we finished filming "Mike Mentzer's HIT Exercise DVD". Tragically, a few hours later Mike passed away in his sleep.” - Val Segal, (The Life and Death of Mike Mentzer, 2004)
According to Jerry Brainum Mikes mother suffered from clinical depression, which he seems to have inherited. So he had a tendency towards depression. At the time of his death, things were going well from a commercial perspective, just as for Rich. He sold consulting time over the phone as some kind of coach. He also had books that sold well and he was a personal trainer for people who looked up to him.
”Mike did not have good health habits, he was a chain smoker, he wrote a lot (books) and he let himself get completely out of shape. I would call him obese.” – Jerry Brainum on the Demise of Mike and Ray Mentzer
He had a gut and had "the metabolic syndrome look".
Jerry Brainum does not think he killed himself but it was a big storm of drug use. According to Autopsy that Jerry saw, several drugs showed up in his system. Two types of antidepressant medication. And he had Anxiolytics, or anti-anxiety drugs for anxiety and he had severe atherosclerosis which was the immediate cause of his death. He needed bypass surgery. Just as Arnold Schwarzenegger did quite early in his career (a bypass that is). His family had previously had heart problems so maybe he should have guessed… or he was ignorant about the situation and he died.
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| Ray Mentzer dies 2 days after Mike Mentzer. They died 2001. |
"Life has meaning with responsibility.
The more responsibility you take on the more meaning your life has." - Dr Jordan B Peterson
Some anti-anxiety pills are said to be hell to get out of, such as Benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety medication) Jordan Peterson has had major problems getting out of them. People say they deceitfully nice at first, letting you sleep well in the start, but then they can be a nightmare to stop taking if you’ve taken them to long. Other stress can impact hard also.
2.00 ”Well I started taking them because I was ill, you know, and they helped. Because I couldnt sleep. I couldnt sleep at all.” – Jordan Peterson, (Jordan Peterson on Getting Off of Benzodiazepines, 2022)
Mike also took used Speed (methamphetamine), which is a potent and addictive central nervous system stimulant. Chemically related to amphetamine. Maybe he followed one of his favorites philosophers footstep; Ayn Rand who also was stuck on some upbeat drugs. For Ayn it started with Benzedrine in 1942, as she was rushing to complete The Fountainhead, and then continuing with Dexedrine and Dexamyl into the 1970s. It was described for the ordinary people as a two-pill-a-day prescription for weight control. (Ayn Rand: Speed addict, 2015)
Val Segal tells us about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s concern.
“Q. Everyone knows about controversial placing at 1980 Mr. Olympia. Did Mike and Arnold ever make peace?
A. Arnold's assistant emailed Mike with a message from Arnold. Arnold was concerned about Ray's health conditions and tried to offer help. For those of you who don't know, Ray had a severe kidney problem. Arnold even wanted to come over to Ray's apartment and offer help personally. At some point Mike spoke to Arnold over the phone and was very touched by Arnold's kindness and concerns. Despite differences of opinions in the past, Mike always stated that Arnold was the greatest bodybuilder of all time and his contributions to the sport are enormous. During the shoot Mike has told me that he would like to have a reunion with Arnold on this videotape.” – Val Segal
Jerry Brainum commented this as he had seen the Autopsy:
“I viewed the official autopsy report of both Mike and Ray Mentzer, who were long time friends of mine. Mike's offical cause of death was athersclorotic heart disease, and the same for Ray. Yet the toxicological report listed lethal doses of pain-killing drugs and antidepressants in both men. I asked the coroner who did the autopsy about this apparent discrepancy, and he said that it was difficult to determine which came first, the heart attacks or the overdose. He also said the drugs may have triggered the heart attacks.” – Jerry Brainum, https://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/636/post/6376/
“They both suffered from serious depressive episodes. Mike was never the same after going on a speed binge a few year back. Ray had a serious kidney disorder, and Mike was going to donate one of his (Mike's) kidneys to his brother. It's difficult to say how much their style of training contributed to their chronic, unyielding pain. I recall that Mike had an operation to correct some type of nerve impingement in his neck that was so painful that he had to turn his whole body to look at you.
I don't think there was any kind of coverup. I think that Mike's death was entirely accidental, in the sense that he may have taken too many painkillers. He was in a great mood the last few times I had spoken with him, and was more up that he had been in a while. As for Ray, I do think he committed suicide. He and Mike had become closer than ever due to Ray's serious health problems, and Mike was taking care of his brother. I feel that after Mike's death, Ray felt he had nothing to live for. Very tragic. Trust me, I knew those guys, and they were great guys. I miss them.” – Jerry Brainum, https://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/636/post/6376/
Another guy, Larry Pollock even said he did big portions of butter (not too healthy). (Larry lived with him as a roommate for a year).. Mike also drank lots of milk when he was young, according to himself, up to almost 7.5 liters of milk a day (to gain weight). He writes about it in Heavy Duty Nutrition -Mike Mentzer. His mom and dad went ballistic about it.
So what proof do I have calling him a Meth user you might ask. Well Larry Pollock tells us in a video on Youtube.
Pollock has some insights on the Youtube channel Leo and Longevity: Was Mike Mentzer Addicted to Meth and did he...”Flip?”.
Larry Pollock: ”I was 19 when I met Mike.”
Underground
Sound [Youtube Channel].(may 2021). Untold Mike Mentzer stories and HIT
Training with Larry Pollock. Youtube: https://youtu.be/rvrvdgvwTDk
7.00 “I can tell you mike
would take tubs of butter and put it in the freezer and eat it with a spoon
like ice cream. Yeah we would go to the whole food restaurant and I would buy broiled
chicken breasts with vegetables on the side and whatnot. And he would get those
little rolls and the little sweet buttercups,, he put one rolled butter on one
small roll and he just eat them by the handful.
So i think Mike just had
an amazing metabolism for...some people can digest all their food and just
store everything.. I'm not saying he had a fast metabolism but he could digest anything.
He could digest rocks and grow.” – Larry Pollock, Untold Mike Mentzer stories, (2021)
8.00 “He
was actually fat when I met him.” – Larry Pollock, Untold Mike Mentzer stories, (2021)
14.20 “See Mike was really into amphetamines, which was part of his downfall.” – Larry Pollock, Untold Mike Mentzer stories, (2021)
About the philosophy that
Mike studied
1.53.30 “I know he was into it,
but I never studied it. I know he was super smart yeah. He's too smart, you
know, what I mean, kind of in a crazy way, crazy smart. Some people are like manic
and they're sort of insanelly intelligent, he was like that. So he was super
smart but maybe even too smart for his own good.” – Larry Pollock
Interviewer: “I mean I
think it could torture you” [. . .]”Some of the stuff that Arthur Jones wrote
was like mind-blowing because he.. I remember reading a quote that he had that
was like >>imagine living in a world full of malicious chimpanzees that want
to do only evil right<<. And then he said >>don't laugh because
you're one of those chimpanzees<<.
For him he everybody was
just like retarded, you know, What I mean is like he was so smart it's like
everyone's a bunch of freaking idiots, you know, and I think it tortured him.”
Larry: “I can understand
what he means by that because honestly I own a gym and I have all kinds of
members and I can tell you,, there's some people,, it's like the stuff they
want to argue about... I can't.. It's like I'm not going to get into this argument
with you because it's not worth my thinking to argue over why your credit card
declined.
You know they're just so
low on the total pool of thinking. So” [. . .] “I can deal with all kinds of
people but there's some people i prefer not to. I just try to avoid them
because I just don't want to get into those discussions.” - Larry Pollock, Untold Mike Mentzer stories, (2021)
Arthur Jones along with Mike Mentzer, the two highest IQ's in bodybuilding history?
From another video Larry continues:
“When I met Mike he hadn't been lifting for a long time. And he was really skinny with a potbelly”.[. . .]” I couldn’t believe it was him, but I always looked up to him. He was one of my body building heroes. So I convinced him to train with me. At the time I was living at home but it wasn't working out. So he asked me if I wanted to move in with him. I didn’t realize that me moving also meant that I got to pay the rent and all the food bills and everything. But I did because I wanted him to train with me. I used to have to bribe him to go to the gym. Mike had a little habit, amphetamine habit, so to get him to train with me basically I would take him to the meth dealer who was a friend of mine. And buy him his meth and that’s how I got him to go to the gym and train.” – Larry Pollock, (Was Mike Mentzer Addicted to Meth, 2021)
3.00 “No he was stuck on that 1980 Olympia. He couldn't get over it.” – Larry Pollock
“So here was our protocol, we’d start out at the apartment and we take what’s called an Obetrol which is basically like Adderall, it’s like five amphetamines in one thing. And then we’d drive all the way from Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley to,, I think it was somewhere like Northridge, to the meth dealer. And he gets the meth. Then we drive back to studio city and we’d go to this Espresso shop and we take 5 mg Dexedrine and he’d take the meth. I didn't take the meth. And then we took a double Expresso and then we go next door to the Nautilus and train. By the time we were walking into there we were just like jacked out of our minds.” – Larry Pollock, (Was Mike Mentzer Addicted to Meth, 2021)
Interviewer: That’s quite a pre-workout.
Larry: "Yeah. A little overkill."
//Later in the interview //
5.00 “We took 300 milligram of npp every other day. That was it. That’s all we took.” – Larry Pollock, (Was Mike Mentzer Addicted to Meth, 2021)
When Larry comes out of prison and takes a job as a knife salesman at Cutco, he visits Metzer, his now old friend. This should be around 1995-1996 I guess.
8.00 ”I tried to sell him knives and he wanted something else from me. And I was not like into to that. I guess he flipped somewhere down the line. I was like >>dude really?<<” - – Larry Pollock
John Little have put togheter a video where Mike speaks about attraction to the opposite sex and I found some comments about Pollock telling this story. John answered:
“Based on my knowledge of Mike and
the time I spent with him (1980-2001), I can only say that there was never any
evidence of flipping. Quite the contrary in fact, he had gone out with several
girls during the last year or two of his life, and had asked me to assist him
in uploading a photo to an online dating sites so that he could meet other
women. He was definitely looking for a woman who shared his values and
philosophy near the end of his life.” – John Little, (Mike Mentzer: Sex
Appeal)
“I heard the interview that you are
referring to, and it was rather vague. It sounded to me like Mike didn’t want
to buy a set of steak knives from him, and basically dismissed him with a
reference of what he could do to a certain part of his anatomy. Again, there is
never even an inclination of that during the 20 some years that I knew Mike.
There has been a lot of attempt to discredit Mike by many people over the
years, so take it for what it’s worth.” – John Little, (Mike Mentzer:
Sex Appeal)
People seems to think you can get only the positive thing with drugs. Thinking they know how it works. Trying to balance the chemestry inside your body.. Go overdrive when awake and then take something to sleep etcetera. But addiction is hard to get around, it's a battle and the drugs affect you in some way. There are way too many drug users who seems to leave this ball hurdling through space way to early.
"Worse than drugs is drug trafficking. Much worse. Drugs are a disease, and I don't think that there are good drugs or that marijuana is good. Nor cigarettes. No addiction is good. I include alcohol. The only good addiction is love. Forget everything else." - José Mujica (president Paraguay)
So there you have it. A little story about a fascinating man, and his story. I leave you with some words from Mike.
“The purpose of art… was to set man’s soul on fire and never let it go out… Art...is the concretization of metaphysics (an individual’s abstract estimate of man and of existence)… art is the indispensable medium for the communication of a moral ideal… This… [explains] the historical connection between art and religious morality. Men couldn’t be expected to read exhaustive philosophical treatises explaining all the virtues one was expected to practice; this would represent too lengthy a chain of abstractions; too much for anyone’s rational faculty to hold in focus. The function of art was to concretize these abstractions in the personification of a human moral ideal. There are two fundamental ways of viewing man: Man the exalted hero, who stands noble and tall, proud of his ability and willingness to be a creative, productive innovator, or there was man the evil villain, who relied on the use of physical force to get what he wants... I would make the effort to use these abstractions that came from religion and pertained to the supernatural, and redirect their emotional counterparts to their proper place here on earth—to Man the Hero.” -Mike Mentzer, The Integrated Man
"Anything which I am—or am
not—is through the direct result of my own choice or abdication thereof." –Mike Mentzer
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References
Little J. (2006). The WISDOM of Mike Mentzer. McGraw-Hill Companies (Book)
BODYBUILDING AND FITNESS PERSONALS. FITNESS TIPS FOR 9/15/2004. The Life and Death of Mike Mentzer. Internet source: https://forums.musculardevelopment.com/forum/md-bodybuilding-forums/no-bull/82744-mike-mentzer-video-filmed-hours-before-he-died/page2
John Little [Youtube Channel](nov. 2021). MIKE MENTZER: NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS. Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IalZI1HTc5E
Leo and Longevity [Youtube Channel], (may 2020). Jerry Brainum on the Demise of Mike and Ray Mentzer. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf_oUZ1DFUQ
PowerfulJRE [Youtube Channel]. (jan. 2022). Jordan Peterson on Getting Off of Benzodiazepines, Being in the Spotlight. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACdh-yzENXM
THE WEEK STAFF.(Jan. 2015).Ayn Rand: Speed addict? The Week. Website: https://theweek.com/articles/493764/ayn-rand-speed-addict
John Little [Youtube Channel], (dec. 2021). MIKE MENTZER: IN-DEPTH PHONE INTERVIEW (BY JOHN LITTLE, FEBRUARY 1990). Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVAElcOMp8A
30.00
Chapter 2 : A QUESTION OF CHARACTER
THE OBJECTIVIST VERSUS THE MACHIAVELLIAN
”The WISDOM of Mike Mentzer . the art, science, and philosophy of a bodybuilding legend” av John Little, med Joanne Sharkey.
Little J. (2006). The WISDOM of Mike Mentzer. McGraw-Hill Companies
Holiday R. (June 2016). “EGO IS THE ENEMY”. Penguin. p.150
Leo and Longevity [Youtube Channel], (july 2021). Was Mike Mentzer Addicted to Meth and did he...”Flip?”. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_oApoNrvFE
maxwellob [Youtube channel], (aug 2014 ), Mike Mentzer Philosophy Interview - EXTREMELY RARE. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj5zlc7hRIE
Underground
Sound [Youtube Channel].(may 2021). Untold Mike Mentzer stories and HIT
Training with Larry Pollock. Youtube: https://youtu.be/rvrvdgvwTDk
John Little [Youtube Channel], (dec. 2021).MIKE MENTZER: SEX APPEAL. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q_QgDOECZ8
