Physique Metamorphosis
by John Little
n the six years since
Joanne Sharkey
asked me to do
phone consulta-
tions for her on
Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty training
system, the most common
question we’ve received
is, What did Mike mean
when he said, “As the body
changes, training require-
ments change”? Does it
mean that everybody’s dif-
ferent? Does it mean that
there could be a time when
someone could (or should)
perform more volume—or
even high volume—in
one’s training? The answer
to the last two questions is
no. The answer to the first
is what we’re talking about
in this installment.
198 SEPTEMBER 2007 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
To begin with, everybody is not
different. As Mike accurately poin-
ted out years ago:
“We aren’t all that different phy-
siologically. We’re all unique as
individuals, but when a young man
or a young woman goes to medical
school and studies muscle physio-
logy, whose physiology is he or she
studying? Everybody’s.
“We all have the same muscle
physiology. The biochemical chang-
es leading to muscle growth in Mike
Mentzer are the same as the ones
leading to muscle growth in you. It
follows that the specific stimulus
required to induce the biochemical
changes leading to muscle growth in
you and me is the same. What is that
stimulus? High-intensity muscular
contraction!”
That’s why nobody ever put an
inch on an arm as a result of wash-
ing dishes—the intensity of mus-
cular contraction involved in that
activity is far too low. As Mike also
pointed out:
“We all grow at different rates of
speed. I might grow faster as a re-
sult of high-intensity training, but
www.ironmanmagazine.com \ SEPTEMBER 2007 199
we’ll all grow faster when each of
us trains more intensely. If you’re
not gaining fast now or if you’re not
gaining at all, you’ll gain faster when
you train more intensely. Anybody
will gain more rapidly when he
trains more intensely. He may not
gain as rapidly as me. Then again,
he might gain more rapidly than I
do because of innate adaptability.
We all have different innate adap-
tabilities to exercise—age, physical
condition, motivation, a lot of diffe-
rent factors. The underlying muscle
physiology, however, is the same.
“The people who say we all have
different training requirements are
entirely wrong. They’re ignorant
of the basic facts regarding muscle
physiology. If we all had different
physiologies, medical science could
not exist. A doctor would have to
study each individual as a separate
physiological entity and then learn
all the intricacies of that physiology
and devise medicine around them.
The very fact that the basic princip-
les of physiology apply to the whole
human race is what makes medical
science a viable discipline.”
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 As for the issue of whether high-
volume training makes sense, the
answer is that a high volume of train- The bigger and
ing and a high intensity of training stronger you
are mutually exclusive. The body
are, the more
stress you can
requires high-intensity muscular
impose on your
contractions to produce the bioche- body in any
mical reactions that result in muscle given set.
growth. Low-intensity contractions,
which let you carry on a particular
activity for a longer period of time,
do very little to stimulate much, if
any, growth at all. Again, try wash-
ing dishes for a couple of hours and
let me know when you’ve put two
inches on your arm. Let’s hear from
Mike Mentzer on the issue:
“Does anybody here think that
growth comes easily? Has anybody
grown ‘too fast’ this year? No, we
all know that growth doesn’t come
easily. You literally have to force
growth. Now, tell me how you can
force growth with light weights, mild
exertion, easy workouts. You can’t.
The harder you train, the faster you
grow. The harder you train, the less
time you can spend training, just as
the faster you run, the less distance
you can run.”
As an Given the above facts, we are
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bigger, they also

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grow stronger.
the body changes, training require-
ments change? Simply this: That as
an individual’s muscles grow bigger,
they also grow stronger. Consequent-
ly, the energy expended in one’s
workout from a given muscle group
increases dramatically.
Bigger, stronger That causes you to grow ex-
muscles expend hausted more quickly and to take
more energy, so longer to recover from the workout.
the larger you That should be evident to anyone
become, the who’s trained in a truly all-out
more quickly manner. The harder the effort,
you become the more quickly exhaustion in-
exhausted. tervenes; when your gas tank has
been emptied, in other words, the
workout is over. Your gas tank gets
emptied very quickly when you
are exerting yourself to the max. As
you expend more energy in lifting
heavier weights—300 pounds for
15 repetitions in the squat vs. only
120 pounds for 10 repetitions in the
squat—it takes the body longer to
replenish a greater energy debt than
it does a lesser one. Or, as Mike put
it:
“As you grow stronger—that is,
as the weights grow progressively
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recognize the much greater stress
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diorespiratory system and so forth.
“Now simply extrapolate that
over time, as you lift progressively
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200 SEPTEMBER 2007 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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volume and frequency, the stresses
will cause complete cessation of
progress. That’s typically referred to
as a ‘sticking point.’ You need never
experience a slowdown in progress,
let alone a sticking point, if you
bear in mind all the while that you
must compensate for them.”
Within two to three weeks
of embarking on a Heavy Duty,
high-intensity training program,
you should begin adding an extra
202 SEPTEMBER 2007 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
rest day or even two at random
so that you’re giving yourself suf-
ficient time to recover from your
workouts. Do that with increasing
regularity until you’re training once
every seven days or so. According
to Mike:
“The implication here is that
if the individual trains again be-
fore the body’s growth production
process is completed, it will be
short-circuited and less than 100
Within two to
three weeks of
embarking on a
high-intensity-
training
program, you
should begin
inserting an
extra rest day
or even two into
your schedule.
units of possible progress will be
realized. Once the individual is
training once every seven days, I
suggest a reduction in the volume
of training, as outlined in my
books, along the lines of the Con-
solidation Program. [Editor’s note:
Please see The Wisdom of Mike
Mentzer or High Intensity Trai-
ning The Mike Mentzer Way for a ENTER OUR ONLINE SWEEPSTAKES USING mystery COUPON CODE: SYNV055IRM0807. no purchase necessary
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 Win the Battle
for Definition.

If you train
before recovery
is complete, you
short-circuit the
growth process.

“With a consolidation routine,

there’s a decided shift in emphasis
to predominately compound exer-
cises—that is, ones that involve
multiple muscle groups, such as
squats, dips and deadlifts. A work-
out consisting of compound exer-
cises still works all of the major
muscle groups but with fewer
total sets, making for minimum
inroads into recovery ability.
“Following the above advice,

204 SEPTEMBER 2007 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Compound
exercises are
best for efficient
mass-building
workouts.
you’ll never hit a sticking point. You’ll
experience unbreached progress
with your training. As I’ve written
before, if scientists can send a man
to the moon and bring him back
safely each time, we should be able
to succeed with every one of our
206 SEPTEMBER 2007 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
missions to the gym here on earth.
Building bigger muscles should be
a cakewalk compared to a moon
walk.”
In other words, anytime you
increase the intensity of a work-
out—by lifting heavier weights,
performing more reps—you’ve in-
creased the stress on your body. You
must account for that both in the
length (or volume) of your workouts
and in the extra time that will be
required between workouts in order
for you to fully recover and adapt
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 Multijoint moves ©
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HEAVY DUTY TM

T R A I N I N G S YS T E M
THE GREATEST TRAINING SYSTEM THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN!
the techniques, workouts, and
personal philosophy of bodybuilding
legend - Mike Mentzer
Whatever your level of fitness, you can kick your muscles—
and your mind—into high gear with the legendary training
philosophies and advanced bodybuilding techniques of Mike
Mentzer - the first bodybuilder to ever garner a perfect score of
300 in the 1978 Mr. Universe competition.
The thinking man’s bodybuilder, Mentzer revolutionized the
art of training with his Heavy Duty™ system, proving that “less
is more” when it comes to making great gains. But some of his
most advanced ideas have never been revealed—until now.
The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer provides readers with a unique
insight into the world of Mike Mentzer. It is truly a book that is
chock-full of wisdom and is the distillation of Mike Mentzer’s
NEW
The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer gives you an insider’s look at his
most intense and in-depth lessons. Inside these pages you will
learn all the fundamentals of:
• H.U.N.G.E.R. - the code of integrity for building character while
you build your body
• Consolidation Training - a lightning-quick workout of two sets
(total) performed just once a week
• Advanced Heavy Duty Techniques, such as:
• Omni-Contraction - for getting maximum effort on every
contraction
• Infitonic Training - to make the most of negative reps
• Rest-Pause - a high-intensity way to shred your muscles to

Model: Jose Raymond

exceptional insights and enduring legacy. This publication exhaustion
provides readers with a unique passkey into the world of • PLUS: The workout that worked like magic for Mr. Universe
Mike Mentzer – the man, the philosopher, and the legend. himself, including tips on how to fire up your guns for competition.

Visit the official Mike Mentzer web site at www.mikementzer.com

for additional information about this book and other authentic Mike Mentzer books and products.
from the training. HIGH-INTENSITY TRAINING THE MIKE MENTZER WAY – In his final written HEAVY DUTY II - Mike Mentzer’s “magnum opus,” his final evolution of the theory of high-
book, Mike Mentzer shares his proven, ground-breaking approach to Bodybuilding, based upon intensity training. New and ground-breaking insights into recovery ability, briefer workouts,
More-isolated Editor’s note: For a complete scientific research and sound thinking. More than any other bodybuilding writer or authority, Mike consolidated training, when to use advanced principles, such as forced reps and negatives to
finishing presentation of Mike Mentzer’s has single-handedly changed the way bodybuilders have looked at exercise. He reveals the 7 maximum effect, plus insights into corruption in bodybuilding and the power of human reason to
basic fundamental principles of high-intensity training and why these principles, if applied discern truth from falsehood. It’s more than a bodybuilding book – it’s a training partner! THIS
exercises Heavy Duty training system, consult properly, are the core of his proven successful HEAVY DUTY™ training system. His method of REVOLUTIONARY BOOK IS STILL A SOUGHT-AFTER BOOK ALMOST A DECADE LATER!
short, intense training sessions will develop your muscles to their genetic potential faster and
should be used his books Heavy Duty II, High
more efficiently than any other program out there. This is THE definitive book on the exacting MUSCLES IN MINUTES - No, this is not Heavy Duty III. Entitled “MUSCLES IN MINUTES”, this
infrequently. Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer science of building muscle fast. book serves perfectly as a primer on the subject of HIT. It will introduce those who are new to high-
intensity training to the fundamentals of exercise science and their interrelationships, without all the
Way and the newest book, The HEAVY DUTY - The book that started a revolution! Mike reveals how you too can reach your philosophy and technicalities of Mike’s previous works. Includes routines for the Beginner,
greatest bodybuilding potential in the shortest amount of time, while training less than one hour
Wisdom of Mike Mentzer, all of which a week! Mike reveals the role of genetics in bodybuilding, psychological/motivational factors, Intermediate, advanced/athletic bodybuilder, while it is great for those seeking “total fitness”. The
extensive descriptions of all the recommended exercises and definitions will prove helpful. Also
are available from Mentzer’s official unique dietary considerations, high-intensity training principles, training to failure and places
beneficial to be used as a quick reference guide along with any other Mentzer book
bodybuilding into a completely unique perspective.
Web site, www.MikeMentzer.com.
John Little is available for phone
NEW Mail coupon with Payment to:
consultation on Mike Mentzer’s Mentzer-Sharkey Enterprises, Inc Order
Heavy Duty training system. For � The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer $18.95 online at:
High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way $18.95
Attn: Joanne Sharkey
rates and information, contact �
PMB # 706 – P.O. Box 7000 www.Mikementzer.com
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� Heavy Duty I $24.95 � Heavy Duty II: Mind and Body $29.95 Redondo Beach, CA 90277-8710
at www.MikeMentzer.com, or see � Heavy Duty Sweatshirt �M �L �XL Color-�Black �Ash $24.95
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Phone: 310-316-4519 Email: mikementzerco@aol.com
Mentzer quotations provided Name______________________________________________________________ CA residents include 8.25% sales tax on items only; include shipping and
courtesy of Joanne Sharkey and are handling as indicated. Orders up thru $24.99 add $6.00 s/h charges; $25.00 to
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