The subject of discussion is the article: Heavy Duty
Message sent by: Giordano
Until a few years ago I went to a gym, then for various reasons I started training in my garage. I must say that if I could have gone back I would have made this choice a long time ago.
I train in an essential way; squats and front squats for legs; bench and chest crosses; pull-ups and various back rowing; shoulder military press (I never do the arms). I am not a phenomenon but neither is the latest arrival.
reading the "expert answers" column on heavy duty, I was disappointed.
Heavy duty has been described as a shortcut ... probably destined to lead to doping; not to say that those who practice heavy duty are NOT passionate about bodybuilding, or that those who practice it prefer muscle growth to the pleasure of training. and finally: heavy duty is a natural system developed by a doped.
I don't know who wrote these things, but I don't think they are entirely correct for a lot of reasons:
-mike mentzer and his brother have been dead for a few years; Mike in particular was a top-level bodybuilder deserving to win a MR OLYMPIA in 1980. With this brief parenthesis I ask myself: can you find me a bodybuilding professional who does not constantly use anabolics? all of joe weider's professionalism and circus are based on this hypocrisy, so why is only heavy duty pointed at?
-personally I do not suffer from heavy duty but Mentzer's theories have influenced me not a little, and indeed I think that a "natural" athlete must follow a training system based more on intensity than on volume. if you are doped you recover faster, ergo you need less recovery, ergo the training sessions are more frequent.
-I think then that this statement on "those who practice heavy duty is not passionate about bodybiulding" is really big; as if those who go to the gym do so to say that at the end of the month they spent 20 hours training ... not because they want to improve their appearance to varying degrees.
Personally I would not feel like practicing heavy duty because I don't think it is suitable for me, also because I train alone and the assistance of a training partner is essential.
The point is whether you like it or not bodybuilding is not only a sport but it is also the extension of our narcissism that tells us to be more beautiful, more muscular, in short, more than the others (when in the gym we perform the classic poses and do comparisons, isn't it perhaps also to see if we are better or when a boy never seen and with a beautiful body enters, don't we study him perhaps trying to see his strengths and weaknesses?).
Who really does bodybuilding does it for the muscles !!! There are those who go to the gym to meet people, those who are afraid that if they increase by one kg on the bench press, they will become too big (as if putting on mass was a health walk). if not, he does not bodybuilding; maybe he will do fitness (with tight shorts and even tight tank top, rigorously tanned and shaved and always with someone to chat with ... in the end it does not make intensity, it does not build volume ... it develops the muscles of the jaw), but it does not bodybuilding , like it or not.
- heavy duty natural method developed by doped? Joe Weider was a mediocre bodybuilder who took the right to call weider techniques the practices used by the bodybuilders of the time. Maybe the weider training techniques are natural? The techniques are neutral, whoever practices them decides to be doped or not. ..only him, it is not decided by Weider, nor Artur Jones nor dr Darden nor Mentzer or the myriad of gurus or personal trainers who approach you with a 64-tooth smile and after having studied you a bit they get serious and make you the card! ! ??
-mike mentzer was one of the pioneers of a new training technique that works for some, for others it doesn't, but you can't ghettoize a character of such depth, especially from those who don't even sign up. Mike mentzer died of heart problems but he also had problems of a different kind and no one can say for sure that the cause was doping ... In America a relative would sue you in court (rightly)
- it was much better when bodybuilding was relegated to bodybuilding gyms; now bodybuilding is a bastard sport contaminated by water aerobics, spinning, fitboxe or the next novelty.
I train in my box, in the cold in winter and in the heat in summer, I'm happy not to have the problem of the gym that closes in August or during the Christmas holidays.
I am happy to have abandoned a world that was taken away from me by a mix of respectability and careerism, by arrogant boys who are always too sure that you do not do the exercise correctly and that you do something wrong, and then watch your back !!!
Enjoy the fitness festivals, show on TV how dynamic, active and in line you are with the prototype of sportsman, neither meat nor fish.
-mike mentzer, you conributed to change the world of bodybuilding; you succumbed to the politics of the IFBB but managed to forge ahead. You influenced great champions, the likes of dorian yates. Your memory will go on, just like your theories and logic.
please, watch out for your back if you do squats!
Reply
Hi Giordano,
I appreciate your outburst. When I finished writing and publishing the article in question, I was fully aware that very soon someone would end up criticizing it. We are in a free country where everyone, respecting the dignity of others, can freely express their opinion: I have simply expressed my opinion. mine and you, very correctly and without offending anyone, have expressed yours.
You train in a private gym, I very often do the same despite working in this environment having the possibility of free access to various fitness centers. We both prefer what you call "essential training" even if you probably don't practice group courses, cycling and endurance running like me.
As you can see, there aren't all these big differences between us, the rest is just a matter of points of view. We simply give a different meaning to the term body building (see: Meaning of bodybuilding). I am not a bodybuilder according to your way of thinking, you would be a bodybuilder for mine if it were not for the too much importance you devote to the aesthetic aspect.
The conclusions I reported in that article are simple observations, the fruit of logical reasoning.
I have in no way connected Mentzer's death to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, although as everyone knows, there may be a relationship between the two. I simply said that as a top-level bodybuilder Mentzer is very unlikely to have achieved certain results two clues do not always make a proof but come very close to it.
Furthermore, I have in no way promoted alternative training techniques; I simply started with a scientific description of Heavy Duty and then ended by citing more than legitimate doubts about its effectiveness.
Finally, let's be realistic and look around, how many bodybuilders do we see? One every how many thousands of people? What do all the others think about this sport? How many people have shattered shoulders, knees and backs due to some risky exercise? It doesn't matter if these individuals are "physically unlucky", nobody takes away their right to be informed, protected and helped in the choice and practice of the most suitable physical activity for them.
This is anything but a site dedicated to bodybuilding and, despite the neutral or even opposing approach, some doctors still refuse to publish his articles because they think he is too much in favor of dumbbells and barbells.
Like it or not this is reality. Sportively speaking, you live in a world where you feel rightly among the elect, but you also have to compare yourself with others. And reality is made up of ordinary people, people who at 50 decide to get back in shape, kids who at 15 want to put on muscle after having spent 10 of them playing with consoles.
What do we do with all these people? Do we stuff them with promises, supplements, "dangerous" training methods, make them eat 6 times a day, make fun of their physical appearance or do we try to help them, inform them and educate them to follow a healthier lifestyle?
