Edition IV - 02/21/2023

Discussing a popular Mike quote, analyzing some data about y’all, and talking about some new gym habits I’ve been trying.

So let’s get with it…

“Potential is only the expression of a possibility, something that can be assessed accurately only in retrospect… in other words, you’ll never know how good you might have become unless you try. So let’s get with it.”

- Mike Mentzer

This is probably the most commonly used Mike Menzter quotes out of all the gym “motivational” edits that I see, whether they are a tribute to Mike or not. When you watch the quote and listen to his voice, it makes sense why. There’s something extremely friendly about the way he says it and smiles afterwards. Combine that with the logic behind the idea and confidence in his voice, it really makes you want to give whatever you’re doing your best shot.

It’s so easy to consider doing something new and only imagining yourself being awful at it. People don’t like what they’re not good at or uncomfortable with. That feeling can stop people from pursuing small things like new hobbies, and will doom them to just casually watch Youtube videos about their interests forever instead of just getting involved. Sometimes in more serious cases, the feeling can prevent people from making extremely serious lifestyle changes. A lot of obese people unfortunately seem to feel this way about exercising and diet, and it prevents them from even trying in the first place.

But it’s like Mike said- you’ll never know how good you might have been unless you try. Questions like “I wonder what my physique could have been like when I was younger” or statements like “I wish I was a better (student/husband/friend/trainer/coach/citizen) will always just be eternal questions and statements unless you take action and find out on your own.

Crunching Numbers

Sometime last week I had put out some polls on my story and encouraged people to vote so I could better gauge my audience and share with you what your peers are doing.

“Do you train Mentzer/Yates style HIT?”

We had 82% HIT responses- definitely above what I was expecting and a pleasant surprise. Thanks to Monday Iron for sharing these polls to help get some reach, even if his crowd is volume-centric… go and check out his latest “Almost Monday” Report.

“Do you use preworkout?”

This one was also really surprising for me (when writing this question, it was under the assumption I was talking about powdered preworkout). I estimated it would be much closer to 50/50, perhaps even 60/40 in favor of “yes”. Instead, I had a lot of people swipe up and tell me about how they will utilize honey, tea, coffee, or carb heavy meals as ‘preworkout’ rather than the Gorilla Mind styled shit. This certainly put a smile on my face and I hope more people consider making the switch after reading this.

“Do you use protein powder?”

Again, another kinda surprising result. I would have expected this one to go the other way quite honestly. It seems like the “eat real food” message from Rich Piana is steadily gaining more and more traction, and people aren’t so quick to put all of their faith in the jar of Morton’s Mega Monster Madness Mass Machine (trademark, btw) they saw at Kroger in the pharmacy section…

Keep it up everyone!

“How deep down the Mentzer rabbit hole have you gone?”

I was particularly interested in seeing the outcome of this poll, and was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of people are actually listening to and reading Mike’s work. A big goal of the creation of this account was to share Mike’s words in Mike’s words, in hopes that the small pieces of intelligent insight might encourage people to look into it more, much like how I dove down this rabbit hole. I can only hope that I have been at least a small part of making those numbers what they are.

A friendly reminder I have a link to a free PDF copy of “High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way” in my Instagram bio.

“Has studying Mike Mentzer inspired you to take action in other endeavors in life?”

This was certainly more in line with my expectations, but made me happy nonetheless.

Mike Mentzer was a different kind of trainer, he wanted you to be the best overall version of you, not just for you to have the best physique. It’s wholesome to see that aspect of his legacy continues to thrive in those who listen to him and read from him. It is undoubtedly what he would have wanted his impact to be.

“What made you interested in Mike Mentzer at first? / Where did you learn about HIT/Mentzer first?”

1st

2nd

As suspected, most people were “hooked” when they saw Mike’s physique for the first time. Something about that crucifix pose is lethal! I was expecting more folks to answer Dorian, but was glad to see a lot of people say they stumbled upon a recommended seminar or interview clip.

Those guys probably found those clips on Instagram and Youtube, but I’m curious as to what the “other” is in the second poll. Had a way stronger showing than I expected.

I got a ton of people swiping up on these two and telling me they were mainly introduced to Mike from memes and edits mostly from accounts like mine, @heavyduty_boo, @npoubko, and American Ubermensch (when he was still around).

The Integrated Man

In light of the preworkout poll, it had me thinking about some of my own gym habits and how they’ve progressed over time.

I haven’t used preworkout in 6 months or so now, mostly just trying to eat a good lunch at work since my workouts take place in the early evenings. I did take two scoops for fun when I did legs with my friens, and certainly got a caffeine buzz and skin tingles- but nothing that made me miss it enough to spend $50 on a jar.

Another recent change I made about two months ago was not listening to music anymore when I am lifting. When I was writing about “seige mentality”, it kind of made me realize that I get distracted by song choices and playlist selection while I am in there. In the interest of streamlining my focus, I got rid of it, and haven’t missed it much honestly. I still listen to books when I am on the bike or treadmill, but other than that I enjoy the old school “vibe” that comes with no music. I wish the gym I go to wouldn’t have some “ass shakerz” playlist on, but nothing’s perfect after all. I can tune it out easily enough.

My favorite change has been the use of a pen and paper trianing log while I’m there. It’s a small 5x8 journal, and each page fits a whole week’s workout plan. I can easily compare week to week to track progress and set up my lifts based on the previous week’s result. Before using this log, I was kinda just trying to remember how many reps and at what weight… and I admit it did not work well at all. I wasn’t getting the constant progress I knew was possible and was stuck for a while.

With this set up, I am able to see exactly how many reps I did, at what weight, and if there were any notes about form or tempo. Because progress may come in forms as small as one more rep than the previous workout at the same weight, it needs precise tracking and easy comparisons

For whatever reason, I sucked at sticking to any apps that were designed for this. It kinda goes back to the whole no music aspect of my workouts, I don’t like monkeying around with my phone on the equipment or in someone’s way. It serves as a distraction for me, so getting rid of it and going pen and paper was the best solution.

TLDR; If you don’t already track your weight, reps, and dates for your workout- you need to start! Consider an old school pen and paper approach when you do start. Also, you don’t need to be consuming media 24/7. Take out the airpods and do a few workouts without all the noise from music/podcasts/books.

Until next time…

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