Mike Mentzer

American Odysseus

De: John Little

Narrado por: Adam Verner

Mike Mentzer was a strikingly handsome man with a brilliant mind and a "perfect" physique—the first bodybuilder to receive a perfect score in both amateur and professional competitions. In the late '70s, Mentzer rose to the very top of his sport (despite the efforts made by industry power brokers, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger), was featured in GQ magazine, and profiled on national television. But he was also a man who wrestled with mental illness his entire life and ended up living on the streets and being sent to prison. Just when it seemed his career was over, he found it within himself to reboot his intellect and revolutionize bodybuilding training, arguing bodybuilders should not forsake their mental development in favor of developing their bodies. He became a pariah in the fitness industry (which only cared about selling supplements and other products) but a hero to legions of fans who earnestly sought truth.

Mike Mentzer: American Odysseus is the first biography of Mike Mentzer to appear in North America written by his close friend of twenty-one years, John Little, "one of the leading fitness researchers in North America" (Iron Man magazine). Drawing upon audio recordings, letters, diary excerpts, as well as interviews with those closest to him, this is the true story of one man who stood up to an entire industry—and paid the ultimate price.

©2025 John Little (P)2025 Tantor Media

Mike Mentzer LIVES after death

Clearly we have John Little to thank. I like many others have watched hours and hours and hours of Mike's seminars, audio recordings, training philosophies. I was familiar with much of the content in this book, just put together and in order now. I think many of us relate to Mike because he was a real and authentic human being. The perceptive human brain recognizes truth and sound logic once presented to it. This book was not so much that training manual, but that is what brings most of us here. I've been lifting for 27 years and recently employed Mentzer style training protocols and have even altered diet to more carbohydrates and less senseless protein. In short, it works. His words make sense, high intensity training when applied appropriately proves itself. I feel like I know Mike and I miss him. A man i never met, a man who's story i was not familiar with 2 or 3 years ago. I'm not sure what else to say, as my review is becoming a book itself. Thank you John Little for the work you have done and sharing these pieces of not only Mike's life, but yours as well.

Amazing story of Mike Mentzer

It’s was really nice to learn how he came to heavy duty workouts and one set to failure methods and how the 1979 and 1980 Mr. Olympia went down behind the scenes..

Fantastic!

John Little's writing is always a pleasure to read and this book is no different. Highly recommend!

A true bodybuilder

I’ve been competing since 1985. Been reading muscle and fitness was sold a bunch of untruths. Did the high volume training train body parts twice a week got no results it wasn’t till Dorian Yates made heavy duty popular and I started that method even though I don’t have superior genetics for bodybuilding I was able to win a couple local competition. Please stop the high volume to our workouts. Use Mike Mentor’s heavy duty training. You’ll be very impressed. This is a fantastic book for the true bodybuilder.