There is a man who, through a strict application of objectivist principles, has revolutionized-- and risen to the top of-- his field; who has bestowed enlightenment upon thousands who have sought his guidance; who has introduced the works of Ayn Rand-- and indeed the very subject of philosophy-- to a subculture which has never before tasted them; who, as the center of a storm of controversy, is constantly attacked, discredited and dismissed (but never defeated) by the forces of subjectivism; who wades valiantly through the murk of modern mysticism, helping to clear the way for a cultural renaissance of rationality; and who, as far as I have seen, has received no real recognition from the objectivist community.
That man is Mike Mentzer.
Mentzer is a former world-class bodybuilder-- he won the 1978 Mr. Universe with the first perfect score in history, and many hold that only absurd judging prevented him from claiming bodybuilding's most coveted title, the Mr. Olympia, in 1980. In the numerous photos dating from the height of his competitive career, Mentzer does not (as do so many dozens of nameless bodybuilders) look like 'just some guy with big muscles'-- consistently, he projects the image of a hero. His postures and facial expressions present an entire range of admirable mental states: from quiet, intense concentration to unaffected but unrestrained pride to enraptured aspiration to fierce determination to relaxed, self-confident joyousness.
But despite his success in competitive bodybuilding, Mentzer's greatest achievements were to be intellectual ones. In 1993, after many years of writing articles for the top muscle magazines, he codified his rational-- and revolutionary-- theory of high-intensity training in his seminal first book, Heavy Duty (in which he identifies exercise science as a subdivision of the broader field of medical science and which includes a chapter on the role of values in motivation).
Just three years later, after the careful analysis of more empirical evidence (gathered first-hand from his work with personal training clients) and a more meticulous application of the laws of logic, Mentzer released Heavy Duty II: Mind and Body.
The subtitle is appropriate. This time, Mentzer was not content merely to present an exercise program, if even an improved one; instead he also went to considerable effort to place it in the context of that upon which its identification had depended: the epistemology of reason. In Mentzer's words: "There is nothing wrong with having a muscular physique, but it is by no means a viable substitute for a mature, rational mind." Mentzer dedicated the first chapter to the nature of philosophy and its role in human life and society, and the second specifically to epistemology, laying the groundwork for the theory to come. While for someone already familiar with Objectivism there is nothing much new in these chapters, Mentzer's targeted audience is not objectivists, but bodybuilders-- who are typically regarded as a not particularly intellectual segment of society. Mentzer has been an excellent spokesman for Objectivism, and has introduced it to an entirely new audience.
Further, Mentzer is one of the very few people of whom I am aware who have, beyond merely studying Objectivism, actually applied its principles to a particular field. Mentzer is not just a personal trainer who likes Atlas Shrugged-- but one who has also dedicated serious effort to the study of logic and applied it to solving a specific problem in the realm of exercise science. The result was a revolutionary theory of exercise which is of inestimable benefit to those interested in developing their bodies, in terms of the years of wasted effort it will spare them. To my knowledge, the only other established professional who has revolutionized his field through an application of objectivist thought to that specific field is the psychologist Nathaniel Branden. As philosophical principles must be consistently translated into specific 'plans of action' in regard to specific endeavors in order to directly benefit human life, applied Objectivism-- in every field-- is mankind's new frontier.
The magazine for which Mentzer now writes-- All-Natural Muscular Development-- is quite a revolutionary publication in its own right. The general public associates professional bodybuilding with anabolic steroids-- and rightly so. Steroids have dominated the sport since the '70s. In the quarter-century between then and now, bodybuilders have been pressured to become increasingly massive and 'ripped'-- totally devoid of bodyfat-- necessitating an ever-increasing reliance on more and more potent steroids. In the '90s, steroid use in bodybuilding has literally come to a dead end. Women bodybuilders have been defeminized by heavy steroid use, while the men have been dehumanized-- and killed. The last few years have seen top competitors drop dead from complications relating to steroid side-effects (not to mention the fact that the new-wave physiques have gone beyond the point of being merely overdeveloped and ugly to become outright inhuman and hideous).
Earlier this year, Steve Blechman, publisher of Muscular Development-- one of the major muscle magazines, well-known for the high scientific quality of its articles on sports nutrition-- decided that enough was enough. He switched his magazine-- now All- Natural Muscular Development-- to a strictly no-drug format. This was incredibly daring move, as it meant that he would now be unable to print photos of the established, familiar stars of the sport or report on the biggest competitions. But together with an incredible board of advisors and regular contributors-- Mentzer among them-- Blechman has succeeded in re-creating his magazine practically from the ground up, and has received quite a bit of public approval for it. ANMD concerns itself only with natural athletes, and consequently the women who grace its pages look like women, not men-- and the men look like men, not monsters. Mentzer addresses bodybuilding issues from a rational standpoint every month in 'Mentzer Speaks', as well as having a 'Heavy Duty' training advice column.
All of this should be of more than merely passing interest to any serious objectivist (or to any person at all-- since of course every person ought to be a serious objectivist). For myself, I can say that even in boyhood I had a vague desire to someday develop a muscular physique-- because heroes, as I most often saw them portrayed, were muscular, and I wanted to be a hero. In my mid-teens, as I became increasingly serious about my artwork (which has always been primarily concerned with portraying heroes, and heroines) I turned to muscle magazines to learn how to correctly draw human anatomy (they are a far better guide than medical anatomy charts). Reading these magazines rekindled my desire to develop my own body, as well as (supposedly, anyway) providing me with the means to do so-- and I've been at it, to varying degrees, ever since (I can thus say from first-hand experience that Mentzer's exercise regimen as described in Heavy Duty II is the most productive one that I have ever been on). Looking back, I see that I always (if only implicitly) regarded the attainment of a beautiful, healthy physique as a moral issue-- and that I was right to have done so. While it is true, as Mentzer often points out, that the development and exercise of the mind is of more primary importance than that of the body (since the attainment of any value, including a healthy body, can only be achieved through the application of reason), let us not forget that a mind is literally nothing without a living body. A healthy body ensures the possibility of a longer-- and thus potentially more productive and rewarding-- life, and life is the source of all values. Be warned that I have experienced certain side effects to Mentzer's program, including a general increase in energy, an increase in the quality of sleep (resulting in a decrease in the needed quantity of it-- i.e., more time for other things), and a heightened kinesthetic perception-- which translates into a greater joy in living in one's body.
©1997 Steve Clark
All rights reserved.
Note: Mentzer eventually left the staff of Muscular Development...that, combined with a radical change of their focus (including the cessation of their monthly "fitness girl" pictorials--which featued great models, great photography, and considerably more "class" than the typlical muscle magazine fare), led my estimation of that magazine to drop pretty significantly. But, it was a great magazine for a while there. Mentzer is currently writing for Ironman. --SC