Ray Mentzer's Mr. America Pec Routine

[HeavyDutyGuy]

Ray Mentzer Workout
Here are some excerpts, from a 1979 interview where Ray talks about his workouts leading up to his Mr. America victory.

"For a while Mike and I strayed from our high intensity, heavy poundage workouts into a program using lighter weights and higher reps. That only lasted about a week, however, because it didn't work. Without the heavy resistance we could feel we were losing density and size quickly. We were training for endurance rather than hypertrophy, and endurance is what we were getting. When we got back on the heavier weights, we continued to progress, getting gradually stronger and more massive every week." "Just before the Mr. America, my workouts were as heavy as I've ever gone. For chest I used the Nautilus machine one arm at a time with the whole stack plus a 75 pound place for 3-4 reps each side, very strict, holding the contractions. Then I did one set of pure negatives and a set with both arms for 8 reps positive. Finally, I inclined 375 for three reps, two strict and the last one with a bit of a bounce. All this was done within four minutes and was a super workout!"

[Curt James]

[GREENMACHINE23]

I want those old school Nautilus machines. I have used a couple here and there.

[LookImDancinCrazy!]

That decline press looks like an even older model than the Nautilus piece my father has had for 25 years. His has dark pads and a pec deck integrated into it. He's got the OHP/Lateral and the pullover as well.

[Curt James]

When I was stationed in Norfolk they had a Nautilus gym on the base. Would be great to step back in time for a workout.

[Curt James]

Drew Baye has a few negative comments about bodybuilding, but this is a great lecture on HIT.