Neuroscientist and host of the Huberman Lab podcast Andrew Huberman has spoken openly about how Mike Mentzer’s training philosophy shaped his own approach to resistance training.
In a conversation with six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates, Huberman laid out his personal experience with Mentzer’s methods and why he continues to follow the core principle of training each body part once per week.
Huberman credited both Yates and Mentzer as early influences, noting he trained differently than everyone around him told him to because of it. “I feel super healthy and great at 50,” he said, pointing to that approach as a key reason.
He described Mentzer as occupying one ex treme of the training spectrum, a strong advocate for minimal volume paired with maximum intensity. According to Huberman, Mentzer believed in “very brief, very high intensity” workouts, sometimes consisting of just a single set taken to absolute failure.
Curious to test this approach, Huberman experimented with Mentzer’s minimalist protocol himself. “I remember trying the one set to failure, a couple warm-ups, one set to failure,” he said.
Techniques like pre-exhaustion, such as performing leg extensions before moving into a leg press, were part of the routine. However, after a year or two, Huberman found the approach needed some adjustment.
While one or two sets could effectively fatigue certain muscle groups, he realized that without strong mind-muscle connection and full fiber recruitment, slightly higher volume could sometimes be necessary.
One of the most memorable aspects of Huberman’s experience came from a direct interaction with Mentzer during his high school years. He paid for a phone consultation, which was a major expense for him at the time.
“It was like a hundred bucks. I had to wire it to him, which was a fortune for me,” he recalled. Mentzer’s demeanor stood out immediately. “He barked when he spoke,” Huberman said, though he added that there was “a real kindness way back somewhere in that bark.”
Mentzer’s advice on training frequency initially struck Huberman as extreme. “When… Mike Mentzer told me to train each body part once per week, at first I thought he was crazy,” he admitted.
The idea of hitting legs, chest, back, shoulders, and arms just once weekly seemed counterintuitive. But over time, the logic began to click, especially when considering indirect muscle activation. For instance, arm muscles are still engaged during chest and back workouts.
Huberman eventually tested an alternative approach, increasing frequency to train muscles every 72 hours. But the results were immediate and discouraging.
“I immediately started going backwards with my progress,” he said. Returning to the once-per-week model, with additional indirect stimulus from compound movements, restored his progress.
He also shared one of Mentzer’s more enduring pieces of advice, something that stuck with him long after their initial conversations.
“Just remember 90% of what you’re learning is completely wrong,” Mentzer told him. “But the 10% that’s right, those are the gems that you build off of.”
