Most guys train their arms like cowards.

Endless sets of pump-chasing curls and half-assed triceps pushdowns with some chrome-plated toy bar — and then they wonder why their arms still look like limp spaghetti hanging off their shoulders.

Mike Mentzer?

He didn’t just rewrite the rulebook on arm training — he took a blowtorch to it.

This is the no-bullshit, hard-hitting truth about how Mike Mentzer built arms that looked carved out of granite — and why 99% of what you’re doing is a waste of time.

First: Mentzer's Golden Rule for Arm Training

Mike knew the dirty little secret most gym bros don’t want to hear:

"You don’t need a hundred sets to build huge arms — you need brutally hard, perfectly executed ones."

He believed that the arms are small muscle groups and overtrain easily.

Pumping them with endless junk volume? That wasn’t just dumb — it was counterproductive.

Instead, Mike treated arms like surgical targets:

• Maximum intensity.

• Minimum volume.

• Precise, brutal execution.

• And then get the hell out of the gym.

One or two all-out sets after a warm-up — taken past failure with forced reps, negatives, and static holds — and then?

Rest. Recover. Grow.

Mentzer's Arm Training Weapons of Choice

Here’s what Mike actually used and actually believed in — not the Instagram candy-ass routines floating around today:

Biceps:

• Standing Barbell Curl (STRAIGHT bar, not that useless EZ-curl bar crap)
  Mike hated the EZ-bar because it reduced tension and allowed people to cheat.
  He believed in maximum stretch and contraction, and a straight Olympic bar forced your biceps to do the real work without letting your wrists and forearms absorb the load.

Form tip straight from Mentzer:
Go heavy, but strict — no heaving, no swinging, no bullshit.

• Dumbbell Concentration Curls
  An old-school move Mentzer loved to finish off his biceps — one arm at a time, strict form, laser-focused contraction.
  No mindless repping — you squeeze the living hell out of that bicep until it begs for mercy.

• Preacher Curls (with a straight bar or machine)
  Maximum stretch at the bottom, brutal contraction at the top — again, no EZ-bar. Mike wanted full mechanical disadvantage to force growth.

Triceps:

• Close-Grip Bench Press
  A cornerstone. Heavy, brutal, effective. Mike didn’t play patty-cake with little cable pushdowns — he crushed heavy iron with close-grip benches to blast the triceps into submission.

• Dips (weighted if possible)
  Not your little Instagram dips. Mike believed in deep, controlled dips leaning slightly forward to punish the chest and hammer the triceps.

• Lying Triceps Extensions ("Skullcrushers") — but strict as hell.
  None of that half-rep, elbows-flaring crap. Mike kept tension constant, lowered the bar just above his forehead, and exploded back up with raw tricep power.

And about those pushdowns...

Mike hated the v-bar for triceps pushdowns.

Why?

Because it reduced the stretch, shifted tension, and let your shoulders and wrists help too much.

He preferred a straight bar (or sometimes a rope, when done properly) to maximize the load on the long head of the triceps.

If you're using that v-bar and calling it tricep training, Mike would call you a fool to your face.

Intensity Beyond Failure: Mentzer’s Ultimate Arm-Size Secret

The biggest secret wasn’t the exercise choice — it was how he trained.

Mike didn’t just go to failure.

He blew past it.

After strict reps to failure, he would:

• Use forced reps (a training partner assisting just enough for one or two extra reps)

• Perform negative-only reps (focusing only on the eccentric lowering phase)

• Hold the last rep isometrically (static hold) for 10–20 seconds until the muscle literally shut down.

You want arms that look like swollen, veiny battle ropes hanging off your shoulders?
You have to embrace suffering like that.

Other Nuggets and Mentzer Wisdom:

• He rarely trained arms alone — usually paired them with chest or back to avoid wasting time.

• He trained arms directly maybe once every 5–7 days — because they NEED rest to grow.

• He obsessed over strict, slow negatives — believing the eccentric was where real size was built.

• He didn't give a damn about the pump — he cared about REAL muscular failure.

The Takeaway

If you're still dicking around with 20 sets of curls and baby-weight pushdowns, thinking you’re “getting a sick pump bro,” you’re wasting your life.

Mike Mentzer’s way is the only way if you want freak arms:

• Train heavy.

• Train strict.

• Train beyond failure.

• Then leave the gym and eat and sleep like it’s your job.

Forget the fancy bars, the cable machines, and the 45-minute "arm days."
Pick up the heavy iron, attack it like a goddamn animal, and leave your soul on the floor.

That’s the Mentzer way.

Are you man enough to handle it?