Why Are So Many Exercise Scientists Critical of Mike Mentzer and Dorian Yates’ Training—When It Clearly Works?

If you’ve spent any time deep-diving into bodybuilding history, you already know that Mike Mentzer and Dorian Yates built some of the most impressive physiques of all time. Yet, despite their undeniable success, modern exercise scientists love to pick apart their High-Intensity Training (HIT) philosophy, claiming that it’s “not optimal” or that “low-volume training isn’t effective for muscle growth.”

Here’s the reality: most of these critics don’t have even a fraction of the muscle mass, conditioning, or results that Mentzer and Yates had. So why do they keep preaching against HIT? Let’s break it down.

1. Science vs. Real-World Results

Many modern exercise scientists prioritize studies over real-world application. And while there’s a place for research, a scientific study on novice lifters training three times a week doesn’t tell you jack about how an elite bodybuilder should train.

The problem? Most of the HIT vs. Volume Training studies use recreational lifters, not hardcore bodybuilders willing to push one set to true failure and beyond. HIT only works if you’re capable of training to absolute muscular failure—and most lifters never get anywhere close to that level of intensity.

Meanwhile, Dorian Yates built one of the most dominant physiques in bodybuilding history using a brutally simple approach: one all-out working set per exercise, taken to failure with forced reps and controlled negatives. Six Mr. Olympia wins later, it’s hard to argue with the results.

But instead of acknowledging that real-world results often trump lab studies, critics keep regurgitating the same tired argument: “More volume is better.”

2. HIT Requires an Effort Level Most People Can’t Handle

High-Intensity Training isn’t about just doing one set. It’s about taking that set beyond failure, using forced reps, rest-pause, slow negatives, and sometimes drop sets to annihilate the muscle. The problem?

Most lifters, even experienced ones, don’t push anywhere near real failure. They rack the weights when it starts getting uncomfortable—not when they’ve exhausted every last fiber.

Even some pro bodybuilders admitted they couldn’t handle Yates’ level of intensity:

• Chris Cormier trained with Dorian at Temple Gym and said he felt like he was “going to die” after the first session.

• Kevin Levrone trained with him and nearly puked.

This is why most lifters and coaches prefer volume training—it’s easier. Doing 4 sets of 10 with moderate effort is far more comfortable than putting your entire nervous system on the line for one brutally hard set.

3. Modern Science is Biased Toward Volume Training

Most modern studies lean heavily toward volume-based training. Why?

1. It’s easier to standardize. Researchers can tell subjects to do 3-4 moderate sets, but they can’t ensure they’re actually training to failure.

2. More sets = more time in the gym = more revenue for personal trainers, coaches, and fitness influencers. If people could get elite results training 45 minutes a day, four times a week, a lot of trainers and gyms would be out of business.

3. Studies measure acute hypertrophy markers (like muscle protein synthesis), not long-term real-world results. Just because a higher training volume spikes muscle protein synthesis for a few hours doesn’t mean it leads to more muscle growth over months or years.

Yet Yates trained with low volume, extreme intensity, and still out-muscled guys training twice as long, twice as often.

4. Critics Ignore Recovery—The Key to Growth

One of the biggest flaws in modern training advice is the underrating of recovery. High-volume programs often lead to overtraining, constantly breaking down muscle without giving it the time to rebuild.

• HIT is designed to maximize recovery, ensuring muscles have time to rebuild stronger.

• Yates trained four times a week for 45 minutes per session—and still outgrew the guys doing two-hour marathon workouts.

• Mentzer believed in training less, but training harder—and his clients packed on serious size.

If muscles grow during recovery, why does mainstream fitness preach endless high-volume workouts? Because it keeps people in the gym longer, buying more programs, hiring more trainers, and fueling the fitness economy.

Meanwhile, the HIT approach builds just as much (if not more) muscle in half the time—but that doesn’t sell as many gym memberships.

5. The “Small Scientist” Phenomenon

One of the most frustrating things in the fitness industry is seeing small, unimpressive “experts” criticizing the very training methods that built legends.

• Most of these critics have never built a world-class physique.

• They’ve never trained under Mentzer or Yates and have no idea what true failure feels like.

• They rely entirely on theory, rather than proven, real-world results.

Meanwhile, the guys who actually walked the walk—Mentzer, Yates, even guys like Casey Viator—built some of the thickest, densest muscle in history. And they did it on low-volume, high-intensity training.

The Bottom Line: HIT Works—If You Train Hard Enough

The reason Mentzer and Yates’ training methods aren’t widely embraced today isn’t because they don’t work—it’s because most people can’t handle them.

HIT is brutally effective when applied correctly, but:

• It demands true failure—most lifters can’t reach it.

• It forces long recovery periods—most people are addicted to being in the gym.

• It produces insane results—but it’s easier to tell people to just do more sets.

Dorian Yates won six Mr. Olympias training four days a week for 45 minutes per session. Meanwhile, today’s “experts” are preaching six-day-a-week, two-hour workouts, yet don’t have anywhere near the muscle density he had.

So the real question is: Who are you going to listen to—the scientists in lab coats, or the guy who dominated bodybuilding with a physique no one could touch?

The answer should be obvious.

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