MIKE AND RAY MENTZER DEAD

As reported at some length in the June 14th, 2001 edition of the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles County coroner's office is currently investigating the deaths of bodybuilding brothers Mike and Ray Mentzer, who died within two days of each other.

The body of Mike Mentzer, age 49, was discovered by his brother Ray on Sunday, June 10th, at the home they shared together in the vincinity of the Rolling Hills Estates area of Los Angeles. There was no obviously apparent cause of death, but medical records indicate that he had a history of heart problems. Ray Menzter, age 47, was reportedly very shaken up by the death of his brother. On Tuesday, June 12th, Ray was found dead in the same house in which his brother died. Ray had been ill for some time and was a kidney dialysis patient.

Originally, Mike's body was sent to a funeral home in nearby Torrance. However, given the suspicious circumstances of the deaths of two brothers dying within two days of each other, the remains of both Mike and Ray have been sent to the coroner's office in order to determine cause of death. The initial reports of Ray's death circulating through the bodybuilding community were that he had committed suicide, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Mike Mentzer won the Mr. Universe title in 1978 and the heavyweight division of the Mr. Olympia contest in 1979. He was subsequently known for creating the "Heavy Duty" training system, derived from the ideas of Nautilus creator Arthur Jones, for whom Mike worked at one time. "Heavy Duty" involves doing very few, extended sets (using techniques like negative repetitions, forced reps, partial reps and done primarily on machines rather than using free weights). Mike used to say you could get full development of a physique using his system training only one half hour a week. This approach has always been considered controversial and is contradicted by a great deal of exercise physiology reasearch. However, during much of Mike's career bodybuilders overtrained badly - some working out twice a day, six days a week - so his ideas did contribute to restoring a certain balance in the volume of training done by serious bodybuilders.

Ray was also a successful bodybuilder, winning the USA tall class title in 1978 and the AAU Mr. America overall in 1979. Press reports of the Mentzer deaths stressed that they were both bodybuilders. However, Mike had not competed for 21 years and Ray for 19 years. So more accurate reporting would be to identify them as "former bodybuilders.