Mike Mentzer - Final Years and Death

Final Years and Death

Following the loss at the 1980 Mr. Olympia, Mentzer reportedly ran into numerous problems. In the late 1970s, he was reported to have begun using amphetamines, claiming he took them only as an ergogenic aid to help facilitate a hectic lifestyle. Mentzer left his position at Weider Publications shortly after his loss at the 1980 Mr. Olympia contest and suffered financially as a result. He did land a job in 1985 as publisher and editor-in-chief of the newly launched WorkOut magazine, a venture of Stewart Communications Inc. in Tarzana, California. However, when WorkOut failed during the same year that his father died, Mentzer reportedly suffered a mental breakdown. Various rumors were printed in magazines, stating that Mentzer drank his own urine and was addicted to amphetamines. Mentzer denied this in a 2001 interview with Ironman magazine, stating :

A lot of people like to see celebrated figures come down a notch or two because their own self-esteem is not very high. They gain a sense of self-esteem when they can say, Look, I'm not like that; that person has shortcomings. And that's not the proper way to gain self-esteem. That's irrational. No, I never drank my own urine. Where that notion arose, I have no idea. I did take doctor-prescribed amphetamines for a while, because as a competing bodybuilder and writer I found it difficult during periods of severe dieting to sustain the energy required to train and then go home and write for hours. But it was always doctor prescribed.

In the late 80s, Mentzer returned to training bodybuilders and writing for Iron Man magazine and spent much of the 1990s regaining his stature in the bodybuilding industry. Mike had met Dorian Yates in the 1980s and made an impression on Dorian's budding body building career. Years later when Yates won Joe Weider's "Mr. Olympia", he credited Mike's "Heavy Duty" principles for his training. Mike, his brother Ray, and Dorian formed a clothing company called "MYM" for Mentzer Yates Mentzer, also known as "Heavy Duty Inc", in 1994. MYM was based on the success of Don Smith's "CrazeeWear" bodybuilding apparel. The three principals wanted to capitalize on the physically fit lifestyle, which today has gone mainstream. With the blessing and promotion of Joe Weider, the trio manufactured and distributed their own line of cut and sew sportswear.

Mentzer died on June 10, 2001 in Rolling Hills, California. He was found dead in his apartment, due to heart complications, by his younger brother and fellow bodybuilder Ray Mentzer. Two days later, his brother Ray also died in his sleep after complications from his long battle with Berger's disease.