Ray Mentzer (August 3, 1953June 12, 2001) born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

was the 1976 Junior Mr. America, 1978 IFBB Mr. USA and was winner of the 1979 Mr. America competition. Ray's brother,

Mike Mentzer Mike Mentzer (November 15, 1951 – June 10, 2001) was an American IFBB professional bodybuilder, businessman and author. Early life and education Mike Mentzer was born on November 15, 1951, in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. In gramma ...

won the rival IFBB Mr. America in 1976 during Ray's Junior title. He was a proponent of heavy duty training along with Mike and although retiring from competition in 1982, carried on training to the heavy duty

high-intensity training High-intensity training (HIT) is a form of strength training popularized in the 1970s by Arthur Jones, the founder of Nautilus. The training focuses on performing quality weight training repetitions to the point of momentary muscular failure. The ...

principles. In 1983, he flew to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in order to be trained by Arthur Jones. At a bodyweight of a then unthinkable 250 plus pounds, he added even more muscle within a month, to 260 but leaner. At one time, training for just six weeks to prove the invalidity of the Bulgarian system, he

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

for 2 repetitions. He died from kidney failure, a complication resulting from

Berger's disease IgA nephropathy (IgAN), also known as Berger's disease () (and variations), or synpharyngitic glomerulonephritis, is a kidney disease, disease of the kidney (or nephropathy) and the immune system; specifically it is a form of glomerulonephritis o ...

Rolling Hills, California Rolling Hills is a city on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Rolling Hills is a gated community with private roads with three entry gates. Homes are single-story 19th century California ranch or Span ...

. Ray died just two days after discovering his brother

's body in the same apartment due to heart failure.

References

External links

* Hause, Irene . (1983, January).
Mike Mentzer’s Video Venture
''Muscle Mag International''. Issue Number 33, pages 22–25. ''Ray Mentzer is quoted in this article.'' (Retrieved November 16, 2008.) 1953 births 2001 deaths People from Ephrata, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Lancaster, Pennsylvania American people of German descent Professional bodybuilders American bodybuilders {{US-bodybuilding-bio-stub