Mike Mentzer’s Favorite Bicep Exercise: The Underhand Lat Pulldown

Mike Mentzer revolutionized bodybuilding with his Heavy Duty philosophy — brief, intense, and infrequent training designed to stimulate growth with surgical precision. Unlike the high-volume routines of his peers, Mentzer’s approach focused on maximum effort, not maximum time.

When it came to building his iconic arms, Mentzer didn’t rely on endless curls. His favorite bicep exercise wasn’t even a direct arm movement — it was the underhand (supinated) lat pulldown.

Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty Training

Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty system was built on logic and efficiency. He rejected the high-volume routines common in his era, arguing that more work doesn’t mean more growth. 

Instead, he emphasized brief, infrequent, and brutally intense sessions, eventually performing what was known as rest-pause training.

• Each workout used one or two warm-up sets to prepare the muscles.
• When ready, perform a single all-out working set taken to momentary failure.
• Place the weight down and rest 10-15 seconds
• Perform a mini-set, performing reps to failure again. 
• Repeat 1-2 times.

Mentzer believed progress came not from doing more, but from doing enough and then allowing full recovery. Heavy Duty training became a direct challenge to the marathon sessions of the 1970s, focusing instead on precision, purpose, and recovery.

Mike Mentzer’s Favorite Bicep Exercise: The Underhand Lat-Pulldown

Heavy Duty Training didn’t just affect the rep scheme used, but exercises as well. Mike didn’t want to use a ton of exercises to hit every muscle; he wanted the best exercise, so he only needed one that got the job done.

For him, it was the underhand lat pull-down.

When selecting the best biceps exercise, many people will point to an isolation exercise. This is especially true during modern times. They believe the isolation helps produce more activation.

On the contrary, Mentzer viewed exercise selection as a matter of efficiency. As such, he preferred compound movements as they worked multiple muscle groups. Going further, he preferred those that; 

• Used a full range of motion
• Allowed controlled movement under heavy loads
• Had minimal risk of injury. 

For these reasons, when it came to training the biceps, Mike clearly had his favorite exercise. 

Mike Mentzer preferred the underhand lat pulldown to hit his arms and believed it was clearly the best to build mass.

Why Mike Mentzer Loved The Underhand Pulldown

Compared to a traditional lat pulldown with a pronated grip, using a supinated grip changes the movement mechanics significantly. 

1. The grip is generally narrower, and the biceps come in front of the body.

2. This puts the bicep in a stronger position as it sees greater activation in the supinated position (Leslie & Comfort, 2013)

3. The lats are still involved, which allows heavier loads to be placed on the biceps.

This combination of mechanics theoretically results in an intense biceps workout through 3 mechanisms;  

• Heavier weights, which maximized stress and activation
• Greater time under tension (mechanical tension) due to large ROM (Roberts et. al, 2023)
• More complete stretch and contraction

Mentzer believed that the pulldown maximally activated the biceps, leaving no reason to add another biceps exercise. Remember, in his view, once a muscle has been trained to failure, it cannot be trained “more.”

He also liked the exercise’s stability and safety. With a cable-guided bar path, a lifter can maintain perfect control throughout the motion and focus entirely on muscular contraction.

Efficiency Over Volume

The underhand pulldown fit perfectly with his Heavy Duty framework. It allowed him to train both the back and biceps efficiently in one movement, minimizing overall training time without reducing effectiveness.

Mentzer would typically pair it with one other back exercise, such as a Nautilus pullover or a row, and that was the entire workload for those muscles. Each exercise consisted of a single rest-pause working set.

How to Perform the Underhand Lat Pulldown (HIT / Rest-Pause)

Performing the underhand lat pulldown like Mentzer requires two explanations: the instructions for the exercise, as well as an explanation of Rest-Pause training.

Setup

1. Sit at the pulldown machine and secure your thighs under the pads.
2. Take a shoulder-width underhand grip on the bar, palms facing you.
3. Sit upright with your chest slightly elevated and your lower back naturally arched.

Execution

1. Begin each rep by depressing your shoulder blades before bending the elbows.
2. Pull the bar down by driving your elbows down and slightly forward, keeping your upper arms close to your sides.
3. Touch the bar to your upper chest and pause briefly for a full contraction.
4. Lower the bar slowly over four to five seconds, allowing a full stretch at the top.

Every rep should be controlled. There should be no jerking or leaning back to move the weight. The goal is continuous tension and precision.

Further, exaggerate the pull, trying to maximize flexion in the elbow.

How To Use the Rest-Pause Method

1. Select a weight you can lift for about 6–8 strict reps.
2. Perform reps until you reach complete failure with proper form.
3. Rest for 10–15 seconds.
4. Perform another 1–3 reps to failure.
5. Rest again for 10–15 seconds.
6. Finish with 1–2 final reps or a single slow negative lasting 8–10 seconds.

That sequence counts as one working set. Mentzer would sometimes do one or two light warm-up sets before the main set, but never more than one rest-pause set per exercise.

He believed this level of effort was more than enough to stimulate growth. Doing additional sets would only reduce recovery ability. Once the working set was complete, the exercise was finished.

Mike Mentzer Style Arm Workout

We’ve always been fans of the chin-up and lat-pulldown for bicep activation, and it’s humbling to see that Mike Mentzer has always had this same belief.

If you want to build massive arms, get away from “isolation-only” style training. Use large compound exercises that maximize load and ROM; 

• Triceps - Triceps dip, close-grip bench press. 
• Biceps - Underhand grip lat-pulldown, chin-up

You can then use some isolation training if you don’t want to use a 100% Mike Mentzer-style workout.

Here’s an example of what an awesome arm workout, inspired by Mike Mentzer, might look like. To be clear, this is not Mike’s workout. It’s simply using his ideas, merged with other styles of training.

Mike Mentzer-Inspired Arm Workout

• Pull-Up - 2 Sets
• Triceps Dip - 2 Sets
• Underhand Grip Lat Pulldown - 2 Sets
• Close-Grip Bench Press - 2 Sets
• Tricep Pushdown + EZ-Bar Curl - 1 Set
• Overheads Tri Ext + Spider Curl - 1 Set

For 2 sets, you will first perform your initial rest-pause set. You’ll then drop the load by 10% and repeat.

Mike Mentzer And Bicep Training

Mike Mentzer has a ton of awesome training advice to offer the bodybuilding world. Even if you don’t agree with everything he said, there’s definitely something you can apply to your training and see a benefit.

For us, his ability to look at the mechanics of an exercise is a huge benefit we all need to consider in exercise selection. There are so many examples where an exercise is just considered to be good for a certain muscle and vice versa. 

Reference

1. Mentzer, M., & Little, J. R. (2003). High-Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way. McGraw-Hill.
2. Leslie, Kelly. L. M. BSc (Hons); Comfort, Paul MSc, CSCS*D. The Effect of Grip Width and Hand Orientation on Muscle Activity During Pull-ups and the Lat Pull-down. Strength and Conditioning Journal 35(1):p 75-78, February 2013. | https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/2013/02000/Article.12.aspx
3. Roberts, M. D., McCarthy, J. J., Hornberger, T. A., Phillips, S. M., Mackey, A. L., Nader, G. A., Boppart, M. D., Kavazis, A. N., Reidy, P. T., Ogasawara, R., Libardi, C. A., Ugrinowitsch, C., Booth, F. W., & Esser, K. A. (2023). Mechanisms of mechanical overload-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy: current understanding and future directions. Physiological reviews, 103(4), 2679–2757. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00039.2022