This essay focuses on the creative aesthetic of Mike Mentzer’s “Integrated Man,” and
suggests that his notion of virtue, as expressed creatively through knowledge and
imagination, links him with the “virtue-ethics” of the ancient Greeks. To understand
Mentzer as a radically innovative bodybuilder and thinker, drawing inspiration from this
ancient heritage for a virtuous and noble life, a life of excellent “human
having the wherewithal to understand that a virtuous life, a life of excellence, is worth
pursuing and requires work and dedication, i.e., training of the soul in thought and action,
which expresses a living relationship to the knowledge of the interrelated cardinal virtues:
piety, temperance, justice, courage, and wisdom, which assumed the role of the fifth
was a form of rational, clear-sighted thought, and when employed properly, it held the
potential to uncover the knowledge of virtue (or virtues) by answering the ultimate
Similar to the Greeks, Mentzer’s artistic philosophy was based on the notion of
virtue-ethics, for he was concerned with man’s character, the habitual ways of behaving
and living (ethos), and the moral purpose, or end, motivating man’s comportment in all
situations. The six virtues, christened by Mike Mentzer with the acronym HUNGER, are
strikingly similar in character to the virtues of the ancients. Extending beyond the realm
full human potential as a rational, moral, and creative being. In the manner of the ancient
Greeks, Mentzer struck a working balance between various forms of knowledge: rational,
scientific, and other modes of truth-disclosure, e.g., the intuitive knowledge that comes
Mentzer understood that knowledge exists in many forms, each holding its own
categorization, I am fully aware of the implications, for although rational and scientific to
the end, Mentzer believed that art facilitated a highly complex form of knowledge, albeit
sensate in nature, and further, that man’s creative ability to make and remake his world
and values, inspired by aesthetic knowledge, represented his most noble quality.
philosophy of life, art, and sport. Discussing the integrated mind-body connection in The
Greek Way, Hamilton labels the Greeks “spiritual materialists,” for no struggle between
the body, the mind, and spirit existed for them. They were “clear, lucid thinkers,” who
refused to deny “the importance of the body (and the knowledge acquired via the senses)
and ever seeing in the body a spiritual significance.”
Mentzer understood the significant role of the body in renewing the sense of the
enthusiastically worked to perfect the body and the presentation thereof. According to
Mentzer, the honed and perfected physique of the bodybuilder, when presented in
dramatic fashion, in affiliation with music of great power and emotion, expressed the art
attunement, transmitted and instilled the knowledge and ideal of the heroic conception of
man as “the exalted hero, who stands noble and tall, proud of his ability and willingness
Greek Works of Art in Painting and Sculpture) expressed a kindred notion regarding
ethical knowledge and the aesthetic experience. Writing in 1755, he offered an aesthetic
alternative for legitimately approaching the so-called “Socratic” virtues, suggesting that it
was possible to learn about the virtuous Greeks, not by reading their philosophy, but
Winckelmann sought to learn two crucial things about Greek art: First, he
examined the experience of art (spectator and work), trying to understand the way in
which it communicates truth, along with the type of truth communicated. Second, when
seeking the meaning of the artwork (which emerges from the experience), he recognized
the importance of the artist’s purpose and inspiration, which provided insight into the
Although the Greeks did not have a philosophy of art in the sense of our modern
science of aesthetics, such philosophers as Plato and Aristotle inspired philosophy’s
future movement along this path, for they wrote much concerning the transformation of
worldly understanding in the unique moment of the aesthetic experience, e.g., according
to Plato (The Phaedrus), in the presence of “beauty,” both natural and created varieties,
The work of art for the Greeks was a unique, created object. It was the
(ergon), it stood outside the dominion of both the knowledge and the processes of
production necessary for its existence. For example, the meaning of a sculpture, in a
special sense, transcended the material and formal qualities of the work. However, this is
not to indicate that for the Greeks the sculpture’s material form was wholly separable
from its meaning, as though the role of the particular representation in stone was
This is because Greek art was not symbolic in the modern sense of the term. It did
not convey the entirety of its meaning through metaphor or metonymy, in the manner of
pointing beyond the actual, physical representation depicted by the artist. Meaning was
never divorced from the unique, particular form of the artwork; the form, in fact, served
as the origin of the work’s meaning. For example, Winckelmann viewed the statue,
Laocoon as the embodiment of the values it communicated, and not merely symbolic of
The statue depicts the Trojan Priest and his sons in the death-grip of sea snakes,
and coveys in a particular, unique representation this man and his story. However,
universality, speaking to the spectators of the overarching heroic sense of beauty linked
with such an event, i.e., the last moments of the valiant, courageous (human) struggle
Greek art and their society. Analyzing the “noble simplicity and serene greatness in the
pose as well as the expression,” he concluded that the statue embodied the greatness of
man’s soul and the clarity of his mind, conveying the excellence of heroic composure in
The pain of body and greatness of soul are equally balanced throughout the
composition of the figure and seem to cancel each other out. Laocoon suffers, but
he suffers like Sophocles’ Philoctotes; his misery pierces us to the soul; but we
and this idea relates to Winckelmann’s understanding of sculpture and its power to
convey aesthetically the knowledge of virtue. It is evident from the photographic and
one piece of fictional writing) that his training and posing routines were designed with
the purpose of forging the idealized human figure, which served as the origin for the
communication of higher moral truths about life. The six virtues of HUNGER sprang
from Mentzer’s art of bodybuilding, which he deemed the “indispensable medium for the
communication of a moral ideal.” Much like the Greeks of antiquity, the body for
Mentzer was not merely symbolic of human virtue, but rather served as the very
embodiment of human excellence, for all to see, experience, and (hopefully) emulate.
with the music chosen for the posing routine, projecting virtuous ideals and testifying to
the long, arduous years of preparation and self-sacrifice required for this fleeting moment
on the posing dais. In addition to modeling and exemplifying the virtues of the excellent
life, the bodybuilder’s physique also illuminates his self-understanding, which includes
the knowledge of his art and culture. Mentzer powerfully expressed this very notion when
he stated, “Let your muscles serve as an expression of your glorious will and your
glorious reason.”
high arts of sculpture and dance, while recognizing that each art form is unique in its own
right, retaining aesthetic elements unique to the respective genre. As a living and
various aesthetic properties exit harmoniously. The bodybuilder is also similar to the
dancer, in that his art demands assuming the role of both artist and finished art form, and
these aspects of bodybuilding, as an art form, represent two sides of the same coin.
Interestingly, sculpture during the classical period rose to the heights of its
creative power when sculptors observed and analyzed the movements of choral dancers.
The majestic pose of Laocoon, representative of the “good,” “true,” and the “beautiful,”
articulates a single moment within time’s linear progression, and was selected to express
the illusion of continuous movement. Great classical sculpture was concerned with the
perception of temporality, intimating the events that gave rise to the “frozen moment”
captured by the sculptor, while at once calling up the spectator’s anticipation of the
natural progression of that movement, and in this way, classical sculpture never sacrificed
the sense of motion, which heightened and intensified the perception of dramatic urgency.
In the following passage, classical art historian J. J. Pollitt describes the “style” of
choral dance from which sculptors of the period drew their inspiration. The
characteristics associated with the majestic style of posing incorporated by Mentzer are
A (choral) dancer, moving in time with the music, performed specific “steps” in
time with the “beat” of the music. Between each step there were momentary
“stops” (called ereimiai) in which the body was held for an instant in
The principles of high art (and fine art) are readily employed by champion
bodybuilders when assessing their physiques and structuring their training regiments.
Mentzer demonstrated the acute awareness of the principles of design (e.g., the aesthetic
notions of symmetry, proportion, and balance) when working to “carve out” the perfectly
associated with the experience of art, i.e., the sensory and emotional qualities, which are
influenced in great part by the elements of design. Mentzer was exceptionally diligent
when preparing for the presentation of his “finished” physique, as the posing routine was
the event that supported the emotional and noetic weight of his art. Importantly, he writes
of selecting poses that best displayed his worldview, and through his physique and proud,
For example, Mentzer’s signature pose is beyond anything arising from the
immediate tradition of bodybuilding, and in fact, the pose recalls the Greek tragic hero,
fortitude and physical endurance, bearing with heroic resolve, life’s greatest adversities.
This dramatic pose calls to mind Aeschylus’ poetic words from the Oresteia regarding
man’s relationship to the Gods. According to the chorus, the gods have set mortals on the
path to understanding their world by laying down the ultimate tragic law of existence,
his perfectly modeled heroic demeanor, that a full and authentic life is one in which joy,
elation, and intense suffering coexist. We can perhaps imagine man’s suffering as
redeemable through a form of art that serves a higher purpose – art, as conceived by
Mentzer - art that is vigorous and formidable, powerful enough to not only allow for the
As stated, Mentzer embraced art as the medium for the communication of higher
values. Thus, it is crucial to understand the manner in which the body works in
communion with powerful, uplifting music, for it is through the art of posing, the
medium of “art” (body-in-motion to music), that the contemporary ideals and values of
communal attunement. From the moment the bodybuilder takes the stage, he is
communicating nonverbally with the audience, and, in the words of Mentzer, “By being
keenly aware of this phenomenon you can purposely control what you communicate.”
The revelation and communication of art’s truth occurs, as the faculty of rational
Mentzer’s terms and concepts are nearly identical to those employed by Kant when
analyzing the “aesthetic” experience of the “beautiful” and the “sublime” (The Critique
of Judgment). We imagine this type of collective attunement occurring for the Greeks
during the rhapsodic performances, choral dances, athletic competitions, and the great
“mood” occurred, man stood outside of the normal, everyday ways of existing, and
within this “ecstatic” experience, man’s capacity for understanding the world was
unparalleled power to alter the waking conscious state, Mentzer philosophized music’s
“enormous appeal and power in all cultures,” and with this in mind, he devoted close
attention to the choice of not only poses he selected for displaying the physique, but as
well, to the choice of music that accompanied the routine. Mentzer expressed a profound
“higher values” with others. According to Mentzer, in this following quotation, music
Music is the only form of art that bypasses the human critical/conceptual faculty
In this moment, the body “speaks” like the sculpture of Laocoon, and in the
presence of perfected physical, moral, and emotional ideals, the spectators are
collectively raised beyond themselves. It is the body as work-of-art that serves as the
noble virtues, to the universal understanding of these virtues in idealized forms. However,
the so-called “forms” of the virtues are never complete abstractions, as their universality
Art’s power of transfiguration lies in its ability to perfect nature, to perfect the
idea of man’s existence, e.g., rather than merely re-presenting a mimetic copy what life
is, art strives to go one better, and show us what life ought to be. For this reason,
Winckelmann believed that created beauty was (always) superior to natural beauty,
“Nature,” he once quipped, “must yield the palm to art.” According to Mentzer, it was the
task of art and the artist to “concretize” the values in abstraction, through personifying
the moral ideals of man and communicating these ideals via the agency of aesthetic
intuition, a state of insight that reveals truth in a manner that eludes the workings of the
rather than have to read an undue lengthy passage to know how to act in certain
situations, summoning the image of the human ideal would serve to provide the
In closing, I return to Winckelmann’s belief that art expressed the general well
being of the culture from which it emerged. It is the case that our contemporary culture, if
applied to the Greeks, would fall short of the mark as a culture of great worth. A great
number of modern philosophers (e.g., Martin Heidegger) have quite convincingly argued
this very point, that our historical age lacks the potential to visualize, form, and actualize
historical “destiny” that emerges only in relation to our authentic heritage, or collective
“living” ethos.
I think Mike Mentzer would have agreed with the foregoing statement, and for
this reason, his philosophical stance regarding the pursuit of moral, intellectual, and
creative thought sets him apart from the social complacency, which inhibits man from
adopting a question-worthy attitude toward life, in the manner of the ancient Greeks. As
shown, Mentzer was not deterred from asking the difficult questions concerned with
meaning, virtue, and the excellent human existence, for he was ever in search of a value-
His work reminds us to hold fast to our noble visions and to make every effort to
give the ideas we have of the excellent life, as perfected through art and the creative