Re: Mike Mentzer Science/training
Carrera, a few comments about your comments
Your buddy must have been on drugs when he saw Arny, unless it was well after 1980. From 74 through 78 Arny was huge...a freak compaired to everyone except Sergio, Mentzer and maybe Bertil Fox and Dave Johns.
I have done steroid bro and I can tell you that you can train any bloody way yo like and still make great gains.
You can make good gains without gear and get pretty big bro but t takes a hell of a long time and WAY longer than the 2-3 years that both Mentzer and Jones speculated. My educated guess is that you won't reach your natural maximum weight/size unless you have been training hard for at least 10 years.
Once you are at your "natural max", or the weight and size that your own levels of testosterone and GH can maintain, then you are done growing. Steroids can take you WELL beyond this natural max....the average man of about 5'10" can reach a solid and quite lean(not ripped) 190-200 pounds...with steroids you can add at least another 30-40 pounds to that.
The typical man can work his way up to a 300 pound bench, 400 squat and 500 dead. A gifted natural man that is a larged boned endomorph or pure mesomorth might be luck enough to add 100 pounds to those numbers. A BIG natural man might be able to add 200 to each lift but they would be really big boys.
A 500 pound bench is pretty common with steroid users, and even bodybuilders. Casey Viator could bench 500 as could Franco...Arny couldn't out lift Franco in any of the trhee power lifts...but he had really strong(and big) biceps and lats.
NOBODY was a bigger Mentzer fan than me bro....I even went so far as to hate Arny just like Mike did, not having ever talked to Arny.
In 1980 Mentzer switched from doing 4-6 sets per body part on a traditonal 4 way split to 2-4 or 5 sets and trained three days a week on a split routine ie: Mon-Wed-Fri and alternating workouts. This was step in the right direction for him and for those "normal guys" like me that copied him.
BRO...DO NOT copy Mentzers old training, and even the training he did in 1980, as it is WAY too intense for the non steroid user.
Stick with Stuart McRoberts advice and train no more frequently than twice a week, or once every third day max, on a "divided" program, hitting each muscle group with 1-3 sets per body part. No forced reps until nearing the end of a cycle when trying to squeeze out a few more weeks of gains before taking a lay off. NEVER do negatives! You can still train in full body workouts but I wouldn't do them more often that once every 5-6 days.
As you have experinced you don't need much, if any, direct arm work.....just work on the big compound movements for the most part and your arms will grow. Supinated(palms facig you) grip pulldowns and chins work the hell out both your lats and biceps....and the king of upper body movements, the dip, works the hell out of your chest and triceps.
Carerra, Mentzer himself would say that you simply cannot gain 12 pounds of muscle in a few weeks, unless perhaps you are coming back from a long time without training and were once that size ie: Casey Viator in the Jones Study.
A raw beginner that is way under weight might gain 12 pounds over three months but some of that would probably be fat.
An advanced man, on steroids and GH, MIGHT be lucky enough to gain 12 pounds in ONE YEAR.
Franco HAD NO LEGS, and his arms we punny campaired to most. He did have th ebest back though. You have to have the complete package to win the Olympia...Franco should have stayed with power lifting. 
