Debunking Mike Israetel's Terrible Advice to 'Train MORE Than the Pros' 

Time stamps: 0:11 Chapter 1. Introduction 1:42 Chapter 2. An overview of Mike's argument 7:10 Chapter 3. Examining the pros and how they train 8:06 3.1. How do the pros train? 10:48 3.2. On the fundamental differences between naturals and juicers 14:15 Chapter 4. Why Mike's argument is bad 14:45 4.1. Objection I: Mike's recommendation is bad for most people 18:07 4.2. Objection II: Mike's recommendation is questionable even for young, highly motivated, experienced trainees who are after the best results possible 24:33 Chapter 5. Conclusion Online consultations: Email: solomonnelsonconsulting @ gmail . com Discord: solomonnelson (direct message me)

Interesting to see this. Finding mikes videos was crazy at first I was like “this is the peak of fitness and entertainment” I’m glad I got to see something contradicting him so harshly even if it leaves me in a more indecisive position than if I outright ignored this video or completely dismissed RP as a whole. I would be extremely curious to see a discussion between you two. I still feel as though I have learned a lot from RP content and that Mike gives some sound advice. I look forward to seeing what more you have to say and hopefully mike will see your content and have something to say for himself lol.

I have been knowing you for a long time. Most of your videos are rightfully calling out the idiots that spread misinformation and all of them have worst like to dislike ratio than any channel I have seen on YT. But I appreciate your bravery. This is not a hard thing to do. And sense of humour is Great. 😂 Keep doing this for us Mate. 🎉

Just leaving a comment for the algo. Agree with your take on his statement. Can't stand enhanced bodybuilders giving advice to the average natural athlete.

Good video. In my training experience (5+ years), you can't go anywhere near Mike's volume recommendations unless you're training at like an RPE 6-7

Dr Mikes channel has devolved in the past 2 years.

Bahahahah was not expecting Phil heath to name drop ya that cracked me up

Great video. Pragmatic and non-emotional content is rare in the yt, gainz space. I'm interested to hear your perspective on Borge Fagerli's myo-reps.

i find it very disingenuous to pick only the top 1 in discussing the ''pros'' in this situation, out of over 30.000 people you have singled out the most successful, with the most research available for them to learn from, you say it is to avoid cherry-picking, but the top 1, is cherry-picking to make Mike look as bad as possible. any other pick would show the argument in a better light. Dorian Yates 6 time Mr. Olympia did 1 set, he is also a part of the ''pros'' and i would argue most people should do more than that.

Hello bro.I like ur content and way of thinking.What would u say is a good powerlifting program, if u used any.

Please make more of these types of videos, debunking mainstream knowledge which isn't effective for naturals and average gym goers. Thanks :)

I watch Mike and while he does offer good advice, I’m in no way a fanboy of Mike. Anyone can be critiqued and criticized and if people blindly defend Mike, that tells you they’re more his fan base rather than objectively looking at his information. Not knocking his PhD at all just saying…

He doesn’t drop the stats because he’s not writing a research paper, he’s giving advice based on exercise science, if you asked him for sources he’d pull them up.

I watched your video and calling him a conman in the end is ridiculous. He has multiple videos where he talks about the science behind training frequency. He also isn't telling people to max out multiple times a week. You leave reps in reserve and you don't attack the same body parts again if they aren't properly recovered. I understand that you don't like enhanced athletes but he still has a lot of good information. I'll be interested to see if this gets a response or not.

Thanks for debunking such dangerous and deadly advice.

Yeah agreed this is a bad sloppy take from Mike, my God though- I read War and Peace faster than you made your points.

so what are specific training volumes that adhere to your approach? the scientific bros say 10-20 the hit bros say 3-6 the ego bros say whatever you enjoy so im really confused

I always read that the roiders' tendency to get injured is due to their muscles developing far faster and outgrowing their tendons.

You glossed over the part where he has a PhD in Sport Physiology and is an accredited professor.

Thought this was going to be an interesting video, honestly disappointed. Such an overly pedantic video. Probably have some vendetta against him. All the best but your counter doesn't convince me.

Unrelated: how tall are you?

Thanks for making this video, anyone with a brain watching his videos can deduce that his training philosophy is not sound at all

You are really nit picking. Mike is posting mostly good quality content. Lately quality is a bit worse, but all in all he is a positive guy on youtube. There were soo much scams on youtube before and I think those channels dissapeard a bit, at least from my feed. He is open about his PED usage and is generaly advising agains it. I like your content, but I dont think you should try to make youtube career by commenting mikes videos. I saw couple of youtubers that started as that, and you know what? Either they stopped producing content or they became like ones they were commenting on. Releasing videos regulary is hard....

I enjoy the content posted here for the accuracy sake, but its a bit disingenuous to label Mike as "Pharma enhanced amateur bodybuilder" when you're aware he has a PhD + was a professor @ University. Seems extremely weird to not give him the credit he's earned when dissecting his takes. Its also fairly obvious from other posts that you just don't like him, or anyone else in the fitness industry. Which again is fine, you have valid critiques. However, the way you label things from Jeff for example as "Terrible" "Plagiarized" etc, just screams a desire for clicks versus a genuine discourse to be had.

Man, I think you're right about a lot of what you said about professionals doing too much volume and I also agree that Mike didn't specify what population of people his advice is for. However, I think you may have made a mistake by overgeneralizing "professional training" because not all professionals train the same. Because on one end of the spectrum, even among pro bodybuilders, there are people who train more like Mike Mentzer or Dorian Yates in HIT training, which is low volume and low frequency, for example. On the other side of the spectrum are the routines of people you just showed as an example in your video who train at extremely high volume, like 25 sets in one session or worse, like the "Rich Piana" arm training routine that lasts like 8 hours. In this case, as part of Mike's audience, I can say that most of his videos and especially those on more scientific topics are aimed at "advanced" natural people, defined in this case as advanced as 5-7 years of training or capable of progress in weight from 1 month to another month, and normally he does not mention that clarification and I agree that that is a mistake and he should do it and he also did not specify what type of professionals he is making the comparison with because, as said, he does not All professionals or improved people train the same. Even among naturals, many of us train differently in terms of training volume depending on many factors, such as whether we are a beginner, intermediate or advanced, our individual MRV, age, gender and many more factors. In general, I understand that Mike is also trying to compare and allude to the same person's higher volume levels maximizing his gains, MRV, being naturally advanced versus being enhanced. In that case, I very much agree with him that me, taking steroids, for example, will probably have a lower MRV than my version of myself being an advanced natural for the reasons he mentioned of having much more muscle mass to heal for training, etc. Simply put, context is important and possibly both you and Mike made a mistake because of that. You also didn't mention pro bodybuilders who train more like HIT training or even with moderate volumes. Just because many Mr. Olympias train with too much volume, as you presented, doesn't mean that everyone who is enhanced and professional trains like that. So that's something to keep in mind and I respect your video because you clearly have a sense of morality about exposing bad practices and advice. Don't hate him, just try to understand him and what he says more depply. Is easier to judge a person than try to understand. Everyone make mistakes even you, me and a PHD person like Mike. Yeahh, that video about nootropics was not good and there were not science evidence, but that does not mean that because of that all videos of Renaissance Periodization are false or incorrect. Even Menno henselmans uploaded a video a time ago recognizing that he was wrong about one thing he talked about in the past: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2euoc08yKbc.htmlsi=Q4tyE3Q84gCYnC55 Hope you can reflect about all that

Good video ❤

Well, Mike is twice as big as you are, plus has a doctorate in exercise science, plus years of experience in weightlifting and using synthetic medications. What do you bring to the table?

I find it weird that your introduction to who Dr Mike is was “a pharmaceutically enhanced amateur body builder who makes RU-vid videos, mainly about how natural lifters should train and eat to gain muscle and strength.” It really seemed like you were trying to play down how qualified he is, and to misrepresent what he does (having watched a great deal of his content, it absolutely is not primarily catered to natural lifters). You didn’t say “he’s a college professor, teaching strength and hypertrophy to masters-level students, as well as being a brown belt professional Jui Jitsu grappler and a competitive body builder, who holds a PhD in sports physiology. He makes RU-vid videos for natural and enhanced athletes and lifters and for folks just wanting to get a highly muscular physique. He is also a cofounder of a successful company, Renaissance Periodization, which offers in-person 1:1 coaching, and which has apps for diet and for muscle growth.” Is Mike ethically and legally obligated to advise against using illicit drugs to enhance one’s physique? Well, yes. Does he have a huge number of videos on PEDs, or which either directly mention, heavily imply, or seriously lean on, performance enhancing drugs? Hell yes he does. His channel on RU-vid is basically the channel of his company, RP, and pretty much everyone he’s shown in coaching videos for that, unless directly stated otherwise, is enhanced. He encourages people to stay natural, because for your health, it’s the right choice, but let’s be ffr, the majority of people seriously following the RP programmes are not natural. That isn’t the target audience of Dr Mike or RP.

M(k)ike israetel

Most pretentious person I have ever seen lol. Just cause he takes steroids does not mean he doesn’t know how to train a natural he has the experience and knowledge to do it better than someone training at home with a pull up bar who’s not more than 150 lbs wet.

Junkies stay winning

I see you don't understand the science nor the videos that Mike puts out.

You can't hit the bullseye every time when you regularly put out as many videos as Dr Mike does. Most of his advice is good and backed by scientific studies. I like his videos because he is entertaining and informative. I'm not sure if it's covered in the video but he probably doesn't expect natural lifters to be shifting the same amount of weight as enhanced lifters, just an increase in the amount of sets/reps. Like just the other day I saw a video of his suggesting to use less weight and more reps so I gave it a try and I am still sore, I wouldn't be able to do the volume I did with more weight and wouldn't normally be as sore. So from that perspective it probably makes sense what he's saying. I don't know, I'm less than amateur!

Soooo... You're just waiting to get all of your thoughts and opinions sorted before you actually start getting jacked?🤔

It's a no from me dog. Gonna stick with Dr. Mike. It reminds me of the smallest guy in the gym trying to hand out advice last week.

W-E-L-L--L, Look at Mike...... and then, look at YOU. I think I might lean; towards ...... MIKE !!!!