Mike Israetel - sage or egomaniac??

[KnightTemplar]

He is trying to become a pro bodybuilder. He isn't really close. It is just to validate his dogmatic training methods but also earn a lot more money. Most of the professionals don't have a cult following like him. I heard some people who compete say he is a bit overrated. This stuff doesn't really apply to me since I am a lifelong intermediate.

I'm not a Bodybuilder either. I train for health and because I enjoy it. I mainly watch Dr Mike for the Lolz, although a few of his ideas are applicable even to people like me.

 

[NoSmilez]

I watch from time to time, & he's pretty good.
I don't find him funny & he's got a weird nervous energy at times, that's noticeable.
Still he's one of the highest fitness influencers, witty at times & very knowledgeable.
I think his content is solid & persona relatable (with his self deprecating schtick/humor) & entertaining for many in this niche. He markets himself very well & why he is top tier food chain.


I like Greg Doucette better & he's been passively aggressively ripping on Isratel, though I don't think it completely personal, but more of an ego thing combined with click bait/drama for this niche to post for views & cheddar.
Greg has a douchey voice & thats part of his schtick/persona in pushing his brand.

They rip on each other. They have been throwing subtle shots at each other since 2019. I believe Israetel was the first one that started it publicly. Doucette is just paying him back.

 

[Slapjit]

Haven't watched any of his content but he's always creeping up on my algorithm. Just watched the Jay Cutler one and the roast of VShreds so my take is basically a first impression.

The Jay Cutler vid was basically him testing out jokes and respectfully poking fun at him here and there. Pretty tame. Between jokes he gives some decent advice.

VShredz deserves to get roasted because the whole purpose of his channel is to trick stupid people into buying things they don't need instead of being disciplined. The fitness industry will always struggle to evolve past gimmicks and training fads when people like this exist. Very punchable individual imho and Dr. Mike actually loses points for not going hard enough.

I liked the part where he talked about science. That's always good. Earns a solid B- from me, could bring it up a bit if he challenged VShred to celebrity boxing or #PowerSlap and made a few more breakdown vids.

Iono why u made di thread tho fam metink u either VShred or Dr. Mike himself either way good fi you stay grindin'

 

[Nova44]

Yeah he's ok. I enjoy him bashing v-shred, as everyone on youtube does, and his convo with 2023 WSM Mitch Hooper was great, but some of his takes on "if it's not full ROM then it's pointless or for your ego" is just wrong.

If you do almost any exercise, and when you get to the point you can no longer do full ROM so you do either cheat reps or half reps, it is actually more beneficial for the muscle involved than if you just stop as soon as you can no longer do full ROM. Obviously doing cheat reps from the start doesn't help, but adding them or half reps when you're at your limit promotes more muscle growth than without them.

Mike refuses to believe this though.

 

[mixmastermo]

Haven't watched any of his content but he's always creeping up on my algorithm. Just watched the Jay Cutler one and the roast of VShreds so my take is basically a first impression.

The Jay Cutler vid was basically him testing out jokes and respectfully poking fun at him here and there. Pretty tame. Between jokes he gives some decent advice.

VShredz deserves to get roasted because the whole purpose of his channel is to trick stupid people into buying things they don't need instead of being disciplined. The fitness industry will always struggle to evolve past gimmicks and training fads when people like this exist. Very punchable individual imho and Dr. Mike actually loses points for not going hard enough.

I liked the part where he talked about science. That's always good. Earns a solid B- from me, could bring it up a bit if he challenged VShred to celebrity boxing or #PowerSlap and made a few more breakdown vids.

Iono why u made di thread tho fam metink u either VShred or Dr. Mike himself either way good fi you stay grindin'

The thread is about having mixed feelings.

On the one hand I think he can give decent advice. On the other hand I think he doesn't need to make fun of other people so much.

I don't follow the V shred thing. I just started watching Mike's video out of curiosity cuz I have seen the V shred commercials pop up on my youtube often. When I saw a video breaking it down it did catch my interest... until I started actually watching the video. I started to get the impression it was more about Mike trying to convey why he is so great rather than giving people warnings about a snake oil salesman. There's a professional way to give those kinds of warnings, and that video just wasn't it for me.

 

[SocraticMethod]

I like him, and I do find him funny. But I'm also a bald, middle-aged guy who lifts and does BJJ, so I'm pretty much his target audience.

When he critiques celebrity workout plans, he's pretty much just busting balls and will say how great they look. I think a lot of times his message is that the shit they post on social media with their guru coaches aren't actually what they did to get in such great shape.

I also like that despite being a science-based lifting guy, he also points out that, especially for beginners, just keep it simple and get after it. His recent video on "recomp" vs bulking and cutting highlights that.

Also, I want to own as many imaginary Lambos as him.

 

[SocraticMethod]

The thread is about having mixed feelings.

On the one hand I think he can give decent advice. On the other hand I think he doesn't need to make fun of other people so much.

I don't follow the V shred thing. I just started watching Mike's video out of curiosity cuz I have seen the V shred commercials pop up on my youtube often. When I saw a video breaking it down it did catch my interest... until I started actually watching the video. I started to get the impression it was more about Mike trying to convey why he is so great rather than giving people warnings about a snake oil salesman. There's a professional way to give those kinds of warnings, and that video just wasn't it for me.

To be fair, doesn't just about every other YT fitness influencer have a video shitting on V-Shred?

 

[KnightTemplar]

Israeltel is ok. He is a full range of motion guy. Current circle jerk in the fitness world are those lengthened partials that run opposite of what he is saying.

He is more in bodybuilding sphere but he isn't an accomplished bodybuilder. He is more of social media star. There is a genetic component that I don't think he can overcome regardless of how much drugs he is taking. Most of his fans are just looking for the smart cool uncle figure in their life.

WTF are, "lenghened partials"?

 

[NoSmilez]

WTF are, "lenghened partials"?

Lol it's those bro quarter-half reps you see big ass bodybuilders pump out. They pump it out fast and they never lock out. Apparently there is merit to those small reps with very small ROM. There are recent literature that show that they might be more effective than full ROM for some exercises. I think majority of those new papers show partials beats full ROM for strength and muscle growth or whatever end point they used for the study.

Jay is the real exercise scientist....

Lengthened or long length partials is a partial rep performed at where the muscle is most stretched. The stretch position is what Israetel drills home about except he likes full ROM vs short ROM. For me you can get the best of both worlds. I been playing around with it by just doing my exercises with regular ROM until I reach failure or close to it. Once I hit failure then I switch to lengthen partials. I can often pump out 5-10 more reps. I just think you can get more time under tension using this technique.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Lol it's those bro quarter-half reps you see big ass bodybuilders pump out. They pump it out fast and they never lock out. Apparently there is merit to those small reps with very small ROM. There are recent literature that show that they might be more effective than full ROM for some exercises. I think majority of those new papers show lengthened partials beats full ROM.

Jay is the real exercise scientist....

Lengthened or long length partials is a partial rep performed at where the muscle is most stretched. The stretch position is what Israetel drills home about except he likes full ROM vs short ROM. For me you can get the best of both worlds. I been playing around with it by just doing my exercises with regular ROM until I reach failure or close to it. Once I hit failure then I switch to lengthen partials. I can often pump out 5-10 more reps. I just think you can get more time under tension using this technique.

Thanks. Intersting that he's not doing full ROM at the top or bottom: he stops the bar a couple of inches above his chest. Almost like a Spotto Press.

 

[NoSmilez]

Thanks. Intersting that he's not doing full ROM at the top or bottom: he stops the bar a couple of inches above his chest. Almost like a Spotto Press.

It is probably as deep as he can get without hurting himself. Those big guys don't have a great ROM. Lengthened partials is not full rom. It's a half or quarter rep but they dress it up in whatever exercise training terminology.

Ok look at someone like Branch Warren. People were shitting on him for his "bad" technique but it's mostly momentum or lengthened partials

 

[NoSmilez]

@KnightTemplar Here is Ronnie Coleman doing lengthen partials. LOL these guys are the true doctors of exercise science....

 

[SRN]

There's something about this guy, I can't put my finger on it, but I just don't like him. The whole steroids are ruining me but I take them anyway thing turns me off so fucking much.

And... wtf was this?




Seriously, this was his prep diet???

 

[mixmastermo]

@KnightTemplar Here is Ronnie Coleman doing lengthen partials. LOL these guys are the true doctors of exercise science....

I wouldn't exactly use Ronnie as a great example of anything...

 

[NoSmilez]

I wouldn't exactly use Ronnie as a great example of anything...

He’s messed up because he got a bad surgery that progressively got worse.

We are talking about hypertrophy. I am a ROM guy but current studies is showing that it’s not the best for certain exercises.

 

[NoSmilez]

I saw this and I thought it was pretty funny for no apparent reason.

 

[zapataxiv]

He’s messed up because he got a bad surgery that progressively got worse.

We are talking about hypertrophy. I am a ROM guy but current studies is showing that it’s not the best for certain exercises.

jm Blakely also advocates stuff like that for hyper trophy and burnouts
it's all about his philosophy of sustainable training and recovery

 

[KnightTemplar]

jm Blakely also advocates stuff like that for hyper trophy and burnouts
it's all about his philosophy of sustainable training and recovery

Blakely actually invented the JM Press because he reached a point where he couldn't recover from benching heavy twice a week.

 

[Volador]

I think the info he puts out is usually very well thought out and based on the available scientific literature + his personal coaching experience and philosophy, it’s not random broscience, which is what you want to avoid. He puts out a lot of info for free and trains some legitimately insanely huge guys, even if his genetics are not as good as the pros. Most of it is pretty measured and rational, and in general Id say good advice, even if you want to reject some of it in favor of some other school.

As for the videos making fun of others, that’s what generates clicks, so I get it. A lot of YouTube influencers are selling complete garbage products and programs, so I don’t mind them being called out/scrutinized, especially in funny ways. A bunch of those celebrities put out complete shit, and some are obviously on the juicy juice and just don’t want to say it (The Rock), so they deserve the mockery they get.

 

[Bullitt68]

Lol it's those bro quarter-half reps you see big ass bodybuilders pump out. They pump it out fast and they never lock out. Apparently there is merit to those small reps with very small ROM. There are recent literature that show that they might be more effective than full ROM for some exercises. I think majority of those new papers show partials beats full ROM for strength and muscle growth or whatever end point they used for the study.

Jay is the real exercise scientist....

Lengthened or long length partials is a partial rep performed at where the muscle is most stretched. The stretch position is what Israetel drills home about except he likes full ROM vs short ROM. For me you can get the best of both worlds. I been playing around with it by just doing my exercises with regular ROM until I reach failure or close to it. Once I hit failure then I switch to lengthen partials. I can often pump out 5-10 more reps. I just think you can get more time under tension using this technique.

@KnightTemplar Here is Ronnie Coleman doing lengthen partials. LOL these guys are the true doctors of exercise science....

Correct me if I'm wrong - I know nothing about whatever "recent literature" you're referring to - but this is an old(er) school technique that even Kaz utilized for his "powerbuilding" style of training. In the great 1988 video (while he was prepping for his WSM return) where he's doing the bench seminar, he explains why he's not locking out and discusses how he trains bench and squat and he talks about doing what he calls "two-thirds" lifts, focusing on full lockouts when it's more powerlifting style (and powerlifting numbers, going super heavy) and doing partial reps when it's more bodybuilding style (and bodybuilding numbers, going light for more reps).