Mike Israetel - sage or egomaniac??

[Volador]

I just saw a clip on instagram about Doctor Mike talking about more surgeries. He wants to open his stomach and push his obliques+abs closer together. A mesh will go around his stomach so his waist will be smaller. He also wants to remove shoulder fat so there will be more separation.

I am trying to find the OG video but I think it is a member's only video.

They posted the video 2 weeks ago. I like Mike Israetel, but maybe there's reason to be concerned about the guy? I timestamped the part where he talks about his plastic surgeries. Dude got one liposuction to get rid of his love handles, and now wants to get a bunch of shit done, including breaking in his ribs and this crazy mesh thing you said. I know we all have insecurities, and serious bodybuilders in general are pretty nuts, but I'm not really sure what to make of this lmao. I'd be a bit concerned even if I heard a chick talking like this. I also saw some pretty insane takes from him about AI and LLMs. Seemed like it could be trolling, but I'm not really sure.

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[KnightTemplar]

They posted the video 2 weeks ago. I like Mike Israetel, but maybe there's reason to be concerned about the guy? I timestamped the part where he talks about his plastic surgeries. Dude got one liposuction to get rid of his love handles, and now wants to get a bunch of shit done, including breaking in his ribs and this crazy mesh thing you said. I know we all have insecurities, and serious bodybuilders in general are pretty nuts, but I'm not really sure what to make of this lmao. I'd be a bit concerned even if I heard a chick talking like this. I also saw some pretty insane takes from him about AI and LLMs. Seemed like it could be trolling, but I'm not really sure.

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Sounds like textbook Body Dysmorphic Disorder to me, but I'm just a layman.

I'd venture to suggest that Dr Mike needs professional psychological help, not more surgeries.

 

[A_bomb47]

Sounds like textbook Body Dysmorphic Disorder to me, but I'm just a layman.

I'd venture to suggest that Dr Mike needs professional psychological help, not more surgeries.

Agreed. It's really fucked up how he prefers surgery and extra drugs instead of dieting harder.
Also he is full of shit on at least volume and directly training abs and neck.

 

[1rawdog]

Also he is full of shit on at least volume and directly training abs and neck.

What's the short version of what he says about them please?

 

[A_bomb47]

What's the short version of what he says about them please?

He says volume is the main driver of hypertrophy instead of mechanical tension and that direct neck or ab work doesn’t really add much compared to hitting them indirectly with other lifts. All claims are factually incorrect.

Then you’ve other nonsense, like that regular folks should train more than pros or that sleep is somehow more anabolic than actual steroids.

 

[1rawdog]

He says volume is the main driver of hypertrophy instead of mechanical tension and that direct neck or ab work doesn’t really add much compared to hitting them indirectly with other lifts. All claims are factually incorrect.

Then you’ve other nonsense, like that regular folks should train more than pros or that sleep is somehow more anabolic than actual steroids.

WOW. thank you.

 

[Phisher]

LOL This law student got sick of Israetel's BS and went through his doctoral thesis.

It is laughably bad and is filled with grammatical and data errors.

I can't believe that this is what he's been using to claim authority over the entire field of fitness.

 

[SuperAlly]

LOL This law student got sick of Israetel's BS and went through his doctoral thesis.

It is laughably bad and is filled with grammatical and data errors.

I can't believe that this is what he's been using to claim authority over the entire field of fitness.

Where's the guy in the Tom Aspinall thread who believes getting fat is good for sport though. Lol

 

[gspieler]

LOL This law student got sick of Israetel's BS and went through his doctoral thesis.

It is laughably bad and is filled with grammatical and data errors.

I can't believe that this is what he's been using to claim authority over the entire field of fitness.

Cliffs? The vid is >1hr.

 

[don't ask]

Cliffs? The vid is >1hr.

Alex Bromley has a 30 min breakdown. Basically full of copy and pasted typos, plus some incredible data errors. According to his data, the competitive college athletes in his study ranged from 40 years old to unborn, 3 meters tall to 1.5 feet tall, and 350lbs to 4lbs.

 

[Volador]

LOL This law student got sick of Israetel's BS and went through his doctoral thesis.

It is laughably bad and is filled with grammatical and data errors.

I can't believe that this is what he's been using to claim authority over the entire field of fitness.

Lol they just added this to the video:

IMPORTANT UPDATE 4 OCTOBER 2025: Thanks to everyone for the engagement on this video.Mike Israetel has recently stated that the version of his dissertation that I reviewed was a draft, uploaded to the university's official repository by mistake. He has also graciously and publicly noted that my misapprehension that it was the final, examined version was ‘reasonable’.My critique was, of course, based on the document published to the academic community at the time. This new information raises a different but equally perplexing set of questions about institutional quality control. If this was indeed a draft, then how was it possible for it to be officially archived and presented to the learned public as a final, approved PhD thesis?A key element of my video concerns the systems that are meant to uphold academic standards. Whether the failure occurred at the examination stage or at the administrative/archival sign-off, the critique of that system remains.

Plus response video:



The drama continues

 

[Phisher]

Lol they just added this to the video:

IMPORTANT UPDATE 4 OCTOBER 2025: Thanks to everyone for the engagement on this video.Mike Israetel has recently stated that the version of his dissertation that I reviewed was a draft, uploaded to the university's official repository by mistake. He has also graciously and publicly noted that my misapprehension that it was the final, examined version was ‘reasonable’.My critique was, of course, based on the document published to the academic community at the time. This new information raises a different but equally perplexing set of questions about institutional quality control. If this was indeed a draft, then how was it possible for it to be officially archived and presented to the learned public as a final, approved PhD thesis?A key element of my video concerns the systems that are meant to uphold academic standards. Whether the failure occurred at the examination stage or at the administrative/archival sign-off, the critique of that system remains.

Plus response video:



The drama continues

The real issue here is that "exercise science" is an undeveloped, unserious field.

Even without typos and data errors, Israetel's thesis is still garbage and so are most of the studies that the science-based crowd throws around.

 

[don't ask]

Lol they just added this to the video:

IMPORTANT UPDATE 4 OCTOBER 2025: Thanks to everyone for the engagement on this video.Mike Israetel has recently stated that the version of his dissertation that I reviewed was a draft, uploaded to the university's official repository by mistake. He has also graciously and publicly noted that my misapprehension that it was the final, examined version was ‘reasonable’.My critique was, of course, based on the document published to the academic community at the time. This new information raises a different but equally perplexing set of questions about institutional quality control. If this was indeed a draft, then how was it possible for it to be officially archived and presented to the learned public as a final, approved PhD thesis?A key element of my video concerns the systems that are meant to uphold academic standards. Whether the failure occurred at the examination stage or at the administrative/archival sign-off, the critique of that system remains.

Plus response video:



The drama continues

Have they released the finish draft of the dissertation? Will they? They kind of need to.

 

[don't ask]

Lol they just added this to the video:

IMPORTANT UPDATE 4 OCTOBER 2025: Thanks to everyone for the engagement on this video.Mike Israetel has recently stated that the version of his dissertation that I reviewed was a draft, uploaded to the university's official repository by mistake. He has also graciously and publicly noted that my misapprehension that it was the final, examined version was ‘reasonable’.My critique was, of course, based on the document published to the academic community at the time. This new information raises a different but equally perplexing set of questions about institutional quality control. If this was indeed a draft, then how was it possible for it to be officially archived and presented to the learned public as a final, approved PhD thesis?A key element of my video concerns the systems that are meant to uphold academic standards. Whether the failure occurred at the examination stage or at the administrative/archival sign-off, the critique of that system remains.

Plus response video:



The drama continues

The comments on this are mesmerizing. I have no idea who to believe, but some great points are being raised.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Hasn't Israetel been referring to himself as a, "former professor of sports science" on his videos for some time now?

I like the guy, his videos can be fun to watch. But he wouldn't be my go-to guy for anything related to strength training or fitness.

 

[A_bomb47]

The comments on this are mesmerizing. I have no idea who to believe, but some great points are being raised.

The version Solomon reviewed clearly couldn’t have been the final one, in my opinion. Still, it’s sloppy to upload the wrong version of such an important document. Whether it was a misnamed file or simply the wrong one selected, it comes across as amateurish at best. I even triple check internal documents that I just want to share with my team before I upload it.

 

[ChickenBrother]

The real issue here is that "exercise science" is an undeveloped, unserious field.

Even without typos and data errors, Israetel's thesis is still garbage and so are most of the studies that the science-based crowd throws around.

How dare you?

 

[godhatesacoward]

He says volume is the main driver of hypertrophy instead of mechanical tension and that direct neck or ab work doesn’t really add much compared to hitting them indirectly with other lifts. All claims are factually incorrect.

Then you’ve other nonsense, like that regular folks should train more than pros or that sleep is somehow more anabolic than actual steroids.

sleep is REALLY important

 

[godhatesacoward]

Lol they just added this to the video:

IMPORTANT UPDATE 4 OCTOBER 2025: Thanks to everyone for the engagement on this video.Mike Israetel has recently stated that the version of his dissertation that I reviewed was a draft, uploaded to the university's official repository by mistake. He has also graciously and publicly noted that my misapprehension that it was the final, examined version was ‘reasonable’.My critique was, of course, based on the document published to the academic community at the time. This new information raises a different but equally perplexing set of questions about institutional quality control. If this was indeed a draft, then how was it possible for it to be officially archived and presented to the learned public as a final, approved PhD thesis?A key element of my video concerns the systems that are meant to uphold academic standards. Whether the failure occurred at the examination stage or at the administrative/archival sign-off, the critique of that system remains.

Plus response video:



The drama continues

literallysays it's not a response video in the start

 

[The XL]

He says a lot of dumb shit. These credentials that a lot of people have don't mean nearly as much as people think that they do, especially considering the fact that the bar to acquire them is a lot lower than people think. Even if that was an early draft, which I'm not convinced of, it's work that would be suspect by the standards of a senior in high school. He's a credentialed Jason Blaha.