I was diagnosed with MS a year ago. I woke up numb on my entire left side. Well I finally got out of the house and pulled myself out of the poor me depression and started hitting the gym hard. Thank you so much for being so inspiring to me and my health journey.
I'm so glad Dr. Eric Helms is getting the opportunity to share his knowledge to a massive audience. Good job Dr. Mike, RP and Co. I would strongly suggest giving him a follow on all the platforms, check out the Iron Culture podcast with him, Omar Isuf and the other Dr. Eric Trexler. Pair that with this channel and I genuinely believe you will be well on your way to improving your fitness IQ, rejecting nonsense and getting those REAL GAINS.
Absolutely, Eric is fantastic I've been listening to the Iron Culture podcast and Mass after hours while I'm at work. Makes me want to go back to college and get a sports science degree.
What we will do for the splittail is no joke. I was a Marine stationed at Norfolk Naval Base (FAST) back in the 90s. There was this Navy Lt goddess who also was fast runner who would run the square. One day i saw her about 500 meters in front of me. I was a 5:30 mile guy and she was a very fast runner her self. I damned near gave myself cardiac arrest catching her, and then unable to talk or even slow down, I had to press on. I seriously never felt like that on any other run, ever. EVER!
@@andersbjrnsen7203 absolutely. I was a Marine Sergeant and she was a Capt.... Would have been rough waters to navigate. All of us knew of her, and mentioned when we saw her. Fun days
Impressive and nothing like a lovely to motivate the hell out of us. However, too bad most couldn't care less about our manly feats but often lean more toward the worm sitting in the park reading poetry.
Historically I trained more for strength (4-8 reps before failure), but being in my 50s have move more to hypertrophy (still lower in reps). I didn't get this question about not training close to failure because with such heavy weights it's so easy to know. If on the third rep on a press you unwillingly stopped part way and had to conjure so extra push, it was pretty clear the next rep wasn't going to be a full one. But I've learned in the 12+ reps that you can give into the burn before you get to failure, especially if the mind wanders. It's also funny to me that when lifting heavy I stayed much more present in my mind because there's that danger factor and the set it short. Going lighter... "why can't those people rerack their weights properly?... why does my hair look more grey at certain angles?... is today Thursday or Friday?... what number is this?"
Phenomenal video! Loved the conversation. It’s always a pleasure listening to Dr. Eric Helms and Dr. Mike discuss scientific topics related to training. These videos are very informative and helpful. I’ve learned a lot from watching them. Thank you! 🙌
Relaly like this format. Very straight to the point, clear and consice. Mike hitting Helms with questions and checking on details, summarizing just gives the topic a really good flow and is easy to follow. Now as someone who follows both I was already very aware of this, but it was still enjoyable to listen to and I still learned new details. They're descendants of vikings and you tell them they don't train hard. I won't take my chances with that. 10 rep is such a weird amount of reps in free weight lifts I find. I couldn't tell what my 10 rep load would be in any lift because I never go that high by plan. I might go for 8 but not 10. Partially because it just sucks doing that many reps with free weights. Actually when doing the Greg Nuckols free powerlifting program, I had times when I hit 12 reps to my surprise because I wasn't quite aware of my progression, 1 RM or the load for higher rep range. I don't think it would've happened with like 5-6 rep range (also for obvious reason like the error getting smaller due to it being harder to lift that % of max load for every extra rep). Furthermore when doing a progression and especially if you've had a break, you tend to start at like 60-70% load with the same reps and proceed towards +90%. So that's also why it'd be difficult to call the 10 rep load for a free weight lift. I'd just progress towards max instead of shooting for let's say 10 rep load with 1-3 RIR.
by coincidence I was thinking about this after watching a video about studies where people were "training to failure" last night. I have been training in gyms for over 50 years, along side world record holders, International level body builders, beginners, etc. As you were bringing up.. the whole training to failure thing is too subjective even in an individual you can see huge variations based on mood, how well you feel and as u mentioned is there a hot girl there or not. About all you can tell is this individual in the study is putting in a high level of perceived effort. I have seen people do 5 or more reps that "looked like failure" when sufficiently motivated. Also I think people need to seriously train for multiple years before they even know what failure "feels like". I guess it also bears mentioning you can have "mental failure", "systemic failure", "aerobic failure" as well as what they are trying to find "local muscular" failure. Rant complete LOL. Have a great day ;)
A good rant though mate... The take-away for me from this kind of observation is that if someone is training with 'reps in reserve' deliberately then they're likely nowhere near the effort it needs to be! :)
Went here to comment exactly this, great one! Most intermediates don't even know what true muscular failure looks like. You need advanced lifters with experience and sufficient mind-muscle connection to actually study these things. +99% of studies are performed on newbies and intermediates, so we have veeery little knowledge about how intensity training compares to volume training. We only have the anecdotal evidence of Mentzer having a great physique and Dorian being huge as f*ck, but nothing else. I've tried everything in 10 years of training and I've reached the conclusion that you can only choose two between intensity, volume and frequency. Noone, on gear or not, can do the 3 all the time and not get injured or overtrained. If you go crazy on either intensity (Dorian's intensity level) or volume/frequency (40, 50 or more weekly sets divided however you want) you don't even need that much volume or intensity respectively, as you'll stimulate nearly all fibers anyway. Some people also respond better to intensity and some respond better to volume, or you can simply like one more over the other. I just don't think the conclusion is the one being sold on studies because of the reason we've already talked about. We'll probably know this a few decades from now.
I don't train like I used to, mainly because I fell off the fitness wagon and am just getting back on. But when I used to train hard, training to failure was easy for me and to know when failure was, multiple exercises I would do a set until my muscles literally could not complete another rep. I didn't do it on all exercises because I didn't have a spot or didn't want to end in compromised positions, but training to true failure on over exercises taught me quick what it felt like.
I've been saying this for years in as many videos as I can. People THINK they're training to failure. What everyone interprets as failure is completely different. There are so many videos of standard gym guys where someone comments says they're juiced because they themselves train "hardcore" and "to failure" and they got nowhere near the results. Just today saw some yt short some kids were saying that you can't make progress in 6 months when they've been training for years and are the "hardest workers in the gym"
Not even in to bodybuilding and yet I’ve watched a ton of your videos at this point, and don’t get me wrong- it IS really interesting stuff. But I have realized something… I just enjoy watching you speak. Honest to god, I would enjoy listening to you talk about just about anything.
I very much appreciate you talking confounding factors. So many people refer to “the science” these days as if all scientists agree and science is infallible.
True, but there's a huge difference between "Well, I read this study and it has this problem", and "Well, science has some problems so I'm going to trust my feelings and this guy in a tin hat on RUclips." And honestly, your comment could be read either way.
@@Empedocles449 yeah it depends on the science. I’m a massage therapist, in most studies they try to remove what is termed “therapeutic alliance”. Basically the trust and rapport between a client and practitioner. Basically they’re trying to remove any placebo type effect. But honestly what happens when you have this sort of isolationist reductionist approach is that you lose synergistic effects that you get in a real world setting. I don’t think trust in a practitioner is “just a placebo” it is a significant part of the reason people ease from their likely sympathetic dominant states into a restful parasympathetic one. Which is huge when we’re talking benefits of relaxing the system. Similar things happen when studying health related topics. Health is a multi factorial situation and we will try to manipulate 1 factor without well accounting for all the others. It’s hard to quantify stress across a study group, sleep is a little easier but not perfect. By the time you try to get all that data you’re going to drown in it. So either you oversimplify and over reduce to one factor or you drown in data. My favorite “science” is a personal long-standing case study where you try different things for yourself and track how they work for you. This accounts for individual differences and preferences. Also as a side note, have you heard that Russians are potentially using some sort of energy weapon to cause Havana syndrome.. maybe you owe the tin foil hat crowd an apology? Something to consider
Oo yeeaaaaaahhh great video jaja love the comic parts , tnx for all the applied and learning knowledge . you guys are such a great inspiration for these loving game of training
People forget that we have controlled randomized trials so all sorts of random confounding variables have their effects reduced, and when having a sufficient sample size, we can measure with a "good enough precision" effect of the subject being studied in any given study.
What scientific research fails to pinpoint on most cases is sheer human will to grind and struggle until there is a breakthrough. I've been lifting 10+ years, never "enough" serious effort, even when training on most days. Had covid two times 2022-2023, pneumonia two times with each lung separately in last half year span, overall health absolute 0, even stairs were hard 2 months ago. Major depression and started to wonder if i'll ever recover. Thought i have nothing to lose and started going to gym 5x a week. Started lifting like my life depends on it and broke a couple pr first 2 weeks. A month later and had to change wardrobe, friggin exploded in size and road to 100kg bodyweight is within reach. Some people like me need to go down a deep hole before finding strength in self.
@@sleeper9638 the whole thing is perplexing. I was on the strongest PPI for 2 months last summer, because of acid reflux. Prior to that i was always underweight, couldn't put on considerable muscle or even fat tissue. During the medication period i gained around 10kg of fat in 2 weeks, developed slight gyno as a side effect of the drug. That fat persisted until i started training again. I think it's a combination of many circumstances starting from metabolic change and downstream hormonal change as well. Combine that with hardest training in a persons life and we may have a recipe for rapid growth.
This has become my favorite youtube channel overnight. Please please please critique FUNCTIONAL PATTERNS, Naudi Aguilar. You can make a whole youtube channel on it. Please.
Regarding the the participants in the study that he say has relevance I really doubt that because they might just be over enthusiastic amateurs and I do not compare myself in that
I really do not undestand why they used the bench press exercise instead of a machine press exercise. Achieving failure while bench pressing is relatively dangerous without a spotter. This puts extra physiological stress on the mind and makes people more risk averse and then they report less reps. They will not push as hard as they would on a machine press. Thoughts dr.mike?
Going to failure and progressive loading are super simple concepts to understand and very easy to execute. Who are these people that struggle with it? Are they stupid, lazy, or just have a low pain threshold? 5 reps in reserve? What are you even doing?
That social engagement is exactly why I struggle to get a home gym. I’m a social driven guy sometimes, which might be funny since I’m one of the largest guys at my gym, but hey man having that skinny guy look at me and I think “I can’t look like a little bitch, that guys looking at me”. Or “man that guy just went fucking hard what am I doing, he’s got sure, but I got him beat on muscles I better make use of em”.
Before I even watch this, I would say it’s a simple answer. Eat right, keep intensity high so your striving to hit new PRs consistently, and don’t skip your workouts except in very rare occasions. Your results will be very good.
I would love it if you could make some videos with Dr. Quinn Henoch. You could create an excellent vibe and one could listen for hours like on a podcast. You and Dr. Henoch are the only two who know how to convey high-quality and qualified content with a sufficient touch of humour and rhetoric to make people want to listen for a long time. Unfortunately, listening to a someone monotonously reciting his theory is a bit tedious. CWS would also be a sensation!
Ik the science proves that little to no fat after a workout is the most beneficial, but as someone who is teetering on pre-diabetic and crashes after they eat carbs without fats, is is fine if I add like 10g worth of fat (peanut butter) post workout? Still with carbs and lean protein as well?
Heres a study idea... Take 2 naturals that both want to use steroids. Both train natural for a period of time using all the "scientific" methods/techniques. Muscle growth and progress is measured. At the end of that period of time, 1 of the trainess starts steroids, and the other remains natural. The same period of time of training is done by both. Muscle growth and progress is measured. At the end of the 2nd period of training the 2nd natural trainee is also started on steroids. A final period of time training, equal to the length of time of the first and second training periods, is done. All muscle growth and progress is measured. As there are 3 periods of training, I would suggest 3 periods of 16 weeks of training. The purpose of this study.... The participants are not being compared to each other, but to their own data. It is the differences in progress between natural and steroid use results which are compared. Multiple pairs of trainees can particiate for a wider range of datasets.
I've tried unilateral, isolation and eccentric focused exercises. Have to say, they're the best at getting to failure. The ptoblem is that they're too easy to go to failure at and they leave you susceptible to fatigue(better stimulus to fatigue but the lack of pain as a warning sign is really bad) and fairly weak to pain. The unilateral bit allows It was a valid critique of my training that I was using up a lot of time and not building any resilience to pain whatsoever since when I benched with my.buddy's it was absolutely weak AF compared to my size. I was also failing due to weak links in the chain, systemic fatigue or some other non local musucular reason.
Generally yes. Do X or take supplement Y, try on college students, check results in 3 months. 3 months is just not enough time and there are a lot of things going on that affect the outcomes.
My opinion is that studies are primarily for people who wants to learn as much as possible about training and find it interesting. But reality is that you will get like 90% of all your potential gains from doing a basic 5x5 program for a few years. Training is really that simple.
I have an unrelated question -- at what age should competitive bodybuilders consider stopping competition? Maybe just do a few guest posing sessions for pay and then fade into the sunset?
I did participate in a study about working out and indeed had a hot research assistant cheering me on towards my last reps, I’ve never reached 1000 reps since then smh 12:22
I train alone. While it's nice to go at my own pace, there are often exercises I don't push another rep I probably could get as I don't have a spotter. Though is that 1 or 2 reps left? Or is it really more?🤔
Judging by the profile pic, say hi to Linkus since you're in Sweden. Also time you started training hard. And as a viking descendant, please don't raid me for that.
Though one little caveat to observed muscular failure is what I personally call false failure, which feels like failure where you just can't push further, but on the next rep you notice there are still a few more in the tank
I’m surprised studies haven’t tried paying participants 100$ per rep after said amount of reps. For example. Goal is 10 reps. Everything past that is 100$ to avoid sandbagging.
he spoke about this in several videos. short: yes. it is a thing. you will gain 5-10 times quicker than you needed to get to that point in the first place. adding on top of that is a different thing.
Here’s the question. I’ve searched through a lot of the videos online. I can’t seem to find a really good answer. I’m 43 and up until my late 20s was pretty fit most of my life. I wasn’t an athlete. I just swam a lot, surf, and did a lot of outdoor activities like mountain bike, etc. I am now a skinny fat kind of guy. 5’8” 175 pounds. People think I look great for my age. I feel like an absolute turd. So I recently started lifting seriously for the first time ever. Monday was my first day. That would be yesterday. I did push muscles on Monday and I did pull muscle today. Little bit of soreness as to the expected, and got a great pump during the workout, but I find my hunger already has spiked like I was not expecting it too. I did timer restrict eat up until I started lifting. I am now eating throughout the day. I also eat a little healthier. But my God am I hungry. I feel like a teenager. Does anyone have experience with this? Do I continue eating like I normally did or Dial it back and fight to the hunger? I was a very skinny kid by the way. I don’t know if that has any impact on where I am now.
Being really hungry after starting more activity is normal. How you change your eating will depend on your goals. If you want to be stronger and more muscular, you can follow your appetite because you need to eat more. If you want to lose fat and weight, let yourself be hungry. Regardless of what you do, tracking changes in your weight, strength, and how you subjectively look should he part of it, to guide if you are eating the correct amount.
@@1TieDye1 thanks for the insight. That makes sense. I think right now I want to grab a hold of newbie gains and put on more mass. So I’ll be eating more for sure. I’m just shocked. I was that hungry quickly. It’s not like I eat. And now I feel like I do. 😂
My problem with studies is the lack of dietary restrictions and no account for sleep between each person... What if one person doesnt get enough calories during the study and another get 500 calories above maintenance level.. or one gets 5 hours of sleep every night and the other gets 8 hours. Id need a study where they are locked in a building for a few months where they all get the same diet etc and have the same lifestyle during that time.
Then they have to fight each other to the death to see who is the strongest of them to ultimately determine what approach is the best to build 1% more muscle mass. Completely reasonable in my opinion.
The same kind of variation happens in the "real world", and if you see an effect despite this kind of variation, it is even more likely to be a true effect. If you don't see an effect, you could always argue that this was due to the variation covering up the effect. However, if an effect is so small that you can't see it due to a little bit of variation in nutrition or sleep, it is unlikely to be very impactful practically.
The topics here are individual difficulties with individual factors studies in bodybuilding. The MAIN shortcoming with muscle growth studies and 'science' is much more far-reaching than that though. Bodybuilding really takes place in the SYNERGY between all the different areas (genetics, training, nutrition, hormones and enhancement, and lifestyle/recovery factors) and this cannot be studied in the fashion adopted by individual studies which almost always take one factor within one of these areas and study it in isolation which is akin to trying to understand a symphony by only listening to and analysing each instrument-part on its own.
I only work out 3 days a week all three in a row chest tri shoulders then back bicep then legs.. I just just ass until I feel my muscles can't lift weight that should be easy to lift because I'm fatigued and I consistently am growing both bigger and actual strength. I'm on keto as well see no need for carbs
I have to stop at the last rep when I struggle but am still 99-100% sure I can rack, since I have no partner and the gym is virtually empty. Mainly on squat and bench. If people are going to absolute failure, does that mean everyone has a training buddy?
@madhusudan I dont use a bar or do flat bench. I do decline and incline with 150lb dumbbells, suspended on 3 ratchet straps each from a 1" black iron pipe so that when I fail they cant fall on the floor. I live in basically an apartment and train almost exclusively at home. If I was training strongman style (move weights, not get big) I would use a rack to still train to failure. In that case I would be training compound movements like barbell bench, I guess.
This sounds like a collaboration w behavioral economists would be informative. Behavioral economics is grounded in empirical observations of human behavior, which have demonstrated that people do not always make what neoclassical economists consider the “rational” or “optimal” decision, even if they have the information and the tools available to do so. I think the theoretical basis is centered on spending behavior but I can see the usefulness of looking at energy or how we spend energy.
I'm the random who goes hard at the gym to failure nearly every set.. and then I go home and contemplate my life and why I felt I didn't go hard enough.. 😂
I’m a little skeptical of RIR because there are times that I go in and train for 2 reps more than what I thought would be failure and other times I am a rep short… and that is out of 5 reps, so RIR is +/- 3? Out of 5? Not a lot of precision there. But I used to go to failure almost every time and now I’m less anal about it. So there’s that. And it does help subsequent exercises substantially.
I’ve been following scientific based workout strategy. But it didn’t keep me enough progress for the past 3years. And i just started watching Sam sulek’s video and followed bro-split without thinking of volumes. And the recent 6months have given me more progress than before
Right. Cause when you watched sam and he was preaching slamming food did you start doing that? Food is the main driver of hypertrophy. +sam trains relatively-ish optimal
@@JimmyStruthers-lb3sn Do you just not pay attention? These particular science based guys are some of the biggest advocates of simplicity in training, progression and effort. Mike makes like a weekly video mocking needless complexity.
@Renaissance Periodization-Please read my feedback-I do not like to brag, however, I am close to competitive bodybuilding condition as well as muscle mass for a heavy weight; I have trained all my life but at some point, my body just could not handle volume any more and I fell into depression as my training went upside down. I discovered HIT, studied it to understand what the system is about, in short, it is very synergistic, if you pick 4 varying exercises for back, they all compliment each other and each set to absolute failure helps fatigue the muscle and each set is digging a breakage in the muscle. I trained legs a few days ago while quite depleted, I did go to failure but I knew deep in my heart that this session was not like the others where I am coming off a refeed, there was definitely at least 1 rep in reserve. However, my quads took on a growth spur regardless. I do upper body training once a week, some times I split it into twice a week, I am not doing more than 12 sets for upper and I have grown significantly each 10 days. My leg workout is not more than 6 sets including calfs. I have grown mentally each week as well as from a nervous system standpoint and my ability to generate force has since gone up to the point that I am backing off not to tear any muscle. A down side of HIT is inflicting injury on yourself and it requires discipline not to do so as well as control over volume. Like with any training system, it takes some time to master as your force generation goes up, especially if moving from volume style. I struggled with volume training because it is very difficult to back off from each set when trying to reserve reps as well as some people such as myself that lack the sensitivity to understand when they are getting towards failure. To add, social settings can motivate, however, you cannot cheat experience and nervous system conditioning, therefore, if the subjects in the experiment are not advanced high intensity lifters, the results are kind of skewed if that it is the case.
Ahhhh so thats how that one study that found out that bench pressing on a bozuball results in similar strength gains like bench pressing on a bench came to be. Bozuball group must have had an amazingly hot exercise scientist overseeing things.
Please look up 50 Minute Functional Patterns Training and Naudi Aguilar trains Jeremy Stephens MMA fighter and Kyle Dake. Please make a video on this shit. Please.
![Chino Pacas - Smith (ft. Junior H & Fuerza Regida) [Video Visualizador Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BVK6k56X30Y/mqdefault.jpg)
I don't think they're bull, every week I invite my big friends over so we can group study each other's muscles and I think we're learning a lot.
that sounds lots of fun
You should invite dr Mike he would very much enjoy 😂
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
@@AVanMan it's pure, hard science and we're all scientists, I think he'd fit right in
As a closeted five year turbo bulker, this made me start breathing heavily.
Dr. Mike here trying to get my guard down by having thoughtful and well articulated interviews with other researchers
I only train to organ failure.
Get them shots in, brother 🫡
That's why I always bring my Baxter PrisMax to the gym and start myself on CVVHDF before I begin my workout.
I was diagnosed with MS a year ago. I woke up numb on my entire left side. Well I finally got out of the house and pulled myself out of the poor me depression and started hitting the gym hard.
Thank you so much for being so inspiring to me and my health journey.
hope weight training it helps you
That's amazing!!
amazing bro, keep going !
You are getting poisoned . Change your diet
Don't take the shakes,take eggs .Guy on the right looks seriously unhealthy. Heart attack material because they eat to much glutton
I'm so glad Dr. Eric Helms is getting the opportunity to share his knowledge to a massive audience. Good job Dr. Mike, RP and Co. I would strongly suggest giving him a follow on all the platforms, check out the Iron Culture podcast with him, Omar Isuf and the other Dr. Eric Trexler. Pair that with this channel and I genuinely believe you will be well on your way to improving your fitness IQ, rejecting nonsense and getting those REAL GAINS.
Absolutely, Eric is fantastic I've been listening to the Iron Culture podcast and Mass after hours while I'm at work. Makes me want to go back to college and get a sports science degree.
Love all these conversation videos. I learn so much from them.
I love you ❤
Have several conversational interviews in my Arnold Classic videos series you may find useful and informative too :)
Hey RP. I think it would be cool to do a Documentary style video in a excersise research lab. Interviews, video of the process of training studies.
i agree
What we will do for the splittail is no joke. I was a Marine stationed at Norfolk Naval Base (FAST) back in the 90s. There was this Navy Lt goddess who also was fast runner who would run the square. One day i saw her about 500 meters in front of me. I was a 5:30 mile guy and she was a very fast runner her self. I damned near gave myself cardiac arrest catching her, and then unable to talk or even slow down, I had to press on. I seriously never felt like that on any other run, ever. EVER!
You should have made sure to meet her every other day, imagine what a runner you would have become 😅
@@andersbjrnsen7203 absolutely. I was a Marine Sergeant and she was a Capt.... Would have been rough waters to navigate. All of us knew of her, and mentioned when we saw her. Fun days
Impressive and nothing like a lovely to motivate the hell out of us. However, too bad most couldn't care less about our manly feats but often lean more toward the worm sitting in the park reading poetry.
Did you pipe
Greetings from Uppsala! Represent 👌👌
Hyksi Haksi Huk?
I bet you don’t train hard.
The Fika between sets makes it worthwhile. Been to Uppsala, lovely place, when not covered in snow 🥶
Scott the video guy is the unseen hero of RP. I'm a production person and this is top notch production value.
I've seen him at least once
.... he's dreamy
fr tho he has actually appeared in a video
Historically I trained more for strength (4-8 reps before failure), but being in my 50s have move more to hypertrophy (still lower in reps). I didn't get this question about not training close to failure because with such heavy weights it's so easy to know. If on the third rep on a press you unwillingly stopped part way and had to conjure so extra push, it was pretty clear the next rep wasn't going to be a full one. But I've learned in the 12+ reps that you can give into the burn before you get to failure, especially if the mind wanders. It's also funny to me that when lifting heavy I stayed much more present in my mind because there's that danger factor and the set it short. Going lighter... "why can't those people rerack their weights properly?... why does my hair look more grey at certain angles?... is today Thursday or Friday?... what number is this?"
Did not expect to get an Uppsala drop from Mike - (I'm Swedish.... ) Uppsala has one of the largest universities in Sweden.
I am in uppsala while I am watching this video. I don't live in uppsala. I just work today their.
same
Jävla kjöttboller!
Jealous. Sweden is amazing. I want to take a one way trip back to Sweden and just disappear. I hate the US.
@@kronaperthroSweden is rapidly becoming a multicultural hellhole.
Great interview ! Would appreciate it if it’s longer !
Thanks
4:48 The point about commenters equating what they see with what they assume study participants do is very astute.
Phenomenal video! Loved the conversation. It’s always a pleasure listening to Dr. Eric Helms and Dr. Mike discuss scientific topics related to training. These videos are very informative and helpful. I’ve learned a lot from watching them. Thank you! 🙌
Relaly like this format. Very straight to the point, clear and consice. Mike hitting Helms with questions and checking on details, summarizing just gives the topic a really good flow and is easy to follow. Now as someone who follows both I was already very aware of this, but it was still enjoyable to listen to and I still learned new details.
They're descendants of vikings and you tell them they don't train hard. I won't take my chances with that.
10 rep is such a weird amount of reps in free weight lifts I find. I couldn't tell what my 10 rep load would be in any lift because I never go that high by plan. I might go for 8 but not 10. Partially because it just sucks doing that many reps with free weights. Actually when doing the Greg Nuckols free powerlifting program, I had times when I hit 12 reps to my surprise because I wasn't quite aware of my progression, 1 RM or the load for higher rep range. I don't think it would've happened with like 5-6 rep range (also for obvious reason like the error getting smaller due to it being harder to lift that % of max load for every extra rep). Furthermore when doing a progression and especially if you've had a break, you tend to start at like 60-70% load with the same reps and proceed towards +90%. So that's also why it'd be difficult to call the 10 rep load for a free weight lift. I'd just progress towards max instead of shooting for let's say 10 rep load with 1-3 RIR.
This dude is funny as hell. I am subscribing.
I’ve recorded “Gogogogogogogo nice job” and will listen on repeat at the gym from now on.
by coincidence I was thinking about this after watching a video about studies where people were "training to failure" last night. I have been training in gyms for over 50 years, along side world record holders, International level body builders, beginners, etc. As you were bringing up.. the whole training to failure thing is too subjective even in an individual you can see huge variations based on mood, how well you feel and as u mentioned is there a hot girl there or not. About all you can tell is this individual in the study is putting in a high level of perceived effort. I have seen people do 5 or more reps that "looked like failure" when sufficiently motivated. Also I think people need to seriously train for multiple years before they even know what failure "feels like". I guess it also bears mentioning you can have "mental failure", "systemic failure", "aerobic failure" as well as what they are trying to find "local muscular" failure. Rant complete LOL. Have a great day ;)
A good rant though mate... The take-away for me from this kind of observation is that if someone is training with 'reps in reserve' deliberately then they're likely nowhere near the effort it needs to be! :)
Went here to comment exactly this, great one!
Most intermediates don't even know what true muscular failure looks like. You need advanced lifters with experience and sufficient mind-muscle connection to actually study these things. +99% of studies are performed on newbies and intermediates, so we have veeery little knowledge about how intensity training compares to volume training. We only have the anecdotal evidence of Mentzer having a great physique and Dorian being huge as f*ck, but nothing else.
I've tried everything in 10 years of training and I've reached the conclusion that you can only choose two between intensity, volume and frequency. Noone, on gear or not, can do the 3 all the time and not get injured or overtrained. If you go crazy on either intensity (Dorian's intensity level) or volume/frequency (40, 50 or more weekly sets divided however you want) you don't even need that much volume or intensity respectively, as you'll stimulate nearly all fibers anyway.
Some people also respond better to intensity and some respond better to volume, or you can simply like one more over the other. I just don't think the conclusion is the one being sold on studies because of the reason we've already talked about. We'll probably know this a few decades from now.
I don't train like I used to, mainly because I fell off the fitness wagon and am just getting back on. But when I used to train hard, training to failure was easy for me and to know when failure was, multiple exercises I would do a set until my muscles literally could not complete another rep. I didn't do it on all exercises because I didn't have a spot or didn't want to end in compromised positions, but training to true failure on over exercises taught me quick what it felt like.
I've been saying this for years in as many videos as I can. People THINK they're training to failure. What everyone interprets as failure is completely different. There are so many videos of standard gym guys where someone comments says they're juiced because they themselves train "hardcore" and "to failure" and they got nowhere near the results. Just today saw some yt short some kids were saying that you can't make progress in 6 months when they've been training for years and are the "hardest workers in the gym"
You didn't watch the video. Tsk tsk.
Not even in to bodybuilding and yet I’ve watched a ton of your videos at this point, and don’t get me wrong- it IS really interesting stuff. But I have realized something… I just enjoy watching you speak. Honest to god, I would enjoy listening to you talk about just about anything.
Good narration voice
I very much appreciate you talking confounding factors. So many people refer to “the science” these days as if all scientists agree and science is infallible.
True, but there's a huge difference between "Well, I read this study and it has this problem", and "Well, science has some problems so I'm going to trust my feelings and this guy in a tin hat on RUclips." And honestly, your comment could be read either way.
@@Empedocles449 yeah it depends on the science. I’m a massage therapist, in most studies they try to remove what is termed “therapeutic alliance”. Basically the trust and rapport between a client and practitioner. Basically they’re trying to remove any placebo type effect.
But honestly what happens when you have this sort of isolationist reductionist approach is that you lose synergistic effects that you get in a real world setting. I don’t think trust in a practitioner is “just a placebo” it is a significant part of the reason people ease from their likely sympathetic dominant states into a restful parasympathetic one. Which is huge when we’re talking benefits of relaxing the system.
Similar things happen when studying health related topics. Health is a multi factorial situation and we will try to manipulate 1 factor without well accounting for all the others. It’s hard to quantify stress across a study group, sleep is a little easier but not perfect. By the time you try to get all that data you’re going to drown in it. So either you oversimplify and over reduce to one factor or you drown in data.
My favorite “science” is a personal long-standing case study where you try different things for yourself and track how they work for you. This accounts for individual differences and preferences.
Also as a side note, have you heard that Russians are potentially using some sort of energy weapon to cause Havana syndrome.. maybe you owe the tin foil hat crowd an apology? Something to consider
Wish this was longer!
(I’m sure you’re used to hearing that Dr. Mike 😉)
Oo yeeaaaaaahhh great video jaja love the comic parts , tnx for all the applied and learning knowledge . you guys are such a great inspiration for these loving game of training
Always respect Dr Eric
This was awesome! Thank you
Lol the 1st few minutes basically described some nice biases..."want to please the researcher's".
Eric looking jacked
People forget that we have controlled randomized trials so all sorts of random confounding variables have their effects reduced, and when having a sufficient sample size, we can measure with a "good enough precision" effect of the subject being studied in any given study.
What scientific research fails to pinpoint on most cases is sheer human will to grind and struggle until there is a breakthrough. I've been lifting 10+ years, never "enough" serious effort, even when training on most days.
Had covid two times 2022-2023, pneumonia two times with each lung separately in last half year span, overall health absolute 0, even stairs were hard 2 months ago. Major depression and started to wonder if i'll ever recover. Thought i have nothing to lose and started going to gym 5x a week. Started lifting like my life depends on it and broke a couple pr first 2 weeks. A month later and had to change wardrobe, friggin exploded in size and road to 100kg bodyweight is within reach. Some people like me need to go down a deep hole before finding strength in self.
Good for you mate wel done!
sounds like deloading was amazing for you, nice gains dude good job.
Good job mate, congratulations!
Actually this is why studies are so vitally necessary because it's physically impossible to put on any noticeable amount of muscle within just a month
@@sleeper9638 the whole thing is perplexing. I was on the strongest PPI for 2 months last summer, because of acid reflux. Prior to that i was always underweight, couldn't put on considerable muscle or even fat tissue. During the medication period i gained around 10kg of fat in 2 weeks, developed slight gyno as a side effect of the drug. That fat persisted until i started training again. I think it's a combination of many circumstances starting from metabolic change and downstream hormonal change as well. Combine that with hardest training in a persons life and we may have a recipe for rapid growth.
I've been apart of research studies in undergrad and performed a bunch of known exercise tests. I have not trained that hard since....
I don't normally watch things like this but I loved this episode
This has become my favorite youtube channel overnight. Please please please critique FUNCTIONAL PATTERNS, Naudi Aguilar. You can make a whole youtube channel on it. Please.
Regarding the the participants in the study that he say has relevance I really doubt that because they might just be over enthusiastic amateurs and I do not compare myself in that
Always a pleasure listening to Eric. He seems like such a great guy!
RP diet app ad from RUclips?!? Dr. Mike really is a trillionaire.
I really do not undestand why they used the bench press exercise instead of a machine press exercise. Achieving failure while bench pressing is relatively dangerous without a spotter. This puts extra physiological stress on the mind and makes people more risk averse and then they report less reps. They will not push as hard as they would on a machine press. Thoughts dr.mike?
this might just be me cause im a pussy and scared of the bar crushing me
They have spotters, right?
I keep hearing this comment. Does no one's gym have safety bars?
Bc a bench press is a basic lift and readily accessible and a good lift to measure training protocols?
Bench press in a powerrack is a very safe exercise. I have failed many times just training by myself. The bar just hits the safeties and thats that...
Going to failure and progressive loading are super simple concepts to understand and very easy to execute. Who are these people that struggle with it? Are they stupid, lazy, or just have a low pain threshold? 5 reps in reserve? What are you even doing?
That social engagement is exactly why I struggle to get a home gym. I’m a social driven guy sometimes, which might be funny since I’m one of the largest guys at my gym, but hey man having that skinny guy look at me and I think “I can’t look like a little bitch, that guys looking at me”. Or “man that guy just went fucking hard what am I doing, he’s got sure, but I got him beat on muscles I better make use of em”.
Before I even watch this, I would say it’s a simple answer. Eat right, keep intensity high so your striving to hit new PRs consistently, and don’t skip your workouts except in very rare occasions. Your results will be very good.
So... Is this a Yay or Nay on the 8 hour Rich Piana Arm workout I have tomorrow? Bought the protein shakes and everything.
Muscle growth studies keeping you big as hell
Please stop.
@@rockyevans1584 I will not
✏
@@Shon52 not for me, for the children
@@rockyevans1584 WTF? There are no children here. Most of the channel’s base are young men
I would love it if you could make some videos with Dr. Quinn Henoch.
You could create an excellent vibe and one could listen for hours like on a podcast. You and Dr. Henoch are the only two who know how to convey high-quality and qualified content with a sufficient touch of humour and rhetoric to make people want to listen for a long time. Unfortunately, listening to a someone monotonously reciting his theory is a bit tedious. CWS would also be a sensation!
Ik the science proves that little to no fat after a workout is the most beneficial, but as someone who is teetering on pre-diabetic and crashes after they eat carbs without fats, is is fine if I add like 10g worth of fat (peanut butter) post workout? Still with carbs and lean protein as well?
That all got a little John Cage at the end there
"I have nothing to say, and i am saying it, and this is poetry as I need it."
Heres a study idea...
Take 2 naturals that both want to use steroids.
Both train natural for a period of time using all the "scientific" methods/techniques. Muscle growth and progress is measured.
At the end of that period of time, 1 of the trainess starts steroids, and the other remains natural.
The same period of time of training is done by both. Muscle growth and progress is measured.
At the end of the 2nd period of training the 2nd natural trainee is also started on steroids.
A final period of time training, equal to the length of time of the first and second training periods, is done. All muscle growth and progress is measured.
As there are 3 periods of training, I would suggest 3 periods of 16 weeks of training.
The purpose of this study....
The participants are not being compared to each other, but to their own data. It is the differences in progress between natural and steroid use results which are compared.
Multiple pairs of trainees can particiate for a wider range of datasets.
studies of drug abuse is not getting funded and also illegal studies will not be performed.
I've tried unilateral, isolation and eccentric focused exercises. Have to say, they're the best at getting to failure. The ptoblem is that they're too easy to go to failure at and they leave you susceptible to fatigue(better stimulus to fatigue but the lack of pain as a warning sign is really bad) and fairly weak to pain. The unilateral bit allows
It was a valid critique of my training that I was using up a lot of time and not building any resilience to pain whatsoever since when I benched with my.buddy's it was absolutely weak AF compared to my size. I was also failing due to weak links in the chain, systemic fatigue or some other non local musucular reason.
Generally yes. Do X or take supplement Y, try on college students, check results in 3 months. 3 months is just not enough time and there are a lot of things going on that affect the outcomes.
This video was very good. I didn't think I'd come away agreeing with them but I do.
Hey Mike, I was wondering if you could do a video on Finesteride and the effects on bodybuilding
Nothing beats personal experience when it comes down to muscle growth.
My opinion is that studies are primarily for people who wants to learn as much as possible about training and find it interesting. But reality is that you will get like 90% of all your potential gains from doing a basic 5x5 program for a few years. Training is really that simple.
What is 5x5
And overloading. Don't forget overloading
Lmao stop propagating the "a few years to reach 80% of your frame" myth, it's downright embarrassing to believe this at this point
For anyone thinking otherwise, you're delusional and you blindly follow people who earn money by making easy shit complicated.
@@theoriginalbreadcrumb you clearly don't know what you're talking about, stay in your cave
"Are you training for strength or hypertrophy? YES!
I have an unrelated question -- at what age should competitive bodybuilders consider stopping competition? Maybe just do a few guest posing sessions for pay and then fade into the sunset?
They're not bullshit but a lot of people hold them in much too high regard and vastly overrate their importance
@Dr. Mike what do you think of Nukleus overload training and Gaining mass by hyperplasia?
I love all these conversation videos. Thanks Mike for bringing great minds here and sharing with us.
I did participate in a study about working out and indeed had a hot research assistant cheering me on towards my last reps, I’ve never reached 1000 reps since then smh 12:22
12:30 I also did almost kill myself lmaoo
Alex from Alpha Destiny just got done posting a video about this exact same topic.Something in the air...
I train alone. While it's nice to go at my own pace, there are often exercises I don't push another rep I probably could get as I don't have a spotter. Though is that 1 or 2 reps left? Or is it really more?🤔
I’m listening to this on campus in Uppsala, Sweden and I feel attacked
Oh nvm, they’re saying that we’re not that bad after all 😍
I’m in ulltuna right now, how my ears perked.
Judging by the profile pic, say hi to Linkus since you're in Sweden. Also time you started training hard. And as a viking descendant, please don't raid me for that.
Though one little caveat to observed muscular failure is what I personally call false failure, which feels like failure where you just can't push further, but on the next rep you notice there are still a few more in the tank
Swede here, Uppsala universitet Is a great university with some years having very strong people.
Good prediction 🎉 be around 200-300 this bullrun. Next one boom 2000
So much better than the nootropic guy who dropped claims with no evidence
I’m surprised studies haven’t tried paying participants 100$ per rep after said amount of reps. For example. Goal is 10 reps. Everything past that is 100$ to avoid sandbagging.
I NEED the "Come on Gary!" part clipped please! PLEEEEASE! 12:07
Is ''muscle memory'' a thing? Returning to training after years, would I gain quicker than new lifter? Would love a video on this topic.
he spoke about this in several videos. short: yes. it is a thing. you will gain 5-10 times quicker than you needed to get to that point in the first place.
adding on top of that is a different thing.
Here’s the question. I’ve searched through a lot of the videos online. I can’t seem to find a really good answer.
I’m 43 and up until my late 20s was pretty fit most of my life. I wasn’t an athlete. I just swam a lot, surf, and did a lot of outdoor activities like mountain bike, etc. I am now a skinny fat kind of guy. 5’8” 175 pounds. People think I look great for my age. I feel like an absolute turd. So I recently started lifting seriously for the first time ever. Monday was my first day. That would be yesterday. I did push muscles on Monday and I did pull muscle today. Little bit of soreness as to the expected, and got a great pump during the workout, but I find my hunger already has spiked like I was not expecting it too. I did timer restrict eat up until I started lifting. I am now eating throughout the day. I also eat a little healthier. But my God am I hungry. I feel like a teenager. Does anyone have experience with this? Do I continue eating like I normally did or Dial it back and fight to the hunger?
I was a very skinny kid by the way. I don’t know if that has any impact on where I am now.
Being really hungry after starting more activity is normal. How you change your eating will depend on your goals. If you want to be stronger and more muscular, you can follow your appetite because you need to eat more. If you want to lose fat and weight, let yourself be hungry.
Regardless of what you do, tracking changes in your weight, strength, and how you subjectively look should he part of it, to guide if you are eating the correct amount.
@@1TieDye1 thanks for the insight. That makes sense. I think right now I want to grab a hold of newbie gains and put on more mass. So I’ll be eating more for sure. I’m just shocked. I was that hungry quickly. It’s not like I eat. And now I feel like I do. 😂
My problem with studies is the lack of dietary restrictions and no account for sleep between each person...
What if one person doesnt get enough calories during the study and another get 500 calories above maintenance level.. or one gets 5 hours of sleep every night and the other gets 8 hours.
Id need a study where they are locked in a building for a few months where they all get the same diet etc and have the same lifestyle during that time.
Sleep is important but as far as I know there's no direct correlation with more sleep and hypertrophy.
@@chubbyboy2242 there is.
@@chubbyboy2242 there is a very direct correlation between hypertrophy and LESS THAN ENOUGH sleep.
Then they have to fight each other to the death to see who is the strongest of them to ultimately determine what approach is the best to build 1% more muscle mass. Completely reasonable in my opinion.
The same kind of variation happens in the "real world", and if you see an effect despite this kind of variation, it is even more likely to be a true effect. If you don't see an effect, you could always argue that this was due to the variation covering up the effect. However, if an effect is so small that you can't see it due to a little bit of variation in nutrition or sleep, it is unlikely to be very impactful practically.
Actual science discussion! How long until were are back to pseudoscientific, pop science nootropics discussions?
I want to see the studies on maximum muscle development for newbie gains
I laughed a lot, especially at the end! :D
What about when studies go to "volitional failure"? How can the effort be standardized across participants when it's not quantifiable?
The topics here are individual difficulties with individual factors studies in bodybuilding. The MAIN shortcoming with muscle growth studies and 'science' is much more far-reaching than that though.
Bodybuilding really takes place in the SYNERGY between all the different areas (genetics, training, nutrition, hormones and enhancement, and lifestyle/recovery factors) and this cannot be studied in the fashion adopted by individual studies which almost always take one factor within one of these areas and study it in isolation which is akin to trying to understand a symphony by only listening to and analysing each instrument-part on its own.
You could make this argument for literally any study involving humans (pharmaceutical studies, surgical interventions).
I agree with music making you push harder, works for me.
@crilloan Meditation music at the gym? Hardstyle all the way!
Great outro music.
Go inn. Actually try. Achieve pump, have fun. 🤩
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The 2 Best infotainment fitness professionals on earth.
An elf and a dwarf sitting down to talk.
I only work out 3 days a week all three in a row chest tri shoulders then back bicep then legs.. I just just ass until I feel my muscles can't lift weight that should be easy to lift because I'm fatigued and I consistently am growing both bigger and actual strength. I'm on keto as well see no need for carbs
I have to stop at the last rep when I struggle but am still 99-100% sure I can rack, since I have no partner and the gym is virtually empty. Mainly on squat and bench. If people are going to absolute failure, does that mean everyone has a training buddy?
Nope.
@@deltalima6703 What do you do when you reach failure on bench and cannot rack the bar?
@madhusudan I dont use a bar or do flat bench. I do decline and incline with 150lb dumbbells, suspended on 3 ratchet straps each from a 1" black iron pipe so that when I fail they cant fall on the floor. I live in basically an apartment and train almost exclusively at home.
If I was training strongman style (move weights, not get big) I would use a rack to still train to failure. In that case I would be training compound movements like barbell bench, I guess.
@@deltalima6703 Thanks for the reply. I see that you've created your own way to work around the problem of solo training. Cool.
Would it be possible for you to also include video recording in your studies?
It's hard enough to get participants in studies as it is.... A number of modern studies do have video recordings but it's not intended for the public.
Quick question for those who have listened better than me in these past videos. Is full ROM also best for building strength?
Good video
“YOU signed up to be here. It’s hard NOT to try in that kind of environment”
Craig Golias punching air right now.
Observing his biceps.
Absolutely love Eric Helms, first heard of him from Jeff NIppard and Helms' 5 day full body routine which became my favourite split later on.
This sounds like a collaboration w behavioral economists would be informative. Behavioral economics is grounded in empirical observations of human behavior, which have demonstrated that people do not always make what neoclassical economists consider the “rational” or “optimal” decision, even if they have the information and the tools available to do so. I think the theoretical basis is centered on spending behavior but I can see the usefulness of looking at energy or how we spend energy.
I'm the random who goes hard at the gym to failure nearly every set.. and then I go home and contemplate my life and why I felt I didn't go hard enough.. 😂
I’m Gary, I’m that guy.
Didnt hear a word they said the entite video as my ears were too busy looking at dr mikes loud ass blue sweatpants
I’m a little skeptical of RIR because there are times that I go in and train for 2 reps more than what I thought would be failure and other times I am a rep short… and that is out of 5 reps, so RIR is +/- 3? Out of 5? Not a lot of precision there.
But I used to go to failure almost every time and now I’m less anal about it. So there’s that. And it does help subsequent exercises substantially.
Does RIR even work when training for strength or in a
@@grischad20, I do reverse pyramids on bench. The final set is around 10 reps. The one with the most variance is 5 reps give or take.
I’ve been following scientific based workout strategy. But it didn’t keep me enough progress for the past 3years. And i just started watching Sam sulek’s video and followed bro-split without thinking of volumes. And the recent 6months have given me more progress than before
Right. Cause when you watched sam and he was preaching slamming food did you start doing that? Food is the main driver of hypertrophy. +sam trains relatively-ish optimal
Because training is with high effort and progressing over time is what matters. These science based guys seem to think that complexity = more results.
@@JimmyStruthers-lb3sn Bruh do you actually watch anything, they mention this over and over.
@@JimmyStruthers-lb3sn Do you just not pay attention? These particular science based guys are some of the biggest advocates of simplicity in training, progression and effort. Mike makes like a weekly video mocking needless complexity.
Sometimes you just need to try something different. Does not prove anything right or wrong with either method.
Serious question: What's your take on DHEA and NAC in muscle building?
You have low DHEA(S) levels?
Because if not most of it will end up as additional Estrogen
nac is g ood if ur on gear to help with heal sam if your 45% if your a male and already have good levels of dhea it won't do a whole lot
@@rudi5139 never been tested, but I'm around 50 and definitely not as . . . Anything I was even 10 years ago
💯 on failure. I train Yates' program and dissuade most from it, simply because most people will not be able to push to a true failure.
Love you two together. Super engaging.
@Renaissance Periodization-Please read my feedback-I do not like to brag, however, I am close to competitive bodybuilding condition as well as muscle mass for a heavy weight; I have trained all my life but at some point, my body just could not handle volume any more and I fell into depression as my training went upside down. I discovered HIT, studied it to understand what the system is about, in short, it is very synergistic, if you pick 4 varying exercises for back, they all compliment each other and each set to absolute failure helps fatigue the muscle and each set is digging a breakage in the muscle. I trained legs a few days ago while quite depleted, I did go to failure but I knew deep in my heart that this session was not like the others where I am coming off a refeed, there was definitely at least 1 rep in reserve. However, my quads took on a growth spur regardless. I do upper body training once a week, some times I split it into twice a week, I am not doing more than 12 sets for upper and I have grown significantly each 10 days. My leg workout is not more than 6 sets including calfs. I have grown mentally each week as well as from a nervous system standpoint and my ability to generate force has since gone up to the point that I am backing off not to tear any muscle. A down side of HIT is inflicting injury on yourself and it requires discipline not to do so as well as control over volume. Like with any training system, it takes some time to master as your force generation goes up, especially if moving from volume style. I struggled with volume training because it is very difficult to back off from each set when trying to reserve reps as well as some people such as myself that lack the sensitivity to understand when they are getting towards failure. To add, social settings can motivate, however, you cannot cheat experience and nervous system conditioning, therefore, if the subjects in the experiment are not advanced high intensity lifters, the results are kind of skewed if that it is the case.
00:35 'wipe that disgusting smirk off your face'
Ahhhh so thats how that one study that found out that bench pressing on a bozuball results in similar strength gains like bench pressing on a bench came to be.
Bozuball group must have had an amazingly hot exercise scientist overseeing things.
"a team of five undergrads yelling at you everywhere. Although I am trying to arrange that." This Mike, is why I watch. Lol.
Please look up 50 Minute Functional Patterns Training and Naudi Aguilar trains Jeremy Stephens MMA fighter and Kyle Dake. Please make a video on this shit. Please.