Unlocking Muscle Gains: Natural vs Enhanced Lifting Strategies | Mike Israetel

Dr. Mike Israetel is a Ph.D. in Sport Physiology, and training and nutrition expert, BJJ purple belt, competitive bodybuilder, as well as co-founder of one of the most successful training and nutrition coaching companies, Renaissance Periodization. Dr. Israetel has authored and co-authored many books on training, nutrition, and recovery.
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stamps:
0:00 - Episode Preview.
3:56 - What are you a doctor of?
5:40 - Mike's weight at different stages.
9:09 - How did Mike attempt to get leaner?
11:46 - Utility of Science in Mike's training & in assisting others.
15:04 - Tips for progressive overload in strength training routine.
20:52 - Do you think an individual in gear does not have to worry about getting stronger compared to naturals?
23:30 - What is 'Pump' work?
29:35 - Compound or only machine movements are necessary for natural athletes
31:12 - Should one chase the pump or can focus on hypertrophy workouts?
33:56 - Is it wise to select stuff that allows one to lift more weight?
37:07 - What are the movements necessary for growing a chest?
43:27 - Difference between full range & partial range of motion?
52:06 - How much legitimacy does Biomechanics have in bodybuilding?
59:23 - Mike's training exercises.
1:03:09 - Is there a problem by not moving much weight when the muscles are tired?
1:10:28 - What are Sissy Squats?
1:13:04 - How to build Mind muscle connection for size gain & growth?
1:16:05 - Why do People trying to get jacked go to bodybuilding only?
1:19:34 - General bodybuilding principles.
1:23:46 - Number of sets & exercises for muscle growth.
1:26:57 - How do people know that they are lagging body parts & how to fix them?
1:42:20 - Do you think massages are beneficial for athletes to adapt to pain?
1:45:49 - Mike's diet.
1:48:23 - How can one have longevity intact in bodybuilding & Who are some people responsible to help people with it?
1:54:06 - Like, Share, Subscribe, Comment, Follow the podcast.
1:54:32 - Way to connect with Dr. Mike.
1:55:38 - About Tattoos on Mike's shoulder.
1:57:50 - Outro.
#MikeIsraetel #RPStrength
#PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

[@Ahmadj03]

Dr. Mike! Can’t wait for this one. His wealth of knowledge and ability to convey so concisely and yet hilariously is unparalleled.

[@austinsowers2974]

And his incredible dry humor

[@CraigCastanet]

He's great, but I never find him to be funny.

[@josephjohnson8726]

​@@CraigCastanet ahh, the ol' sandy vag.

[@blammela]

Mark always seems like he wants to get weird until he’s with a dude that really likes to get weird lol We don’t deserve DrMike. Awesome podcast.

[@nickjohnson1178]

Yeah a lot of Mike's humor didn't seem to amuse mark

[@FlexinPythons]

I was the 70th like… sorry fam 😭

[@ChauncyCharm]

Whats your onlyfans?

[@brehhh5531]

Ya aight goof ball

[@done1961]

@@nickjohnson1178 Mike has high IQ humour

[@Behindjoonao]

Gotta love DR Mikes sense of humor & Knowledge. RP changed my training style completely after 10 years of lifting.

[@ryanrogers8211]

Have you been able to make extra gains? What do think is the best part of their style of training?

[@asketillus8679]

@@ryanrogers8211 I don’t think “extra” is the right way to phrase it. Just different and more rewarding. It requires a good deal more thought, and definitely isn’t something you can just go and do without a significant understanding of science and technique

[@ryanrogers8211]

@@asketillus8679 If it resonates with you that's great but I don't see RP style training producing a lot of bigger guys than conventional training. That being said I bought one of their programs and like how it's laid out and plan to run it once I'm done with my current program in a few weeks.

[@BattleToadJR]

@@ryanrogers8211 The Myo Rep, set design and method behind attempting multiple approaches to failure with similar safe volumes is honestly such an intuitive and rewarding idea in practice. (Completely agree with @Asketillus) Honestly I bought the RP App and program because at this point I've consumed so much of Mikes content, he's earn a couple hundred bucks, But I can honestly see how the app/programming of Meso Cycles is going to work for me long term. He's very smart to not overcomplicate it.

[@christopherbenoit1002]

Mike needs to do stand up. He’s naturally hilarious. Like I watched the whole thing as if it were a stand up special.

[@andrewrouth249]

Seriously. I was cracking up the whole time

[@Alleyezonjimz]

Just because you're naturally funny (which he indeed is) doesn't automatically make him a good stand up, it's much more than being naturally funny.

[@tsetse4327]

Sure. But it’s like genetics in bodybuilding. It’s much easier to do stand up if you’re naturally funny. Really enjoyed the podcast.

[@Gargarks]

Stand-ups actually have to write new material. Not recycle the same gay joke over and over

[@Healp145]

He should stand up literally so we can see his staggering stature

[@kinglemmy23]

I remember this guy teaching at my college! I always thought man RIP to whoever questions that guy in class.

[@PTPalmer_NPC]

Dr Mike is hysterical man, I’d love to jump in one of his classes. Definitely the type of professor you never forget. Love this guy

[@pogo7465]

That's because he takes tren and will f*** you (literally) 🤣

[@Palestradizzo]

I want to study exercise science cause him.

[@hunterholistichealth]

My favourite PP guest of all time… he makes complex topics seem simple which is a true sign of his intelligence & understanding. Thank you for this 🙏🏼

[@jeremiahkelley3877]

You guys always have great people on but Dr. Mike is by far my favorite guest to listen to. The dude is so funny and SOO knowledgeable. I go back and watch them all the time because they're so informative and entertaining. Thank you guys for continuing to provide great content!

[@brehhh5531]

He’s not funny at all 😂 mid

[@elijahpiere5324]

@@brehhh5531 I like how you have zero likes for over a month now

[@Der_Richiee]

@@elijahpiere5324 9 Months and going

[@georggutheil7845]

​@@elijahpiere5324x. L😊p

[@metalmarten3478]

​@@Der_Richiee1 year, still 0 😂

[@TrialoftheMonkeys]

Gents, I have one nut that lost blood supply when I was a baby so is incredibly underdeveloped and I can confirm the other nut grew pretty large. I've hooked up with a fair few people over the years and no one ever noticed without me pointing it out which is something I take great pleasure in doing. Glad I could be of service ✌🏼

[@joshwalsh6194]

That’s nuts

[@erickg667]

What the hell, this is great

[@m_js5709]

Always be sure to do your dumbell curls with your weaker nut first so you can eventually improve bilateral symmetry!

[@blahblah-if3nf]

Way of the giant pumpkin

[@jasoncammeyer757]

I'm glad you have the ball to talk about it.

[@BangeangRR]

I had no idea Mike was this hilarious. This dude had me dying!

[@mickdungeon602]

U can tell how smart Mike is. By his ability to make complex topics simplified. For Folks like me.

[@professorgentzel]

The discussion about the pump at 25:00: Arthur Jones, back in the 1970s, wrote in one of his Nautilus Bulletins that he observed that the pump after a workout can measure the extent of future growth. If a post-workout pump causes your arm to measure larger than it has been pumped before, Jones noted that over the next few days, that arm would measure larger as a 'permanent' gain.

[@luisfernandoenrique]

That's very interesting

[@LeviNotik]

Awesome, thanks for sharing

[@tbtb7084]

Love Dr. Mike. These are some of my favorites guests! Keep the bodybuilder/ hypertrophy gurus coming

[@JoshuaOdionson]

I've been following Mike since probably 2014 or 2015. He's a great dude.

[@nachtrevi82]

You guys are literally the saviours of this wretched industry , the quality of the info , the guest , the talks...just great

[@playerhater8243]

Loved this episode guys. Hope you get to have Mike back on soon!

[@squidknee5490]

FAVORITE GUEST EVER. keep this man coming

[@roblincoln10]

Dr. Mike is hands down, one of the best bodybuilding channels on KZbin

[@shizzl0rable]

An absolut DREAM come true. Dr mike drops bombs In 60 seconds I can’t wait what he has in store in this longer format!

[@Ryry-ig6sn]

Thank you guys for having Mike on and always bringing the good info 🙏🏽💪🏽

[@manu85345]

It's unbelievable the amount of value this podcast provides

[@jaredray7001]

Dr. Mike for president!!! He's the best coach in the game and not charging us a dime! I did buy Scientific Principles of Hypertrophy Training and almost all of that great information was already available on KZbin, but I was happy to be able to do my part to fund the Lamborghini insurance fund.

[@-._SHK_.-]

By far my favourite episode , Mike Israetel is my hero , thanks so much for having him on !

[@ryanb4353]

This has to be the best podcast I have ever listened to

[@brennand933]

Oh man I’m excited for this one! His recent vid on mind muscle connection is excellent

[@thepsychopimp]

Dr. Mike is one of my favorite fitness KZbinrs

[@catfish1161]

Power project + dr. Mike Israetel makes for an amazing discussion

[@ryanpatterson3900]

I never get tired of Dr. Mike.

[@vd9037]

One of the best in the industry!

[@jcl9034]

Dr Mike is a gift to the lifting community

[@peshy1047]

This episode was fun af and very informative! Great episode per usual

[@imhatchmantoo]

Dr Mike, i have never not learned while listening to Dr Mike. Learned so much during this conversation.

[@Atg.po1]

I've been following Dr. Mike israetel since late 2018, he's well educated, and a great guy!

[@TwistedAudio]

Epically awesome pod cast lads as allways, thankyou!💪🔥

[@ivancolandrea9583]

Dr. Mike and renaissance Periodization are the best. The system can work forever if you follow the books

[@Shockya2352_]

Really enjoyed this episode……hoping you can have him on more often.

[@Seek.Failure]

This dude is funny 🤣. Very knowledgeable, and his analogies make what hes explaining really easy to understand!

[@jessiefuentes9386]

Love this episode 🔥🔥 please do another episode with Dr Mike

[@Exercise4CheatMeals]

What a great group of men here.

[@maiwai6]

One of my favourite episodes along with Matt Wenning 🙌 Cheers for the wealth of knowledge you legends!!

[@loppystu78]

Entertaining and very informative!! Dr. Mike rocks!!

[@kenminleong]

Excited for this one!!

[@Wrek100]

Loving this episode!

[@codyarn5161]

One of the most entertaining eps

[@alexh9279]

Watched this while doing my cardio at the gym and kept laughing. Dr mike always makes for a good episode.

[@SpodyOdy]

Dr. Mikes pose for the thumbnail is great 👍

[@Ken-jt9gn]

Huge dr. Mike fan. Gives great information

[@darianbentley3125]

My two main KZbinrs right now are you guys and DR mike.

[@camsmallweak1820]

Been trying to poop for 10 minutes, clicked and saw mikes face and pooped immediately

[@andrestephanou3636]

Love Dr.Mike! Just finished my 4th meso on his programming. Awesome stuff 👍🏼

[@done1961]

Can you recommend? I’m following his principles but considering forking out for an actual RP program... but college student..

[@andrestephanou3636]

@@done1961 for the money I would recommend buying one of his programs to see how he sets up the routine based on how many days you’ll be training. The excel sheet auto regulates the weight you should be using based on reps achieved and how difficult you rate the movement and how sore you are. Plus, once done with a meso you just re-open the excel with a new doc and you can pick new movements and do it all over again. Realistically if you buy a 4 or 5 day routine from him you have a life’s worth of programming set up and can change as you’d like.

[@CUDDYMAYNE]

"It was difficult to blur them." that shit cracked me up Dr Mike

[@dakotasonney2142]

I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS! GIVE IT TO ME NOW!

[@anthonyearl9958]

wish i could have had some of this knowledge 25 years ago. been watching a lot of the RP vids and following. dropped the weight and went full rom. thanks for sharing this

[@mcso9166]

Dr. Mike is a wealth of knowledge and a funny guy! Great guest gents!

[@theanabolicitalian2285]

This was amazing 💪🏽🔥

[@Riffs_and_lifts]

Great episode! Would love to see Dr. Mike back on again sometime

[@metalicrocker442]

best Dr Mike interview ever !

[@PhysiqueEveryWeek]

Isratel's personality always shines through 😂. A great lifting mind.

[@Pdotta1]

Rare to come across someone who has their head in the right place on a wide range of things. Even Russia. Good to have found you, Dr. Mike.

[@NC_Nate]

Great session with dr mike

[@Xeon1791]

He is the DR we need not we deserve. Loved this episode

[@longshotdiedtired1582]

Man this has been a great podcast , learned more listening to you guys

[@passpace10]

This was a great episode I learned a lot about myself

[@dcw.photos]

Dr Mike is the natty king of comedy as in he’s just so naturally funny.

[@budrothefox3666]

Dr. Mike is an angel sent from the gods of gains.

[@truemiltonic]

True wisdom from Dr. Mike at the end of the podcast. I'm finding myself in the exact scenario he just described. I'm 43, trained off and on over the years as life obligations interfered with training here and there. Never been enhanced, never reached an amazing level of fitness but have been in great shape a couple times in my life, and both of those times yielded wonderful opportunities. Through my 30's to now, I got my personal life and career organized, making significantly more income, more control over my work hours, and now able to put training to the forefront again. I'm much wiser and studied than before and my training cycle this time around is the best one yet. In six months of hard, thoughtful and consistent training, it is yielding excellent results. I'm nearing my younger peak version, and set to surpass it in a few months. I'm receiving attention from women of all ages, late high school which I do not mess with, all the way to women well into their 60's, including all ranges of attractiveness, some of which are very attractive. You couldn't tell my younger, more worried self that getting older can and should be some of the best years of your life. But for those guys out their who are worrying but haven't messed their health up yet doing something stupid to their body, you have a lot of time to build yourself into a beast(and a natty one that), and a huge age window to date beautiful women if you are patient and work on yourself to be as good a version of you as you can be. Clean up your diet, do blood panels and optimize the areas where you are not healthy, train like Dr. Mike lays out in this program, you will get major results without drugs. Keep grinding brothers and enjoy the rewards.

[@robertdeleofitness7197]

I always leave comments on this podcast and I listened to this one twice! Dr. Mike is great and hilarious

[@MrDeanmfitz]

But dont you leave comments mostly in the hope that your channel gets discovered?

[@joshv2324]

Excited about this one

[@benanderson2576]

Great stuff. Dr. Mike is great

[@brandonyoung4910]

Greatest guest of all time award

[@MALI700]

One of the only ones I’ve finished in years

[@manuelfigueroa343]

Love Dr.Mike ring Him Back ! Super informative but Also absolutely Hilarious the Whole time

[@TheKurats23]

Excellent guest!

[@Solairethedarksoul]

I’m here for Mike.

[@uknowwho613]

This one is so good I watched it at normal speed.

[@scotlynhatt]

Back squats never helped my VMO development. After seeing the KOT episode, I started doing a elevated-heel high-angle hack-squat and the banded sissy-squat Mark came up with. My VMOs have come up nicely over the last couple months.

[@bbbbbbbbbbbbbb392]

Same, my vmo is way more engaged with sissy squat

[@killthemall55]

@@bbbbbbbbbbbbbb392 what do you mean by vmo?

[@Dude29]

@@killthemall55 vastus medialis, the tear drop shaped quad muscle on the inner side of your legs

[@done1961]

Omg I’ve never been able to grow this muscle either. I have really long lean legs - especially my femurs / calves. It makes squats seem to tire my lower back first. I wonder if people experiencing this problem have similar biomechanics and proportions - I.e. long legs and femurs, short torso, long arms. Etc

[@madzzzey]

DrMike makeing it golden

[@stealthswimmer]

I came here for the knowledge, but i stayed for the bro voice that Dr. Mike makes 😁💪

[@cephascephas8308]

Best podcast yet

[@flexluthor1691]

I had my bloodwork reviewed with marek. Test numbers were good but was recommended some prescription meds. The main one, they wanted to charge $300 for 22 weeks. Instead i got the prescription through my pcp. I dont have the best insurance but the same prescription cost me $14 thru insurance. Needless to say i wont be going back to marek.

[@kevincarter7633]

Love Dr Mike! Love his content all of it. Can someone talk about conditioning. What is it? We always talk about muscle building and strength but not conditioning.

[@TheDoughGetta]

Mike Israetel is the greatest guest you have ever had!! Not only does he know his shit…he is hilarious.

[@The3Lego3Freak]

Loved this talk with Dr Mike, always learning from you guys! I just just wondering something if anyone could answer it. Say you pr on a couple compound lifts at the start of your workout, then you move onto accessories/isolations and you either match your reps at a given weight or your reps slightly decrease from last time. Is this still an effective workout (both compounds and isolations) because you were obviously more fatigued from the prs? Do you accessories still promote muscle hypertrophy

[@tomwaitsfornoone1182]

Mike is like the definition of being secure.

[@stephenn3727]

Dr Mike is so terrific! I love his channel. His mix of humor and knowledge is awesome! Thank you

[@Ingeb91]

Dr. Mike has said many times he's more comfortable being the funny guy than the big alpha guy, and clearly that's coming through every time he goes on these podcasts. He's so fucking funny, I felt like keeling over numerous times.

[@morgsam900]

Dr Mike, awesome guest, brilliant and funny AF

[@andrijajanfranjcec6888]

Incredible podcast

[@slapxxi]

за доктора Майка всегда лайк не глядя

[@martin1234512345]

Been waiting for this.

[@nonachyourbusiness1164]

He's an incredible personality

[@manuelrendon8083]

Info is gold!

[@danlee9109]

Wow Dr Mike you never cease to amaze me! Or entertain me!!🤣🤣🤘

[@richardromanashton]

Yoooo lmao watching this vs listening to the audio podcast is such a hilarious difference, I didn’t realize Mark was grinning the entire time , on the podcast I thought he was fed up with Mike lol this was an amazing episode! Thanks for posting!

[@Gargarks]

I think that was Mark smiling uncomfortably and wishing Mike would stop derailing the topics

[@1r0nf1st2]

Great guest...

[@ishouldbereadingrightnow5676]

Dr. Mike is the man!!! I thought Mark would flow better with him being silly and funny, but Mark seemed very serious idk why.

[@Hhhlll7778]

Yeah that was surprising

[@done1961]

Intimidated

[@done1961]

By intelligence not toughness or size or whatever by the way

[@ItsAlpacaMan]

Dr mike is a beast and wealth of knowledge

[@shanewb-]

i am of the mono nut bloodline and i can confirm, i’ve never been asked anything directly while hooking up. however, i can feel the immediate hesitation and confusion once the secret is out. amazing podcast guys!

[@stoempert]

Who doesn't love Dr. Mike 👍🏻

[@danielarcher2114]

Being so big your own shoulders choke you is crazy😂. Could listen to Dr Mike all day, he really knows his stuff and is funny too. Loved this