We immerse ourselves in the fitness industry to learn more about lifting. We want to master our craft, and learn how things work. Not everybody is looking for that one magic secret that will unlock double the gains. The fitness industry has its share of gimmicks, I won’t deny that. But if our response to these gimmicks is to take the other extreme position of promoting the idea that nothing matters outside of common sense principles, haven’t we defeated the purpose of why we all got into the fitness industry in the first place? After all, why do people spend time here if they believe nothing they learn matters?
My opinion is that the basics are worth hearing daily. That's part of what makes Sam Sulek great. He goes over the basics pretty much every day forever.
Great points. I think the fitness community is full of anecdotes, tribalism, emotional bias, and so on. Asking yourself “why” is a great way to stay on track.
@@AlanThrall thanks Alan. Lots of emotional bias, good point. I think people are emotionally tied to simplicity, and reject anyone who thinks differently. Same can be said for the science crew, or anyone in between
Every community needs this type of introspection and intellectual curiosity! The philosophical spirit burns true in all forms. This is kinda why having a robust physical preparedness in the general population breeds good use of logic and critical reasoning in other ventures!
“But what percent difference will that actually make?” “Who cares” This is spot on, not everything can be measured. Sometimes these small things add up and make a huge difference but each piece is hard to know what the impact is but the overall result show it’s not “just the basics”
I think it was NH that put it neatly, yeah it's just a 1% increase, but those 1%'s are what catapults someone from "I guess he lifts" to fake natty accusations
It makes a huge difference(infinite) if someone is not progressing. Most people who don't have good physiques are simply not progressing. It's not that they are slowly progressing, they have stalled due to not enough stimulus or too much stress.
@@noneyabusiness3253 nope, I’ve found training through massive ranges of motion, with high tension in those long lengths, combined with low to moderate volume, and moderate frequency (2x/wk) is super easy to recover from, and builds the tendons up. My only issue is forearm splints that act up when I repeat preachers twice a week - but that’s only every few months, and can be fixed through a 3 week temporary rotation to a non-elbow supported curl variation, or something unilateral.
@@BasementBodybuilding how many sets do you usually do for biceps? I’ve recently upped by arm volume to 8 sets a week for both biceps and triceps and my elbows have started to bug me a bit.
You've been cooking a lot with these recent videos/thoughts lately, really hope you keep putting these out no matter how the algo treats it. You really put into words in ways I can't express what I find icky about fitness media
Thanks brotha. I’ve enjoyed writing out my thoughts instead of going off the top of my head lately. The community on this channel is all serious lifters, that’s all I ever wanted. Don’t need to worry much about the algorithm at this point luckily haha
Profitability and exposure by gaming the algorithm is directly opposite of deep and meaningful content simply because a) you need it to not require a lot of mental effort to understand, b) it must cater to people with weak and superficial motivation to learn which are the majority of the population. Social media is the best tool to get your message across, but its also ironically the death of nuance and criticial thinking.
Went and searched up your video on resistance curves. Very good walkthrough of the nitty gritty! Actually made me make an audit on my own training. I'm going to see if I can push my 20th year to be as productive or more than the noob years.
sometimes it feels like i was blessed discovering the natural goats of youtube before officially starting my lifting journey. As a self proclaimed noob i need to thank you BB,GVS ,BOM ,NH, Faz and Alex Leonidas aka Alpha Destiny for getting me straight into the right path in hyperthrophy lifting. 9 Months in and i feel jacked out of my mind, the gains don't stop and i won't stop anytime in the future. Thank you guys
@Basement Bodybuilding: There will always be unconditional haters, unconditional supporters and ambivalence between the two ends of the spectrum. Keep producing your content. It's fantastic - and I'm not an unconditional supporter...just a critical thinker who likes to absorb other people's ideas and experience as some of it can be very helpful.
This is absolutely crazy to me in how much I relate to it because the segment from 11:32 is verbatim EXACTLY what I've been trying to tell my friend all summer long. I keep trying to teach him specific nuances about training and programming and offer him better ways to arrange exercises but he keeps saying "I'm content with my program, I don't want to overcomplicate stuff". I know not everyone has lifting as their absolute passion that they want to dedicate everything to, but you don't have to be at the extreme end of the spectrum to apply SOME critical thinking to your programming and try to accept new stuff that you can always put to use.
Yeah for me it's up there with those who have the attitude "you've been lifting less than X years, you're not allowed to ask questions about programming yet. Now get back to doing only your fahves of SBD."
People on r/naturalbodybuilding either say lift rock or they try and calculate which muscle fiber in their illiac lats are being hit, like there's no in between. Opposite of the normal distribution meme you usually see
I think I’ve been spoiled by the noble natty community because when I think of “the basics”, it’s not just SBD, it’s a mixture of compounds and isolations performed with high effort.
SBD becoming "the basics" is pretty much the issue of powerlifting and Starting Strength becoming mainstream. Before that, curls sit ups and many other isolation/machine work were considered "the basics" for better and worse. These things come and go in waves.
What helped me with intermediate hell was digging all the programs with percentages and just go to failure on everything. Started do full body again, treat each smaller movement as it's even more important than big ones, do 2 sets per body part on each training and not falling for bullshit like 10-20 sets a week. Before I already had good gains but this year is like another noob gains...
Just want to thank you and some other natty youtubers (NH and BOM) for introducing and promoting JM press. Recently I started giving my arms more focus and Smith JM press has become one of the go-to movements for my triceps work. Of course I am far far away from repping out over 100kg like you do but it has become one of my top 3 favorite exercises along with the RDL and smith machine hacksquat.
This channel was the first place I learned of the JM Press. I had already gotten to where I couldn't put anymore weight on the pushdown as I was going to start just lifting myself off the floor and the JM Press is doing wonders for my bench now.
To become an advanced lifter you need to be continually learning about lifting from watching, listening, reading, as well as experimenting with what works best for you. It's a journey, for those passionate about gainz
I really appreciate this video, and I wish some of the more mainstream guys would talk about the mental aspects of lifting more often. After recovering from covid, I hit a big plateau and honestly just kind of gave up for a little bit. Once I decided to go back, I simultaneously decided to approach things differently, and stopped hyper fixating on "progression", and started focusing on refining my lifts and also focusing on non gym health activities that were contributing to my time in the gym. I even had a friend ask me what I am doing differently that is working. I told them to take a step back and reevaluate their program and their sleep/diet. Some times, you really need to get a fresh perspective on things to move forward. Also, your arms are looking massive, man. Congrats
I think that hard work is probably holding most people back more than knowledge about lifting (just from seeing how the people around my gym lift), but I agree that learning more about lifting beyond the basics is great and supplements hard training more than "stick to the basics" people give it credit for. Channels like yours are a great example of this: experimenting and learning more about lifting, not in a way that gets people lost in the weeds or majoring in the minors, but in a way that advances and improves your training so you can get even more out of the effort you are putting in. That intellectual curiosity about lifting and experimenting is honestly part of the fun of lifting. It's also great (and probably telling) to see that the some of the best examples of ethic are among the noble natties.
@@supertrollfaxnoprinter3329 I saw commenter on a Massive Iron video where he was discussing the training to get your bench from 225 to 315, their simplistic comment made me thing "sounds like someone in their first few months of SS who hasn't realized yet how fast that strategy is going to run dry."
Love your passion bro. I'll be honest and say I don't always fully understand the nuances of what you say in your videos. It gets a bit too technical for me sometimes. But I know I will understand it better as I try to learn more and get more experience as a lifter. This is probably one of the most unique and useful lifting channels on youtube, which is an incredible feat in a space which is so crowded. Cheers bro 😊
This was a great video. As someone with 20 years of experience I got some thoughts (Damn, I'm getting old). Many of your points are spot on. We see many lifters get left behind barely in intermediate stage, because they are left with the basics. But I also think the majority of trainees in the commercial gyms are simply not serious about getting results. I've observed this my whole lifting career. I also think it's important not to throw out the baby with the bathwater in regards to exercise selection. I think the basic free weights in most cases will do the same (some cases better) than for instance, the current trend of cable and machines with emphasis on lengthened positions. The lifters doing these exercises think they have found knowledge that will propel them past the free weights, but I think it'll end up being somewhat of a fad in the most extreme cases. As always there is some good knowledge to be found in most lifting styles, and it's important to keep an open mind and adopt what is useful.
I think a lot of people in the gym just go through the motions, which may explain the sort of cynical comments you refer to. The habit's there, the passion's gone. But passion is what's most important. Everything else follows from there: adherence, aspiration, attitude. If you're feeling stuck, it will drive you to seek out new information. If you're overanalyzing, it will help you refocus. And if you're happy with what you're doing, you'll concentrate on yourself instead of shitting on how others approach the hobby simply because it's different from how you do it.
Couldn't agree more. There are more great channels popping up though. I think Dr Mike's videos reviewing legendary bodybuilders shows what you're saying. All of these legends were incredibly knowledgeable about lifting and their bodies. And often looking back it tracks with the scientific knowledge we have today.
i am infinitely grateful for a channel like this. seeing the rise of anti intellectualism overtake lifting circles has been reallly depressing and it’s great that this channel and the natural community as a whole have kept up with serious passionate lifters. I’m still flabbergasted at the top comment on that reddit post claiming “just going to the gym” could stimulate hypertrophy. anyways great video 🙏
I'm so thankful you made this video. I agree, and here's the way I would put it: if your current understanding isn't leading to the results you want, wouldn't you want to update your understanding?
Great video, finding new knowledge on lifting that is actually useful is crazy hard to discover but worth its weight in gold. All advanced lifters should share what they uniquely know
I have all the motivation and passion but i was having a hard time believing in what I was doing I've taken principles from you and other voices I trust and I've been experimenting and really liberating my mind from my preconceived notions. What works for me is at the center of everything (with the hard work and consistency) I don't have all the answers ofc but the needle is moving and I'm continuing to try and see what works while thinking about what factors I can mess with to find my way Some success, some not, some to be seen But what you spoke of in this video spoke to me because this is all ove wanted our of thr fitness industry. Thoughtful lifters who are willing to zoom out to concepts and then zoom way in time nuance. I appreciate your work!
Literally the only people I watch nowadays are Jonnie Candito, Bryce Calgary, Natural Hypertrophy, Alan Thrall, Fitness FAQs for some bodyweight stuff I have taken a liking to. Ive just come accorss this channel rn, will definitely add to the list. Thank you
Big reason why I follow you is because your approach is to not just dumb it down. You want the viewer to actually learn 🧠 Also what I find really interesting is lifters whos main focus is not aestethics they don't dumb it down either two examples are Enkiri Elite Fitness and Eugene Teo.
I think as I put it in an AtlasPowerShrugged stream "I like that you don't make us feel like the kid in class who already gets it but is being required to sit quiet and not advance because the rest of the class is so far behind."
When I used to play a lot of Darksouls pvp, I used to spend a lot of time optimizing every stat in my build. People used to say that I should stop caring about optimizing and should just have fun, but I never understood that. Winning is fun, playing optimally is fun, and when I did something that's not optimal, I was fully conscious of what I was doing. Even though I quit that game a while ago, I am applying that mindset to my bodybuilding now. Always learning more about lifting and thinking about my program because getting gains is fun. When I do a lift, that's not optimal, like Upright rows I am not telling myself that it doesn't matter and that I wouldn't get better gains by doing other lifts; I just like the lift too much to give it up, and I consciously know what I am getting myself into. I am not sure how much of a difference training optimally makes, but saying you don't do it because it doesn't matter is BS
Solid video. I used to be part of the "just do 3x10 of half-assed pushdowns" crew. Ever since I've been thinking about my approach more, my spaghetti arms have started growing. Btw, can you please make a tutorial on the Smith JM Press? I've been doing them for a while and I'm still not quite happy with how they feel.
Regardless of the topic I always have to do deep learning and research about any topic or interest I have. So ABSOLUTELY with fitness in general. And the spectrum of it is huge. Along with the misinformation spread knowingly or unknowingly $$$$
Some people really struggle to get jacked even with complex programming and a good understanding of technique, let alone those who just stick to the basics.
I whole-heartedly agree with your message. Like yourself, I stuck to the basics, chased progression on SBD, and developed a spider-mode physique. Now I'm playing catch up. It has been guys like yourself, GVS, the Team3DMJ fellas etc who have really saved my desire to continue this journey because I've spent many years plateaued performing suboptimal lifts for my body type with the false hope that trusting the system of following the basics would get me jacked. It didn't. It works for some, but not for all. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on forearm training. Unfortunately I have to do direct forearm training as years worth of heavy rows, weighted pullups, hammer curls, deadlifts etc with no straps have resulted in a net gain of 0.00" increase on my forearms.
No straps and still no forearm gains? I'm pretty new to training and I just do 2 sets of db wrist Curls and extensions every session at the end my forearms have grown almost half an inch in the last 3-4 months.
@@moonmerchant7148 Nope. I have a 200kg deadlift and my forearms are skinny little pencils. I've been lifting for 10 years now and in a shirt I don't even look like I lift. My genetic starting point is absolutely horrendous, so it's taken me this long just to build the body of an average adult male who's never been to the gym. Gotta work we with we've been given.
Following powerlifting basics will not get you jacked. It will make you a basic powerlifter. Following bodybuilding basics which is quite a bit different will get you jacked. Forearms for example have entirely different set of muscles for grip and wrist flexion/extension. It's like doing low bar squats and expected your calves to grow because you have hundreds of pounds on your back. The problem is the last 10-12 years of lifting culture has been so focused on powerlifting because huge lifts are impressive for social media. It's just marketing.
I understand the appeal of simplicity and sticking to the basics. I did starting strength and the Texas method back in 2011/2012 because I didn’t have to put any thought into it and I had extra brain space for other things. Needless to say, I was constantly injured from hyper specificity and had a mediocre physique. I ended up quitting lifting for 10 years. When I returned to it after discovering the “evidence based” community, I did a wide variety of movements and incorporated a lot of isolation exercises right from the start. I surpassed my old physique within a year, and after 2 years I look better than 90% of the people in my gym (mostly powerlifters) despite being half as strong. Focusing on squat, bench, and deadlift will simply make you better at doing squats, bench, and deadlifts.
Reddit is just where people that pretend to be smart hang out man. Some guy was “debunking” the physics of DB pressing the way we were talking about in the last video and completely misunderstanding what he was trying to talk about. Of course, I understand what you’re saying in that example because I’ve experienced something similar, made tweaks to my training, and gotten better results due to it. Yknow, actually trying to get better and refine my process doing this thing I love.
Not shame on you, I appreciate the shoutout, and the kind words about the video! It means a lot to know my videos have value and are relatable. It was the responses that I just disagree with, as explained in this video lol
The worst thing is that people in the fitness industry think they know everything especially these science based gurus just cause some study says so it must be true not many people can think for themselves anymore.
In my early intermediate phase I was so obsessed with learning and thought I knew so much. Knowing things means nothing when you don’t know how to apply it. I would now consider myself jacked stacked and dense, with much more mass to go.
4:49 feel very much like you in this topic, information based bodybuilding channels are soo rare compared to the typical influcer and they all just seems to repeat the same things like parrots , somebody who has reached 17 inches arms really need to make a proper program in order to overcome that plateau, doing a couple sets of standing curls or pushdowns at the end of a press workout once or twice a week is not gonna cut it like it doest for the average begginer with under 16 inches arms , this is when learning resistance profiles , which lifts are stable and what not , a basic notion of anatomy ( like insertions, origins and functions of the muscle ) can help you improve your physique dramatically. Why are all the " just do barbell curls and chin ups bros " under 18 inches arms 90% of the time ? Honestly yeah is very irritating
Fitness "influencers" are all about themselves and views/monetization. If you understand this at a fundamental level then you won't take anything they say seriously. All you have is your own empirical evidence as a lifter.
Simplistic advice works for perfect people. The advice assumes a set of circumstances about you that may easily not be true. The more you deviate from those assumptions, the more sophisticated your understanding about training needs to be in order to adust the simplistic advice to work for you.
I saw that reddit post and I frequent that sub. There are a lot of DYEL on there as well as old heads that trained for 15 yrs consistently to get a physique someone else could have gotten in 8 yrs if they got everything right to begin with.
I agree Nuance is important, you need to focus on growth if you want to grow. A squat, bench and deadlift can be used for decent growth provide you do RDLs instead of deadlifts and perform the lifts in an effort for growth intead of test 1rms all the time, but the traditional advice was to get strong at the lifts instead of good at them, and thats the problem leveraging to get effeicient at these lifts doesn't mean you are growing whats intended and machine are a good way to get people put of an ego driven mindset.
I just watched an anti-optimal video about sticking to the BaSiCs and training hard, and the takeaway was basically to be intelligent about your training but not too intelligent.
I hit intermediate plateau this year. Same as every hobby, it never feels good to stagnate and if you care really about the topic, you will try to progress. I made music for years and I reached a plateau, and I had to go back to learning theory/composition/start developing new skills again! Bodybuilding is fantastic since results are very apparent . Thanks for the video
I added an inch to my arms in 2 months by applying your advice about doing 15-30 weekly sets for triceps and biceps each. I'm at 15 weekly sets, which got me from 12.63 to 13.63 inches. I used to do 6 weekly sets and I wasn't making any progress. I noticed that some of the noble natties like NH or even Alex Leonidas grew their arms with high volume training but then they promote low volume training, basically telling people "do as I say, not as I do", which is not very smart.
Nuance and context are everything (and I would argue this applies to other fields, too). You gotta know the basics and the complex minutiae. They're both useful things to have in your toolbox. And you have to be willing to be the guinea pig in your own experiments.
in my first year of experience in training, i just blindly follow some random ifbb advice and copy their training program and method. ha! me a beginner follow a pros workout. end up i just keep on spinning my wheel around until i discovered the correct channel and actually teaching on how to train as a natural lifter. from there on i never looked back.
absolute beginners get fitness content for intermediates/advanced lifters whilst the intermediates/advanced lifters get beginner fitness content that tends to be more minimalistic.... nobody wins
An important thing to note is that most people (but not all) who already have gotten results has, by definition, above average genetics. It's just survivorship bias in another form. Most people don't care about the details, but at the same time, a lot of people have gotten very good physiques anyway. If you listen to these people, the advice will be dogshit, because they don't know what they're doing. It's these same people who say "just lift bro" and "don't overcomplicate".
After 5 years in a homegym i started to go into a public gym once a week...and there is this oldschool preacher curl right next to smith machine... Every day the urge of usíng it gets stronger... My elbows will probably turn to dust but the idea of my arms getting from 15 inches to 18 inches in a couple of weeks is just too strong to resist...
This is why I think its so absurd to just completely scoff at novel lifting notions like stretch mediated hypertrophy or long length partials. Anyone who is seriously devoted to developing their physique and growing muscle as effectively as possible should be taking as many different perspectives into consideration as possible. It's so frustrating to see people frame their online fitness content as being entirely black and white: "science vs bro science". That's why channels like yours, GVS, Natural Hypertrophy, Alex Leonidas, Bald Omni Man, etc. are currently the last bastion for natural bodybuilders who are genuinely fascinated with creating an amazing physique.
I agree with you brother. Stimulus and time under tension on all muscle groups is key for better physiques and better bodies for the avg joe. Including me.
Another great video has always 💪. Also I just switched to a new gym an found a pec deck there 🤩. What do my fellow brothers in iron ( and BB ) think about the different grips in reverse peck deck flies ? I feel my rear delts more with the neutral grip compared to the pronated grip , I think maybe my traps tend to take over with pronated but this was my first time doing reverse pec deck flies , what was your experience with this?
Hey! I worked very hard to attain this DYEL physique, making sure to do those high rep sets a few reps shy of failure just like Mike Isratel said. In all seriousness though, I can't wait to see if making 0 RIR and failure as a constant and making everything else in my program the variable, will finally start making me look like I lift weights after a decade of this 'few reps shy of failure' garbage doing nothing for me. I swear on me mum, if you make me jacked then I'm going to sing your praises with two inscribed stone dumbbells in my hands on a mountain top, glorious beard included.
I don't wish to sound obnoxious, but when you start lifting at an "later" stage of life (I started at 35) you most likely have a very different perspective than younger guys. For example, even though I started when I did, my mentality is that I have all the time in the world to build muscle and strength, if I don't succeed now, I will learn from my mistakes (with the help from channels like yours) and succeed in the future. I have many more examples like this, but most important thing is that since I started "late" I need to "catch up" and in order to do that I need learn more and expand my knowledge. One extra benefit when starting late is that (hopefully) by now one should already be familiar with the concept of steady and slow gains (like in a savings account) bring results so there is more patience. Therefore, I completely agree with your perspective
"just do the basics" is lazy advice not suited for people who have specific goals in mind It's much better to focus on the principles behind muscle or strength gains. Doesn't matter if your goals are strength, hypertrophy, athletics or some combination of all. Every exercise you do improves some physical quality, knowing how to assess what you get out of a specific exercise is what allows you to make good decisions about what to include in you program. Once you've learned something you can build a program tailored to your own goals. This makes lifting more fun and optimal because you've actually created your own plan to accomplish your own goals.
I think many people's issue with Wolf is that he's trying to turn lengthened partials into a marketing fad like Israeltel's "only do full ROM" schtick. Also most people don't like being talked down to and Wolf can't seem to do a single video without that condescending overbearing tone. Both also engage in a lot of "appeal to authority" by flaunting their titles and there's a growing distrust of that attitude in general from those who don't tend to just trust what they hear because "someone named Doctor said it."
@@zerrodefex I was about to comment has well but this nailed it perfectly , the argument is not that lengthened partials are bad the argument is that you shouldn't have a workout consisting only of that ( which he advocates very heavily) and him always wanting to be called " doctor " is very annoying
@@deansheppard1104 plus he has a habit of deleting comments that strongly disagree with him on that which is not the sign of an honest person. If you have to censor disagreement then you're not very confident in how well your argument stands for itself.
@@zerrodefex I feel you , I tend to comment allot on his channel and I even got a reply from him , he was arguing I wasn't bodybuilding because I do seated shoulder press in the 4-10 rep range ( because of how hard it is to progress on the lift ) even tough I usually stick to higher rep ranges on most lifts , after that he just stopped replying to most my comments and some of them also got deleted ( don't know if is him or UA-cam but I didn't break any of the UA-cam guidelines when commenting) Soo yeah I don't like his attitude at all
Agreed. People get tangled up in "optimal" and "improving" movements and chasing "shortcuts" to get superhero physique. Stick to basics and work your ass off, recover and repeat, everything else is icing on the cake and a small bonus Edit: By basics i meant sh*t that works for you and your goals, not basic 3
A bit off topic but I thought about something like a reverse JM press for biceps. You and many noble natties say that the JM press is the best compound exercise for triceps and I thought that maybe a row & curl hybrid where you bring the bar to the neck and the elbows next to your body (kinda like a reverse JM press) could be an effective biceps builder. Do you think that makes sense? I tried it as an inverted row variation and I feel it in my biceps but I haven't done it long enough to say if it's effective or not.
If you use a rope attachment on a cable row machine, maybe? The movement would be a jm press in reverse. The only thing is that you end up with some biarticulate muscle conflict, as the biceps also flexes the shoulder.
I would just say to use a lift that has the same benefits has the JM press has on triceps but for biceps. The reason why JM press is a very good builder for the tricep lateral and medial head is because 1- good stretch and you have the biggest amount of tension when the muscle is stretched 2 - very stable lift meaning you will not have stability issues when progressing and 3- the prime mover is the muscle you want to target ( is the reason why JM press is amazing for triceps while close grip bench is very mediocre). Use an exercise that follow the same benefits for biceps , a good example of this is the preacher curl and is also the reason why BB chosed it has his main bicep builder.
@@deansheppard1104 I'm a functional and strength bro but I like big biceps so I thought I could combine it. I've done a lot of preacher curls in the past when hypertophy was my focus and they are indeed amazing.
I saw a video by Milo on Stretch Mediate Hypertrophy and some dude was like “just stick to the basics”. Like why leave a comment on a video that’s clearly for people super interested in lifting. Not fucking John, 65 who trains once a week at 40 RIR. People who say this are incapable of understanding nuance and are just detractors for the sake of being detractors. Also analysis paralysis is one’s own fault not Dr Mike’s, Jeff’s or Basement Bodybuilding’s etc.
For seated ohp without back support, should I pause at the bottom? And does it matter if I stop at just below the chin rather than the collarbone? I find it puts me in a weaker position and not sure if it helps much with shoulder growth. Thanks!
There’s one issue I take with you saying the average lifter doesn’t train hard, and doesn’t take bodybuilding seriously. I do train hard when I’m in the gym. But lifting is not my main priority. If someone only lifts twice a week and does other hobbies on other days that they prioritize, do they necessarily not train hard? Do they not take it seriously?
The biggest problem I see in commercial gyms that keeps people from getting bigger is a lack of progressive overload. They come in and do the same weights over and over and over again. They never push the weight. They stay the same the entire time doing more reps. Some even look like they 're working so hard, but I look at them and think, "Dude, you gotta push the weight up." Progressive overload and volume work hand in hand and this is why I can't stand some in the the fitness community acting like you're in an either or scenario when you are not. Everyone I knew back in the 80s and 90s knew that you used both volume and progressive overload to maximize. Progressive overload has a harder cap than volume and volume is easier to manipulate because you're going to hit progressive overload walls. You can always reduce the weight and do more volume to stimulate. Anyone who has lifted for a long time learns that volume and progressive overload are manipulatable variables to grow. They also learn progressive overload has a hard cap where volume does not. That's why guys who chase strength like Louie Simmons created a program like conjugate so he could keep doing progressive overload with different lifts which is one of the only ways to make progressive overload a cornerstone of your program as the same lift will hit a progressive overload wall at some point, then you have to manipulate volume to maintain stimulus or change lifts. This is stuff you learn after years of lifting. Just like you eventually learned arms only grow so much if you don't train them directly. Same with any muscle and The Big Three train specific muscles. I think a lot of folks lift as a habit doing the same thing happy where they are. Only the serious lifters take it farther by learning how to accomplish their goals which for someone like you is to maximize size and for someone like me to maximize strength. You'll get a bit of both, but if you bias one way you need lift to accomplish that goal. Just as your arms won't get bigger unless you train them, you will not get as strong as possible unless you train for strength which is also specific. You seem to have finally learned what every serious lifter learns as they transition from beginner to intermediate to advanced: lifting is specific to the goal. The newbie gains are gone. Now you gotta grind towards goals or you''ll get bored and stop or stagnate.
Interesting idea, I’d definitely consider it. I actually recorded a couple podcast episodes for the same reason. May or may not release those, we’ll see
Lifting is one of those things that requires a wide, syncretic base of tacit knowledge and theoretical synthesis, rules of thumb as explicit commandments are not sufficient, nor are acientific studies without context. It's like running a business, farming, staffing a bureacracy, cooking, etc, there is an intuition and skill of assimilating knowledge and apply it that has to be learned, of course, you need to avoid fooling yourself with faulty intuition, scientific studies here can really be useful. But all in all, there needs to be an emphasis on trying to get everyone to build a strong, non dogmatic sets of thinking which takes into account personal effort, intuition, theory (biomechanics), and empirical research (studies).
There's a ton of people in commercial gyms who dont understand the things you think are common sense/basics. I appreciate your channel for the more advanced lifters, or the lifter who wants to get to advanced, but most channels who want views should be focusing on the beginner lifter.
Love the part where you mention that you started questioning things. I think it’s something we all should do and not take everything as it seems and then have our understanding. I do want to ask you something related to hypertrophy. Studies claim that anywhere from 5-30 reps is good for muscle growth, but do you think that’s true? Do you think doing low reps like 5-6 is good for building muscle or is the good ol’ 8-12 rep range actually the best when it comes to hypertrophy? I’ve always trained my compound exercises in the low rep range, don’t go below 5 and I can lift pretty heavy weight, but I see people who lift in the 8+ rep range and they’re bigger than me which makes me question if the 5-30 rep range is even true..
I understand your sentiment and agree that it’s lame as hell when dude’s think it’s cool to not put any ounce of thought into their training. HOWEVER, “Stick to the Basics” is still solid advice; especially to the army of beginners/non-serious lifters on reddit. NaturalBodyBuidling had a lot of potential. But this past year, it has been flooded with non serious or beginner lifters posting the same post that’s been posted since 1999. Also, when did basic movements like upright rows, pushdowns, pullovers or curls get classified as non-basic? I think that thinking of squat, bench deadlift being the basics is an internet thing. Even the most noobiest dudes IRL I talk to acknowledge the other lifts as basics. If our grandparents did em, they’re basics IMO. What’s not basics, are specialized machines, or hyper-optimized lifts. From my experience, executing the basics better, with more intensity and focus is what really got the gains train rolling and has kept it going for the past few years. Granted I’m not advanced like yourself. I can see looking at the nuances your present will benefit me greatly as I progress even further. But RN, with my 16” arms, BB Curls, DB Curls, Incline Curls, Pushdown and Overhead Work has been working great.
Agree with you overall. In start we should keep advice as simple as possible but only when we reach a plateau should se seek to expand our knowledge or else we can suffer from paralysis by analysis, if my grammer sounds weird im sorry, English is not my native language
I always thought your channel was science based, but not in the traditional "let's conduct some studies" manner. Yours is more theoretical and actually requires an understanding of physics and biomechanics. Until traditional science-based" studies become closer to perfect (which they may never be) I am always going to take those studies with a bigger grain of salt than using logic and seeing improvements in my own results - not that anyone should blindly follow any creator because their content is "logical" of course.
We immerse ourselves in the fitness industry to learn more about lifting. We want to master our craft, and learn how things work. Not everybody is looking for that one magic secret that will unlock double the gains. The fitness industry has its share of gimmicks, I won’t deny that. But if our response to these gimmicks is to take the other extreme position of promoting the idea that nothing matters outside of common sense principles, haven’t we defeated the purpose of why we all got into the fitness industry in the first place? After all, why do people spend time here if they believe nothing they learn matters?
So true!
Just keep doing what you are doing. Most people just want to argue because they are chickens and know they could never say it face to face.
My opinion is that the basics are worth hearing daily. That's part of what makes Sam Sulek great. He goes over the basics pretty much every day forever.
Bold of you to assume i wasn't dumb to begin with
Alternate title, the fitness industry keeps you dumb
@@BasementBodybuilding Fitness industry keeping you dumb keeping you big as hell
I mean ya, we’re gym bros not a lot of us are rocket appliances.
Grug lift rock, Grug happy
@@BasementBodybuilding Alteranate title, the fitness industry makes you dumber.
Bro hiding a whole commercial gym in his basement
Bro could transform his basement in a commercial gym and make cash
Bro is literally BASEMENT bodybuilding
Great points. I think the fitness community is full of anecdotes, tribalism, emotional bias, and so on. Asking yourself “why” is a great way to stay on track.
@@AlanThrall thanks Alan. Lots of emotional bias, good point. I think people are emotionally tied to simplicity, and reject anyone who thinks differently. Same can be said for the science crew, or anyone in between
Every community needs this type of introspection and intellectual curiosity! The philosophical spirit burns true in all forms. This is kinda why having a robust physical preparedness in the general population breeds good use of logic and critical reasoning in other ventures!
@@BasementBodybuildingSo everyone? 😅
thats true for everything in life as well, how philosophical
hmmm now that i think about it you do look kind of like a Greek philosopher
“But what percent difference will that actually make?”
“Who cares”
This is spot on, not everything can be measured. Sometimes these small things add up and make a huge difference but each piece is hard to know what the impact is but the overall result show it’s not “just the basics”
One of the main takeaways from the vid, I’m glad that resonated with you. The ignorance drives me nuts!
I think it was NH that put it neatly, yeah it's just a 1% increase, but those 1%'s are what catapults someone from "I guess he lifts" to fake natty accusations
It makes a huge difference(infinite) if someone is not progressing. Most people who don't have good physiques are simply not progressing. It's not that they are slowly progressing, they have stalled due to not enough stimulus or too much stress.
Arms looking absolutely massive bro
Thanks brotha!
@@BasementBodybuilding No problem!
@@BasementBodybuildinghave you had to work through a lot of tendinitis issues? It seems very common with people who focus on arms a lot.
@@noneyabusiness3253 nope, I’ve found training through massive ranges of motion, with high tension in those long lengths, combined with low to moderate volume, and moderate frequency (2x/wk) is super easy to recover from, and builds the tendons up. My only issue is forearm splints that act up when I repeat preachers twice a week - but that’s only every few months, and can be fixed through a 3 week temporary rotation to a non-elbow supported curl variation, or something unilateral.
@@BasementBodybuilding how many sets do you usually do for biceps? I’ve recently upped by arm volume to 8 sets a week for both biceps and triceps and my elbows have started to bug me a bit.
You've been cooking a lot with these recent videos/thoughts lately, really hope you keep putting these out no matter how the algo treats it. You really put into words in ways I can't express what I find icky about fitness media
Thanks brotha. I’ve enjoyed writing out my thoughts instead of going off the top of my head lately. The community on this channel is all serious lifters, that’s all I ever wanted. Don’t need to worry much about the algorithm at this point luckily haha
Profitability and exposure by gaming the algorithm is directly opposite of deep and meaningful content simply because a) you need it to not require a lot of mental effort to understand, b) it must cater to people with weak and superficial motivation to learn which are the majority of the population. Social media is the best tool to get your message across, but its also ironically the death of nuance and criticial thinking.
Wise words man, that’s an excellent observation. Couldn’t agree more.
Went and searched up your video on resistance curves. Very good walkthrough of the nitty gritty! Actually made me make an audit on my own training. I'm going to see if I can push my 20th year to be as productive or more than the noob years.
sometimes it feels like i was blessed discovering the natural goats of youtube before officially starting my lifting journey.
As a self proclaimed noob i need to thank you BB,GVS ,BOM ,NH, Faz and Alex Leonidas aka Alpha Destiny for getting me straight into the right path in hyperthrophy lifting. 9 Months in and i feel jacked out of my mind, the gains don't stop and i won't stop anytime in the future. Thank you guys
same brother we are blessed. cant imagine the upcoming gains with all these golden advice and knowledge
@Basement Bodybuilding: There will always be unconditional haters, unconditional supporters and ambivalence between the two ends of the spectrum. Keep producing your content. It's fantastic - and I'm not an unconditional supporter...just a critical thinker who likes to absorb other people's ideas and experience as some of it can be very helpful.
My man this is right thinking right here💪🏻
This is absolutely crazy to me in how much I relate to it because the segment from 11:32 is verbatim EXACTLY what I've been trying to tell my friend all summer long. I keep trying to teach him specific nuances about training and programming and offer him better ways to arrange exercises but he keeps saying "I'm content with my program, I don't want to overcomplicate stuff". I know not everyone has lifting as their absolute passion that they want to dedicate everything to, but you don't have to be at the extreme end of the spectrum to apply SOME critical thinking to your programming and try to accept new stuff that you can always put to use.
Yeah for me it's up there with those who have the attitude "you've been lifting less than X years, you're not allowed to ask questions about programming yet. Now get back to doing only your fahves of SBD."
@@zerrodefex That's arguably worse damn. Those are just dogmatic idiots
People on r/naturalbodybuilding either say lift rock or they try and calculate which muscle fiber in their illiac lats are being hit, like there's no in between. Opposite of the normal distribution meme you usually see
I used to be the second guy until life got too busy, now I'm a rock guy.
I think I’ve been spoiled by the noble natty community because when I think of “the basics”, it’s not just SBD, it’s a mixture of compounds and isolations performed with high effort.
SBD becoming "the basics" is pretty much the issue of powerlifting and Starting Strength becoming mainstream. Before that, curls sit ups and many other isolation/machine work were considered "the basics" for better and worse. These things come and go in waves.
Honestly I have more faith in this channel seeing you do dips, it's like upper body squats
Hahaha
Amen
Your physique is proof that you know what you're doing. Really like your approach to training
What helped me with intermediate hell was digging all the programs with percentages and just go to failure on everything. Started do full body again, treat each smaller movement as it's even more important than big ones, do 2 sets per body part on each training and not falling for bullshit like 10-20 sets a week. Before I already had good gains but this year is like another noob gains...
Just want to thank you and some other natty youtubers (NH and BOM) for introducing and promoting JM press. Recently I started giving my arms more focus and Smith JM press has become one of the go-to movements for my triceps work. Of course I am far far away from repping out over 100kg like you do but it has become one of my top 3 favorite exercises along with the RDL and smith machine hacksquat.
This channel was the first place I learned of the JM Press. I had already gotten to where I couldn't put anymore weight on the pushdown as I was going to start just lifting myself off the floor and the JM Press is doing wonders for my bench now.
To become an advanced lifter you need to be continually learning about lifting from watching, listening, reading, as well as experimenting with what works best for you. It's a journey, for those passionate about gainz
I really appreciate this video, and I wish some of the more mainstream guys would talk about the mental aspects of lifting more often. After recovering from covid, I hit a big plateau and honestly just kind of gave up for a little bit. Once I decided to go back, I simultaneously decided to approach things differently, and stopped hyper fixating on "progression", and started focusing on refining my lifts and also focusing on non gym health activities that were contributing to my time in the gym. I even had a friend ask me what I am doing differently that is working. I told them to take a step back and reevaluate their program and their sleep/diet. Some times, you really need to get a fresh perspective on things to move forward. Also, your arms are looking massive, man. Congrats
I think that hard work is probably holding most people back more than knowledge about lifting (just from seeing how the people around my gym lift), but I agree that learning more about lifting beyond the basics is great and supplements hard training more than "stick to the basics" people give it credit for. Channels like yours are a great example of this: experimenting and learning more about lifting, not in a way that gets people lost in the weeds or majoring in the minors, but in a way that advances and improves your training so you can get even more out of the effort you are putting in. That intellectual curiosity about lifting and experimenting is honestly part of the fun of lifting. It's also great (and probably telling) to see that the some of the best examples of ethic are among the noble natties.
If someone says “just train hard consistently bro” they probably haven’t been doing it long enough (like a year) to see why it doesn’t work.
@@supertrollfaxnoprinter3329 I saw commenter on a Massive Iron video where he was discussing the training to get your bench from 225 to 315, their simplistic comment made me thing "sounds like someone in their first few months of SS who hasn't realized yet how fast that strategy is going to run dry."
Love your passion bro. I'll be honest and say I don't always fully understand the nuances of what you say in your videos. It gets a bit too technical for me sometimes. But I know I will understand it better as I try to learn more and get more experience as a lifter. This is probably one of the most unique and useful lifting channels on youtube, which is an incredible feat in a space which is so crowded. Cheers bro 😊
This was a great video. As someone with 20 years of experience I got some thoughts (Damn, I'm getting old). Many of your points are spot on. We see many lifters get left behind barely in intermediate stage, because they are left with the basics. But I also think the majority of trainees in the commercial gyms are simply not serious about getting results. I've observed this my whole lifting career. I also think it's important not to throw out the baby with the bathwater in regards to exercise selection. I think the basic free weights in most cases will do the same (some cases better) than for instance, the current trend of cable and machines with emphasis on lengthened positions. The lifters doing these exercises think they have found knowledge that will propel them past the free weights, but I think it'll end up being somewhat of a fad in the most extreme cases. As always there is some good knowledge to be found in most lifting styles, and it's important to keep an open mind and adopt what is useful.
"Don't learn about things" - Socrates
Nerding out about your passions is one of the most fulfilling aspects of life.
I think a lot of people in the gym just go through the motions, which may explain the sort of cynical comments you refer to. The habit's there, the passion's gone. But passion is what's most important. Everything else follows from there: adherence, aspiration, attitude. If you're feeling stuck, it will drive you to seek out new information. If you're overanalyzing, it will help you refocus. And if you're happy with what you're doing, you'll concentrate on yourself instead of shitting on how others approach the hobby simply because it's different from how you do it.
Couldn't agree more. There are more great channels popping up though.
I think Dr Mike's videos reviewing legendary bodybuilders shows what you're saying.
All of these legends were incredibly knowledgeable about lifting and their bodies. And often looking back it tracks with the scientific knowledge we have today.
Dude you’re a freaking boss. Thank you for the introspective content.
We must embrace the student mindset
As long as you’re not mimicking myself as a student, I agree
i am infinitely grateful for a channel like this. seeing the rise of anti intellectualism overtake lifting circles has been reallly depressing and it’s great that this channel and the natural community as a whole have kept up with serious passionate lifters. I’m still flabbergasted at the top comment on that reddit post claiming “just going to the gym” could stimulate hypertrophy. anyways great video 🙏
I'm so thankful you made this video. I agree, and here's the way I would put it: if your current understanding isn't leading to the results you want, wouldn't you want to update your understanding?
Great video, finding new knowledge on lifting that is actually useful is crazy hard to discover but worth its weight in gold. All advanced lifters should share what they uniquely know
Btw you've been killing the UA-cam game this year 🎉
I have all the motivation and passion but i was having a hard time believing in what I was doing
I've taken principles from you and other voices I trust and I've been experimenting and really liberating my mind from my preconceived notions.
What works for me is at the center of everything (with the hard work and consistency)
I don't have all the answers ofc but the needle is moving and I'm continuing to try and see what works while thinking about what factors I can mess with to find my way
Some success, some not, some to be seen
But what you spoke of in this video spoke to me because this is all ove wanted our of thr fitness industry. Thoughtful lifters who are willing to zoom out to concepts and then zoom way in time nuance.
I appreciate your work!
Literally the only people I watch nowadays are Jonnie Candito, Bryce Calgary, Natural Hypertrophy, Alan Thrall, Fitness FAQs for some bodyweight stuff I have taken a liking to. Ive just come accorss this channel rn, will definitely add to the list.
Thank you
On spot, mate, as usual. Just keep pumping the craft and common sense amidst all the bullocks and noise 💪🏻💪🏻🔥🔥
Big reason why I follow you is because your approach is to not just dumb it down. You want the viewer to actually learn 🧠
Also what I find really interesting is lifters whos main focus is not aestethics they don't dumb it down either two examples are Enkiri Elite Fitness and Eugene Teo.
I think as I put it in an AtlasPowerShrugged stream "I like that you don't make us feel like the kid in class who already gets it but is being required to sit quiet and not advance because the rest of the class is so far behind."
@@zerrodefexthats a good way of phrasing it
Thank you! I’m anti dumb it down. I’m all for reinforcing the basics - but it can’t be at the expense of people that need more than just that.
@@zerrodefex that’s incredible. Love that lol
START with passion, not information is a very applicable video by GVS
When I used to play a lot of Darksouls pvp, I used to spend a lot of time optimizing every stat in my build. People used to say that I should stop caring about optimizing and should just have fun, but I never understood that. Winning is fun, playing optimally is fun, and when I did something that's not optimal, I was fully conscious of what I was doing.
Even though I quit that game a while ago, I am applying that mindset to my bodybuilding now. Always learning more about lifting and thinking about my program because getting gains is fun. When I do a lift, that's not optimal, like Upright rows I am not telling myself that it doesn't matter and that I wouldn't get better gains by doing other lifts; I just like the lift too much to give it up, and I consciously know what I am getting myself into.
I am not sure how much of a difference training optimally makes, but saying you don't do it because it doesn't matter is BS
Weightlifting is like stat-grinding in real life.
Solid video. I used to be part of the "just do 3x10 of half-assed pushdowns" crew. Ever since I've been thinking about my approach more, my spaghetti arms have started growing.
Btw, can you please make a tutorial on the Smith JM Press? I've been doing them for a while and I'm still not quite happy with how they feel.
Regardless of the topic I always have to do deep learning and research about any topic or interest I have. So ABSOLUTELY with fitness in general. And the spectrum of it is huge. Along with the misinformation spread knowingly or unknowingly $$$$
Some people really struggle to get jacked even with complex programming and a good understanding of technique, let alone those who just stick to the basics.
I whole-heartedly agree with your message. Like yourself, I stuck to the basics, chased progression on SBD, and developed a spider-mode physique. Now I'm playing catch up. It has been guys like yourself, GVS, the Team3DMJ fellas etc who have really saved my desire to continue this journey because I've spent many years plateaued performing suboptimal lifts for my body type with the false hope that trusting the system of following the basics would get me jacked. It didn't. It works for some, but not for all. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on forearm training. Unfortunately I have to do direct forearm training as years worth of heavy rows, weighted pullups, hammer curls, deadlifts etc with no straps have resulted in a net gain of 0.00" increase on my forearms.
I'm grateful that channels like this popped up at the right time for me to avoid the spider-mode.
No straps and still no forearm gains? I'm pretty new to training and I just do 2 sets of db wrist Curls and extensions every session at the end my forearms have grown almost half an inch in the last 3-4 months.
@@moonmerchant7148That's because you are new to training, the original comment probably meant he didn't gain anymore.
@@moonmerchant7148 Nope. I have a 200kg deadlift and my forearms are skinny little pencils. I've been lifting for 10 years now and in a shirt I don't even look like I lift. My genetic starting point is absolutely horrendous, so it's taken me this long just to build the body of an average adult male who's never been to the gym. Gotta work we with we've been given.
Following powerlifting basics will not get you jacked. It will make you a basic powerlifter. Following bodybuilding basics which is quite a bit different will get you jacked. Forearms for example have entirely different set of muscles for grip and wrist flexion/extension. It's like doing low bar squats and expected your calves to grow because you have hundreds of pounds on your back. The problem is the last 10-12 years of lifting culture has been so focused on powerlifting because huge lifts are impressive for social media. It's just marketing.
I understand the appeal of simplicity and sticking to the basics. I did starting strength and the Texas method back in 2011/2012 because I didn’t have to put any thought into it and I had extra brain space for other things. Needless to say, I was constantly injured from hyper specificity and had a mediocre physique. I ended up quitting lifting for 10 years. When I returned to it after discovering the “evidence based” community, I did a wide variety of movements and incorporated a lot of isolation exercises right from the start. I surpassed my old physique within a year, and after 2 years I look better than 90% of the people in my gym (mostly powerlifters) despite being half as strong. Focusing on squat, bench, and deadlift will simply make you better at doing squats, bench, and deadlifts.
Reddit is just where people that pretend to be smart hang out man. Some guy was “debunking” the physics of DB pressing the way we were talking about in the last video and completely misunderstanding what he was trying to talk about. Of course, I understand what you’re saying in that example because I’ve experienced something similar, made tweaks to my training, and gotten better results due to it. Yknow, actually trying to get better and refine my process doing this thing I love.
Well, I was the one (or one of them?!) who posted it on Reddit, so shame on me.
I was mostly curious about the reactions. Boy, it escalated quickly. 😀
Not shame on you, I appreciate the shoutout, and the kind words about the video! It means a lot to know my videos have value and are relatable. It was the responses that I just disagree with, as explained in this video lol
The worst thing is that people in the fitness industry think they know everything especially these science based gurus just cause some study says so it must be true not many people can think for themselves anymore.
In my early intermediate phase I was so obsessed with learning and thought I knew so much. Knowing things means nothing when you don’t know how to apply it. I would now consider myself jacked stacked and dense, with much more mass to go.
4:49 feel very much like you in this topic, information based bodybuilding channels are soo rare compared to the typical influcer and they all just seems to repeat the same things like parrots , somebody who has reached 17 inches arms really need to make a proper program in order to overcome that plateau, doing a couple sets of standing curls or pushdowns at the end of a press workout once or twice a week is not gonna cut it like it doest for the average begginer with under 16 inches arms , this is when learning resistance profiles , which lifts are stable and what not , a basic notion of anatomy ( like insertions, origins and functions of the muscle ) can help you improve your physique dramatically.
Why are all the " just do barbell curls and chin ups bros " under 18 inches arms 90% of the time ? Honestly yeah is very irritating
100% relatable video. Noble natties content feel like the refreshing water you drink at night. Well said.
Fitness "influencers" are all about themselves and views/monetization. If you understand this at a fundamental level then you won't take anything they say seriously. All you have is your own empirical evidence as a lifter.
Simplistic advice works for perfect people. The advice assumes a set of circumstances about you that may easily not be true. The more you deviate from those assumptions, the more sophisticated your understanding about training needs to be in order to adust the simplistic advice to work for you.
cool dips
I saw that reddit post and I frequent that sub. There are a lot of DYEL on there as well as old heads that trained for 15 yrs consistently to get a physique someone else could have gotten in 8 yrs if they got everything right to begin with.
Bro made a 16 minute video about lifting. Does he not know all you need is hard training and consistency?
Whoops! 😂
I agree Nuance is important, you need to focus on growth if you want to grow. A squat, bench and deadlift can be used for decent growth provide you do RDLs instead of deadlifts and perform the lifts in an effort for growth intead of test 1rms all the time, but the traditional advice was to get strong at the lifts instead of good at them, and thats the problem leveraging to get effeicient at these lifts doesn't mean you are growing whats intended and machine are a good way to get people put of an ego driven mindset.
And the push to just get stronger at any cost is the road to form breakdowns and injuries.
I just watched an anti-optimal video about sticking to the BaSiCs and training hard, and the takeaway was basically to be intelligent about your training but not too intelligent.
I hit intermediate plateau this year. Same as every hobby, it never feels good to stagnate and if you care really about the topic, you will try to progress. I made music for years and I reached a plateau, and I had to go back to learning theory/composition/start developing new skills again! Bodybuilding is fantastic since results are very apparent . Thanks for the video
I added an inch to my arms in 2 months by applying your advice about doing 15-30 weekly sets for triceps and biceps each. I'm at 15 weekly sets, which got me from 12.63 to 13.63 inches. I used to do 6 weekly sets and I wasn't making any progress. I noticed that some of the noble natties like NH or even Alex Leonidas grew their arms with high volume training but then they promote low volume training, basically telling people "do as I say, not as I do", which is not very smart.
BodyByBasement™️
Nuance and context are everything (and I would argue this applies to other fields, too). You gotta know the basics and the complex minutiae. They're both useful things to have in your toolbox. And you have to be willing to be the guinea pig in your own experiments.
instead of clicking on the black teenager saying “easy bicep gains” i let the preview play and it was no range of motion on the BICEP CURL
I agree, to the extent that I want to know everything I can about it.
in my first year of experience in training, i just blindly follow some random ifbb advice and copy their training program and method. ha! me a beginner follow a pros workout. end up i just keep on spinning my wheel around until i discovered the correct channel and actually teaching on how to train as a natural lifter. from there on i never looked back.
Can’t wait for the new series, basement body building : back to basics
Jk this video is gold thank you for sharing :__:7
you have a hat and it has ropes attached that lift the weight for you, modified by ai all fake weights
Good eye, super jaws!
absolute beginners get fitness content for intermediates/advanced lifters whilst the intermediates/advanced lifters get beginner fitness content that tends to be more minimalistic.... nobody wins
Video is spot on, great points Mr Basement
An important thing to note is that most people (but not all) who already have gotten results has, by definition, above average genetics. It's just survivorship bias in another form. Most people don't care about the details, but at the same time, a lot of people have gotten very good physiques anyway. If you listen to these people, the advice will be dogshit, because they don't know what they're doing.
It's these same people who say "just lift bro" and "don't overcomplicate".
you right 😵 basedmentbodybuilding
After 5 years in a homegym i started to go into a public gym once a week...and there is this oldschool preacher curl right next to smith machine...
Every day the urge of usíng it gets stronger...
My elbows will probably turn to dust but the idea of my arms getting from 15 inches to 18 inches in a couple of weeks is just too strong to resist...
You are making me dumb 😂
This is why I think its so absurd to just completely scoff at novel lifting notions like stretch mediated hypertrophy or long length partials. Anyone who is seriously devoted to developing their physique and growing muscle as effectively as possible should be taking as many different perspectives into consideration as possible. It's so frustrating to see people frame their online fitness content as being entirely black and white: "science vs bro science". That's why channels like yours, GVS, Natural Hypertrophy, Alex Leonidas, Bald Omni Man, etc. are currently the last bastion for natural bodybuilders who are genuinely fascinated with creating an amazing physique.
I agree with you brother. Stimulus and time under tension on all muscle groups is key for better physiques and better bodies for the avg joe. Including me.
peak chanel
Another great video has always 💪.
Also I just switched to a new gym an found a pec deck there 🤩.
What do my fellow brothers in iron ( and BB ) think about the different grips in reverse peck deck flies ?
I feel my rear delts more with the neutral grip compared to the pronated grip , I think maybe my traps tend to take over with pronated but this was my first time doing reverse pec deck flies , what was your experience with this?
Hey! I worked very hard to attain this DYEL physique, making sure to do those high rep sets a few reps shy of failure just like Mike Isratel said. In all seriousness though, I can't wait to see if making 0 RIR and failure as a constant and making everything else in my program the variable, will finally start making me look like I lift weights after a decade of this 'few reps shy of failure' garbage doing nothing for me. I swear on me mum, if you make me jacked then I'm going to sing your praises with two inscribed stone dumbbells in my hands on a mountain top, glorious beard included.
I don't wish to sound obnoxious, but when you start lifting at an "later" stage of life (I started at 35) you most likely have a very different perspective than younger guys. For example, even though I started when I did, my mentality is that I have all the time in the world to build muscle and strength, if I don't succeed now, I will learn from my mistakes (with the help from channels like yours) and succeed in the future. I have many more examples like this, but most important thing is that since I started "late" I need to "catch up" and in order to do that I need learn more and expand my knowledge. One extra benefit when starting late is that (hopefully) by now one should already be familiar with the concept of steady and slow gains (like in a savings account) bring results so there is more patience. Therefore, I completely agree with your perspective
"just do the basics" is lazy advice not suited for people who have specific goals in mind
It's much better to focus on the principles behind muscle or strength gains. Doesn't matter if your goals are strength, hypertrophy, athletics or some combination of all. Every exercise you do improves some physical quality, knowing how to assess what you get out of a specific exercise is what allows you to make good decisions about what to include in you program.
Once you've learned something you can build a program tailored to your own goals. This makes lifting more fun and optimal because you've actually created your own plan to accomplish your own goals.
This is so spot on. These guys think people like Milo wolf over complicate stuff but it's really not that complicated.
I think many people's issue with Wolf is that he's trying to turn lengthened partials into a marketing fad like Israeltel's "only do full ROM" schtick. Also most people don't like being talked down to and Wolf can't seem to do a single video without that condescending overbearing tone. Both also engage in a lot of "appeal to authority" by flaunting their titles and there's a growing distrust of that attitude in general from those who don't tend to just trust what they hear because "someone named Doctor said it."
@@zerrodefex I was about to comment has well but this nailed it perfectly , the argument is not that lengthened partials are bad the argument is that you shouldn't have a workout consisting only of that ( which he advocates very heavily) and him always wanting to be called " doctor " is very annoying
@@deansheppard1104 plus he has a habit of deleting comments that strongly disagree with him on that which is not the sign of an honest person. If you have to censor disagreement then you're not very confident in how well your argument stands for itself.
@@zerrodefex I feel you , I tend to comment allot on his channel and I even got a reply from him , he was arguing I wasn't bodybuilding because I do seated shoulder press in the 4-10 rep range ( because of how hard it is to progress on the lift ) even tough I usually stick to higher rep ranges on most lifts , after that he just stopped replying to most my comments and some of them also got deleted ( don't know if is him or UA-cam but I didn't break any of the UA-cam guidelines when commenting) Soo yeah I don't like his attitude at all
@@deansheppard1104 And why shouldn't you have a workout with only lengthened partials? Are you gonna not grow? Deadlift motions aside.
Agreed. People get tangled up in "optimal" and "improving" movements and chasing "shortcuts" to get superhero physique. Stick to basics and work your ass off, recover and repeat, everything else is icing on the cake and a small bonus
Edit: By basics i meant sh*t that works for you and your goals, not basic 3
Great video, dude
Appreciate that brotha
A bit off topic but I thought about something like a reverse JM press for biceps. You and many noble natties say that the JM press is the best compound exercise for triceps and I thought that maybe a row & curl hybrid where you bring the bar to the neck and the elbows next to your body (kinda like a reverse JM press) could be an effective biceps builder. Do you think that makes sense? I tried it as an inverted row variation and I feel it in my biceps but I haven't done it long enough to say if it's effective or not.
If you use a rope attachment on a cable row machine, maybe? The movement would be a jm press in reverse. The only thing is that you end up with some biarticulate muscle conflict, as the biceps also flexes the shoulder.
I have to try that
I would just say to use a lift that has the same benefits has the JM press has on triceps but for biceps.
The reason why JM press is a very good builder for the tricep lateral and medial head is because 1- good stretch and you have the biggest amount of tension when the muscle is stretched 2 - very stable lift meaning you will not have stability issues when progressing and 3- the prime mover is the muscle you want to target ( is the reason why JM press is amazing for triceps while close grip bench is very mediocre).
Use an exercise that follow the same benefits for biceps , a good example of this is the preacher curl and is also the reason why BB chosed it has his main bicep builder.
@@deansheppard1104 I'm a functional and strength bro but I like big biceps so I thought I could combine it. I've done a lot of preacher curls in the past when hypertophy was my focus and they are indeed amazing.
I saw a video by Milo on Stretch Mediate Hypertrophy and some dude was like “just stick to the basics”. Like why leave a comment on a video that’s clearly for people super interested in lifting. Not fucking John, 65 who trains once a week at 40 RIR. People who say this are incapable of understanding nuance and are just detractors for the sake of being detractors. Also analysis paralysis is one’s own fault not Dr Mike’s, Jeff’s or Basement Bodybuilding’s etc.
For seated ohp without back support, should I pause at the bottom? And does it matter if I stop at just below the chin rather than the collarbone? I find it puts me in a weaker position and not sure if it helps much with shoulder growth. Thanks!
Great video.
There’s one issue I take with you saying the average lifter doesn’t train hard, and doesn’t take bodybuilding seriously.
I do train hard when I’m in the gym. But lifting is not my main priority.
If someone only lifts twice a week and does other hobbies on other days that they prioritize, do they necessarily not train hard? Do they not take it seriously?
So you have different goals which is fine.
Looks like the perfect workout man
That iron stove is so ill
it was always like that, before the internet existed, it was the same on TV
it all comes down to money
The industry wants the money, and the people overcorrect
@@BasementBodybuilding Dawaj kasę to jest napad
wyskakuj z kasy dopadły cię Nygasy
he he
The biggest problem I see in commercial gyms that keeps people from getting bigger is a lack of progressive overload. They come in and do the same weights over and over and over again. They never push the weight. They stay the same the entire time doing more reps. Some even look like they 're working so hard, but I look at them and think, "Dude, you gotta push the weight up." Progressive overload and volume work hand in hand and this is why I can't stand some in the the fitness community acting like you're in an either or scenario when you are not. Everyone I knew back in the 80s and 90s knew that you used both volume and progressive overload to maximize. Progressive overload has a harder cap than volume and volume is easier to manipulate because you're going to hit progressive overload walls. You can always reduce the weight and do more volume to stimulate. Anyone who has lifted for a long time learns that volume and progressive overload are manipulatable variables to grow. They also learn progressive overload has a hard cap where volume does not. That's why guys who chase strength like Louie Simmons created a program like conjugate so he could keep doing progressive overload with different lifts which is one of the only ways to make progressive overload a cornerstone of your program as the same lift will hit a progressive overload wall at some point, then you have to manipulate volume to maintain stimulus or change lifts. This is stuff you learn after years of lifting. Just like you eventually learned arms only grow so much if you don't train them directly. Same with any muscle and The Big Three train specific muscles. I think a lot of folks lift as a habit doing the same thing happy where they are. Only the serious lifters take it farther by learning how to accomplish their goals which for someone like you is to maximize size and for someone like me to maximize strength. You'll get a bit of both, but if you bias one way you need lift to accomplish that goal. Just as your arms won't get bigger unless you train them, you will not get as strong as possible unless you train for strength which is also specific. You seem to have finally learned what every serious lifter learns as they transition from beginner to intermediate to advanced: lifting is specific to the goal. The newbie gains are gone. Now you gotta grind towards goals or you''ll get bored and stop or stagnate.
If you have extra time you should make a substack, I'd like to read some of your thoughts on things you mention but don't post entire videos on
Interesting idea, I’d definitely consider it. I actually recorded a couple podcast episodes for the same reason. May or may not release those, we’ll see
Lifting is one of those things that requires a wide, syncretic base of tacit knowledge and theoretical synthesis, rules of thumb as explicit commandments are not sufficient, nor are acientific studies without context. It's like running a business, farming, staffing a bureacracy, cooking, etc, there is an intuition and skill of assimilating knowledge and apply it that has to be learned, of course, you need to avoid fooling yourself with faulty intuition, scientific studies here can really be useful. But all in all, there needs to be an emphasis on trying to get everyone to build a strong, non dogmatic sets of thinking which takes into account personal effort, intuition, theory (biomechanics), and empirical research (studies).
There's a ton of people in commercial gyms who dont understand the things you think are common sense/basics.
I appreciate your channel for the more advanced lifters, or the lifter who wants to get to advanced, but most channels who want views should be focusing on the beginner lifter.
Love the part where you mention that you started questioning things. I think it’s something we all should do and not take everything as it seems and then have our understanding.
I do want to ask you something related to hypertrophy. Studies claim that anywhere from 5-30 reps is good for muscle growth, but do you think that’s true? Do you think doing low reps like 5-6 is good for building muscle or is the good ol’ 8-12 rep range actually the best when it comes to hypertrophy?
I’ve always trained my compound exercises in the low rep range, don’t go below 5 and I can lift pretty heavy weight, but I see people who lift in the 8+ rep range and they’re bigger than me which makes me question if the 5-30 rep range is even true..
I understand your sentiment and agree that it’s lame as hell when dude’s think it’s cool to not put any ounce of thought into their training. HOWEVER, “Stick to the Basics” is still solid advice; especially to the army of beginners/non-serious lifters on reddit. NaturalBodyBuidling had a lot of potential. But this past year, it has been flooded with non serious or beginner lifters posting the same post that’s been posted since 1999.
Also, when did basic movements like upright rows, pushdowns, pullovers or curls get classified as non-basic? I think that thinking of squat, bench deadlift being the basics is an internet thing. Even the most noobiest dudes IRL I talk to acknowledge the other lifts as basics. If our grandparents did em, they’re basics IMO.
What’s not basics, are specialized machines, or hyper-optimized lifts.
From my experience, executing the basics better, with more intensity and focus is what really got the gains train rolling and has kept it going for the past few years. Granted I’m not advanced like yourself. I can see looking at the nuances your present will benefit me greatly as I progress even further. But RN, with my 16” arms, BB Curls, DB Curls, Incline Curls, Pushdown and Overhead Work has been working great.
Agree with you overall. In start we should keep advice as simple as possible but only when we reach a plateau should se seek to expand our knowledge or else we can suffer from paralysis by analysis, if my grammer sounds weird im sorry, English is not my native language
I always thought your channel was science based, but not in the traditional "let's conduct some studies" manner. Yours is more theoretical and actually requires an understanding of physics and biomechanics. Until traditional science-based" studies become closer to perfect (which they may never be) I am always going to take those studies with a bigger grain of salt than using logic and seeing improvements in my own results - not that anyone should blindly follow any creator because their content is "logical" of course.
Great job with the clickbait homie you’ll be a mainstream fitness UA-camr in no time!
Too boring for the algorithm don’t worry
Ever plan on showing the diet? Like what you eat in a day etc