Dr Mike is responsible for at least 50% of my gains over the past couple years but a full 100% of the times that I now end tangents with "in any case".
"Keep it simple stupid" Is some of the best advice out there in some situations, especially the gym. Since I started watching Dr. Mike I've really simplified my approach to lifting, less exercises, less complication, and more volume with better technique and now getting much better results.
A similar adage I really enjoy is: Be careful when adding anything to whatever you're doing, don't just put more on (moron). The human mind tends to think additively, ie what can I add to improve XYZ. Rarely do we stop to consider if we need to put more on, or if the problem could be solved by removing things. So the next time you're thinking about adding anything to whatever it is you're doing, make sure you aren't just being a more on.
What I love most about this channel is that I already know most of it but it confirms what I know or suspected but even more so that this channel is spreading GOOD information and that more people are learning to do things right and that in turn makes me less annoyed because there's less people training like garbage in the gym. I can definitely see a lot more people training properly compared to 10 years ago. And every now and then I learn something new on top of it.
I've been seeing the best gains of my life following this advice. The more you do an exercise, the better you get at it, the more you can load it, the more potential for growth. 💪
@@pinksupremacy6076 you must be intermediate to advanced in lifting technique. Myself as a noob am having the most fun with the small pr's on the same exercise. Good info for the future though! Thanks!
I have been doing the same exact workouts for push/pull/legs for a long time now cause my gym has limited machines and I just do all my favorite - exercises 3 per muscle group i wanna train - and it’s been working great honestly
@@GuaridoNutri I do incline dumbbell bench, this cable loaded seated chest press that I haven’t seen anywhere else other than my campus that makes my titties explode, and then machine chest flys. Quads I do hack squat leg extension and hip abductors, back I do pull downs, rows, and pullovers
Switch things up if you observe yourself developing asymmetries in strength and or muscle size. Also switch things up if you start to develop repetitive load induced trauma such as tendonitis. Outside of those particular instances consistency is one of your greatest assets.
This video was right on time. Last week, I did bent over rows right after deadlifts and sheesh! My back was on fire! 🔥🔥🔥 I was so worn out. Definitely going to move bent over rows to another day.
Funny, today I had my deadlift and bent over row day and was wondering if having both on the same day was hurting my progress. Don't know why I grouped them together in the first place haha. Going to put some serious thought into restructuring my routine now
In my opinion if you switch exercises to much how can you monitor your gains and increases in strength??? Switching exercises makes no sense at all unless a exercises doesn't work for you or is not hitting the muscle in the way you need it too
Dr. Mike has gotten me the most gains in the last 3 months. Ever since slowing eccentrics, pausing, and feeling connection of deep stretch in exercise I have seen the most gains. Literally changed nothing else
I don’t switch exercise but I recently rotated muscle groups like you said and came back each following week increasing the load and feeling a great gain. Thank you Dr. Mike your advice has once again been proven!
Great video AGAIN. I live in Europe, I am 63 years, but I could still improve my physique IMMENSELY by just following his tips and hacks. Well there are no real hacks, but what changed the deal for me was doing every rep mindful, strict and the WHOLE range of motion... didn't like it at first, cause could nout do as much repes. But I worked my way up again, and boy does it make a CHANGE in your gains if you use STRICT all out Form! If you are older and can't do the whole movement fully, listen to your body, there's always a variety you CAN do full range motion. Thanks again Mike! Excellent advice.
Short changed the last rep of my workout yesterday, felt kinda bad and now Dr Mike's top has sent me on a shame spiral. On the bright side, I have a new topic to discuss with my therapist this week.
Great vid. Interesting you would bring up bent rows, I've made them the focus of my back day and I'm trying to get to the point where they 'work' for me. I'm new to training and I'm still pretty weak and have a lot of fat to lose, so they're very fatiguing at lower weights but if I up the weight I feel like my arms are the limiting factor before my back is. I'm gonna stick with them until the end of my mesocycle though and see if it improves.
I know this is totally unrelated, but I’d love you to make a video on increasing core strength. I’ve never seen you do one yet. Thanks for all the great info!!!
Core strength doesnt get much coverage on hypertrophy training channels, because you can accumulate enough core strength across many of the lifts over time. Its crucial in athletic training so ive learned from athletic channels and settled on weighted hyperextensions, ab wheel rollouts and rotational wood chops. Also look at suitcase carry for obliques. For abdominal hypertrophy usually cable crunches are the recommendation
Do more squats, deadlifts, weighted back extensions, and weighted sit ups? I don’t think there’s much else to it for increasing strength. Increasing muscle separation or having “popping abs” is probably a different conversation.
Since I started lifting in like 2009, I’ve bought a lot of (too many) AthleanX programs. The one thing I believe that hinders those programs the most, which is one of his selling points is their focus on exercise variation and muscle confusion, every week every day is a new set of exercises. Now 14 years later I’m actually seeing a lot of gains and huge motivation to continue lifting every day, by FOLLOWING an AthleanX program, BUT I’m doing each week for 6 weeks, and swapping out exercises I don’t like for exercises I do enjoy and contribute more to my personal goals. Following a diverse amount of fitness opinions and perspectives has helped me to see the subjectivity of exercises relative to goals, and also to point out different blind spots that each UA-cam trainer has
Jeff doesn't focus on maximum muscle growth in most of his programs. He puts a greater emphasis on athleticism. You're going to be a bit more athletic if you use a lot of variations, because that variation is more likely to put you into different planes of motion or into unilateral movements. If your only goal is mass, you could probably ignore everything unilateral.
Love Dr Mike, but ive been seeing some of the best strength gains of my 12 year lifting career through rotating exercises. Every 2 weeks i swap exercises that emphasize variations of my core lifts. Example concentional deadlift weeks 1-2, deficit deads week 3-4, block pulls 5-6, then back to conventional. Been seeing huge gains in strength and keeps the workout fresh and “new”
Hey Dr. Mike, Any chance the RP app could accommodate sports specific accessory exercises? I arm wrestle and it would be awesome to have an app like this that’s specific to arm wrestling. Granted it’s probably too specific and the RP is mostly for bodybuilding, I thought I’d inquire anyways.
Just do basic heavy weight training twice per week with a mile of zone 2 cardio and then a couple of sprints. I am 70, 6’0” tall and weigh 160 pounds. Can do 50 lbs each hand 10 reps for standing dumbbell press. Never been to a gym and have recently incorporated Mike’s Bulgarian squats with 50 lbs ea. hand. Do the front squats 10 reps with 40 lbs and press weights as I go up. Used to do 3-4 muscle ups but at 69 could no longer get chest over the bar. Can still do 20 full pull ups. Age is going to get all of us eventually.
Pretty much the only reason I hate switching exercises frequently is because I don't know how to track my lifts, meaning, idk if I'm actually improving
Glad that I came across this channel. I bought a training program from Athlean X, and it's literally random shit every week, training 6 days a week, 4 excercises per muscle per session. No talk there about starting slow etc. even though it's supposed to be for beginners. Anyway, I injured myself on week 2 lol Now trying to recover..
Been pretty much doing the same exercises my entire life more or less and have been lean and stronger than most people I know my entire life. That to say, I can verify that coupling that with decent nutrition this works very well.
I don’t claim to be an expert but I find it odd the all the personal trainers at my gym will have every client do the exact same workout regardless of their goals, age, mobility, or ability.
I work out in my basement stuck with my basics for a year great progress, about 10 lbs of muscle, I can do a muscle in 20 minutes and get back to life, except leg day,I get stuck on my stairs for an extra 5 minutes trying get up them lol
You know Mike, some people really struggle to ‘connect’ with the camera. You however do a great job of maintaining eye contact and putting your point across as if the person is a client sat right in front of you, listening attentively, perhaps slightly slack-jawed and drooling a little as they fall in love with your passion, and your eyes, perhaps your upper chest a bit. In any case…thank you 🙂
Still good to try out as many legit looking exercies as possible in the beggining, and like you say giving them time and stick to the ones that feel the best and that actually give you the best results. I did exactly this and the results are pretty good.
This is pretty much what my focus was a few years ago when I worked out regularly, and now that I've returned. I don't really feel the need to circle the gym with 500 exercises per body part when I can keep gaining on my compound lifts and do basically a handful of accessory lifts to complement them. Then if they start to completely stall out, I can look at focusing more on substituted that can help work out some weak points in my lifts. Switching barbell bench to dumbbell for a period just to get a different challenge, for example.
The fastest muscle growth I ever experienced was when I first discovered the classic 20RM squats program. The secret? There is no secret. I simply stuck to it for as long as it kept working.
7:09 can absolutely vouch for this! After a decade of lifting it’s hard to see material improvement each session until you track individual reps increasing over the meso
🪖The military is still saying that crap! 🤦♂️ I went through an Air Force physiological training refresher, and when we got to the exercise portion the guy said, “You HAVE to change it up every 4-6 weeks to confuse the muscles and make progress…” 💪 I just sat there and shook my head. Of course bro didn’t even look like he worked out. 🤷♂️
The gym I go to just stay so busy sometimes I have to just get what I can that's why I feel like it's important to know different alternatives to being able to hit the the same muscle group that you plan on hitting either way. Say if I'm planning on doing barbell incline bench press and that is taking then I switched to incline dumbbell bench press, or I'll switch to incline Smith machine. If the squat rats taking up sometimes I'll just grab dumbbells and do goblet squats. I think it's important to know different exercises that can hit the same muscle group.
Finally an advice for a bulking aficionado following the bulking programme of Nikado Avokado - cycle your foods - one week binge on italian food, the other food binge on mexican food, and the other week binge on god fearing beer drinking freedom loving american food! Cheers!
Congrats to Dr Mike. You’re the only person in the world to make me laugh out loud consistently while I’m actually learning some good stuff. I’m either really f**king miserable or you’re a genius at comedy and doctor exercise stuff.
Sometimes you don’t connect with a movement even after a few try’s. Come back a few meso’s later and boom it works amazing for you. This happened to me with JM pressing recently.
Can relate personally to technique improvements. When i started doing bench press a lot it really become much better from the stimulus perspective because of the form improvements. I started to feeling my pecs much more just from technique alone.
I keep the same basic exercises in my daily routine. I usually start with large compound movements first, then move into isolation movements. But every so often, when the gym is packed, I will be forced to change up the order of my exercises because there are no benches or racks available. This typically results in new PR‘s for isolation movements that I cannot obtain after doing large compound movements. Is this type of variation advantageous?
Been doing the same 7 exercises for my entire training for 2 months, plan to continue with them for the next 3. There are so much things you can vary to add novelty to your training, it doesn't have to be new exercises...
Was in the middle of trying to completely rebuild my program when I came across this video. No real reason for changing shit up other than pure overthinking. Thanks Dr. Mike.
almost every fitness person on or outside youtube (including a book I read on the bodybuilding) is telling me either x is killing my gains and that I should do y or y is killing my gains and I should do x. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. Hard when you’re trying to get into the building scene only to be bombarded with so much contradictory information.
Here's my hypothesis on why this myth persist. When you change exercises, you typically reevaluate weight and that is what is giving these guys new gains. The real problem is that these guys get stuck in rut and stop pushing weight load as they get stronger and more efficient with the movement and thats what stops the gain.
Nope not even close. It's because people feel sore if they do something else and they still think that's the key marker for a good training and growth. It's because trainers in the gym still perpetuate it. And other gym member keep telling eachother you gotta "Shock the muscle broo"
Its various things. Novelty is fun, it feels like you are being more 'precise' in your lifting, technique gains on new exercises cause the numbers to fly up faster, tricking people into thinking they are getting massively stronger, new exercises get you sore, which feels like its working, you don't need to push new exercises as hard for 'results' so people don't have to exert themselves as much etc...
Dr. Mike, have you had a look at Sam Shethars videos and training? He is probably the most grown up 25(26?) year old, and the most promising strength coach of the next generation not gonna lie. He is analytical to the core, unsettlingly intelligent in his area of expertise and delivers information - not unlike yourself - in a very applicable manner. Love the video, gave me a few morning chuckles, and even spilled a little coffee - consider it a sacrifice to your muses on my part! -Cheers, Michael
Question Dr. Mike, how important is progressive overload as a conceptual training cue for hypertrophy? I have been focusing on training within 1-2 reps shy of failure using RPE and I've seen major gains in my physique over the past 4 years. My reps or load have gone up but I haven't been tracking it at all. A lot of research I see on hypertrophy training tends to focus on adequate volume and intensity not necessarily progressive overload. Would my gains be even better if I tracked progressive overload or is focusing on training with adequate intensity enough and let progressive overload sort itself out?
I make tiny changes an do that for a month or two maybe use bumbel instead of bar or change the angle by 10 degrees or do something sitting or on a box
You know you’ve been watching Mike & Jerrod when you hit your 16th rep and it was half-assed suckety-suck~sucked and you say that one didn’t count and you hit again with renewed concentrated effort for 3~5 more.
Dr. Mike this question hasn't been answered for me yet. Been putting it in every other video. Is it more hypertrophic if you stick to the same angles for a meso like incline barbell bench and incline dumbbell flys ect? And why or why not? And when you say a different variation are you talking about changing grip width?
My rebuttal is that I workout at a commercial gym that’s always busy and don’t have time to wait on the machine or equipment to do the same exercise. I progress in having the weight going up but not in muscle gain 😤
Absolutely in the case of the Split squat versus walking lunge and the depth can be a factor too, if you weren't doing one of these with proper depth then going deeper will generate more/new muscle growth.
Dr. Mike has said before that things as simple as grip width adjustments can refresh an exercise enough to constitute an effective change, so going between different exercises in the same movement pattern is definitely changing exercises.
Dr.Mike there’s only one thing i can't catch up which is when you say a mesocycle’ how many days do you mean by that or is it depends or is it just a matter of preference
I have a question regarding protein powder. One of my friends told me the other day that (according to her nutritionist), you shouldn't make your protein shake the night before because the quality and potency of the protein will degrade after a few hours of making it. Is this a myth? Or is this something legit because I have tried to look into it but I haven't found much about this topic other than your shake can go bad from bacteria if not stored properly.
I basically have the same 4 day split for months, might swap out an exercise for a day if im feeling it. Otherwise i might just mix up tempo, myo reps or isometrics.
With what we know about stretch* under load and lengthened partials, is it possible that lengthened isometrics are good for hypertrophy? Was the literature that said isometrics are the least hypertrophic done at long, short, or medium muscle lengths?
I’m a big believer in doing the same exercises/splits for an 8-12 week cycle. It’s easier to manage and for periodization. One gym I went to for group workouts would change the workout every single day and it drove me crazy! If it’s Monday, then I like to know exactly what I’m doing that day without thinking hard about it. If I’m trying to figure out the movement every day then I can’t focus on my technique exclusively. The only whole concept of WOD is stupid. Any gym that has a different WOD every day is not a gym worth going to
Hey Mike, can you do a video breaking down Dr. Nun S. Amen Ra's regimen? There's a video about him on youtube called "Vegan Strongman Eats ONE MEAL A DAY !" because he's vegan and does omad and the dude is ripped. Would love to hear your thoughts about that type of regimen.
Not gonna lie I hated RDLs first time I tried them. Think they're quite fun now, and I feel like I can really connect with the hamstring stretch on the negative. Edit: I need to try bent rows again, and not after DLs T_T
Need some advice! I REALY HATE switching things up but just bought an 8 week program which does the same but switches Bi-Weekly . Follows same structure . Ie Week 1 & Week 3 Same & Week 2/4 Same - what about this ? Or should I just do same week on week
So you are saying pick 3 exercises and do those same for 3 months than rotate 1-3 of them? Or is it more about SFR? Momentum, stronger, etc this tops everything else in exercise selection?
Question for Dr. Mike- or anyone really- Is it beneficial or ok to mix vary the accessory type lifts (dumbbell incline flys vs cable incline flys) while keeping the core lifts the same? Example- keep barbell bench press a staple of a chest workout for multiple mesocycles, but vary between dumbbell and cable flys throughout the mesos? Reason being equipment availability, body feeling different week to week (fatigue, injury, etc.). Asking for the beginner/ intermediate stage lifter
I have sent requests to RP via the app and support form but I need some help. I'm on a 4 day per week U/L split using the Hypertrophy app. Currently week 3. The app is decreasing my sets on squats, RDLs, split squats and hip thrusts to now one set. At the same time shrugs and wrist curls are increasing to now 5 sets!!! Sorry to spam the YT comments but what's going on?
I set them off doing same heavy chain pullups and dips. Got amazing gains and I can train more often , mind muscle increased but sone trainers always walk by and say I should mix it up even though I actually made gains and they didn't. Most ppl just train their nervous system by changing exercises and they're tired , sore , fatigue
Unless there's a specific reason to switch exercises don't. Plateaus, imbalances are valid reasons to change workouts but as long as the weight on the bar increases you're growing. Variation is overrated. I've seen guys literally do different workouts every single time, there's no way to track progress that way.
Split squats are awesome. I've never tried to do a glute targeted split squat because the quad-centric split squat always tears up my glutes too. Go deep, try get the resting knee to hit the ground.
Dr Mike is responsible for at least 50% of my gains over the past couple years but a full 100% of the times that I now end tangents with "in any case".
I start tangents with "Now..."
100% same he's the reason i got back to the gym after quitting forever
ive gained a lot of knowledge in the last 3 months of this channel than i did in 7 years.
Dr Mike is responsible for SLOW SLOW SLOW going on in my head every rep
That is not at all how I thought that comment was going to end. I've been watching too many of these videos
Pro tip, use botox to paralyze the muscles you don't want to target during your workout.
Real advice
😂😂😂
This goes without saying...
What what about us natties?
@@TheGreektrojan botox is a natural supplement, bacteria derived.
"Keep it simple stupid" Is some of the best advice out there in some situations, especially the gym. Since I started watching Dr. Mike I've really simplified my approach to lifting, less exercises, less complication, and more volume with better technique and now getting much better results.
A similar adage I really enjoy is: Be careful when adding anything to whatever you're doing, don't just put more on (moron). The human mind tends to think additively, ie what can I add to improve XYZ. Rarely do we stop to consider if we need to put more on, or if the problem could be solved by removing things. So the next time you're thinking about adding anything to whatever it is you're doing, make sure you aren't just being a more on.
What I love most about this channel is that I already know most of it but it confirms what I know or suspected but even more so that this channel is spreading GOOD information and that more people are learning to do things right and that in turn makes me less annoyed because there's less people training like garbage in the gym. I can definitely see a lot more people training properly compared to 10 years ago.
And every now and then I learn something new on top of it.
Alright! - Dr. Mike
I've been seeing the best gains of my life following this advice. The more you do an exercise, the better you get at it, the more you can load it, the more potential for growth. 💪
To an extent. Conjugate works well too if u switch up exercises every three-four weeks and you still get to practice the movement quite extensively.
Can confirm!!
@@pinksupremacy6076 you must be intermediate to advanced in lifting technique. Myself as a noob am having the most fun with the small pr's on the same exercise. Good info for the future though! Thanks!
@@naff81275 Yeah thats true also to some extent. But as you say, after a six months to a year of lifting its better to mix it up some.
I have been doing the same exact workouts for push/pull/legs for a long time now cause my gym has limited machines and I just do all my favorite - exercises 3 per muscle group i wanna train - and it’s been working great honestly
what are the 3 ex for back, chest, quads you like more?
@@GuaridoNutri I do incline dumbbell bench, this cable loaded seated chest press that I haven’t seen anywhere else other than my campus that makes my titties explode, and then machine chest flys. Quads I do hack squat leg extension and hip abductors, back I do pull downs, rows, and pullovers
I really valued this insight, thank you Dr. Mike! 🙏
Switch things up if you observe yourself developing asymmetries in strength and or muscle size. Also switch things up if you start to develop repetitive load induced trauma such as tendonitis. Outside of those particular instances consistency is one of your greatest assets.
This video was right on time. Last week, I did bent over rows right after deadlifts and sheesh! My back was on fire! 🔥🔥🔥 I was so worn out. Definitely going to move bent over rows to another day.
Wise thinking! - Dr. Mike
I write my programming around movement patterns, vertical/horizontal push/pull etc. I always make sure to factor in the axial vs non-axial component.
That’s the spirit. I usually do bent over rows after my overhead press and bench press.
Funny, today I had my deadlift and bent over row day and was wondering if having both on the same day was hurting my progress. Don't know why I grouped them together in the first place haha. Going to put some serious thought into restructuring my routine now
Dr Mike, you're a Really good professor and sport scientist, but REALLY can make me laugh! Thanks for all the insight!
Haha my pleasure! - Dr. Mike
Thank you Dr. Mike !
In my opinion if you switch exercises to much how can you monitor your gains and increases in strength??? Switching exercises makes no sense at all unless a exercises doesn't work for you or is not hitting the muscle in the way you need it too
thank you Dr. mike
With every video i learn something i didn’t even knew i wanted to know and do
Dr. Mike has gotten me the most gains in the last 3 months. Ever since slowing eccentrics, pausing, and feeling connection of deep stretch in exercise I have seen the most gains. Literally changed nothing else
I don’t switch exercise but I recently rotated muscle groups like you said and came back each following week increasing the load and feeling a great gain. Thank you Dr. Mike your advice has once again been proven!
Great video AGAIN. I live in Europe, I am 63 years, but I could still improve my physique IMMENSELY by just following his tips and hacks. Well there are no real hacks, but what changed the deal for me was doing every rep mindful, strict and the WHOLE range of motion... didn't like it at first, cause could nout do as much repes. But I worked my way up again, and boy does it make a CHANGE in your gains if you use STRICT all out Form! If you are older and can't do the whole movement fully, listen to your body, there's always a variety you CAN do full range motion. Thanks again Mike! Excellent advice.
My dude - awesome video!
Short changed the last rep of my workout yesterday, felt kinda bad and now Dr Mike's top has sent me on a shame spiral. On the bright side, I have a new topic to discuss with my therapist this week.
Thanks Dr Mike you're the best sir
As always, your info is very helpful. Thanks so much.
Great vid. Interesting you would bring up bent rows, I've made them the focus of my back day and I'm trying to get to the point where they 'work' for me. I'm new to training and I'm still pretty weak and have a lot of fat to lose, so they're very fatiguing at lower weights but if I up the weight I feel like my arms are the limiting factor before my back is. I'm gonna stick with them until the end of my mesocycle though and see if it improves.
I know this is totally unrelated, but I’d love you to make a video on increasing core strength. I’ve never seen you do one yet. Thanks for all the great info!!!
Core strength doesnt get much coverage on hypertrophy training channels, because you can accumulate enough core strength across many of the lifts over time. Its crucial in athletic training so ive learned from athletic channels and settled on weighted hyperextensions, ab wheel rollouts and rotational wood chops. Also look at suitcase carry for obliques. For abdominal hypertrophy usually cable crunches are the recommendation
Do more squats, deadlifts, weighted back extensions, and weighted sit ups? I don’t think there’s much else to it for increasing strength.
Increasing muscle separation or having “popping abs” is probably a different conversation.
Since I started lifting in like 2009, I’ve bought a lot of (too many) AthleanX programs. The one thing I believe that hinders those programs the most, which is one of his selling points is their focus on exercise variation and muscle confusion, every week every day is a new set of exercises. Now 14 years later I’m actually seeing a lot of gains and huge motivation to continue lifting every day, by FOLLOWING an AthleanX program, BUT I’m doing each week for 6 weeks, and swapping out exercises I don’t like for exercises I do enjoy and contribute more to my personal goals.
Following a diverse amount of fitness opinions and perspectives has helped me to see the subjectivity of exercises relative to goals, and also to point out different blind spots that each UA-cam trainer has
Jeff doesn't focus on maximum muscle growth in most of his programs. He puts a greater emphasis on athleticism. You're going to be a bit more athletic if you use a lot of variations, because that variation is more likely to put you into different planes of motion or into unilateral movements. If your only goal is mass, you could probably ignore everything unilateral.
Love Dr Mike, but ive been seeing some of the best strength gains of my 12 year lifting career through rotating exercises. Every 2 weeks i swap exercises that emphasize variations of my core lifts. Example concentional deadlift weeks 1-2, deficit deads week 3-4, block pulls 5-6, then back to conventional. Been seeing huge gains in strength and keeps the workout fresh and “new”
Dr. Mike has pushed me in to more insane soap opera like scenarios in my head while working out.
Dr. Mike is looking damn aesthetic in that thumbnail, robust yet detailed... like a comic book character. 👌🏻
Hey Dr. Mike,
Any chance the RP app could accommodate sports specific accessory exercises? I arm wrestle and it would be awesome to have an app like this that’s specific to arm wrestling. Granted it’s probably too specific and the RP is mostly for bodybuilding, I thought I’d inquire anyways.
Yeah, I'd love to man but that would veer our engineers way off course. Best wishes! - Dr. Mike
Best video yet. Ironically you described my workout to a T and i have been making gains like crazy
Just do basic heavy weight training twice per week with a mile of zone 2 cardio and then a couple of sprints. I am 70, 6’0” tall and weigh 160 pounds. Can do 50 lbs each hand 10 reps for standing dumbbell press. Never been to a gym and have recently incorporated Mike’s Bulgarian squats with 50 lbs ea. hand. Do the front squats 10 reps with 40 lbs and press weights as I go up. Used to do 3-4 muscle ups but at 69 could no longer get chest over the bar. Can still do 20 full pull ups. Age is going to get all of us eventually.
Dr Mike and RP accounts for 54% of my increased gains but 100% of my lotion motion content. In any case, thanks Dr Mike, see you in the sauna.
Pretty much the only reason I hate switching exercises frequently is because I don't know how to track my lifts, meaning, idk if I'm actually improving
I’m helping my gains by switching to Dr. Mike’s advice.
5:30 Mike with another smooth seque
Glad that I came across this channel. I bought a training program from Athlean X, and it's literally random shit every week, training 6 days a week, 4 excercises per muscle per session. No talk there about starting slow etc. even though it's supposed to be for beginners. Anyway, I injured myself on week 2 lol Now trying to recover..
Been pretty much doing the same exercises my entire life more or less and have been lean and stronger than most people I know my entire life. That to say, I can verify that coupling that with decent nutrition this works very well.
OR you just have amazing genetics! - Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization No doubt adds to the equation for sure. You’re the best man. Thanks for all you do
This is something that should be intuitive especially if you struggle at a particular movement. I think there are some bad trainers.
I don’t claim to be an expert but I find it odd the all the personal trainers at my gym will have every client do the exact same workout regardless of their goals, age, mobility, or ability.
very practical advice
I work out in my basement stuck with my basics for a year great progress, about 10 lbs of muscle, I can do a muscle in 20 minutes and get back to life, except leg day,I get stuck on my stairs for an extra 5 minutes trying get up them lol
This is just liquid gold on my screen
You know Mike, some people really struggle to ‘connect’ with the camera. You however do a great job of maintaining eye contact and putting your point across as if the person is a client sat right in front of you, listening attentively, perhaps slightly slack-jawed and drooling a little as they fall in love with your passion, and your eyes, perhaps your upper chest a bit.
In any case…thank you 🙂
Still good to try out as many legit looking exercies as possible in the beggining, and like you say giving them time and stick to the ones that feel the best and that actually give you the best results. I did exactly this and the results are pretty good.
This is pretty much what my focus was a few years ago when I worked out regularly, and now that I've returned. I don't really feel the need to circle the gym with 500 exercises per body part when I can keep gaining on my compound lifts and do basically a handful of accessory lifts to complement them.
Then if they start to completely stall out, I can look at focusing more on substituted that can help work out some weak points in my lifts. Switching barbell bench to dumbbell for a period just to get a different challenge, for example.
The fastest muscle growth I ever experienced was when I first discovered the classic 20RM squats program. The secret? There is no secret. I simply stuck to it for as long as it kept working.
yes, agreed on this one... stick with something as long as the gains keep coming or the exercise is hurting joints or something
“I fear not the man who has done 1000 kicks one time, but the man who has done one kick 1000 times”
7:09 can absolutely vouch for this! After a decade of lifting it’s hard to see material improvement each session until you track individual reps increasing over the meso
🪖The military is still saying that crap! 🤦♂️ I went through an Air Force physiological training refresher, and when we got to the exercise portion the guy said, “You HAVE to change it up every 4-6 weeks to confuse the muscles and make progress…” 💪
I just sat there and shook my head. Of course bro didn’t even look like he worked out. 🤷♂️
Very helpful. And weird that the next thing in my feed is an athlean x video on dumbell rows. Creepy.
The gym I go to just stay so busy sometimes I have to just get what I can that's why I feel like it's important to know different alternatives to being able to hit the the same muscle group that you plan on hitting either way. Say if I'm planning on doing barbell incline bench press and that is taking then I switched to incline dumbbell bench press, or I'll switch to incline Smith machine. If the squat rats taking up sometimes I'll just grab dumbbells and do goblet squats. I think it's important to know different exercises that can hit the same muscle group.
Finally an advice for a bulking aficionado following the bulking programme of Nikado Avokado - cycle your foods - one week binge on italian food, the other food binge on mexican food, and the other week binge on god fearing beer drinking freedom loving american food!
Cheers!
Congrats to Dr Mike. You’re the only person in the world to make me laugh out loud consistently while I’m actually learning some good stuff. I’m either really f**king miserable or you’re a genius at comedy and doctor exercise stuff.
Getting distracted by your videos is killing my gainZ!!!!!!!!!
What stack do you use Dr Mike?
Dr. Mike you're a cool guy. I like your comedy 😊
Lmfao the barbell bent row sounds like she is going to sue for harassment 😂 I died at that part. Great video!
Sometimes you don’t connect with a movement even after a few try’s. Come back a few meso’s later and boom it works amazing for you. This happened to me with JM pressing recently.
Can relate personally to technique improvements. When i started doing bench press a lot it really become much better from the stimulus perspective because of the form improvements. I started to feeling my pecs much more just from technique alone.
great analogy of the "dating" and "marriage" phases with lifting. I will definitely use this with the peeps.
I keep the same basic exercises in my daily routine. I usually start with large compound movements first, then move into isolation movements. But every so often, when the gym is packed, I will be forced to change up the order of my exercises because there are no benches or racks available. This typically results in new PR‘s for isolation movements that I cannot obtain after doing large compound movements. Is this type of variation advantageous?
Been doing the same 7 exercises for my entire training for 2 months, plan to continue with them for the next 3. There are so much things you can vary to add novelty to your training, it doesn't have to be new exercises...
Dr mike. Given this, what do you make of alex leonidas' high exercise selection and rotation? thanks
Was in the middle of trying to completely rebuild my program when I came across this video. No real reason for changing shit up other than pure overthinking. Thanks Dr. Mike.
Haha. one arm rows! I was thinking exactly of those.
almost every fitness person on or outside youtube (including a book I read on the bodybuilding) is telling me either x is killing my gains and that I should do y or y is killing my gains and I should do x. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. Hard when you’re trying to get into the building scene only to be bombarded with so much contradictory information.
This guy never shocked his muscles.
Here's my hypothesis on why this myth persist. When you change exercises, you typically reevaluate weight and that is what is giving these guys new gains. The real problem is that these guys get stuck in rut and stop pushing weight load as they get stronger and more efficient with the movement and thats what stops the gain.
Nah I think it’s just the cultural osmosis of p90x and vague ideas of “stimulating all the fibers”
Nope not even close.
It's because people feel sore if they do something else and they still think that's the key marker for a good training and growth.
It's because trainers in the gym still perpetuate it. And other gym member keep telling eachother you gotta "Shock the muscle broo"
It’s ALL because of Joe Weider’s marketing genius.
Its various things. Novelty is fun, it feels like you are being more 'precise' in your lifting, technique gains on new exercises cause the numbers to fly up faster, tricking people into thinking they are getting massively stronger, new exercises get you sore, which feels like its working, you don't need to push new exercises as hard for 'results' so people don't have to exert themselves as much etc...
Dr. Mike, have you had a look at Sam Shethars videos and training? He is probably the most grown up 25(26?) year old, and the most promising strength coach of the next generation not gonna lie. He is analytical to the core, unsettlingly intelligent in his area of expertise and delivers information - not unlike yourself - in a very applicable manner.
Love the video, gave me a few morning chuckles, and even spilled a little coffee - consider it a sacrifice to your muses on my part!
-Cheers,
Michael
What do you do when you hit your genetic ceiling? Training/diet perfect, pumps/soreness perfect, but can't increase weight/reps?
Question Dr. Mike, how important is progressive overload as a conceptual training cue for hypertrophy? I have been focusing on training within 1-2 reps shy of failure using RPE and I've seen major gains in my physique over the past 4 years. My reps or load have gone up but I haven't been tracking it at all. A lot of research I see on hypertrophy training tends to focus on adequate volume and intensity not necessarily progressive overload. Would my gains be even better if I tracked progressive overload or is focusing on training with adequate intensity enough and let progressive overload sort itself out?
I make tiny changes an do that for a month or two maybe use bumbel instead of bar or change the angle by 10 degrees or do something sitting or on a box
I'm crying/laughing and spitting out my protein bar while Dr. Mike is talking about my barbells pepper spraying me. haha hahahhahah
You know you’ve been watching Mike & Jerrod when you hit your 16th rep and it was half-assed suckety-suck~sucked and you say that one didn’t count and you hit again with renewed concentrated effort for 3~5 more.
I only add new variations when someone is on the rack or machine I wanted to use. I refuse to waste time and wait at the gym!
Dr. Mike this question hasn't been answered for me yet. Been putting it in every other video. Is it more hypertrophic if you stick to the same angles for a meso like incline barbell bench and incline dumbbell flys ect? And why or why not? And when you say a different variation are you talking about changing grip width?
I dont think bro likes conjugate
Yeah was thinking the same but Is about strenght and performance
I've been doing some exercises for 53 years. Feels good.
Should i do abs workout everyday?
My rebuttal is that I workout at a commercial gym that’s always busy and don’t have time to wait on the machine or equipment to do the same exercise. I progress in having the weight going up but not in muscle gain 😤
Would you consider switching from a split squat to a walking lunge as changing exercises ? Or switching from a back squat to a belt squat?
Great question, please answer ^
yes for sure.
Absolutely in the case of the Split squat versus walking lunge and the depth can be a factor too, if you weren't doing one of these with proper depth then going deeper will generate more/new muscle growth.
Dr. Mike has said before that things as simple as grip width adjustments can refresh an exercise enough to constitute an effective change, so going between different exercises in the same movement pattern is definitely changing exercises.
@@GlacialScionughhhh shooot I thought keeping the same movement pattern would be an exception 🤦🏻♀️ im so guilty of this
How many different exercises should you have total in a program?
Dr.Mike there’s only one thing i can't catch up which is when you say a mesocycle’ how many days do you mean by that or is it depends or is it just a matter of preference
I have a question regarding protein powder. One of my friends told me the other day that (according to her nutritionist), you shouldn't make your protein shake the night before because the quality and potency of the protein will degrade after a few hours of making it. Is this a myth? Or is this something legit because I have tried to look into it but I haven't found much about this topic other than your shake can go bad from bacteria if not stored properly.
I basically have the same 4 day split for months, might swap out an exercise for a day if im feeling it. Otherwise i might just mix up tempo, myo reps or isometrics.
With what we know about stretch* under load and lengthened partials, is it possible that lengthened isometrics are good for hypertrophy?
Was the literature that said isometrics are the least hypertrophic done at long, short, or medium muscle lengths?
I’m a big believer in doing the same exercises/splits for an 8-12 week cycle. It’s easier to manage and for periodization. One gym I went to for group workouts would change the workout every single day and it drove me crazy! If it’s Monday, then I like to know exactly what I’m doing that day without thinking hard about it. If I’m trying to figure out the movement every day then I can’t focus on my technique exclusively. The only whole concept of WOD is stupid. Any gym that has a different WOD every day is not a gym worth going to
Hey Mike, can you do a video breaking down Dr. Nun S. Amen Ra's regimen? There's a video about him on youtube called "Vegan Strongman Eats ONE MEAL A DAY !" because he's vegan and does omad and the dude is ripped. Would love to hear your thoughts about that type of regimen.
Lmfao holy fuck Dr. Mike are bent rows really going to pepper spray me if I'm that forward 😂
How do I know I’m getting the proper response from the exercise
Hell. fucking. yeah. Went from only being able to do a couple of reps on 60kg bench 6 months ago to yesterday 1 rep maxxing 90kg
Wonder what Dr. Mike thinks about Mike van wick?
Not gonna lie I hated RDLs first time I tried them. Think they're quite fun now, and I feel like I can really connect with the hamstring stretch on the negative.
Edit: I need to try bent rows again, and not after DLs T_T
Need some advice! I REALY HATE switching things up but just bought an 8 week program which does the same but switches Bi-Weekly . Follows same structure . Ie Week 1 & Week 3 Same
& Week 2/4 Same - what about this ?
Or should I just do same week on week
So you are saying pick 3 exercises and do those same for 3 months than rotate 1-3 of them? Or is it more about SFR? Momentum, stronger, etc this tops everything else in exercise selection?
He's mastering it while touching his head with the other hand in the thumbnail!
Question for Dr. Mike- or anyone really- Is it beneficial or ok to mix vary the accessory type lifts (dumbbell incline flys vs cable incline flys) while keeping the core lifts the same? Example- keep barbell bench press a staple of a chest workout for multiple mesocycles, but vary between dumbbell and cable flys throughout the mesos? Reason being equipment availability, body feeling different week to week (fatigue, injury, etc.). Asking for the beginner/ intermediate stage lifter
It's just fine, the Sam Suleks of the world kinda wing it each session, but have their bread-and-butter template in their mind already each time
Unless there are studies that indicate it I don’t think it’s beneficial. It’s probably a 0-sum game
I have sent requests to RP via the app and support form but I need some help. I'm on a 4 day per week U/L split using the Hypertrophy app. Currently week 3. The app is decreasing my sets on squats, RDLs, split squats and hip thrusts to now one set. At the same time shrugs and wrist curls are increasing to now 5 sets!!! Sorry to spam the YT comments but what's going on?
I set them off doing same heavy chain pullups and dips. Got amazing gains and I can train more often , mind muscle increased but sone trainers always walk by and say I should mix it up even though I actually made gains and they didn't. Most ppl just train their nervous system by changing exercises and they're tired , sore , fatigue
Unless there's a specific reason to switch exercises don't. Plateaus, imbalances are valid reasons to change workouts but as long as the weight on the bar increases you're growing. Variation is overrated.
I've seen guys literally do different workouts every single time, there's no way to track progress that way.
We need access to those PPTs
I’m really noticing this with split-squats. Takes months alone to be able to balance/get decent depth at even bodyweight.
Im doing smith split squats for the past month and im still having trouble actually loading my glutes instead of my hips
True. I loathe split-squats, but they absolutely tear me up…..so, gotta get better at them and continue to do them.
Split squats are awesome. I've never tried to do a glute targeted split squat because the quad-centric split squat always tears up my glutes too. Go deep, try get the resting knee to hit the ground.
@@realericandersonTry adding a deficit (elevate your foot on a plate). It helped me finally feel my glutes