Exercise Scientist’s Masterclass On Building Muscle - Dr Mike Israetel - #744

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
What's happening, people, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Dr. Mike Israetel. He's a professor of exercise and sports science at Lehman College and the co-founder of Renaissance Periodization. If you've ever wondered, is this exercise actually working, then you are not alone. However, there are now scientifically proven optimal methods for building muscle in the most efficient way possible. And today, we get to learn from the best teacher on the planet. Expect to learn the biggest mistakes people make when building muscle, how much stimulation is required to build mass, Mike's top 10 exercises, the best rep ranges, sets, rest periods and timing between workouts, all backed by science, how much you should lift for your body weight to know if you're strong, how to maintain motivation in the gym and much more. Mike is nothing short of a legend. His YouTube channel is completely destroying it at the moment. And I'm so happy for him. I love his content. I love his insights. I love the fact that he's evidence based. And I love the suss jokes and complete overt flirting that he does throughout today. So yes, strap in for this one. Don't forget, you might be listening but not subscribed. And that means you're going to miss episodes when they go up. So make sure that you've gone to Apple podcasts or Spotify and hit the follow button because that way you'll make me happy and you'll support the show and you won't miss episodes when they go up. So go and do it. I thank you. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dr Mike Israetel.
Dr. Mike Israetel, welcome to the show.

**Mike Israetel** (1:48)
Chris, thank you for having me.

**Chris Williamson** (1:50)
Look at your head in all of its high-definition glory.

**Mike Israetel** (1:52)
Yes, I believe the folks helping us videotape this had to make 10 adjustments, because my head is too shiny, which is a compliment or an insult? I can't quite tell. That sums up most of my life.

**Chris Williamson** (2:03)
Dude, I love your YouTube channel. You are absolutely blowing up at the moment. Evidence-based training, hypertrophy, muscle gain, all that stuff. So I want to do a one-stop shop today of everything that anybody needs to know to get as jacked as possible from an exercise science standpoint.

**Mike Israetel** (2:22)
Sounds simple.

**Chris Williamson** (2:23)
Let's do it. This is literally what you've been doing your entire life.

**Mike Israetel** (2:25)
Yeah, for sure. Something like that.

**Chris Williamson** (2:27)
You're a doctor or something, doctor of something?

**Mike Israetel** (2:29)
The sport physiology.

**Chris Williamson** (2:30)
Yeah, that. Yeah. I mean, if you don't know, who does?

**Mike Israetel** (2:33)
Oh yeah. Good God. Tons of way more qualified people, but they don't have this beautiful bald head. And that's why they're not in Hollywood.

**Chris Williamson** (2:41)
All right. So taking it from the top, what are the things that you see when it comes to training for muscle growth that are the biggest mistakes people make? Where are people going wrong the most when it comes to this?

**Mike Israetel** (2:59)
Thinking all that time in the gym will get you laid. And Chris, let me tell you from a personal story, it just doesn't work. Nothing works. Help. Anyone who's listening, help.
Send me a letter telling me how this whole thing works. On a serious note, if I had to be scientific about it and explain the biggest source of variance in not growing muscle over, let's say, timeline of about a year, which is a realistic amount of time for people who haven't seen you in a year to be like, holy crap, it has to be consistency. Because if you just go to the gym and scream a lot and do crappy technique, crappy volumes and crappy loads and do a lot wrong, but you have a requisite intensity that's anywhere north of reading the newspaper and you just show up multiple times a week over and over, you're going to get some results. If you have the ultimate evidence-based plan from, geez, Renaissance Periodization itself, and you've done one of the hypertrophy apps, discount code and bio, I don't know, is that's what influencers say. But you do it intermittently. You do it on and off stuff. You ever had conversations with people you're like in the metro, let's say in London, where you're from, I believe. All English people are from London, yes, of course. And they're asking you tips because they saw that you're jacked. And you start giving them tips and you eventually get in a conversation of like, well, so like how many times a week do you lift? And they'll be like, well, you know, it's five. You're like, mm-hmm, yes, yes, I see where this is going. They're like, but like lately, you know, my dog's been real sick. So my wife left me.