Sam Sulek emerged as the most popular social media bodybuilding icon in 2023. Many veteran bodybuilders questioned Sulek’s methods despite the results. However, Renaissance Periodization and bodybuilding coach Mike Israetel was among the fair critiques of the 21-year-old bodybuilder. While Israetel critiqued Sulek on his YouTube channel, he gave some additional advice lately.

While appearing in Transparent with Nyle Nayga, Mike Israetel answered a fan question about Sam Sulek. The fan enquired what Dr. Israetel thinks of the bodybuilding prodigy’s training. However, instead of bashing the former diver, the bodybuilding coach said what he appreciated about Sulek’s training philosophy.

“He’s using large ranges of motion… trying really hard… gets close to failure. He’s not underdosing his volume, so he’s growing a lot,” said the veteran bodybuilder. However, nothing is perfect, and neither is Sulek’s training. “Can he slow down as he’s eccentrics? Yes. Can he get the deeper stretch? Yes. Could he take a pause at the bottom?… Yes,” said the exercise scientist.

Dr. Isreatel explained that Sam Sulek should slow down the eccentric to get more time under tension. However, the coach suggested that Sulek should pause at the bottom of every rep to mitigate injury risk. The exercise scientist likes that the 21-year-old takes the middle-of-the-road approach instead of sticking to just high-intensity or purely volume training. 

However, he did say that if Sam Sulek incorporated the tips he mentioned, he would grow muscle more efficiently and faster. Dr. Mike Israetel also touched on the subject of scrutinizing the minute details of the bodybuilding sensation’s training in the first place.

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Mike Israetel reminded everyone that Sam Sulek is not an expert

The social media fitness community has hung on to nearly everything Sam Sulek says in his videos. However, the RP Hypertrophy app creator doesn’t believe it’s something people should be doing. While he thinks “it’s dope and inspirational… I would not overthink his methods,” said Mike Israetel. The bodybuilding star has himself confessed to not being an expert.

In fact, his training so far has been trial and error. “He does not overthink his methods,” said the bodybuilding coach. While Sam Sulek can teach every young lifter a thing or two about giving 100% in the gym, no one should obsess over or copy what the 21-year-old does in the gym.

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Mike Israetel didn’t change his stance about Sam Sulek on Nyle Nayga’s podcast. During his YouTube video, the bodybuilding coach said Sulek could improve a few things, and he said the same thing this time around.