Ep. 249 - The Spirit of Bodybuilding (with Dr. Mike Israetel)

Iron Culture

The MASS Crew

Sports & Recreation, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 827 Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2023

⏱️ 111 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s hard to explain to those who haven’t competed what it is about bodybuilding that can grip people and transform them. The near-spiritual experiences that some physique athletes gain through prep and competition are something shared regardless of division, federation, natural, or enhanced. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Mike Israetel, not to talk sports science like you're used to, but to talk about what lies at the heart of the sport. Mike has been pushing forward through multiple seasons in his attempt to become an IFBB pro bodybuilder, an incredibly challenging feat that requires tremendous sacrifice and drive. What fuels a journey like that? What does a competitor experience - highs and lows? What do they learn, and how do they change? You might be surprised as well, that despite the different paths Dr. Helms and Dr. Israetel took as competitors, that at the heart of their experience lie many similar threads. Join us in this episode as they discuss the spirit of bodybuilding.

00:00 An introduction to a unifying (but still controversial) episode

08:09 The purpose of discussing your personal journey

Iron Culture Ep. 247- A Tale of Two Bodybuilders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT-LlFYp_dA

21:21 The start of Mike’s bodybuilding journey and when he plans to stop competing

34:45 Having the right genetics and (the potential for) turning pro

51:02 The spiritual component of bodybuilding (Mike)

1:02:39 The spiritual component of bodybuilding (Eric) and the difference between amateurs and pros

1:11:43 Working through hard times and growing from criticism

1:31:05 Androgens and what’s to come for Mike in the sport

1:39:24 The minutiae of the Iron game

Omar Isuf Why Mike Israetel Is WRONG About The Overhead Press https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XondhZNAE74

Omar Isuf Is Powerbuilding An Abomination? (ft. Jeff Nippard & Dr. Pak) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eYnh0Aw4_c

1:46:46 Closing out with what Iron Culture means

Transcript

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0:00.0	Eric.
0:01.8	Omar.
0:02.8	You know what we haven't talked about recently?
0:07.0	The fact that Eric Trexler looks a little more bold and less glasses wearing today?
0:14.0	Looks a little different.
0:15.8	This is true.
0:16.9	Shout out to Trex Nation, which we do have to announce, Mike, because after Eric Trexler joined
0:22.8	our culture, like just the fan base of his exploded, and now we basically have to dedicate
0:29.3	five minutes to the Trex Army every single episode.
0:34.0	So otherwise to get irate and physical.
0:36.8	Not even physical, not remotely verbal, but it's more there's a look.
0:41.6	There's an element within their look, Mike, that I wouldn't even say is disagreeable.
0:46.0	It's like a plate, hmm, you know?
0:49.7	Yeah, they're a group of intellectual Buddhist vegans, so they never get mad, but they will
0:59.1	certainly...
1:00.1	And they're not disappointed.
1:01.9	Not even disappointed.
1:03.4	Like, most of them have evolved past that.
1:05.3	One of them, like they, one of them will, will acknowledge that they are, they feel that disappointment,
1:10.3	and then they'll reflect and
1:11.8	apologize to you, but when they apologize to you, you feel bad because you know you did something
1:16.9	that made them reflect and they lost a little bit of their path to enlightenment. So we're trying
	...

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