He strikes again. Exercise scientist critiques Tom Brady’s NFL workout.
Who is this exercise scientist? Dr Mike Israetel, PhD in Sport Physiology and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, is a well-respected professor in the bodybuilding community. He doesn’t only talk about workouts and fitness tips, he often dives deep into health and nutrition.
This is actually the fourth time we are covering Israetel and his appraisal of Hollywood workouts. The first 3 were:
And now it is time to go away from celebrities from Hollywood and delve into the realms of sports celebrities.
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Exercise Scientist Critiques Tom Brady’s NFL Workout
It starts with a warm-up, and as usual, “warm-ups are usually a waste of time in the weight room,” Israetel says. That is because, usually in these celebrities’ workout videos, the warm-up is something completely different from what you are going to work on.
The best warm-up is to do exactly what you will later, but with a lighter weight. It prepares you best for what you will work on.
The first exercise of the workout is also wrong. A pro athlete from the NFL shouldn’t be doing standing body rows with a resistance band as it won’t build muscle and you will barely row your bodyweight. According to Israetel, that is a warm-up at best.
Source: Pavel Danilyuk on PexelsThe banded push-up is a good exercise for pro athletes, as long as the band resistance is heavy and the reps are done in an explosive manner.
The resistance band twisting torso is terrible. With too many reps, the guy in the video is not rotating the torso, but rather just moving his shoulders sideways, taking away any benefit the exercise could have – which is not optimal for a professional football player.
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Next are the banded deadlifts. Why using resistance bands again, in this exercise, is mind-boggling. Training t failure is detrimental for a pro athlete as you will get tired with the movements as Tom Brady’s coach is asking to do sets to failure every single time.
Every single exercise is done with resistance bands, when in fact they could be much better done with weight plates or dumbbells. Resistance bands are okay for some exercises, but if you have access to gym equipment, you should choose the best each time. Simply put, the exercises above are not set in Tom Brady’s reality and there is a big chance that the footballer himself does not do this workout regardless of where in the season he is.
Watch the full video of Israetel’s exercise scientist critique Tom Brady’s NFL workout below.
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How Many Times a Week Should You Work Out?
So, how many times a week should you work out? As expected the answer is not simply a straight-up number. That is because people are looking for different outcomes when working out and that, alone, can already differ the answer for one person and the other.
The more you train, the more your muscle grows. That is true, to a certain extent. However, there is something called junk volume training in which once you hit a certain point, the more you lift the worse it gets for hypertrophy.
So, in the end, it is all about training volume. If you have time to train 5, 6, or even 7 days a week, you can split your workout into specific muscle groups – chest and back one day, leg another day, and shoulder, arm and abs the next day, take a day off, and repeat. If you can only train three times a week, with a day of rest in between each of them, then train your entire body during every session.
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However, if you can only train once a week, you will still get some results, but they will be far inferior compared to people who train three times per week according to different studies.
In one particular study, participants performed the exact same amount of training. One group did the entire thing in one giant session, while the other group performed the movements divided into three days – the latter group saw an increase in lean body mass by 8% while the 1x a week group gained 1% of lean body mass.
If you go to the gym three times a week, but each day you train only one different specific muscle group, you are actually training each muscle group only once a week, which is less than optimal for muscle growth.
Working out more often, between 4 and 7 times a week, can provide additional benefits in terms of recovery if structured correctly. You can go to the gym every day, as long as you leave 48-72 hours of rest to recover from your last workout. This is where the bro split mentality comes from, where you can focus a training session entirely on one muscle and hit the gym the next day because you are training a different part of your body that is well-rested.
You can also try out different ways to divide your workout. It can be an upper-lower body training routine, bro split, or full-body workout. It depends on how much time you have available, just make sure you are hitting the same muscle group more than once a week to get results faster.
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So, how many times a week should you work out? At least 3, if you want to see faster results. Depends on how much time you have and, from there, you can choose what kind of workout routine best works for you.
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Image Sources
- Resistance band (2): Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels
- Tom Brady: Cian Leach on Unsplash