Hardest training Pros or Semi Pros out there today?

[Massive G]

Just a general comment after watching a lot of training clips on the web in the past few years. I kind of stopped following the sport awhile ago. I was kind of offline more than on back in the covid working from home days.

I started watching a lot of training videos that were coming up in my feed. Maybe it's dilution because so many videos are made each week and it just gets repetitive.
The sport has really seemed to have changed and maybe the Instagram youtube culture has contributed but I miss the days of the cutler and coleman training videos where they absolutely destroyed every known fiber in their muscles trained. Just all out bombing and blitzing. When Nick Walker burst on the scene a few years ago he was destroying some serious weights. Like 405 free weight militaries and 200 pound dumbells. Now when I watch most of his vids I about fall asleep. Mostly machines and tons of chatter between sets. I notice the same with Labrada Iain and some of the others like Brett Wilkin and Fitzwater. Many now have Hypertrophy coaches and do a lot of stretch and squeeze sets on machines with perfect form.
All seem to use the same terms like "top set" and other things. Sometimes I wonder if I am watching the same videos over and over again.
I don't know if it's a trend like everything else everyone dresses the same pushes their own supplements trains the same poses the same it's like one big cookie cutter or stencil.
They could be just trying to avoid injury and continue to refine their physiques as a lot of them like Nick and Iain have probably topped out their mass.
Does this seem off to you guys or am I on point here with some of the observations?

 

[alfresco]

Just a general comment after watching a lot of training clips on the web in the past few years. I kind of stopped following the sport awhile ago. I was kind of offline more than on back in the covid working from home days.

I started watching a lot of training videos that were coming up in my feed. Maybe it's dilution because so many videos are made each week and it just gets repetitive.
The sport has really seemed to have changed and maybe the Instagram youtube culture has contributed but I miss the days of the cutler and coleman training videos where they absolutely destroyed every known fiber in their muscles trained. Just all out bombing and blitzing. When Nick Walker burst on the scene a few years ago he was destroying some serious weights. Like 405 free weight militaries and 200 pound dumbells. Now when I watch most of his vids I about fall asleep. Mostly machines and tons of chatter between sets. I notice the same with Labrada Iain and some of the others like Brett Wilkin and Fitzwater. Many now have Hypertrophy coaches and do a lot of stretch and squeeze sets on machines with perfect form.
All seem to use the same terms like "top set" and other things. Sometimes I wonder if I am watching the same videos over and over again.
I don't know if it's a trend like everything else everyone dresses the same pushes their own supplements trains the same poses the same it's like one big cookie cutter or stencil.
They could be just trying to avoid injury and continue to refine their physiques as a lot of them like Nick and Iain have probably topped out their mass.
Does this seem off to you guys or am I on point here with some of the observations?

I think your observations are pretty much on point in my opinion.

Training videos now, for me, are pretty boring. The early ones you mentioned are still golden to me. Most recent ones seem to have a heavy marketing component to them. I get that, but watching somebody somebody scooping protein or cooking or eating or pimping merch bores me to tears.

Oh, not to forget the ‘bro’ talk . . . give me a break.

 

[Fleezy]

They could be just trying to avoid injury

i imagine this is the case

why risk a career-ending injury just to employ unnecessary Branch Warren-esque intensity?

 

[Swifto]

They have built the muscle mass with intense training.

Now they're working on weakness's, as well as maintaining what they have built and looking forward in terms of health and longevity.

 

[bbxtreme]

i imagine this is the case

why risk a career-ending injury just to employ unnecessary Branch Warren-esque intensity?

This. They’ve built the size. It’s not as “fun” to watch on YouTube, but these guys make a living off their physique. Cbum and his bicep tear last year even mildly showed.

Look at guys like Branch, Jay, Ronnie and Dorian- multiple tears and it showed on stage in their final years. Guys today are trying to train smarter.

 

[TheOtherOne55]

I wouldn’t say I’m disagreeing but I’m just pointing out that when we watch say…Jays old videos, we were legit LEARNING how professional BBers train. We hadn’t seen a 250+ and lean guy train so just watching it was amazing, all of us making mental note to ourselves about how we were going to apply the same principles to our own training. Just my 2 cents. We’re in an age where there’s almost too much info at our fingertips and we’ve seen it all. So we aren’t blown away anymore. Easy.

All the rest have explanations.
Top sets and machines? How to train to true failure without killing oneself with free weights and 3 dedicated spotters. Chatting? More kids want discussions as you are right, the training isn’t thaaat exciting. 20 years ago, BBing was so damn niche that you had to search for to find info. Today it’s popular (at least the physique CBum type stuff) where every kid under 25 goes thru a brief period of time where they want to be jacked.

 

[AllOkJumpmaster]

i imagine this is the case

why risk a career-ending injury just to employ unnecessary Branch Warren-esque intensity?

Dexter never trained that way, and had an impressively injury-free career. Kai famously didn't push super heavy weights. I definitely believe training like Branch causes guys to be injured more, the irony is the most serious injury branch suffered was from falling on ice. I think a lot of guys see what Ronnie looks like now, and don't want to be a broken-down old man after the run is over. JP has also stated that pushing so hard was one of the reasons his abdominal wall is so destroyed. There is also a "what gets most views / interactions" mentality, and it's not the hardcore shit. Who would have ever thought that the most popular bodybuilders on social media by far are Cbum (a classic guy) and Noel Dyzel lol.

 

[Fleezy]

the irony is the most serious injury branch suffered was from falling on ice

I believe he fell down the stairs and tore something

Evan Cantopani slipped on ice

 

[AllOkJumpmaster]

I believe he fell down the stairs and tore something

Evan Cantopani slipped on ice

you are right I went back and looked it up, it just said he slipped on wet pavement at a guest appearance. Crazy luck, he had just placed to 2nd to Jay at the Olympia the prior year.

 

[Swifto]

Dexter never trained that way, and had an impressively injury-free career. Kai famously didn't push super heavy weights. I definitely believe training like Branch causes guys to be injured more, the irony is the most serious injury branch suffered was from falling on ice. I think a lot of guys see what Ronnie looks like now, and don't want to be a broken-down old man after the run is over. JP has also stated that pushing so hard was one of the reasons his abdominal wall is so destroyed. There is also a "what gets most views / interactions" mentality, and it's not the hardcore shit. Who would have ever thought that the most popular bodybuilders on social media by far are Cbum (a classic guy) and Noel Dyzel lol.

Kai did push heavy weights.

Here is him Incline 5 plates and Flat 4 plates.

 

[AllOkJumpmaster]

Kai did push heavy weights.

Here is him Incline 5 plates and Flat 4 plates.

i stand corrected

 

[fisther69]

I think your observations are pretty much on point in my opinion.

Training videos now, for me, are pretty boring. The early ones you mentioned are still golden to me. Most recent ones seem to have a heavy marketing component to them. I get that, but watching somebody somebody scooping protein or cooking or eating or pimping merch bores me to tears.

Oh, not to forget the ‘bro’ talk . . . give me a break.

To be fair most of the old ones had a heavy marketing component to them as well..I still remember an old kovacs video when he was sponsored by muscle tech and mid set he starts telling his training partner “I can tell the acetabolin kicking in” ..so, the 400lb bodybuilder was really felling the effect of that lol

 

[danieltx]

You're correct that they're refining their physiques and avoiding injury. Guys like Valliere, Wilkin, Walker, etc., are past the point of adding a solid 10lbs. in an offseason.

Yeah it's cool to see brutal, hardcore training, but is it cool to end up how Coleman is now? I think seeing what he's dealt with since retiring has had a big impact on how modern guys train. Bragging rights aren't worth being crippled in your 50s.

 

[alfresco]

To be fair most of the old ones had a heavy marketing component to them as well..I still remember an old kovacs video when he was sponsored by muscle tech and mid set he starts telling his training partner “I can tell the acetabolin kicking in” ..so, the 400lb bodybuilder was really felling the effect of that lol

Yea. I agree. I remember those. That is / was very off putting (to me too).

I was thinking, more remembering the ‘blood and guts’ style videos. No much talk but densely packed, serious training. I would really have to think back, am sure there are others.

Maybe that ship has sailed, I dunno. But what I have seen lately does not really appeal to me; the mix of social media combined with training and pimping merch and the motor mouth, never ending bro talk but I guess you can always mute that out, which I do with most videos anyways.

There used to be some really good stuff about there, not so much in my opinion.

The lovely John Meadows used to do some great stuff with an educational component minus the ego. He was a good soul.

 

[Elvia1023]

Your observations are on point and something I noticed as well but never really thought about it until reading your post. I think everyone has covered things. Most of the guys you mentioned have built their mass and are basically just training smarter. It's more boring but I think overall it's smarter and more effective and training knowledge has improved over the years. It may not be as hardcore but using movements were you have stability and can go to failure safely are going to produce more long term results with fewer risks.

Before I train I like to watch you-tube training vids just for motivation. Nothing motivates me more than watching Branch Warren go mental with hard music on in the background. In fact today before the gym I typed in "Branch Warren bodybuilding motivation" into my you-tube search. I try not to go too crazy in the gym these days but sometimes I do and go in hyped up and just hit everything hard and go against the "literature". I don't have any real plan just some movements in my head and I do as many sets as I feel like doing. The guys you listed are still training to failure they just tend to do it in machines and everything is more calculated and precise.

Out of the current guys I would say one of the best to watch is Shaun Clarida. He trains just like Branch and always goes hard and heavy. I watch him a lot pre workout but I also watch Chris Bumstead as well but you are not going to get any yelling and db's crashing down to the floor with him

 

[buck]

If i wanted to see guys pushing themselves to the max and destroying their muscle i would look to the up and comers. Guys that have put on most all the muscle that they are likely to would risk more then they could get out of it by pusing things to the limit all the time. And that doesn't bring in more money. It seems most pro athletes in most all sports spend more time at not getting injured once they have made it. I am in the same boat. I am an old man and don't push things because it just ain't worth it. The beast hasn't been released in a long time.

 

[alfresco]

Bottom line for me.

Training is boring and hard and lonely and exhausting and repetitive and painful and potentially dangerous and can be expensive with the ultimate gratification delayed (think bodybuilding here).

If that was effectively communicated the videos would appeal to very few people in my opinion.

It’s not all rainbows and lollipops.

This is a good thread.

 

[Gunsmith]

The lovely John Meadows used to do some great stuff with an educational component minus the ego. He was a good soul.

I so miss John Meadows' videos.
Milos has some decent ones now and then
I prefer to watch videos that are more informative like when a specific body part is targeted and then explain why they are doing what they are doing for that muscle

 

[Virtuous]

Bottom line for me.

Training is boring and hard and lonely and exhausting and repetitive and painful and potentially dangerous and can be expensive with the ultimate gratification delayed (think bodybuilding here).

If that was effectively communicated the videos would appeal to very few people in my opinion.

It’s not all rainbows and lollipops.

This is a good thread.

The only thing I’d possibly disagree with here is that training is boring, I look forward with zeal to my 4/5 am alarm every day - the gym is by far the most fun I have even after training for a decade and a half with religious consistency.

Maybe after 20/30 years it’ll get boring, but I think it can be fun if you make it fun - even if usually the “fun” is a warped, masochistic journey to the pain cave to see how far you can go.

 

[jaxino]

Just a general comment after watching a lot of training clips on the web in the past few years. I kind of stopped following the sport awhile ago. I was kind of offline more than on back in the covid working from home days.

I started watching a lot of training videos that were coming up in my feed. Maybe it's dilution because so many videos are made each week and it just gets repetitive.
The sport has really seemed to have changed and maybe the Instagram youtube culture has contributed but I miss the days of the cutler and coleman training videos where they absolutely destroyed every known fiber in their muscles trained. Just all out bombing and blitzing. When Nick Walker burst on the scene a few years ago he was destroying some serious weights. Like 405 free weight militaries and 200 pound dumbells. Now when I watch most of his vids I about fall asleep. Mostly machines and tons of chatter between sets. I notice the same with Labrada Iain and some of the others like Brett Wilkin and Fitzwater. Many now have Hypertrophy coaches and do a lot of stretch and squeeze sets on machines with perfect form.
All seem to use the same terms like "top set" and other things. Sometimes I wonder if I am watching the same videos over and over again.
I don't know if it's a trend like everything else everyone dresses the same pushes their own supplements trains the same poses the same it's like one big cookie cutter or stencil.
They could be just trying to avoid injury and continue to refine their physiques as a lot of them like Nick and Iain have probably topped out their mass.
Does this seem off to you guys or am I on point here with some of the observations?

I like a lot to watch Nick Walker training, he explains quite well what he is doing, and i applied some of his advice here and there and training improved.

Nowadays most of the guys train high intensity low volume, it's just 2 working sets basically, nothing much to say, so videos become boring with time.