Why You Should Never Copy a Pro Athlete

There are a variety of reasons why you should never copy a pro athlete as Mike Israetel explains.

Mike Israetel has a PhD in Sport Physiology and is the co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, a YouTube channel focused on hypertrophy. He is well respected by the fitness industry and the bodybuilder community.

According to Israetel, the jacked guy in your gym should most likely not be copied because there are a few confounding factors that won’t get you as shredded as that person. Check out why you should never copy a pro athlete in his opinion.

Why You Should Never Copy a Pro Athlete

Before getting into the nitpicking of why you should never copy a pro athlete, Israetel paints a picture that, perhaps, happened to you before.

You see a muscular person at the gym doing a specific different movement in a machine and you conclude that this is the reason that person is so shredded. So you assume that by doing the same thing you will also look spectacular and muscular.

The fact that this person is jacked and is doing this specific different exercise does not mean one is exclusively linked to the other.

It could be that this person is doing a certain movement to manage a current injury, it could work for this person’s anthropometry but not yours, it could be one of many ways to get the same results, it could actually decrease muscle gains but the person spends so much time in the gym that it balances off.

Regardless, the one thing you should be doing instead of copying a Pro at the gym is to learn how exercises and movements work. Utilising that learning filter, you can then apply it to trying to somewhat copy what other people are also doing.

That is why you should never copy a pro athlete. There could be numerous reasons why the person is doing what is doing and it could be unrelated to getting bigger muscles and stronger.

Focus on your fitness path, choose a strength program that you will consistently do, apply progressive overload and eat enough protein to help build muscles. That, in a nutshell, is how you achieve a great physique.

If you want to know more about Israetel’s arguments of why you should never copy a pro athlete, click on the video below.