Sore red eyes. A heavy head. Intrusive paranoia infiltrating the mind. Opposing thoughts clashing inside the skull like angry waves fighting rocky shores.
You feel trapped. You don’t know what to do. Title after title attack you with hormonal attraction.
“How To Squat for Mega Gains”
“Five Push-up Tweaks For Majestic Pecs”
“How To Burn a Truck Of Fat While Gaining Muscle (easy trick)”
“Bigger Arms After a Weekend of Drinking Beer and Playing HALO”
They are after you. You are a captain of a sinking ship. Step by step the enemy is taking over. One by one the pistols are clicking and pointing at you.
You look around. Half your crew is dead. The other half is drunk. What do you do in that situation? Surrender? Fight to the death?
Luckily, the choice is simple. Just flip the switch and let it all evaporate into the nothingness.
Scary?
Don’t worry. You’ll be just fine.
Today, I present you 10 reasons why natties should stop bathing in YouTube videos.
1. Recycled Content Repeated Over and Over Again
Life is a never-ending cycle – a circle of pain within a circle of joy within a circle of pain…Everything has been said one way or another; we are all just repeating it in our own style. The clothes are different, but the body is the same.
The training advice flooding YouTube is not an exception. When you search for a topic, you get a library of online clips with identical theses.
This content inflation is a result of the following:
- The number of topics is limited.
- The process of getting stronger and bigger never changes.
- Almost anyone can upload a video.
If you have been training for a while, the chances of hearing something revolutionary are practically zero. It may hurt to admit it, but you are a victim of click-baiting and a persistent addiction filling your boring hours with digitally induced dopamine. The process is catalyzed by the false sense of social interaction and the erroneous belief that a mega special secret that only the almighty Internet can reveal is waiting for you. Yet it never comes. It’s all the same – just another man doing the squats, the deadlifts and the curls. You have the opportunity to make a choice – keep injecting the digital heroine or move on.
2. Too Much “click-baiting” and Misleading Thumbnails
A super hot woman in a devilish dress highlighting her perfect curves is looking at you from the computer screen. Naturally, you click on her; naughty desires start partying inside of you. The video is playing, but where is she? She isn’t there. All you get is a poorly dressed dude sitting on a sofa with a stupid expression on his face. You quickly skim through the video, but she is nowhere to be seen. Where is she? You do it again, but she is still absent from your reality. Is she a ghost? Maybe you launched the wrong video? You hit back and return only to learn that you’d started the right clip.
Sounds familiar? This is a common practice for most YouTube gangstas. They love spamming you with all kinds of sexually suggestive imagery so that you give them views and money. This tactic isn’t any different than the commercial billboards showcasing women with open mouths alluding to oral sex on a subconscious level.
3. Too Much Fake, Unnecessary Drama
The so-called YouTube personalities live for drama and online fights. Most of it is a series of events (sometimes staged) designed to generate traffic. And while this may be somewhat entertaining on the surface, it gets old pretty quickly.
Here’s the basic scheme.
- A popular YouTuber makes an “outrageous” claim.
- Everyone starts responding.
- The site is flooded with an enormous amount of clips on the subject.
- The followers are triggered too and start watching all the clips.
- Since the videos are usually pretty long (a requirement to have more ads in a clip), most people click through the clips or watch them at the highest speed.
I am almost sorry to inform you, but most YouTube drama is nonsense fighting for your most important resource – time. There is nothing to be gained from following YouTube’s soap opera. Any way you look at it, you are in a disadvantageous position – you are being used.
4. Too Many Fake Natties
As I told you in this post, YouTube is based on capitalism. In theory, the guy with the better video gets more views. And since most muscle constructors wrongfully associate size with knowledge, the biggest men get the most attention. If I make a fitness YouTube video, people would not be as interested because I am not big – a quality that makes me an idiot when it comes to the muscle war, right?
As a result of this mechanism, most of the popular channels are owned by juicers – some are open about their use, but many claim natural despite injecting like there is no tomorrow.
Of course, the fact that someone is taking steroids does not mean that he or she cannot produce accurate information. In practice, however, most juicers rely on their steroid based physiques to create all sorts of theories sharing many similarities with science fiction. I am sorry guys but most of the info is simply corrupt bro-science playing tricks with the right brain of the victim.
“It’s your fault,” say the fake natties.
According to the fake natties, if you are not seeing results, it’s because you are “doing it wrong”. You are performing the wrong splits. You are doing the wrong exercises. You are following the wrong training frequency. You are not eating the right amount of macros. You are not drinking enough water. It’s always your fault. You are wrong…wrong…wrong…
This poisonous thinking has created a horde of naturals obsessing over everything they do. Many natural lifters attribute the lack of results solely to their program or nutrition without realizing that there are limitations that cannot be broken with squats or protein.
Simply put, the fake natties have altered the perception and brain wiring of many naturals.
They are playing with you. They are not that dumb. They know well that they are singing politically correct statements while injecting in the shadows.
The question is – why are you listening to them?
5. Inefficiency
Videos don’t allow you to search within them. Unless there are cliffs, you will have to watch the whole thing. Meanwhile, books and texts are searchable and can produce an answer very quickly.
Another problem with YouTube clips is the distraction factor. You start one clip and before you know it half the day has passed. The endless amount of information, the structure of the site, and the attention deficit disorder so common for modern humanoids are the reasons why it’s so difficult to exercise proper Internet hygiene.
Note: An effective method to limit unnecessary YouTube use is to install a plugin in your browser that removes the recommended videos.
6. Books > Videos
It’s hardly a surprise that processing written text (books) requires more brain power than simply watching low IQ clips produced by spoiled teenagers.
Moreover, books do not kill your attention span as quickly as Internet content. There are no links, banners, pop-ups, ads and notifications. Therefore, books represent a more coherent source of information.
Don’t be surprised if you learn more about training from one book than watching YouTube videos for months. It doesn’t really matter how much information is passing through your head when you aren’t absorbing or learning anything.
Undoubtedly, books have their limitations too. Learning how to perform the exercises solely from a book is a faulty process. A video demonstration makes everything clearer. For everything else, however, books win.
7. Free Stuff Has Peculiar Qualities
The online world loves to talk about freebies and the greatness of the Informational Age.
But free stuff comes with peculiar qualities. One of them is that you respect it less even if it’s good.
For example, if you buy a book or a DVD, you are more likely to pay attention because you have paid real money for it. One could argue that paying for a good product is less expensive than wasting endless hours watching free stuff online without direction.
Bonus
Proper YouTube Hygiene
- Search mode instead of watch mode.What’s search mode? Looking for specific information and then leaving the site once you have acquired the needed knowledge. Watch mode starts the same way but ends very differently – you launch the page to see a squat demonstration only to end up watching wrestling for hours on end.
- Limit the time you spend on the site.
- Don’t fall for click-baiting. (If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably a click bait.)
- Don’t waste time on personal vlogs. (Watching someone eat breakfast gives you nothing.)
- Don’t try to win an argument in the comment section.
I used to be the guy raging over comments. It’s a waste of time. Simply state your opinion firmly and let it go. Those who have vision will see. The more you try to convince someone, the more you are pushing him away. Arguing gives birth to more arguing. No one will ever say: “You know what, bro? You are right. I am an idiot.”
P.S. Potential: How Big Can You Get Naturally is out.
There is a 25% discount today.
Use promo code “natty” at checkout.
Great article. Some funny parts, mainly cause I’ve been there and done it. All naturals need are 5 – 10 good compound lifts, that cover the whole body. If a body part is lagging, add an isolation such as harness neck raises for a lagging neck (my weakness). Just stick to the exercises, learn to do them properly with good form, cycle them, stay with it for as long as you “gym”. Its not complicated. Hit the muscle, wait a few days (4 – 6) come back and repeat the same workout, same sets, reps. If you stronger add some weight (1 kg – 5kg) depending on the exercise. If you not stronger, but weaker, add another rest day or deload. Simple no need to waste your life on YouTube. Rather go out and approach girls, its more fun.
I know many people are going to hate me for saying this, because the man is considered a clown by so many, but one of the only YouTube channels I watch in relation to this topic is that of Gregg Valentino…aka, the Ramblin’ Freak. Here me out on this as to why (other than him being entertaining).
While his style may not be particularly attractive to some (in addition to his stories and some of his language being somewhat offensive to a few, respectively), the man’s knowledge, experience and pedigree in all things bodybuilding is beyond reproach. At almost 60 years of age, he may initially come out as comical in his videos, but he’s a straight shooter in my opinion when it comes to diet, lifting strategies, supplements and steroids, as well as natural & enhanced bodybuilding.
In fact he echoes many of the sentiments of this very site on his own channel, and his rants on IIFYM and dirty bulking are legendary and absolutely epic. He even goes out of his way sometimes to expose bad advice given by juiceheads and online gurus to young and impressionable teenage trainers, and while I don’t necessarily agree 100% with everything he says on everything, he likewise pulls no punches breaking out proper dietary and training advice.
Anyway that’s what I believe, see yourself and decide what you think.
Great recommendation. Gregg is a sharp and observant guy, and he’s spent decades hanging around the pro bodybuilding scene, watching some of the most massive freaks in the business. He definitely knows his stuff.
Fatman: His stories are first rate too, namely in regards to that bodybuilding scene and those personalities, especially in the 80’s in CA, all the way to how it started to deteriorate from then on, from a scene and physique standpoint.
Which brings to mind another famous rant was from the Ramblin’ Freak series (Episode 10, I believe) on YouTube, and it covered one topic that isn’t so much discussed on this site (in regards to chemical enhancement), and that is the now wide spread use of insulin among the juice warriors – a body disfiguring and quite potentially dangerous tactic.
But Gregg goes all out on these fools who dabble in something that you can easily screw up and kill yourself with a single shot. (Note: Gregg states to have had two such good bodybuilding friends who died of this incredibly stupid practice.)
He even states how insulin users have deluded natural guys into eating waffles, chocolate syrup, and all other forms of sugary (IIFYM) junk food, because young guys don’t realize that these jackasses are using insulin, which is never mentioned in their videos. He then calls out two such “momos” filming their shopping at Trader Joes for garbage food (launch a YouTube search of two bodybuilders + Trader Joes + shopping and you’ll find the video), who are buying this crap and making the young kids believe that it’s ok to eat that too, and then proceeds to tear them a new one because it’s wrong, deceptive and irresponsible to show such stupidity to such impressionable newbies.
The video itself is an endless howl, watch it if you have a chance you will enjoy it.
Yes! Great! He’s real fun. I couldn’t stop laughing for minutes. Of cause he knows what he is talking about. German equivalent is Markus Rühl.
Yep marlus is a good guy. Hes knowing his stuff aswell. His videos could be shorter, but he wants money aswell.
Youtube ? Waste of time. Watching half naked dudes parading / flexing / eating / babbling in front of a cam is really not my thing. Fuck that.
TOO BAD THE STEROID LOSERS/COWARDS CAN’T “JUST” LIFT FOR STRENGTH AND SIZE!!!
Truthseeker you ever think about expanding advice into other subjects like Video Games?
Video games? What advice do you need for that?
hahahaha
Broscience is the best fitness YouTube channel in my opinion.
Bro, you said 10, but I counted only 7. Where are the other 3? So allow me to fill in.
8) Watching Youtube is like watching professional sports. Youtubers are at work when they’re filming, just like how sport people are at work when they are playing. When no one is watching you work, why the hell are you wasting your time watching someone else work?
9) Most fitness youtubers have inflated egos and are self proclaimed ‘experts’. Each one of them believes that he’s saving the world with his information, but in reality, they couldn’t care less about you
10) Many fitness youtbers mislead general population by pushing the lift or die agenda. Whilst important, lifting is very trivial component of your life. There are more important things such as education, career, relationships, spirituality etc.
Very good comment my friend
Thank you for this wonder comment, Riki. 😉
Thanks for saving me years of pain and suffering trying to pursue unrealistic goals. Female here. Starting lifting a year ago because of a man named “Bret Contreras” claiming you could get a “bubble butt” from lifting. Did his program for a year. I’m moderately genetically gifted so I look good, but nothing like the girls on his website and certainly nothing like an instagram model.
You woke me up and made me realize he was nothing but a scam artist too, as his impressive “before and afters” were clearly steroids.
I didn’t know that and I was making myself miserable doing all kinds of weird elaborate exercises for minimal gains. I know your websites and books are targeted towards men, and that’s fine. There’s a lot of material for people in general.
I liked Hater’s Synthesis a lot. I agree with a lot of the material. I work for a billionaire, (I’m his assistant’s assistant…) and I can tell you right now, a lot of what you say is true. I won’t get into details, because I want to be careful, but lets just say I’ve witnessed firsthand politicians and the wealthy at work and play. It isn’t intelligence that got them up there. It’s necessary but insufficient. There is a lot of Machiavellian stuff going on, but what you might find interesting is that they never see it that way. When you get to that level, you kind of imagine that you actually are better than others. That’s why they do things like try to build Olympic stadiums with tax payer money (100s of millions) but then donate a few dollars to the homeless and then pat themselves on the back. It’s crazy how people think they are so so generous for the 10 million to this school and 1 million to that shelter, but they take 100s of millions and try to build something for free for their own sports teams (not providing exact figures because it might identify me).
Anyways keep up the good work. I’m a massive fan and read almost all your work. I don’t always agree with it, but I enjoy the quality and effort you put into your writing.
Thank you for taking the time to write this comment and for supporting me.
I know about the glute guy, but I haven’t seen his after girls. In general, all you need for glutes would be squats. They don’t even have to be heavy. No need for magic secrets.
I’ve also worked for a similar man, but he wasn’t a billionaire…just a millionaire. They are drunk, but so are many of us. I’ve seen people work themselves into the ground for men like that, for the system.
I wish you the best.
Oh its you !
I know who you are !!
I can’t believe you said the stuff you did. I thought you were happy there ?!
The marketing genius of Brett Contreras is that he actually found a demographic that was even more naive to steroid use than teenage boys. Women.
In that respect, he actually one upped the vast majority of Youtuber trainers.
Any FTM has more testosterone than 99% of males. Just start TRT. Watch your pressure and hematocrit and its OK.
Most popular books about fitness are also complete waste of time and money – only worth reading (and also very cheap) are Solitary Fitness (by infamous Charles Bronson, interesting read to say a least, and funny) and Never Gymless by Ross Enamait (tons of good workout routines focused to home minimalistic training with minimum equipment)
Oh, and yours books are also excellent haha
Men, you spoke the reality! Congratulations! Teino for 21 years and I have seen in the academies here in Brazil the great increase of people who use steroids. It’s a fever in bodybuilding gyms. Even more than here in Brazil, people get steroids easily. And the supplement industry makes a lot of selling their products with pictures of anabolic bodybuilders who hypocritically claim to have conquered their physiques with supplements and years of training. I’ve always used a lot of supplements, I’ve even imported a lot from the USA. But I agree with you that the supplements industry does not really speak the truth. A hug my friend!
Brilliant article! As always, keep them coming bro 😉
I have used Youtube to try to figure out how to improve my form on Squats, Deadlifts and Over Head Press. I found out that it is not very helpful due to over stimulation of information and I have also found this out with “experts” at a gym over analyzing my technique. I did come across one article about bracing every time you are moving with a barbell, keeping the chest up, butt out, knees out and that’s it. This was helpful because it was simple ques to keep in mind that I could apply as to the hundreds of other tips people rehash on youtube and forums. In my opinion people should keep it simple and just do the hard work themselves and maybe learn a few things on their own that actually work for them, instead of looking for the magic technique improvement, supplement, new exercise, or what ever.
You know what, bro? You are right. I am an idiot.
I see what you did there.
Is great and also encouraging to see (read)
someone that is using common sense…not
common in these times…and thinking for himself, you are in the minority my friend!
For a sensible approach to proper strength
training,founded on experience,meticulous
research and proven results I strongly recommend you read anything and everything written by Arthur Jones,inventor of Nautilus exercise machines and a man that seemed to discover the truth of effective training, for proof of this method, high intensity training, reading about Project Total Conditioning is a good place to start.
Unlike many exercise/strength studies that never actually took place, this one did and was results verified by ‘experts’ that were independant of Arthur Jones… one day, the so called experts will catch up with him and stop wasting so many peoples time!
I hope you find this helpful
You are highly overrating the effect of HIT and machines.
The results of Project Total Conditioning
are fact and ample proof of the effectiveness of High Intensity Training, and yes, this particular study was done with participants using machines…
Do you drive a car ( machine ) to the gym
for your workout…or ride a horse?
I would prefer a horse.
There is so much nonsense to do with strength/bodybuilding training… further evidence based on reality not theory,opinion or pseudo science is the Colorado State University experiment involving Arthur Jones and Casey Viator in 1973 for the purpose of discovering what was possible following a high – intensity training program for one month.
Casey trained three times per week, with each workout lasting 30 minutes or less.
4 weeks… 12 workouts… 6 hours total training time.
Starting weight was 166 pounds, after the four weeks, 212 pounds, he lost 17 pounds of fat and gained 63 pounds of lean body mass.
( 46 pound gain on scales )
Mike Mentzer compares this with what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to prepare for the 1975 Mr Olympia ( Heavy Duty; Chapter 1 )
4 months… 192 workouts ( 2 per day – 6 days per week )
288 hours in total training time.
Starting weight was 200 pounds, after the four months, 225 pounds…a gain of 25 pounds of lean body mass.
I think it is reasonable to assume both were taking anabolic steroids during this training, so that takes steroids out of the equation.
If you still think more is better, go right ahead and follow Arnolds advise and spend half your life in a gym… the comparison of results should be obvious for blind Freddy to see!
Truth is truth and does not change over time and the following quote is as true today as it was when first spoken…
‘ You can train hard or you can train for a long time, you just can’t do both’ – Arthur Jones
Nothing to say against Jones and Nautilus.
I myself trained according to heavy duty system in the 70ties. Short and intensive units make sense.
As a novice I was very much impressed of this theory.
The experiment with Viator was interesting. But he only regained what he already had before. He didn´t start the experiment as a novice but as a top-bbler who had lost lot´s of his gains. The problem with the experiment is that Jones thought that 63 pounds within 3 month with high intensity training was caused by his machines and his system. No. It was the roids that made Viator grow like grass. And of cause the memory effect.
What Mentzer made out of this experiment compared to Arnold gains was – very politly speaking – wrong.
Over 40 years ago this experiment was thrilling. Today after so many years I know that something like this is absolutely normal. I have seen so many elite lifters loosing “all their gains” within a few month and gaining them back in a short period of time. They start training again and you can see their muscles grow. It doesn´t matter which training – “system” they use.
Again: I think Heavy duty and HIT are good. Make the Colorado experiment with clean athletes today and see what happens.
Sorry for leaving that information out, you are correct that Viator was regaining former muscle but please also take into consideration, so was Arnold, he was a previous best Mr Olympia weight of 237 pounds ( the 74 event, from memory )
Both men have a genetic advantage and as I said earlier, highly likely taking steroids, so that creates a more or less level playing field with the main difference being the training methods used.
The vast differance in training time in a shorter space of time ( 4 weeks v 4 months ) speaks for itself.
Mike Mentzer said he asked Arnold why he was unable to reach his previous best size for the 75 Olympia to which Arnold replied that he did not allow enough time!
As has already been explained by more knowledgable than myself, the only way you will ever know you are training to 100% is to train to momentary muscular failure…
if the number of sets you do determines your success, how many are you going to do?
If more is better, why stop at 2?…4?…10?…
20?…50?… Who is the guru with the ‘magic’ number of sets per body part, per workout, per week?
Intensity and recovery are two key components of training that most people are still failing to understand, thanks often to the advice from their over paid under educated personal trainer!
Resistance training is not an endurance event, you cannot sprint a marathon because sprinting requires a high level of intensity…marathons require endurance and a much lower level of intensity… the physiques of sprinters and marathon runners should give you a clue as to the effect intensity of effort has on your body!
Hi, @TruthSeeker,
Can you please do two requests:
1. Myth-bust or confirm Warrior Diet?
2. Disclose your measurements so we have real imagination of natural bodybuilding?
Thank you.
You are right bro…books,articles are less distracting as compared to videos,need to istall a plugin,thanks for this article.
But brother research has shown that different media hav different % of retention of the message conveyed.
Like an average person when he reads any material he remembers approx.10% of what he has read.
An average person when he hears any message he remembers approximately 20% of what he has heard.
But an average person when he sees anything he retains or remembers approximately 30% of what he has seen.
But when it comes to video (audio visual),if an average person sees and hears a particular message he remembers about 50% of what he has seen and heard.The maximum retention is in the audio video media since the both the senses of sight and hearing are involved in grasping the message conveyed.
It’s sad that there are so many people out there who desperately believe that if they train really hard they can achieve even 1/10 the results of someone using drugs. The brutal fact is that you can train your entire life drug free and unless you have awesome genetics the average person will barely notice you work out. Steroids are very powerful drugs and since 150% of the people on the covers of fitness and bodybuilding magazines are on them most people have been brainwashed into believing this is what is possible naturally at least for some people. It’s not even close. Sorry for the reality check. Santa does not exist either.