Exercise Scientist Critiques Strongman Training of Brian Shaw, Discusses If Its Conducive to Muscle Building

Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel continues to break down iconic athletes’ workout routines. In a recent YouTube video shared on November 8, 2024, Dr. Israetel critiqued strongman legend Brian Shaw’s training, providing tips and insights along the way. 

“Brian Shaw is like 6’8” and like 440 pounds. Probably in the conversation, no probably in the actually holds the informal title of the greatest strength athlete of all-time I think.

Definitely the greatest strongman competitor of all-time if you measure out all the things that need measuring and in the conversation for strongest human being that’s ever lived.” 

Boasting over 2.9 million YouTube subscribers, Dr. Mike Israetel has become a trusted authority in the realm of fitness. His ability to unpack workouts and exercise mechanics is second to none, making his content highly sought after and watched. 

You can’t discuss the best strongmen in the world without mentioning Brian Shaw‘s name. Shaw isn’t just a four-time champion of the World’s Strongest Man contest (2011,2013,2015,2016) but remains one of few athletes to win the prestigious title back after losing it. While he has retired from strongman, he still hosts events and plans on arm-wrestling his rival Eddie Hall on December 14. 

Exercise Scientist Critiques the Strongman Training of Brian Shaw

Israetel begins by examining Shaw’s event training for strongman competitions. 

“This is a real trip to watch a human do these things,” says Israetel. “That’s definitely hundreds of pounds based on how he’s holding it.”

“The really cool thing about event training is that it’s fun if you have access to the events and it makes you acutely better and really prepared for the actual competition you’re going to have,” said Israetel.

Israetel underlined that gym training is the ‘core’ of strongman. 

“90 percent a little less a little more, something like that, of what makes Brian Shaw Brian Shaw is him lifting weights in the gym, doing presses, and pulls, and rows, and squats, and training shoulders, and arms, and chest, and all of that stuff. Gym training is the core of strongman sport.” 

Next, he gave his thoughts on Shaw handling 200-pound dumbbells and benching them. 

“There might have been like 10 people ever that could do that, which is insane. A 200-pound dumbbell is like a joke like nobody lifts that, but Brian says nah fam,” said Israetel. “Those are really well controlled, really good range of motion, full lock-out reps, that’s nonsense. That’s a completely categorically different level of strength.” 

In addition, Israetel offered his two cents on Shaw’s box squats, touching on the upsides and drawbacks to the movement as well as his rep/set pattern. 

“The upsides of 10×2 or even more sets of two than that, training is that you get a lot of practice of very heavy weights. You get lots of rest so that you’re super ready and when you’re doing doubles you can really express close to your true strength and true speed without having to worry about fatigue because you can just take a break after two reps and rest another 2-5 minutes and get back at it. It really does favor explosion in a maximum performance.” 

“What it probably doesn’t do super well is boost muscle growth a ton because sets of two tend to not be as muscle-growth promoting as sets of five,” says Israetel. “The thing is if you set a box to the appropriate height, you’re going to be hitting your competition depth every single time and then it’s sort of going to unload you on the bottom in a similar way your squat suit would.”  

Israetel finished off by assessing Shaw’s log pressing technique. 

“Dope. Cool. So a part of the log press that’s tricky is the lock-out. It requires producing insane amounts of force under not so ideally stable situations and thus you can see Brian here for his accessory work, he’s so far he put the deadlift bar on top of the rack.” 

Brian Shaw isn’t the only high-caliber athlete Israetel has looked into. He’s also dissected and examined workout routines of legendary bodybuilders, such as Lee Priest, Ronnie Coleman, Phil Heath, Dorian Yates, and Jay Cutler, highlighting their strengths as well as what individuals can learn from the way they approached training, dieting, and performance-enhancing drug use. 

As one of the most accomplished strongmen to take part in the sport, Brian Shaw certainly made the most of his training inside the gym. Dr. Israetel believes fans can learn a lot from the icon, who continues to test his limits in a variety of other sporting disciplines. 

RELATED: Brian Shaw Shows Off an Insane Full Day of Eating Ahead of His Arm Wrestling Debut

Watch the full video from the Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel below: 

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