this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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Asklemmy
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It's pretty niche, but Mike Israetel of Renaissance Periodization is one of the biggest fitness youtubers who for years has thrown his phd around to become an authority on sports science. A critical review of his joke of a phd thesis was recently published and now it's pure chaos in this sphere
Really? Fuck. Well, guess that leaves Jeff Nippard and LeanBeefPatty as still solid, hopefully. Been away from the lifting world but that sucks about Mike.
Jeff and a few other influencers came out immediately attacking the reviewer, it's been wild seeing them circle the wagons. Mike claimed it was an old draft of the thesis, and produced an updated (doctored) version, which turned out to be fake and he then admitted that Solomon had in fact reviewed the final version. Assuming the university had threatened Mike. Solomon then released a video about his dealings with Jeff Nippard which also casts Jeff in a bad light. Generally disappointing all around
For some reason, I always thought his main contribution from his PhD was the volume thresholds for maintenance and adaptation.
In any case, are we judging his value as a researcher or as a YouTuber? If it's the former, I'd rather look at his publishing history rather than a thesis. Soloman mentioned that the school he graduated from wasn't a particularly high ranking school, and that's evidenced by how they were able to let this pass. Knowing how your school works, why would you put any effort at all into what is essentially just a formality for graduation? Where I went for grad school, the examiners will read your work properly, but most people still only put in the minimal effort for it. Our efforts mostly go into papers that actually get read. Your thesis is never expected to see the light of day again after graduation.
If we're judging him for his value as a YouTuber, then we should be judging his YouTube content. As far as that goes, he's pretty much just preaching the same thing as every other fitness YouTuber. It's just packaged differently. The one thing he does that stands out from others is explaining how science and the scientific method works when putting exercise science papers into context. I can understand his credentials being relevant here if you're a non-expert, but as a scientist myself, I can vouch for the soundness of his explanations.
Jeff's response was definitely disappointing though. Insulting Soloman does not align with the wholesome character of him that was painted in my head.