Jeff Nippard, Mike Israetel and the science-based crew are all missing the point
There's a difference between not needed and not helpful
Since I started coaching full-time, I’ve been aware of a growing trend in particularly the bodybuilding community (but also described by Michael Mosley in work for the BBC) that suggests that when we lift weights, rather than take your muscles through a full range of motion, you might actually get the same results (or better) by just working through the stretch (“eccentric”) portion of the routine.
Essentially, what they’re selling is more from less. They cite research and some of them call themselves “Dr.”, and, to be honest, I’m sick of them…
I’ve put a lot of time into these people, so I don’t enjoy this feeling I’ve got
Up to and from my career change in 2022 from digital marketing to personal training and online coaching, I had five major influences:
Athlean-X
Eugene Teo
Dr. Mike of Renaissance Periodization
Jeff Nippard and, maybe most importantly,
Dom Mazzetti
Now, the last was the first to get me into enjoying fitness and bodybuilding. Dom Mazzetti is the alter-ego of Mike Tornabene, a social media creator and, at this point, pretty effective entrepreneur, who tongue-in-cheek and in-character describes making Dom-type videos only when he needs money.
From top to bottom is also the order I stopped following all but Dom.
Teo has just put out a video saying that he got his training wrong, which, in fairness, might mean I follow him again. But Nippard and Dr. Mike now feel so dogmatic that I’ve grown cynical of their “expertise” (and I know I’m not the only one).
Just because something might not be needed, doesn’t mean that it’s not helpful…
Traffic lights
Your appendix and/or kidneys
The “squeeze”
Last week, I was in Oaxaca in Southern Mexico for day of the dead, and the city looked amazing. Black and orange everywhere as you might expect for Halloween in Europe and America but then pinks and yellows and blues all over doorways and in skull-faced bunting running between the terraces of balconies overhead. Brass bands blocked traffic, smiling skeletons carried flowers to graveyards, everywhere you looked life and death walked hand-in-hand…and that carried over to the roads.
1. Traffic lights
Picture this: it’s early Saturday morning, we’re stood next to a candlelit cemetery and our tour operator has just proposed a 50% discount for the trip we’re on in recognition of how poor his service has been. He’s given me “his number” (surprise, it still hasn’t received my follow-up message), and he’s shoved us into a taxi to take us home. Our driver’s in good spirits and blasting 80s synth pop…and also of a mind to blow through red lights. Three times. The third and final time he’s beeped at, he responds with a shrugged “es México”.
Clearly those traffic lights weren’t necessary to get us home. But most other road users sticking to them was definitely helpful in keeping us on the road.
2. Your organs
Now, no-one I know is pushing the idea that your brain, heart, lungs, pancreas, stomach, liver, bladder, gall bladder and intestines are unnecessary. In fact most of us would argue they’re supreme in their helpfulness. But how many of us are of the belief that we could – you know, if we really had to – go without a kidney or appendix?
It would seem strange, wouldn’t it, to have evolved for however many tens of thousands of years to have things that we simply don’t need – you know what with the energy cost of growing tissue and then carrying all of this “dead weight” around.
Recent research has suggested that while the appendix may be portrayed as vestigial in pop medicine, it might actually play a role in housing beneficial bacteria. Further and, just to hammer the point, many people might find life easier with two kidneys rather than one. Sure, in healthy people, one kidney can be sufficient and might even grow to be as effective as two kidneys in some people, and yet, there may be a greater need for regular check-ups and to keep one’s diet “clean” to minimise potentially new complications, not least in pregnancy.
More organs are typically helpful where they might not be strictly necessary.
3. The “squeeze”
Pun intended, little vent incoming.
When we lift weights, there are three moments to be aware of: the stretch, the squeeze and the transition between the two.
Let’s take an easy to relate to movement and put some video and words to it:
In the above video, which my clients might have as a reference for their arms, pull or upper body sessions, you should be able to see (and maybe imagine/feel) the biceps stretching from my shoulders to my elbows as my arms straighten and my hands are being pulled towards the pulley.
We then have the transition towards the squeeze (the bit most of us will find most challenging). Next it’s the squeeze as the biceps are scrunched as tightly as possible while holding the weight. Lastly it’s the transition from the squeeze to the stretch as we lower the weight with control towards the end of the rep and the start of the next one.
Now, being honest, of these three moments, when you think of lifting weights, do you think about the stretch, transition or squeeze the most?
I think the majority of you with experience of lifting anything will describe the feeling of your muscles scrunching up (contracting) rather than stretching out. Just bringing your forearm to your bicep as you read this, how easy is it to feel the squeeze?
But more and more studies in science-based videos come out to tell us that we’ve got it wrong (or at least sub-optimal): there’s no need to lift that weight to the top, to feel your muscles squeezing, you can grow the same amount of muscle not just by focusing on the stretch but by not doing a full range of movement at all. That’s right: less effort equals more gains…and when it sounds too good to be true kids?
The squeeze isn’t necessary they say; no matter your beliefs or their science, I’d argue the squeeze is more than helpful…
All of the science-based lifters softened their stances in 2025 when this happened…
Now, to be clear, I don’t have an issue with the stretch. In fact, some movements clearly benefit from a stretch bias.
For example, everyone I know with great calves walks up hills and/or prioritises a stretched heel drop over a tippy-toe calf squeeze when they do calf raises.
Those heel-drop calf raises could be great for improving ankle mobility; equally, learning how to explode through your ankles and feet could lead to better muscle recruitment and athletic performance.
Similarly, when I incorporated the stretch-centric straight leg deadlift into my routine alongside the squeeze-centric seated leg curl, my hamstrings noticeably improved…but that’s my point: I want people to think about the function of the muscle and why we might bother to stretch and squeeze it rather than dogmatically fixate on just one part of the whole.
In the other direction, the athletes and influencers you see with massive glutes nearly always do bridges and hip thrusts – obvious squeeze movements – alongside their squats and deadlifts. Given the inclusion of both, then, we might say that some of the best built bottoms correlate with stretches and squeezes with intensity.
In 2024, the quiet walkback started
You see, after all of this work and social media promotion of the idea that the stretch was the most important aspect of a lift for muscle growth, all of these “science-based” content creators leaning on letters after their name found similar trends in the data: there was, in fact, little in the way of statistically significant results to say that one should only work with a stretch bias.
Both full and partial ROM had similar effects on muscle size, strength, body fat, and sports performance. However, full ROM was more effective for enhancing power outcomes (small effect size. The evidence quality was rated as moderate for muscle size, strength, and power and high for body fat and sports performance.
That actually, in this meta-analysis (a review of multiple studies with similar research aims), what you miss out on if you do stretch-bias reps alone is the potential improvement in a muscle’s power (the ability to quickly output force).
Look, intentional half reps might be great for people who know what hard training looks like. But whether you’re a science-based lifter dogmatic about the stretch or an average Joe or enhanced athlete only focusing on the squeeze, if, after years of training and/or applying the research you look similar at a given weight – and Jeff Nippard is a good example of this – then maybe you’re not doing enough. Maybe your optimisations and half reps are actually just hot air.
You see, over the past two or three years, whenever a new paper came out suggesting that “the stretch” grows more muscle (or at least as much muscle, as a range of motion that incorporates both), the science-based crew always seemed to pop up – a bit like Dom Mazzetti now that I think about it – with a programme talking about their latest gains from this pioneering research, and how you could get results like this too for the best price (if you buy today).
The majority of people would like more from less
Think ozempic, think BBLs, think six-pack shock pads that help you “get abs” without leaving your armchair.
It’s important to state that I don’t fault people for trying to use science to support their points. I actually applaud and encourage it. But the whole point of lifting weights for me, whether it’s to become bigger or stronger or faster or more resilient (but ideally all of it) is that it might suck. It might be tough. It might be uncomfortable.
But that’s where the magic is: in intentionally choosing things that are difficult and doing them and growing physically, sure, but also mentally and spiritually and maybe even emotionally as a result.
Examine.com, linked to above, is widely recognised across research outfits to be the gold standard of aggregated data and result summaries, and they have not found anything to say conclusively that just the stretch is better than all of the movement for growing muscle. What the research shows is that, yes, by cutting out the squeeze, similar amounts of muscle could be grown – but that’s similar amounts of muscle for less range of motion (and therefore in science-based eyes less effort).
But if you’re already in the gym, and warmed up and sweating, why wouldn’t you want to get the most from your work, i.e. by doing all of the work your muscle is capable of. Indeed, in so doing, you could improve your muscle’s ability to function and grow – kind of the point of lifting weights for most people anyway.
To my mind, science should be conducted in good faith to support a theory. And if there’s significant and powerful data alongside obvious and accepted anecdotes, man, let’s go for it. Brains and brawn, stretch and squeeze.
But when the science isn’t there, and you call yourself “science-based”, let’s not sell things that aren’t yet backed, yeah? Yeah.
I didn’t realise how much I needed a break
Over the past four weeks, I’ve trained sub-optimally relative to my ideal plan. I’ve eaten whatever I’ve found and supported it with a protein shake or two. I’ve drunk more alcohol in one weekend than I have in the whole of the year so far. My deep sleep is maybe at four hours a night due to heat, noise and my body still not quite adjusted.
But while we’re talking about bodybuilding, I’m probably at my best look in over a year. I’m leaner, I’ve not obviously lost muscle and I’ve got a little bit of colour to add to the effect. Coupled with this, my energy’s through the roof, as is my motivation to get up and go.
I’ve watched movies in Spanish, eaten more tacos, quesadillas and gringas than you might believe and have chosen to spend time offline and with people who simply don’t care about all of this as much as I do.
And just as I’ve not lost my fitness for some time away from an optimised routine, I’ve not lost my gains for binning off people that used to inspire me. I’ve said yes to every bit of living, not just the bodybuilder’s diet and training.
Fitness advice should be helpful; don’t let anyone convince you it’s necessary.
As I wrote this, the moon rose over Guanajuato
It’s week four of my six-week trip around Mexico and next California, and, yep, it’s been amazing and, in many ways, bette than I could have hoped for. The mexicanos, the food, the views; I love it here.
F&T podcast
Each week, I host a podcast centred on making fitness more relatable. Last week, we reached a big milestone for podcasts generally and this week we kick off our third run with chef, entrepreneur and mother, Sophie Godwin in her kitchen in South London, and I think you’ll love it. Listen to it on Apple, or catch it as you like on Spotify and Youtube.
And now, about those tacos…
Much love, and I’ll see yas in the next one
J x
Updated on 05/11/2025, 07:00 (GMT-6) to better tease out my point in the middle section and add in a citation.