Episode 38: Dr.Michael Israetel- Maximum Recoverable Volume

Dr.Michael Israetel is a professor of Exercise Science at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and was previously a professor at the University of Central Missouri, where he taught Exercise Physiology, Personal Training, and Advanced Programming for sports and fitness. Mike’s PhD is in Sport Physiology, and he has been a consultant on sports nutrition to the U.S. Olympic Training Site in Johnson City, TN. Mike has coached numerous powerlifters, weightlifters, bodybuilders, and other individuals in both diet and weight training. Originally from Moscow, Russia, Mike is a competitive powerlifter, bodybuilder, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grappler. He used to hold a bunch of state, national, and world records in raw powerlifting back when everyone was in equipment, so that’s cool!

Dr.Michael Israetel is also part of Team Juggernaut which is a group of athletes and coaches dedicated to leading from the front and providing people with the highest quality information from true experts to help them achieve their goals.

In this podcast, Dr.Israetel and I discussed maximum recoverable volume. Some of the topics we cover are:

1.What is Maximum recoverable volume (MRV)?

2. Do you feel that during recent years, people have become lazy when it comes to training and are looking more for how little training they can do compared to how much they can do?

3. What are signs to look after that would indicate that you are not recovering optimally and practically how do you adjust the volume?

4. Is muscle soreness a good indicator of how effective your workouts are and if so, how much is too much?

5. For hypertrophy training, what are your general recommendations for number of exercises per muscle group, sets per muscle group, frequency, reps and intensity?

6. In regards to programming, do you recommend scheduled deloads or only taking deloads when you need them?

7. What are your general recommendations outside the gym to maximize recovery?