The bodybuilding realm often sees many critics commenting on workouts. But the well-known critic with straight-up facts is Dr. Mike Israetel, aka the Exercise Scientist. He has a series of videos on his YouTube channel, Renaissance Periodization, where he criticizes the training and dieting programs of Hollywood celebrities and gives his verdict on their routine.


The bodybuilding critic has already criticized famous Hollywood actors like Zac Effron and Jake Gyllenhaal. This time, the lead actor from the famous series Reacher, Alan Ritchson, is on the Exercise Scientist’s radar. The former professor sat down and went through Ritchson’s routine, and it didn’t seem like Israetel was impressed by what he saw.

“I wouldn’t do that,” says Israetel

The Exercise Scientist began his newest YouTube video by going over Ritchson’s dieting program. One could see Ritchson mentioning that “It’s a full-time job to eat enough to put on 30 pounds,” adding that he “had an assistant whose only job was to bring me food.” Then the Hollywood actor shared the diet he used to eat to gain thirty pounds for his role.

The lead actor of Reacher revealed that he used to order “Popeye’s chicken sandwiches, cookies just so I could get the kind of calories I wanted.” To which the Exercise Scientist highlighted that these would mostly contain fat with no muscle gains and said, “I wouldn’t recommend this for folks at home.“

As Ritchson is public about his TRT usage, the former professor added that he wouldn’t engage in such a diet on ster**ds either. “I wouldn’t do that on st*****s either.” Then he explained the side effects of eating junk food while on PEDs. The Exercise Scientist explained that such a diet would mess up your blood pressure, and impact your short-term health badly. It also comes with more bloating and affects your blood lipids.

After criticizing his diet, the bodybuilding critic moved on to Ritchson’s workout program.

Israetel doesn’t recommend training every day

“I started working out, and I did that every day for a year without missing,” one could see Ritchson saying in the video. To which the former professor replied, “Don’t train every day for a year; that’s a bad idea.” The bodybuilding critic shed light on the fact that your body grows when you rest, emphasizing the necessity of proper rest and training five to six days a week.

Dr. Mike then criticized the pull-up technique of the Hollywood actor. Ritchson mentioned doing 25 pull-ups at a time, and the Exercise Scientist mentioned it as an explicit lie. He then broke down and shared that you should do pull-ups with complete eccentric control and take your chin to the top of the bar. The former ended with advice to his followers about picking a way of training that is sustainable while not pushing yourself too much.

What are your views on the diet and workout plan of Alan Ritchson? Do you think it is a sustainable training plan? Let us know in the comments.