I Built The World's Most Scientific Gym

[00:00] For the last two years, I've been

[00:01] secretly building the most scientific

[00:03] gym on the planet.

[00:05] >> It's It's really a blank slate, bro.

[00:06] This ceiling light is going to look so

[00:08] sick. I think it's really unique. I

[00:09] think it gives a like industrial like

[00:12] techy type vibe. This is where I'll be

[00:14] training myself, but it's not just for

[00:16] lifting. It's actually a full-blown

[00:18] muscle research facility. So, that now

[00:21] in here, I'll be able to do my own

[00:23] scientific experiments. I'm calling the

[00:25] entire place the Jeff Nippard Muscle

[00:27] Lab. And there are four rooms, plus a

[00:30] lobby in the middle. There's a dark gym

[00:31] with more of the bodybuilding machines,

[00:33] a light gym with more of the strength

[00:35] stuff. Room three is a new podcast room,

[00:38] and then there's my personal favorite

[00:40] room. This is where all the real science

[00:42] will go down. And what's behind that

[00:43] door cost me over $300,000.

[00:47] And since it's the best part by far, I'm

[00:49] going to save it for last. So, this is

[00:51] the lobby. Got this custom art piece up

[00:54] here on the wall. We got the custom JN

[00:56] logo mat down here. And behind this door

[01:00] is the dark side. Behind this door is

[01:03] the light side. Let's check out the

[01:05] light side first before we go in. This

[01:07] is what it used to look like before.

[01:09] This is gym gym side one. So, this is

[01:12] going to be more of like a light toned

[01:14] gym. So, it'll be a little bit brighter,

[01:16] a little more white. And this is what it

[01:18] looks like now.

[01:21] [Music]

[01:25] Before we start the tour, I just want to

[01:26] make it clear that nothing in here was

[01:28] gifted or sponsored. I just picked out

[01:30] my favorite pieces from brands like

[01:32] Alco, Atlantis, Prime, even an old

[01:35] school precore machine. So, the first

[01:36] thing you see when you walk in is the

[01:38] deadlift platform. And now that I have

[01:40] this gym, I have been getting back into

[01:41] deadlifting more, but my main exercise

[01:44] for my legs right now is right over here

[01:46] around the corner, the pendulum squat.

[01:49] So, if you guys have been watching me at

[01:50] all, you know that I'm a huge fan of

[01:51] pendulum squats and it's a really good

[01:54] quad dominant squat because it is super

[01:57] hard in that bottom part of the range of

[01:59] motion. I have been using this flat out.

[02:01] And also, check this out. I got my very

[02:03] own Jeff Nipper Muscle Lab plates.

[02:05] They're not all in yet, but uh I don't

[02:07] know. I just love the look of these.

[02:08] Speaking of the quads, this is a very,

[02:11] very close second. So, this is a prime

[02:13] leg extension machine. And the thing I

[02:15] love about this one is that depending on

[02:17] where you load these plates, you can

[02:19] emphasize different aspects of the range

[02:20] of motion. So if I load the plate down

[02:24] here, okay, on the bottom, it's going to

[02:27] feel really hard in the squeeze. So it's

[02:30] going to get harder as you get to the

[02:32] lockout. If you load it in the middle,

[02:34] it's going to feel harder in the middle.

[02:35] And then if you load it on the top, it's

[02:38] going to feel hardest in the stretch.

[02:40] So, when I do this, I normally load two

[02:42] plates on top, two plates in the middle,

[02:44] and that'll usually do me for around 10

[02:46] reps. And not only that, this is the

[02:49] only machine, the only leg extension

[02:51] machine that I've seen that has this

[02:54] deep of a knee angle. So, you can get

[02:56] way deeper here than you can on any

[02:59] other leg extension I've ever seen,

[03:00] especially if you set the seat back.

[03:02] This is hip abduction, hip adduction

[03:04] machines. I actually had Jesse James

[03:06] Weston here yesterday and I was telling

[03:08] him that you can set the seat forward if

[03:11] you want to get a little bit more of a

[03:12] stretch. You can set the seat back if

[03:15] you want to improve the angle of the

[03:16] glute medius fibers a little bit better.

[03:18] It's also super versatile. So, if you

[03:20] set it in here, you can do your hip

[03:22] abductions for the glutes. If you set it

[03:24] out here, you can do your hip adductions

[03:27] for the inner thighs. All right,

[03:29] hamstrings. This is by far my favorite

[03:33] lying leg curl machine on the planet.

[03:35] And the reason for that is this angle

[03:38] right here. This is pretty much the

[03:40] closest to a seated leg curl that you

[03:42] can get in a line leg curl. So it's

[03:44] like, oh, why didn't you just get a

[03:45] seated leg curl? Well, I did get a

[03:47] seated leg curl, too. But there's

[03:49] something about lying down, honestly, at

[03:51] the start of a workout that just feels

[03:52] better to me. And you get so deep on

[03:57] this that it almost feels like your leg

[03:59] is going to snap in half. And I mean

[04:01] that in the best possible way. It is

[04:04] just it is just an awesome machine. And

[04:06] like with all Prime machines, depending

[04:07] on where you set the cam, you can

[04:09] overload different aspects of the range

[04:10] of motion. I usually set it here in

[04:12] between the max stretch setting and the

[04:14] mid-range setting. All right, leg press.

[04:17] So this is actually a fancy leg press.

[04:19] So most leg presses are just linear. So,

[04:22] you have this 45° angle and the weight

[04:24] moves up and down in a straight line.

[04:26] This one actually moves in an arc. It

[04:29] just feels a lot more natural and uh I

[04:31] can get nice and deep on this one. Super

[04:33] smooth machine. Oh, I forgot to show

[04:35] you. This is one of my favorite pieces,

[04:40] donkey calf raise. This, I think, is an

[04:42] underrated machine. It is a nostalgia

[04:44] piece. This is famous in part because of

[04:47] uh Arnold and his donkey calf raises.

[04:49] But I was showing Jesse a few calf tips

[04:51] on this yesterday. When you have that

[04:53] bent hip position, you can take some of

[04:55] the stress off your back, but yet you

[04:57] still have a straight leg. And so you

[04:58] can still get a super big stretch on the

[05:00] gastro nemas. So yeah, absolutely love

[05:02] the donkey calf. And then just to be

[05:04] safe, you know, to be sure, I do also

[05:07] have a standing calf raise machine. And

[05:09] this one's really nice because this pad

[05:11] is so grippy. And so you can just rotate

[05:13] up and down on the balls of your feet

[05:15] and you'll be super secure, super

[05:17] stable, and just direct all that tension

[05:18] into your calves. I was actually talking

[05:20] to Larry Wheels earlier, and we're going

[05:22] to get him in the actual lab that I'll

[05:24] show you in a minute and do a full-blown

[05:26] calf training study to see if we can

[05:28] finally get his stubborn calves to grow

[05:31] using science. Speaking of Larry Wheels,

[05:33] we've got a full squat rack over here.

[05:35] as a uh ex powerlifter. You know, I've

[05:38] got to got to have some free weights.

[05:40] But this

[05:42] this is probably my number one glute

[05:45] builder right now. I do like a 1 second

[05:47] squeeze at the top of each rep because

[05:49] the hip thrust is one of those rare

[05:51] exercises where you're not really trying

[05:53] to overload the stretch. You're really

[05:55] just trying to engage your glutes. And

[05:57] so, uh, yeah, squeeze at the top of all

[05:59] your hip thrusts. All right. Obviously,

[06:02] got to have a Smith machine in here. And

[06:04] with a Smith machine, I'm really just

[06:05] looking for two things. One is a

[06:08] straight up and down bar path. So, I

[06:10] personally am not a fan of the Smith

[06:11] machines that have a angled bar path.

[06:13] So, I wanted one that goes straight up

[06:15] and down. And then other than that, I

[06:16] just wanted one that was really smooth.

[06:18] There's nothing worse than a Smith

[06:19] machine that needs some oil. And I've

[06:22] been using this one pretty much every

[06:23] workout, too. You guys thought that was

[06:24] it? That's just half. We still got the

[06:27] dark side. So, come on over here.

[06:31] You guys ready for the dark side? Let's

[06:33] go.

[06:39] [Music]

[06:44] All right. So, like I said, this is the

[06:46] more bodybuilding focus side. So, we've

[06:49] got a little more dramatic down

[06:52] lighting. I'm going to show you guys

[06:53] something really sick with the lights in

[06:55] a minute. But first, I'm going to start

[06:57] with my favorite piece over here. So,

[06:59] this, if you don't know, is a seal row.

[07:02] This is one of those like old school

[07:04] movements, but I just think it's so good

[07:06] for smashing the midback. So, if you use

[07:09] this horizontal angle, you can get so

[07:13] much tension in your mid traps, in your

[07:15] rhomboids, and your rear delts. But then

[07:17] what I love about this machine in

[07:18] particular, you can actually change this

[07:21] angle. So, if I wanted to make it more

[07:23] of a lat focused row, I could just bring

[07:25] the bench up and focus on driving my

[07:28] elbows down and slightly back. And

[07:30] that's gonna absolutely light up my

[07:31] lats. Also, check it out. We've got

[07:35] custom dumbbells with Jeff Nipper Muscle

[07:37] Lab on them. I just love these. A very,

[07:40] very close runner up for back training

[07:42] in this gym would be the prime chest

[07:44] supported row. And so, just like with

[07:46] the leg extension, depending on where

[07:48] you load the plates, you can overload

[07:50] different aspects of the range of

[07:51] motion. Um, so if you load the plates on

[07:52] the bottom, you can overload the

[07:54] squeeze. Load them in the middle, load

[07:56] that mid part of the range, load them up

[07:57] on top, and you'll get more tension in

[07:59] the stretch. Absolutely love this one.

[08:02] Over here, we've got another uh tea bar

[08:05] row. I'm still trying to find a home for

[08:06] this one, but um I don't know, there's

[08:09] something about like the angle and the

[08:11] size of this. The way that the handles

[08:12] flare out, it just works super well for

[08:14] my body right here. So, most people

[08:16] think this is a lower back exercise,

[08:18] right? After all, it is called a uh 45°

[08:21] lower back extension, but I actually

[08:23] think this is much better as a glute

[08:25] exercise. And so, all you need to do to

[08:28] turn this into a fantastic glute builder

[08:30] is round your back. And that'll force

[08:32] your glutes to handle more of the hip

[08:34] extension. Like, I've been doing this

[08:36] every week on one of my leg days. And

[08:38] I'll just do 12 to 15 reps with a plate

[08:40] held to my chest. And you will feel the

[08:43] craziest mind muscle connection with

[08:44] your glutes doing this. So, if you're

[08:47] sleeping on the 45 degree back extension

[08:49] for glute growth, it's time to wake up.

[08:50] Let me show you guys some shoulder

[08:52] stuff. Let's go here first. So, this is

[08:54] a shoulder press machine. And some of

[08:57] you guys might be wondering, "Well,

[08:58] Jeff, why did you get a shoulder press

[09:00] machine? Doesn't that only hit your

[09:01] front delts? And don't your front delts

[09:03] get all the work they need from bench

[09:05] press? And shouldn't you focus more on

[09:07] your side delts?" Well, the other day I

[09:09] busted out one of the many new

[09:11] scientific tools from the research room

[09:13] with my friend Will, where we hooked

[09:14] electrodes up to his front delts, side

[09:17] delts, and rear delts, and measured

[09:19] muscle activation of all three heads on

[09:22] my new shoulder press machine. The

[09:23] results really surprised me. What we

[09:26] found was super high activation in the

[09:28] front delts, as you'd expect, super low

[09:30] activation in the rear delts, as you'd

[09:32] expect, but also super high activation

[09:36] in the side delts.

[09:37] >> You actually had more lateral than front

[09:39] on the shoulder press.

[09:40] >> What?

[09:41] >> That's insane cuz as soon as I stopped

[09:42] the set, I'm like my side delts pumped.

[09:44] >> Yeah.

[09:45] >> Then I hooked the left pros up to myself

[09:47] and got my own measurements and found

[09:49] the exact same thing. So, I'm not saying

[09:51] that that's conclusive by any means, but

[09:53] it seems that at least for Will and me,

[09:56] a shoulder press is not just a front

[09:57] delt exercise. It seems to also really

[10:00] activate the side delts at least more

[10:02] than what most people think. So, I'm

[10:04] actually a fan of including a vertical

[10:05] press. Also for shoulders, I've got this

[10:08] standing Atlantis lateral raise machine

[10:10] over here. This is one of my favorites.

[10:12] Super smooth, such a great range of

[10:14] motion, and just a really good

[10:15] alternative to cables or dumbbells. Will

[10:17] and I also did a little experiment for

[10:20] the rear delts. So, we came over here

[10:22] and we did reverse pec deck, but if you

[10:25] guys are regular viewers, you'll know

[10:27] that I don't love to do these facing the

[10:29] machine like this. I prefer to sit more

[10:32] to the side and that way I can get such

[10:35] a better range of motion for my rear

[10:37] delts. You know, if if you face the

[10:39] machine, you're really only able to do

[10:41] half reps because the full range of

[10:43] motion for your rear delts is from here

[10:46] all the way back to here. And so if

[10:48] you're facing the machine, you're only

[10:50] getting this aspect. It would be like

[10:51] doing bicep curls only in the top half

[10:53] and completely cutting out the bottom.

[10:55] So that's how I modify this. And when we

[10:58] did that and we measured muscle

[10:59] activation, we did see super high rear

[11:02] delt activation as you'd expect. But

[11:03] also, I found it interesting. There was

[11:05] very little side delt activation on this

[11:06] and basically no front delt activation.

[11:09] So, yeah, really good rear delt

[11:11] isolation exercise if you're looking to

[11:12] bring up your rear delts. Okay, we've

[11:14] got a lat pull down. Pretty standard

[11:17] here. Really smooth. Over here, we've

[11:20] got a seated cable row. And what I like

[11:23] about this one is this distance right

[11:26] here. What that allows me to do is get a

[11:28] super deep stretch on my lats. Over

[11:30] here, back to chest. So, this is my

[11:33] favorite chest press machine on the

[11:35] planet. Actually call this the Phil

[11:37] Heath machine because I remember when I

[11:39] was first getting into bodybuilding, I

[11:41] saw a video of Phil Heath using this

[11:42] machine. And ever since then, I've just

[11:44] been convinced that it's the best

[11:45] machine for the chest. And to make it a

[11:47] little bit more effective, I actually

[11:49] added these fat grips just so I can get

[11:51] a little extra range of motion at the

[11:53] bottom. But what I might do is uh

[11:55] actually modify this seat to bring it

[11:57] forward a little bit more because I feel

[11:59] like I could get just a little bit

[12:00] deeper. But when it comes to smoothness,

[12:04] you just Yeah, you just can't beat the

[12:05] hammer strength chest press, man. So

[12:07] good. All right, couple more things and

[12:10] then I'm going to show you guys

[12:12] something I'm also super excited about.

[12:14] Okay, over here we've got a treadmill.

[12:16] Whatever.

[12:18] This is I think honestly it's the best

[12:21] cable machine that I could find. Um,

[12:23] this is called the Nautilus Human Sport

[12:24] Freedom Trainer. And the reason I think

[12:27] it's so good is that it's just so

[12:28] versatile. So, you can set the cables to

[12:31] any height you want. You can move them

[12:33] in or out. Um, you can do any kind of

[12:36] exercise from low, from high. Um, and

[12:38] this one I use every single upper body

[12:40] workout. But, you know what? I didn't

[12:42] show you guys yet. The lighting in here.

[12:45] Check this out. We honestly put so much

[12:48] work into the lighting in here because I

[12:51] just want it to look as cool as possible

[12:52] on camera. And so we have a full panel

[12:55] in here where we can adjust all the

[12:58] lights individually and every single

[13:00] light has its own dimmer. Let's just say

[13:03] we wanted to create a spotlighting

[13:05] effect for just like maximum shadows on

[13:08] the muscle. We could turn off all the

[13:11] headlights and then every single

[13:13] spotlight in here is individually

[13:16] controlled. So I could turn them all off

[13:18] except for one. And this is what I'm

[13:21] going to call the thumbnail lighting.

[13:23] Check this out.

[13:29] I just got 5% body fat leaner.

[13:34] It's actually insane the difference that

[13:36] lighting can make. But that's not it. I

[13:38] still need to show you guys the real

[13:40] purpose behind this entire project. Um,

[13:43] this is going to be the lab. Probably

[13:46] like some kind of muscle mannequin right

[13:50] here. And then I think I'm going to put

[13:51] a sign

[13:54] that says Jeff Nippard Muscle Lab. This

[13:58] room over here is the Jeff Nippard

[14:00] Muscle Lab.

[14:10] There are so many fitness questions I

[14:12] want to answer here. Like, what if I

[14:13] took a set of twins and I had one twin

[14:16] eat a junk food only diet and the other

[14:18] twin eat a clean food only diet? What

[14:20] would happen to their body fat and their

[14:22] blood work? Or how about this? What if I

[14:23] took an enhanced bodybuilder and told

[14:25] them to stop taking steroids for 6

[14:27] months, but keep their training and diet

[14:30] exactly the same? How much muscle would

[14:32] they lose? I'm also excited to test

[14:33] things out on myself. Right now, I'm

[14:35] testing if I can get to single digits

[14:37] body fat and actually maintain it all

[14:39] year without going crazy. And I'm

[14:41] measuring my body fat, muscle, hormone

[14:43] levels, and everything else using the

[14:45] tools in this lab. This is a

[14:47] top-of-the-line DEXA machine for

[14:49] measuring body fat and lean mass. Some

[14:51] DEXAs are less precise, but this one has

[14:53] an error margin of around 0.5%.

[14:56] At my latest check-in for my fat loss

[14:58] experiment, my DEXA scan came back with

[15:00] a body fat percentage of 10.3%.

[15:04] So, if I lose anything more than 0.5%

[15:07] body fat from here, this DEXA will be

[15:09] able to accurately pick it up. And DEXA

[15:11] is great for tracking fat loss, but for

[15:13] the muscle building experiments I want

[15:14] to do, it's not quite accurate enough.

[15:17] So, I also got this brand new ultrasound

[15:19] machine, which can measure muscle

[15:21] thickness directly. I want to do an arm

[15:23] experiment where I train one bicep

[15:25] normally twice a week, but I train my

[15:27] other bicep every single day for 30

[15:30] days. Using the ultrasound, I'll be able

[15:32] to measure down to the millimeter which

[15:34] arm grows better. So, if you take this

[15:37] ultrasound probe, gel it up, and put it

[15:39] on the muscle, it'll show you exactly

[15:41] what's happening on the inside and how

[15:43] well it's growing over time. So, up here

[15:45] on top, there's a layer of skin and

[15:47] there's a thin layer of fat. And all of

[15:49] this is the actual biceps muscle tissue.

[15:52] And below that is the bone. We're going

[15:54] to be able to do really high quality

[15:55] studies that I definitely want to get

[15:57] peer-reviewed and published. This isn't

[15:58] just for experiments on YouTube. I think

[16:01] that there are so many gaps in the

[16:03] research and there are so many studies

[16:05] that have flaws with them that I just

[16:06] want to make my own. So now I can do

[16:09] that. I have the ultrasound. I have the

[16:10] DEXA machine. I can get however many

[16:12] subjects I can recruit to come in here.

[16:14] Bro, it's going to be it's going to be

[16:15] peer-reviewed. It's going to go in

[16:16] scientific journals. It's like it's it's

[16:18] going to be like doing a study but just

[16:20] like this is the university, you know.

[16:22] But if I'm being honest, pushing the

[16:23] scientific field forward wasn't my main

[16:25] motivation for building this facility.

[16:27] My main motivation is to make

[16:29] highquality science more accessible and

[16:32] entertaining. The range of motion study

[16:34] that I did last year in New York

[16:35] comparing full range of motion to

[16:36] lengthen partials was actually the first

[16:39] ever exercise science study where the

[16:41] researchers were allowed to film the

[16:43] subjects. And even with that permission,

[16:45] we still had to blur out their faces.

[16:47] And since I'm not formally affiliated

[16:49] with the university, I still wasn't able

[16:50] to film them myself. So that was a bit

[16:53] frustrating because I felt like I

[16:54] couldn't showcase exactly what the

[16:56] subjects were doing as well as I wanted

[16:58] to. Here, we're going to be able to film

[17:01] every single subject in every study that

[17:04] I do, show you exactly what they're

[17:06] doing, show you exactly the gains they

[17:08] make. Like just imagine how much more

[17:11] that's going to help people connect with

[17:13] the science when you can actually see

[17:15] the subjects going through the protocol.

[17:18] Like that's never been done in exercise

[17:20] science ever. And we're going to be able

[17:21] to do that here. I also want to do some

[17:23] really big studies in here with hundreds

[17:25] of subjects because a legitimate problem

[17:27] with a lot of training studies is that

[17:29] they have really small sample sizes.

[17:32] Like it's normal for studies to only

[17:33] have eight or 10 subjects. So, if we get

[17:36] a load of people in here and we just

[17:37] need to grab a quick and dirty snapshot,

[17:39] we can use this BIA machine. Yeah, I'll

[17:42] definitely use the DEXA more, but BIA

[17:45] can measure body comp in about 1 minute,

[17:47] whereas DEXA takes about 20 to 30

[17:49] minutes. And BIA is still pretty good at

[17:52] tracking changes. And I'm super excited

[17:54] about this EMG machine. I want to run an

[17:56] EMG validation study to see if higher

[17:58] electrical activity is actually

[18:00] predictive of hypertrophy over the long

[18:02] term because that's not something we

[18:04] really know yet. If it is, this will be

[18:06] really useful for comparing exercises.

[18:08] And at this point, you may be wondering

[18:10] how I'm funding all this. The DEXA

[18:12] machine alone costs $200,000. And it's

[18:15] honestly all possible because of you

[18:17] guys. Nothing in the lab or in the gym

[18:20] is sponsored or gifted. It was 100%

[18:23] funded through the training programs

[18:24] that you guys run on jeffnnipper.com and

[18:26] through any of you who use MacroFactor,

[18:28] which if you don't know is my smart

[18:30] nutrition app that uses science-based

[18:32] algorithms to adjust your diet to your

[18:34] specific metabolism, just like a coach

[18:37] would, but for a tiny fraction of the

[18:39] cost. All you need to do is log your

[18:41] weight and track what you eat, and the

[18:42] app will take care of the rest. I've

[18:44] been using it every day on my cut so

[18:46] far. And it's taken me from over 20%

[18:48] body fat down to just over 10% body fat

[18:51] now. And I'll be honest, it's made the

[18:53] entire dieting process super simple.

[18:56] When you track your macros, you can

[18:57] still be flexible and enjoy life without

[18:59] having to compromise your goals. We have

[19:01] over 350,000 users and an amazing online

[19:04] community that can help you out with

[19:06] recipes, answer any questions you might

[19:08] have, and keep you accountable. So, go

[19:10] to the App Store or Google Play,

[19:11] download a free trial, and input code

[19:13] Jeff to get two weeks for free. It's

[19:15] been so hard trying to keep this a

[19:17] secret for the last 2 years because it's

[19:19] been so much work and also so much

[19:21] excitement. And I almost forgot, the

[19:23] final room is the Jeff Nippard podcast.

[19:27] So, my podcast is officially live. I did

[19:30] my first episode with my brother Brad.

[19:32] You guys might remember him from the

[19:33] experiment that we did together where we

[19:35] both trained as perfectly as we possibly

[19:37] could for a full year. I'll put a link

[19:38] to that over here next to my head if you

[19:40] guys want to check it out. Don't forget

[19:41] to subscribe to this channel. Leave me a

[19:43] like if you enjoyed the video.