Fun fact, I originally wrote this article back in 2015. A lot has changed since then, both in the quality of YouTube content, and in my knowledge of strength & conditioning, so I’m providing my updated recommendations for 2022.
So, as a professional strength & conditioning coach with a bunch of national and international athletes under my belt, who would I recommend?
Must Watch Strength Training YouTube Channels for 2022
1) Renaissance Periodization
RP has consistently been putting out incredibly detailed content for the past few years. Their main focus is hypertrophy, but they also have fantastic series’ of lectures on strength training, and a tie-in book, the scientific principles of strength training.
2) Juggernaut Training Systems
JTS was already around in 2015, but they’ve really taken to YouTube, especially between 2018 and 2021. They’ve dove deep into strength training, powerlifting and weightlifting content, often divided into technical pillars and broken down in immense detail. Max and Chad have built a real resource over there.
3) Weightlifting House
Back in 2015 WH was essentially a non-entity. Since then, it has rapidly grown from a tiny podcast into the biggest and best Olympic weightlifting news channel in the world. Seb’s coverage of the 2021 world championships was the place to watch the event, with daily updates, training hall footage, warm-up room videos and much more. Seb’s passion for the sport shows, and this is a channel I see going from strength to strength in the next few years.
4) Garage Strength
Dane Miller’s channel offers a great blend of fun and entertaining topics, alongside deep and insightful explanations of strength and conditioning at the highest level. He also has the pedigree to back up his words, having coached multiple Olympians, dozens of NCAA All-Americans, and NCAA champions at every single division level.
5) Jeff Nippard
Jeff has consistently built up his channel year on year without any clickbaity, over the top nonsense. He focused on science and evidence-based explanations of topics, frequently drawing upon relevant literature. He also trains hard himself, putting all that theory into practice and making it accessible.
My Old 2015 Recommendations for Must Watch YouTube Channels (Do They Hold Up Today?)
I’ll be the first to admit that I spend a lot of time on YouTube, but personally I think that this is a good thing. In fact I reckon that there are certain YouTube channels providing better strength training information than most professional certifications! To prove it, here are 5 of my favourite Must-Watch YouTube Channels dedicated to all things Strength Training.
They’re in no particular order, but they’re all pretty damn awesome…
Jonnie Candito is a competitive powerlifter who regularly posts his workouts as well as tonnes of no-nonsense advice about how to get stronger. What I really like is that although Jonnie has a really relaxed style, he’s also really knowledgeable in his subject matter. Add to this the fact that he recently won Silver in the 2015 IPF Worlds and you’ve got a YouTuber that absolutely deserves a subscribe.
Update: Jonnie doesn’t exactly post often anymore, but his content is still high quality and informative.
2. OmarIsuf:
Omar, aka Brady Brosef, aka the green power ranger, aka super saiyan, aka head coach of team no-calves. If all that meant nothing to you, then you need to check out his channel. Omar delivers bodybuilding, powerlifting and most recently Olympic lifting content in his own unique humorous style. But what makes Omar’s channel really special is the amount of collaborations he organises with various coaches and experts in their field. These, alongside a few great laughs, make his a channel you should definitely check out.
Update: Omar has continued to deliver quality content, and has partnered with Eric Helms to create some great part strength part history part philosophy podcasts.
If you’ve not already discovered Elliot Hulse’s Strength Camp then where have you been? His channel boasts more than 1000 videos on a huge variety of topics as asked to him by fans and subscribers. What’s so special about Elliot’s channel is not only the sheer variety of questions he answers, but the sincerity and personal touch that he gives to those answers. If there’s a father figure of the YouTube Strength World, then it’s Elliot Hulse, and you should definitely go and visit his channel.
Update: This one hurts me to my core. Elliot went large scale off the rails, diving into weird non-strength related topics and sort of becoming a “men’s rights”, red pill, far-right kind of guy. Alongside this, he just never updated his strength knowledge, so got left WAY behind when truly knowledgeable guys started making their way onto the scene.
Now this channel stands out in this list because it’s not ran by a single personality or front-man. Instead what bodybuilding revolution does is bring together experts from different fields and pit them against each other in friendly competitions. For instance, ever wondered if a bodybuilder, powerlifter or strongman could deadlift best? Or maybe you’ve wondered how strong gymnasts are at weightlifting exercises? If its questions like this that keep you up at night then you need to watch bodybuildingRev to find out the answers.
Update: This channel eventually became ‘Strength Wars’, and now has over 1 million subscribers. Unfortunately, the content has been a little bit scarce, and viewership has fallen off dramatically, so hopefully, they can make a bit of a comeback in 2022.
5. Paul Chek:
For those of you that don’t know who Paul Chek is, there’s simply not enough room here to describe the man. Specialist in Exercise selection and physiology, founder of the CHEK institute, teacher, lecturer, holistic health nut and all round nice guy. He’s also arguably one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the world today, and he’s sharing his knowledge, for free, on YouTube. Paul also boasts an amazingly positive personality that really comes across in his videos, and if you can pay attention for the 30+ minutes he typically records for then I can guarantee that you’ll come away MUCH more knowledgeable.
Update: Okay, so from a Strength & Conditioning standpoint, Paul is a bit hit and miss. I wouldn’t personally use or recommend his training styles if I was trying to maximise performance outcomes. However, from a holistic, well-rounded health perspective that combines nutrition, psychology, meditation and fitness, he’s still a resource that I would happily recommend for many people.
Any Strength Training YouTube Channels You Think Should Make the List?
Let me know down in the comments.
