Mike Thurston is a fitness influencer, personal trainer and entrepreneur from the UK. He is best known in the YouTube fitness community for sharing content related to fitness and bodybuilding. Thurston also owns a health and fitness company. This article summarizes Mike Thurston’s biography, diet and training routine, as well as statistics.
Mike Thurston Stats
| Full name: Mike Thurston | ||
| Weight | Height | Age |
| 210 lbs (95 kg) | 6’0″ (183cm) | 32 years |
| Date of birth | Place of birth | Nationality |
| August 9, 1990 | England | British |
Biography of Mike Thurston
Mike Thurston was born in the United Kingdom and raised in Leeds, England. He was an active child and participated in various sports like cricket, football and athletics while growing up. However, rugby was his real passion at the time.
He lifted weights to build a stronger physique so he could play sports. But weight training becomes Mike’s passion and he starts working out at his school gym to get the physique of his dreams.
Thurston graduated in economics and management and moved to Spain to promote nightclubs and bars as a job. He returned to England and worked as a manager of a retail store. However, these jobs did not allow him to focus on the diet and training he was so passionate about. But great genetics allowed Mike to maintain his physique regardless of the ideal routine.
At the age of 22, Mike Thurston decided to pursue fitness as a career and a year later became a certified trainer. Together with his friends, Mike founded a health and fitness company in Newcastle. With hard work and a short period of struggle, the Englishman finally succeeded in business. He also started posting enriching content on his YouTube channel to help others achieve their fitness goals. At the time of publication of this article, Mike Thurston YouTube channel has 1.43 million followers.
Mike Thurston training
Mike Thurston’s training philosophy revolves around doing things the right way at the right time. Many people have speculated on anabolic steroid use as the reason for Thurston’s incredible physique. However, he claims that most of the gains in his physique were made in his early to mid-20s when it was incredibly easy. He has worked hard over the past few years to maintain it with proper diet and exercise.
Thurston works out six days a week and his current workout split includes dedicated chest, back, shoulder, leg and arm training sessions alongside HIIT workouts. This allows it to target every muscle group in the body and make full gains without leaving any weak areas.
The 32-year-old makes changes to his training plan every four to six weeks to ensure his body is constantly challenged and doesn’t get complacent by staying in a certain routine for an extended period of time. He performs most of the exercises for three to four sets with a range of 8 to 12 repetitions.
A typical training week in Mike Thurston’s routine looks like this:
Monday – Chest workout
Tuesday – Back workout
Wednesday – Shoulder workout
Thursday – Leg workout
Friday – arm workout
Saturday – HIIT workout
Sunday – Rest
Mike Thurston’s favorite exercises for every muscle group
Mike Thurston follows an excruciatingly complex training plan to grow and maintain his physique. But almost everyone finds themselves asking themselves this one question: If I could only do one exercise for each muscle, which would I choose? Thurston has an answer to that question, and each of the exercises he chooses has a strong logic behind them.
Chest
It is common knowledge that pressing movements are the best for developing upper body pushing strength. However, Thurston is a little more specific about it and feels it incline dumbbell press is his favorite chest exercise. While explaining the reason for choosing this one, the 32-year-old said:
“It just allows you a little bit more freedom of movement, especially when it comes to positioning the hands and also the elbow… Because there’s a little bit more external rotation when you’re doing an incline press, it’s usually a little bit kinder on the shoulder joints. “
vice versa
As the old saying goes – “If you want your back to grow, you must row!” T-shaped rows are an excellent compound movement for building a strong and solid back. In Mike Thurston’s case, T-Bar rows offer chest support and allow for a workout without putting too much strain on the spine. Therefore, the T-Bar row is his favorite back builder.
“The reason I would choose a T-row over anything else is mostly because of the chest support. So the T-row with chest support means I can really push my back to full failure without my spine giving out first. This is usually the case I have found typical at my level of training experience.’
The back is a large muscle group and therefore it is impossible to fully load it with just one exercise. Therefore, Thurston’s second favorite move is neutral bottom grip drop to focus on the latissimus dorsi / lat.
Shoulders
The shoulder muscles are crucial for performing most upper body movements such as pushing, pulling, lifting to name a few. They’re also a limiting factor from an aesthetic point of view, and underdeveloped shoulders can really detract from the aesthetic appeal of a muscular build. Therefore, developing the deltoids, especially the medial deltoids, is critical.
Machine lateral raises are Mike Thurston’s personal favorite for developing this muscle group. Since the anterior and posterior deltoid muscles are stimulated during combined pushing and pulling movements, the medial deltoid muscle is the only part that will need specific exercise.
“What I’d really like to work on is the middle deltas, because the physique without the middle deltas looks kind of weird. middelts help get that v-taper and most people have pretty f***ing middelts to be honest. So don’t ignore them.
Additionally, Thurston would prefer to do the exercise on a machine instead of dumbbells for the following reason:
“We train him to share where he is relatively strongest in an extended position. This is something dumbbell lateral raises will not do. There is minimal resistance.
Legs
As for the lower body, Mike Thurston would include three exercises, one each for the quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings. For the quads, pendulum squats will be his choice. because:
“The reason it’s so good in the first place is the back support, right? Whenever I do squats with free weights, whether it’s front squats, back squats, I usually find that when I go with a lot of weight, there’s a lot of tension that goes through my lower back, and it’s usually the lower on the back which gives way to my squares. Second, it is very easy for almost anyone to get to full depth to allow full range of motion to occur.
While many people argue that compound movements can be made more hamstring focused by changing position, foot placement, etc. Mike Thurston would include seated leg curls like the hamstring isolation movement in his routine.
“First of all, it will put your body in a position where your tendons are naturally fully extended, which is great. So whenever you train them, there is resistance that is applied in the extended position and the mid-range, which is optimal.
And finally, the glutes. If Thurston had to do just one exercise to work the glutes, he would choose it Smith Machine Bulgarian Split Squats. Using the Smith machine eliminates the need to control the weight as it moves along a fixed trajectory.
Arms – One-Arm Sermon Curls (Biceps) and Cross Rope Triceps Stretch (Triceps)
Preacher curls are probably the most effective movement for isolating the biceps because the arm is firmly pressed against the pad. There are very few exercises that come close to this movement for developing biceps. Needless to say, this is also Thurston’s favorite bicep exercise. He says:
“The reason I’d go for one arm is because it’s kinder on the joints…And I’d go for preacher curl because it offers that support. This eliminates any trickery or any sway or any of your torso or even elbow joint movement.
Full elbow flexion and stability in the shoulder joint are two of the most important criteria for activating the triceps. Cross-cable triceps stretch check both boxes and take the place of your favorite triceps exercise in Thurston’s workout routine.
“I like this because of the good profile, the good sustainability profile. You train triceps in an extended middle position. Most of the resistance will be here in the extended position, the middle position and then the resistance decreases in the shortened position where it is relatively weaker. So this is perfect. And secondly, the angle at which I’m going to pull is much kinder on the joints in the elbow.”
Mike Thurston’s Diet
Mike Thurston follows a strict diet and does not deviate from it unless there is a serious reason. He rarely indulges in cheat meals that do nothing but satisfy the taste buds. Needless to say, his muscular physique is the result of things being done both in the gym and in the kitchen.
To fuel growth and avoid feeling hungry or full at any time of the day, Mike Thurston eats six small meals spread throughout the day. His day starts pretty early, but the 32-year-old avoids drinking anything but plain water for the first three to four hours, especially coffee. He explained the reason for adapting this practice in one of the videos on his YouTube channel and said:
“If you drink coffee first thing in the morning when you wake up, you’ll get an afternoon slump, which actually makes a lot of sense because I’ve always had a chronic afternoon slump, and I think it probably came down to the fact that I would just crash on coffee.” ..,” Thurston said, quoting renowned neuroscientist Andrew Huberman.
Meat, eggs, vegetables and fresh fruit are the main ingredients of Mike Thurston’s diet. She avoids consuming dairy products and instead relies on almond milk, oat milk and peanut butter. When it comes to vegetables, nothing is off the table.
“One of the most satiating foods that satiates that feeling of fullness is the white potato… The basic, boring white potato is the most satiating food. So include them in your diet, especially if you’re cutting and you’re hungry,” advises Mike Thurston in one of his YouTube videos.
A typical day of eating in Mike Thurston’s routine looks like this:
Dish 1
- Omelet of 4 eggs
- 1 slice of bacon
- ½ avocado
- Vegetables, including tomatoes, onions and mushrooms
Food 2
- 1 cup oatmeal with peanut butter and honey
- Fresh fruit, including blueberries and raspberries
- 1 cup almond milk
Food 3
- 1 scoop of vegan protein powder with oat milk and fruit
Dish 4
- Teriyaki salmon
- Brown rice
- Steamed broccoli
Dish 5
- Brown rice cracker
- 1 banana
Dish 6
- Minced beef
- Baked potatoes
- Green beans
To conclude
Mike Thurston’s success story shows that you don’t have to get stuck in things that don’t bring you satisfaction. Chasing your dreams is a risk worth taking if you are truly passionate about doing something.