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Daniel Bogle

Professor Gardiakos

ENC1102

7 October 2022

Research Proposal

Purpose:

The research that is being considered is seeking to find the discrepancies between the

language used in the research community versus three specific YouTube channels that are in the

weightlifting community. The weightlifting community contains multiple communities and ideas

which contradict each other, with some people relying on research to build muscle and strength

while others say research is a hindrance to a person’s ability to grow in strength and muscle. One

important thing to know, is the difference between bodybuilding and powerlifting.

“Bodybuilding” is when someone is trying to maximize their muscle size to look a certain way,

often this means having a lower bodyfat percentage while maintaining a lot of muscle mass.

Lifting weights to get stronger, or “powerlifting”, is when someone lifts weights to be able to lift

even heavier weights; this style of training does not focus on having a lower bodyfat or looking a

certain way typically. That is not to say that bodybuilders are not strong or that powerlifters do

not have a lower bodyfat, it is a difference in their goals. This study will focus on three different

YouTube channels that have different approaches to weightlifting.

The first channel which will be analyzed is the Jeff Nippard channel which is run by Jeff

Nippard. He has 3.38 million subscribers and his most popular video has 11 million views. In his

own words he is “a Canadian [,] natural [,] pro bodybuilder and internationally-qualified

powerlifter with a BSc in biochemistry/chemistry and [has] a passion for science.” (Nippard).
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His channel in his description is “dedicated to providing science-based training and nutrition

information and journaling my own fitness journey” (Nippard). In the weightlifting community

on Youtube, Nippard is known for breaking down research done in the weightlifting community

in terms that are easier to understand. He was chosen because of his connection between the

discourse and research sides of the weightlifting community and his expertise.

The second channel is Greg Doucette which is run by Greg Doucette. On his channel,

Greg Doucette described himself as “a Canadian IFBB Pro bodybuilder, published author,

influencer, and Guinness World Record holding powerlifter with a [b]achelor’s and [m]aster’s

[d]egree in Kinesiology” (Doucette). He has 1.61 million subscribers, and his most watched

video has 3.1 million views, but his most watched YouTube short has 7.2 million views. He is

known for his weightlifting advice, nutrition advice, and reaction videos. His reaction videos are

critiques of the advice or content in the other video, or it is him supporting the content of the

video.

The third channel is ATHLEAN-X™ which is run by Jeff Cavaliere. He has 13 million

subscribers, and his most viewed video has 34 million views. Cavaliere is a physical therapist

and strength coach who has coached “professional athlete[s] and celebrity clients” (Cavaliere),

according to his about section on his YouTube channel. He says that his channel is about putting

“the science back in strength to build muscle” and it is meant to teach how to “keep your muscles

and joints healthy and improve your overall athleticism” (Cavaliere). Cavaliere is known for his

weekly new workout plan videos, workout advice, and stretching advice.

All three channels are run by experienced lifters in their own ways, but they occasionally

contradict each other and agree with each other. Sometimes some of them use medical and

research terms but sometimes they use generic gym slang which showcases the variety and
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diversity of weightlifting vocabulary and the YouTube channels that cover the community.

Methods:

The study will compare the language used in weightlifting videos on the platform of

YouTube versus the language used in weightlifting research communities. The way the

comparison will be done is by examining the language used in YouTube videos and seeing if

they are the same medical and scientific terms used in the research communities. The research

papers will provide a database of scientific words that can be referred back to when watching the

videos; the videos will be chosen according to the similarity in topic to the research paper. For

example, if the research papers and all the channels have a video on how to do a proper bench

press then those videos and research paper will be chosen because of their similarities. A

spreadsheet with the scientific terms used in the research papers will be used, and each one will

be given a row. There will be three different columns, one titled “Research”, one titled “In-

Between”, and one titled “Discourse”, and each video will be given their own spreadsheet. The

“Research” column will be used if the scientific term is used; the “In-Between” column will be

used if the scientific term is used but defined; and if the scientific term is not used but instead a

form of slang or simple term for the same term then it would be placed under the “Discourse”

column. Each instance that a scientific term is, or could have been used, will be logged and

whichever column has the most instances logged will then be used as a label for the video. Each

channel will have three labels and whichever label shows up the most for the channel will be

used to label the channel.

Discussion and Implications:

The research collected from this study can showcase whether there is a large disconnect

from the language used in research versus the discourse community of weightlifting. The larger
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the discrepancies between language, the bigger of a chance that the research community might

not be reaching the audience of that specific channel. It will not be an accurate depiction of the

because it is only studying an extremely small portion of the gym community and it is a portion

that has three experts in the field of fitness and/or the human body. This study is specific only to

the communities created by these channels according to the three videos analyzed. The language

in each channel can give insight into what people in the gym community respond to and

understand, if one channel uses “In-Between” terms more than the other channels and it has the

most amount of subscribers, then it provides background for another study to look into what

rhetoric choices people in the gym community respond to the best. This study simply seeks to

find the differences in language. Finding these differences can help the research and discourse

communities grow closer and understand each other better by taking the time to reduce the

differences. Studying language gives a better idea of how a specific audience thinks and their

level of education on the topic. Every community has an audience and the way each audience

should be addressed or communicated towards should be adapted to them. Language choice is an

important part of creating rhetor and that is why it is so important.

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Works Cited

“Athlean-X™.” YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/c/athleanx/about.

“Greg Doucette.” YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/gregdoucette/about.

“Jeff Nippard.” YouTube, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/c/JeffNippard/about.