Scooby Werkstatt

Scooby Werkstatt is an internationally famous social media star. He’s made a name for himself by offering free advice and motivational videos to bodybuilding enthusiasts on YouTube.

While Scooby has spent over three decades sculpting an excellent physique, he says that everybody has to start somewhere.

He spent the first 21 years of his life as the “awkward” kid who was terrible at sports. This all changed when he began weightlifting and found the ‘self-confidence’ he hadn’t experienced before.

From this day on, Scooby became involved in a number of sports, and has exercised almost everyday for 30 years. He has also suffered abuse online due to his sexuality, but has pushed passed this – dedicating himself even further to his online quest to help people improve their physiques. This is Scooby’s story:

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Athlete Statistics

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Accomplishments

• Internationally famous YouTuber
• Triathlete

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Biography

Bodybuilding Beginnings

Scooby didn’t start lifting weights until he was 21. He says that prior to his 21st birthday, he was an “awkward, lanky and clumsy kid,” who always got picked last in his gym class.

He avoided any kind of serious physical activity, until he decided that he wanted to create a physique worthy of his local beach.

He started to lift weights at home, noticing immediately how doing so “skyrocketed” his self esteem.

With the confidence he gained from lifting, he also found a new love for sports. He picked up skating, hiking, volleyball, cycling, windsurfing, running and swimming. Creating an extremely active lifestyle in the process.

Dedication To The Fitness Lifestyle

When Scooby started to notice the results of his hard work, he became obsessed with physical fitness, and transforming his physique.

He began to workout for an hour a day, 5 days per week, and loved every minute. He was so dedicated to the fitness lifestyle, he only took one week off a year for decades.

Building His Own Gym

He began to develop his own home gym workout, which used dumbbells and barbells, but focused on using bodyweight as much as possible.

This routine, combined with an extremely nutritious bodybuilding diet, allowed Scooby to build good levels of muscle mass.

He says that he reached his “genetic potential” at around 40 years old. From this age, he says that his strength, body weight, and body fat, remained the same for 20 years.

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Creating A YouTube Channel

The confidence Scooby gained from his own progress, inspired him to seek out ways to help others reach their goals.

He initially started a website called ‘scoobysworkshop’ in 2004 – citing one of the reasons for this venture for his frustration with the fitness industry.

He believed the whole fitness product world, had become nothing more than a big business run by “money hungry corporations.”

Free Training Advice

His idea was to provide free and easy- to-follow advice for those looking to get in shape. He wanted to provide information on home workouts and nutrition, but he also wanted to help those without a lot of money get in shape.

He said that, “people have forgotten that bodybuilding started out with very simple equipment – namely just cheap dumbbells and barbells.”

After he started his website, he knew the next step would be to set up a YouTube account to broadcast his routines and advice to the world.

He set up an account called Scooby1961 – attracting a large following from beginners and experienced lifters alike. He’s considered by many to be the “father of fitness” on YouTube.

Maintaining His Gains

As Scooby entered his 50’s, he realized that he couldn’t put on any more muscle mass. He decided to focus his routine around maintaining what he had built over the years, telling his fans that he was going to begin endurance and sport workouts.

He began training for, and competing in long distance cycling races and triathlons.

These predominantly cardio based activities allowed Scooby to reach new levels of cardiovascular fitness. He greatly enjoyed the whole process of training for such events, and throughout some of his preparations, he posted additional advice online for these endurance events.

Fighting Through Online Harassment

While his YouTube career has allowed him to reach a wide variety of people online, it has also attracted the wrong kind of attention.

Scooby received a torrent of hate mail and comments regarding his sexuality; many people even posted his address and personal details on online forums.

Unfortunately, this meant that Scooby had to take a break from YouTube. His only contact to his fans were through his original website.

He still maintained contact with his loyal fans, and eventually, returned to his Youtube channel, and got back in-touch with his many subscribers.

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Scooby taking part in a triathlon

Training

Scooby’s Training Approach

Scooby tells his fans they should view their fitness journey as a gradual process of improvement. He believes the fitness industry offers endless “quick-fixes,” but the only route to create a well-built physique is with “lots of time and lots of patience.”

Another one of Scooby’s philosophies, is that you shouldn’t have to pay for a gym membership in order to build your ideal body.

He promotes the route of buying cheap dumbbells and barbells, then setting up a home gym. His training plan focuses mainly around training in this environment.

Abs Training

Focusing on core strength as opposed to “pretty abs,” Scooby bases his abdominal workouts on strength and endurance.

He sees this approach is significantly more important than revealing your abs for the beach, as core strength is important for multiple exercises, such as the deadlift.

The exercises Scooby believes are the best for Abs, are supermans, side planks, crunches, hanging leg raises, and front planks.

The Ab Wheel

Scooby says the Ab Wheel is his favorite piece of equipment for the abs. He says they “costs less than $10.” He also says it’s an excellent tool that will push even the fittest person to their limits.

He completes his ab rolls on his toes, but says to his fans they should always start on their knees to avoid injury.

Chest

When it comes to working out his chest, Scooby uses a wide range of exercises. The up-to-date list of his chosen lifts are below:

• Incline dumbbell press
• Incline barbell press
• Incline fly
• Military press (if using backrest)
• Dumbbell shoulder press (if using backrest)
• Low cables
• Pushups with feet raised
• Flat dumbbell fly
• Flat dumbbell press
• Flat bench press
• Mid height cables
• Pushups
• Decline press
• Decline flys
• High cables

Out of all these exercises, Scooby says the pushup is his favorite. He loves this exercise because it’s a movement which can be done anywhere.

He says that if you want to make the push up harder, you can add weight to your back in a rucksack, or position your hands differently i.e. (in a fist, clutching dumbells, wider.)

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Bicep Training

Scooby sees the Biceps are less important than other muscles, such as the triceps or quads. Even so, he does include bicep workouts in his routine and uses the exercises detailed below:

• Barbell curls
• Dumbbell curls
• Hammer curls
• Twenty-ones
• Reverse curls
• Chin-ups

Favorite Tricep Exercises

The triceps are, in Scooby’s opinion, one of the most important muscles to hit. He says that if you truly want big arms, forget about focusing on your biceps – hit the triceps as often as possible. These are his exercises of choice:

• Skullcrushers
• Tricep Kickbacks
• Chair Dips
• Overhead Triceps Dumbbell Press

Back And Lats

Scooby introduces a lot of back and lat options, but his favorite workout to hit both muscles at the same time is the pullup.

He loves to use this workout, saying to his fans that if he had just one exercise to choose, this would be it. It’s a great compound movement that builds excellent upper-body strength and endurance. His other exercises are below:

Lat Pullup Exercises

• Basic pullup
• Chinup
• Narrow grip pullup
• Alternating grip pullup
• Weighted pullup
• TRX pullup
• Hands free pullups

Lat Rowing Exercises

• Dumbbell rows
• Barbell rows
• Dumbbell pullovers
• Incline barbell rows
• TRX low row
• One leg kettlebell rows
• Band rows
• Trap and Upper Back Exercises
• TRX shoulder row
• Dumbbell shrug
• Vertical band row
• Reverse Flys

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Leg Training

Scooby loves leg days. He tells his fans that leg workouts will be useful for any sports they take part in, along with preventing lower body injuries and keeping a strong core.

Quad dominant exercises

• Goblet chair squats
• Dumbbell squats
• Split squats
• Lunges
• Skateboard squats
• Leg extensions
• Hamstring dominant exercises
•  Deadlifts
• Stiff legged deadlifts
• One legged stiff legged deadlifts
•  Calves
• Calve raises
• Sand running

Hamstring Dominant Exercises

• Deadlifts (Romanian, stiffed legged)
• Calf Raises

Shoulder Exercises

When it comes to shoulder workouts, Scooby sees a number of movements as vital in creating the V Taper shape that many people desire.

He says that shoulder exercises should almost, always, be completed sitting down, in order to allow your shoulders to take the full force of the lift.

• Mass builder
• Dumbbell press
• Straight arm side raise
• Bent arm side raise
• Front press
• Front raise
• Stabilizing exercises
• Reverse flys
• Inner rotations
• Outer rotations
• Traps exercises
• Dumbbell shrugs

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Nutrition

Nutritional Philosophy

Scooby’s nutritional ethos is, in his words, a“top down” approach. He believes that a solid diet and nutritional plan is the most important part of the fitness lifestyle. Without it, you will never be able to build a great physique.

He says the most important route to success is to track your calories, and set a meal plan which hits your daily macronutrient needs. He says that all his meals have to hit these characteristics:

Scooby’s Meal Plan

• High in protein, at least 20g protein in a 300 cal serving
• Low in fat, no more than 5g fat in a 300cal serving
• High in fiber, at least 7g fiber in a 300 cal serving
• No simple carbohydrates
• Minimal processing

Many of his meal options take “5 minutes” to make, and are great choices for when you are pushed for time after the gym. Here are a few:

• Fajita Scramble (a chicken fajita, mixed in a pan with eggs and mashed)
• Salmon Mush (salmon mixed with egg and vegetables in a pan and fried)
• Scooby Poo-Bars (protein bars with whey protein, organic oats, shredded carrots, fat free milk, low sugar fruit jam, ground flax

Supplements

He avoids taking supplements as much as possible, saying “if it sounds too good to be true, it is.” He says repeatedly to his fans that building muscle is a slow and difficult process, and before they even think about taking supplements, they should focus on their diets.

The only dietary supplements which Scooby believes are worth the money, are isolate whey protein, green tea extract, and flax seed.

He also makes homemade protein bars to carry around with him when he is travelling.

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What we can learn from Scooby Werkstatt

While he has suffered from setbacks due to online harassment, he has never lost touch with his mission to help bodybuilders reach their goals. He continues to be a well-respected, and well-known figure because of this.

He opposes the idea that everyone needs to use a large gym, seeing that with the right effort, people can build a good body with only bodyweight workouts.

He’s also shared his no-nonsense view of nutrition, which many of his fans have responded favorably to.

What we can learn from Scooby is; When you reach the peak of your fitness journey, it may be useful to help others on their way up, just like Scooby.