Quote: (06-14-2017 10:54 AM)zatara Wrote:
Quote: (06-14-2017 10:36 AM)Steelex Wrote:
My point, regardless of how strong you think someone can or cannot become in four years, is that the OP did not effectively apply himself over the course of those four years. That is a clear fact, made obvious by the fact that this thread exists.
So he either A) Did not progress as well as he should in his strength and size gains or B) did not eat the right diet.
My wager is that the answer is both. 4 years is a long time to not see noticeable progress. If you don't see a noticeable change after 2 years of actively training and eating a controlled diet, you did something wrong. For most people this really means that they just did not apply themselves.
Nah, you made an unhelpful, wildly exaggerated claim and got called on it.
The OP went from benching 135lbs to 252lbs for reps in 4 years. Thats not a huge end figure, but he started off weak. I'd say he did a solid 3 years of training as an amateur within that 4 year window.
If hes benching 252lbs for 5 reps his 1RM is probably around 270lbs. Thats better than 90% of adult males. If he doesn't look good aesthetically at that level of strength his problem isn't his training, its his diet.
Advising him he needs to be benching 400lbs for reps because "anybody can do it" is terrible advice that would likely lead to him obsessing over adding more digits to his lifts, instead of tightening his diet up. Its just plain bad advice for the OP.
We simply have different ideas of what is achieveable. Mine are based on what I've done and the time it took me to do it, as well as what I've seen others do, some of whom I train.
Now granted, this isn't a hobby for me. I've had decent placings at local and regional shows and think I have a good shot at earning my pro card before I turn 35. But it's not a hobby. Origami is a hobby. It starts at breakfast and dictates how my day goes. But if the OP isn't happy with his results, the onus is on him to create better ones. The whole premise of limiting your expectations of yourself based on what other people achieve is self defeating. It should always be "I need to do better and push harder, and harder, and harder, to get what I want".
Being better than 9 out of 10 means you're better than the other 9 who didn't do a fucking thing to better themselves. It's no gold medal.