Bodybuilding Life Beyond the NUB Gains
“If only I could eat enough food every day, I would get huge.”
“Once I have the right supplements, I will make good progress.”
“Once I take steroids, I will get huge.”
“If I can stay consistent with the scheduled gym workouts for a couple months, I will finally gain the 5–10 extra pounds that are so difficult to gain.”
I bet we have all told ourselves some story about how if we fix one thing, we will make extraordinary progress in the gym and then get all excited about it, go off and make the one fix, and realize that it may have helped, but not nearly as much as we thought. Sucks when we gained so much in the beginning as a newbie and then slowed down to a halt as we become an intermediate. When you are new at lifting, basic knowledge and effort will get you far fast. As you become more an intermediate, you need more.
Well, let me remind you that
bodybuilding is composed of many components that work together and fixing just one on its own will usually not make drastic changes as an intermediate.
Below are the main components.
- Your rest/energy— duration of sleep, quality of sleep, and stress levels (more on that in another post)
- Your workouts — duration, intensity, form, rep ranges, rest times, sets, and good exercise choices
- Your nutrition — calories, macro proportions (protein, fats, carbs), micro nutrients (i.e. vitamins), hydration, and supplements
4. Consistency/knowledge/effort — applies to most everything in the three bullets above.
A Hypothetical Example
Let's look at one of the quotes from the beginning of this post and see how this relates:
“Once I have the right supplements, I will make good progress.”
It seems like just the supplements are the next key to success for this person. Now look at the bullet points —supplementation is just one factor out of 10–20 factors. Let’s look a bit deeper — not all factors are created equal. Many agree that supplementation is one of the least critical factors for building a great physique. Thus, the fact that this person placed so much emphasis on supplements also shows that they lack knowledge. Knowledge factors into all those 10–20 factors.
If they gained more knowledge, by consistent self education, then they would start to grow a clearer picture about which categories they were doing well in and which they were not without going off hunches.
I think we would all spend time improving #4 (consistency/knowledge/effort) which then improves all the other factors. Then, we could correct the most critical weak spots easier and faster to achieve their goals. Perhaps supplementation would contribute 2% to their goal, but maybe fixing their calorie intake, exercises, and form would contribute 99% to their goal. They would learn this if they just put in a bit of time each week to learn more, but yeah it takes time.
An Actionable Way you Can Self Educate
Trust me I was guilty of not putting in the time before “I do so much every week, I don’t have time to read or watch videos” or whatever. However, do you have time to keep spinning your wheels and not making progress, or do you want to spend an hour or two each week educating yourself on nutrition, exercise, etc. to get to your goals and be happier. You will end up wasting less time, because you are not spending time stalling. One way I educate myself during my busy week is to listen to audiobooks using audible in my car on my commute to work. One way I educated myself more about fitness was reading Bigger, Leaner, Stronger which lays out all the basics for intermediate and beginner lifters. This book also differentiates itself from all the fitness magazine material which may have more contradicting and confusion information.
Overall, as you become an intermediate lifter consistency, knowledge, and effort demands more attention to problem solve your weak spots and ensure all the factors work harmoniously together, to make it further in the game of an intermediate lifter.
An Example from My Experience
You can stop reading this post if you don’t want to hear a true example from my experience relating to this topic or you can learn a little more if you keep reading :).
One of my more recent examples of this in my own life is when I started Food Fuelz meal prep., I thought that I would suddenly make bigger gains, look leaner, and look awesome. After a few weeks, my body fat dropped and I did look better, but long term I was not going to make the strength and muscle gains I wanted. I had sort of a wishful thinking approach where I thought shorter gaps in time between meals and increased macro quality of meals after signing up with Food Fuelz (as compared to when I meal prepped on my own) would make a bigger difference than it actually did. Also, I ate less on weekends and Food Fuelz would help me with that.
Turns out I didn’t realize I was eating too few calories with Food Fuelz every day and I found that out from a trainer I had for a while who told me to track all my meals on Myfitnesspal. I tracked my meals for two months. Once I understood how low on calories I was, I asked Food Fuelz to increase my calories and I also began eating and extra meal and snack every day to reach my bulking calorie target. In addition, I followed the training program laid out in Bigger, Leaner, Stronger which focuses on progressive overload and tracking your weights and reps. Then, I started making strength gains again once I had Food Fuelz, improved calorie/macro tracking knowledge, AND improved weight training knowledge (multiple factors working together via further education). In the end, Food Fuelz did make my life much easier to reach this calorie target. Read my previous post, to learn about how Food Fuelz improved my life and well-being.
This is just one real example of how we don’t always have a clear idea on what exactly will take you to the next level, but with continually educating yourself with material from reputable sources (and my blog), it will help you pinpoint your weak spots more quickly so all factors work together and allow you to reach your goals faster.
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