Bodybuilding can be a rather grueling enterprise. You slave away for weeks and months without seeing the results you wanted. No muscle gains, no fat loss, nothing! All this despite eating endless amounts of chicken breast and rice while your buddies are out enjoying chicken wings, burgers and beer, having the time of their lives (or so it seems)!
What do you do now? Quit? Sure, that could be an option, but as Alec Baldwin said in Glengarry Glen Ross, “And one day, you will be sitting in a bar, saying ‘I used to be a salesman’; it’s a tough racket.” Do you want to be the guy who says: “I used to workout?”
Hell no!
First rule: If you do not make progress, something is off. Training, diet, sleep… one of these three components is missing. Go back to the drawing board and find out what’s missing. Maybe you need to eat more carbs or less fat, maybe you need to sleep an extra hour. Whatever it is, make the necessary changes!
Second rule: It’s the journey that matters. Building a great physique takes years, despite what the supplement companies tell you. So you will not see daily changes in the mirror. But you should feel accomplished after your workouts, embrace the foods you are eating, and be proud of being part of the iron family. The people you meet, the personal bests you set, and the fact that you are capable of having the discipline of sticking with your program is what separates bodybuilders from the rest.
See you in the gym,
Maik Wiedenbach