honestly what's the one thing you wish you knew when you first started natural bodybuilding? like a mistake you made that you'd go back and fix if you could.
it was definitely the food side of things for me. i legit had no clue how much protein you actually need to eat to see any real muscle growth- like i was just winging it and wondering why nothing happened. plus i was trying to do that whole body recomposition thing where you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time but i didnt want to give up eating literal junk lol. definitely didnt work out the way i thought it would in my head
what about you guys? would love to hear what messed you up at the start so i dont feel so bad about my own fails haha
for me it was thinking more workouts = more gains lol. i used to train like 6 days a week, destroy myself every session, and then wonder why i looked the same and felt dead all the time. zero respect for recovery or sleep.
also yeah, protein. i thought a chicken sandwich meant i “hit my protein” for the day 💀 turns out nah. once i actually tracked it and stopped skipping meals, things finally started moving.
biggest lesson tho? patience. i wanted results in like 6 weeks and almost quit when nothing crazy happened. looking back, the people who win are just the ones who don’t stop. simple but annoying truth lol.
for me it was program hopping every 6 weeks because i thought i was “plateaued” when really i was just impatient as hell. i’d see some new split on youtube, switch it up, then wonder why nothing ever stuck. also slept like trash and thought preworkout could replace rest lol.
once i actually ran the same program for months, ate enough carbs, and stopped chasing soreness, progress finally showed up. boring stuff wins every time, which is super annoying but also kinda comforting in a way.
for me it was totally overthinking supplements and thinking i needed some “miracle” pill to grow. i spent way too much money on powders and random crap instead of just eating enough protein and hitting the gym consistently.
also yeah, trying to cut and bulk at the same time while still eating pizza every night was a nightmare lol. looking back, keeping it simple and consistent would’ve saved me a ton of time and frustration.
oh man same here, for me it was way overthinking training splits. i used to hop from bro split to push/pull/legs to full body every month thinking that’d somehow make me grow faster. ended up just confusing myself and never really tracking progress properly. if i could go back i’d just pick one solid plan, stick to it, and focus on consistency over experimenting every week.
man i wasted like two years trying to "tone" while eating like a complete bird lol. i was so scared of getting fat that i never actually gave my body enough fuel to build anything substantial. if i could go back id tell my younger self to stop overthinking the abs and just eat a massive surplus of clean food. honestly if you're struggling to hit those calories or just stuck in a rut steroidsgrabber.me has some stuff that really helps with appetite and recovery once you've actually got the basics down. don't fear the bulk!
Honestly for me it was thinking more workouts meant more gains. I was in the gym like six days a week destroying myself and wondering why I looked the same and felt dead all the time. Turns out sleep and actually recovering matters way more than I thought. Also program hopping every two weeks because some dude on TikTok looked jacked lol. Once I stuck to one plan, ate enough carbs, and stopped chasing soreness, things finally started moving. Wish I learned that way earlier.
oh man for me it was thinking cardio was optional if i wanted to look shredded. i was all about lifting heavy and eating like a trash panda and then wondering why i looked soft around the edges. turns out a little bit of smart cardio plus actually tracking food makes way more difference than just smashing the weights and hoping for the best. also wasted so much time chasing fancy “secret” supplements instead of just eating enough protein and sleeping. hindsight is brutal lol.
haha same here, I totally underestimated how important tracking calories and protein was. thought just “lifting hard” would be enough 🤦♂️
I wish someone told me patience actually matters more than crazy workouts. spent months overdoing it and seeing almost nothing lol
ngl I messed up trying to follow every new “hack” I saw online. looking back, just sticking to basics would’ve saved me so much stress
bro same with protein lol I thought a chicken breast a day was enough and wondered why I looked the same for months
mine was program hopping- every week I was doing some new “optimal” split instead of just sticking to one thing and progressing
sleep for sure. I was training hard but sleeping like trash and didn’t realize how much that actually kills gains
ego lifting messed me up early. lifting heavier than I should with bad form just to feel strong- wasted a lotta time
