00:00all right what's up everybody feels good
00:01to be back in the basement just doing a
00:03regular good old sit down talking head
00:06video so topic for today was inspired by
00:09a few comments on my last video on the
00:12uh Natty or juice Reddit uh reaction it
00:16was a fun video to make I had a good
00:17time with it I got a kick out of it hope
00:19you guys did too but there were a couple
00:20comments on the actual Reddit uh post or
00:23forum and there were a few comments in
00:25my own comment section basically just
00:27kind of talking about the rate of
00:29progression as a natural lifter there
00:31were a couple questions asked and there
00:32were a couple uh discussions had in the
00:35various comment sections just about the
00:37rate of progression and what you can
00:38expect as a natural lifter and what you
00:40can view on other lifters to assess if
00:44they're natural or not so I'm not going
00:45to be doing a deep dive into like the
00:47hard little numbers on everything but I
00:49do kind of want to talk about just rate
00:51of progression because it's a topic that
00:52has a lot of confusion for uh less
00:55experienced lifters usually by the time
00:57you're more experienced you kind of know
00:58what to expect and as cool as that is it
01:00can make lifting a little bit more
01:02mundane if you kind of know it's kind of
01:04predictable and that's one of the
01:05downsides of being an advanced lifter or
01:07late intermediate stage but that's a
01:10tangent of getting away from the point
01:11like I usually do so to get back to the
01:14main point basically uh today's video I
01:18want to talk about rates of progression
01:20it's a topic a lot of people don't talk
01:21about a whole ton for the reason that
01:25inexperienced lifters beginners early
01:28intermediates they want want numbers
01:31they want hard facts they want numbers
01:33so they're like all right well should I
01:36add a rep every single week if I go two
01:38weeks without adding a rep should I
01:40rotate lifts or should I deload like
01:42that's that's how beginners communicate
01:44that's how beginners or less experienc
01:45lifters overall uh that's how they talk
01:47about lifting and you can't answer that
01:49so is it best to just not talk about it
01:52because we're not going to be able to
01:53give them the answer that they want that
01:55doesn't really exist well I still think
01:57it's worth talking about and this isn't
01:58going to be any hard numbers or anything
02:00like I already said just some wisdom
02:02from a guy that's been working out since
02:04uh I was basically 17 or 18 so uh first
02:09off last little tangent here just before
02:12I forget uh they were talking about my
02:16ape index which I had no idea what that
02:18was on the Reddit video one of the posts
02:21was saying oh well I think he's natural
02:23but it's he probably just has a negative
02:25AP index which basically means my hand
02:27span is yes I meant to say wingspan
02:30well I'm probably going to post the
02:32clips up at the end of this video I'm
02:33not going to waste your time with it now
02:35cuz I know most of you don't care but
02:37basically to my surprise uh my wingspan
02:41is actually 64 and I thought I was 5'9
02:45and I was like all right well if my
02:46wingspan's 64 like there's no way I'm
02:48like I have to be like 5'10 or 5'11 and
02:50I just thought I was 5'9 or something no
02:53I'm actually 5'8 so I've been lying
02:56unknowingly so it's not really a lie
02:58this entire time I've had the channel
02:59I've always thought I was 5'9 no I'm
03:01actually 5'8 and I have I what I think
03:04is like a like a genetic freak AP index
03:08um it it doesn't help me for
03:11bodybuilding so I'm a genetic freak that
03:13is not fulfilling that potential so I'm
03:18not good enough to be good at basketball
03:20I can't swim fast enough so yeah uh may
03:22maybe arm wrestling one day I guess it
03:24would help me but for lifting I don't
03:26know I think it makes it it makes it a
03:27little bit harder for me so if I can get
03:30I don't know I faced some adversity I'm
03:33I'm realizing now so uh funny kind of
03:38aside let's talk about natural
03:40progression the first point that I have
03:42here when it comes to progressing as a
03:44natural bodybuilder the odds of you
03:46doing everything properly from the start
03:49are slim there's a common sentiment that
03:53you gain 15 pounds of muscle in your
03:56first year give or take your second year
03:58you half that your third year you have
04:00that and by the time you're at year 3 to
04:02five plus you're gaining like 1 to 2
04:05pounds of muscle and you're fighting for
04:06scraps and this is where an
04:10inexperienced lifter doesn't have the
04:12experience obviously to understand that
04:15this isn't really true there's truths to
04:17it but it really isn't entirely true and
04:20you might be saying well all of my
04:22buddies like everyone at the gym like
04:23they start lifting they make great
04:24progress the next year it slows down it
04:26keeps going this happens to the vast
04:28majority of lifters well my follow-up
04:32question to you in return would be all
04:34right well why do most lifters end up at
04:36the intermediate stage instead of
04:38becoming Advanced or
04:40elite doesn't that change things I think
04:43it does so in reality what this
04:48is your training limit being confused
04:51with your natural limit or your training
04:54maximum rate of progression versus your
04:56actual potential for your highest rate
04:59progression and growth as a natural
05:01lifter so if you're someone that you
05:04start lifting you find something that
05:06works for you which mostes things will
05:08as long as you're training properly as a
05:09beginner not to oversimplify but just
05:12just for the sake of this argument let's
05:13say you do something whether it's two
05:15times a week or three times a week
05:16frequency six sets a week versus 10 Etc
05:19these little things that don't quite
05:21matter as much when you're a
05:23beginner if you find something that
05:25works for you whatever it may be you
05:28have a bit of an emotional attachment to
05:31that for good reason and you found
05:33something that works and you stuck to it
05:34which is awesome and you have to I have
05:35to give you props for that the problem
05:37is when you believe that's the best way
05:40for you to train and what you discovered
05:41when you were a new lifter think when
05:44you think that will make you an advanced
05:46lifter you don't have the experience to
05:48understand that you're just not correct
05:49and I've been there before uh all
05:51lifters have really been there before
05:53but I think uh understanding this if I
05:56can explain this to you and you can
05:58understand it before your kind of
06:00already wasting a few years of improper
06:02training throughout your training career
06:04I think it would benefit you a little
06:05bit so uh basically my wisdom for this
06:09is understand that your training will
06:11have to change as you uh as you grow and
06:13it's it sounds very simple it sounds
06:15very easy but it's not just changing
06:18your training for the sake of changing
06:19your training or like oh wait all right
06:22I guess as a beginner I didn't really
06:23focus enough on my arms now I have to
06:25train arms as an as an intermediate it's
06:27not really little things like that they
06:29changes that you have to make when you
06:31genuinely have to make them like when a
06:33certain lift that works for you when
06:34you're lifting light weights and you
06:36don't have to worry about stability that
06:38probably changes as you become an
06:40intermediate lifter or an advanced
06:42lifter well not probably it does change
06:44um other things like proximity to
06:46failure other things change like yeah
06:49like yeah how hard you have to train
06:50that's a perfect one whereas as a
06:51beginner just lifting and just moving
06:54weights around will get you to kind of
06:55start growing and you kind of get
06:57attached to a certain level of training
06:59that maxes out for some people a handful
07:03maybe even more reps away from failure
07:05and eventually that's just not a potent
07:07stimulus so while you while you feel
07:09like you're training at your maximum
07:11capacity just like you always have to
07:14your relative experience uh that might
07:17not actually be as hard as you could
07:20train and how hard you need to train to
07:22actually keep growing so that's that's a
07:24good little example right there and
07:25that's why your training your training
07:28limit assuming you follow the same
07:30program will follow that sequence of
07:32most of your gains will come at the
07:34start assuming you're already dialed in
07:36with technique and everything goes
07:37perfect in a very like robotic training
07:39fashion as you go the gains will start
07:41to slow down yeah that's probably how it
07:43works uh but when you are able to adapt
07:45your training and when you have to adapt
07:47your training your progression starts to
07:49come more in like waves and Pockets when
07:51you kind of get in a Groove maybe fall
07:53out of a Groove and I'll kind of expand
07:54on that a little bit more throughout the
07:55video uh but the the had the gains
08:00having each year is very oversimplified
08:02um your training changes your ability to
08:06uh execute that changed training
08:08properly takes time uh experimentation
08:12also takes a lot of time uh if you're
08:14going to spend an entire pocket of
08:17training to experiment with something
08:20that might work or might not work that
08:22takes a long time you can't just try
08:24something for a week and decide if it
08:25works or not that's like for most
08:27experiments for the way most people
08:29track everything it's going to take you
08:30like 6 months to a year and that again
08:33if it doesn't work or it works really
08:35well both of those completely skew uh
08:37that that perception of being able to
08:40gain 20 lbs your first year 10 lbs the
08:43next 5 lbs Etc uh for the third year so
08:47yeah the the training limit gets very
08:48much so confused with the natural limit
08:53say besides like my first year and maybe
08:57my second year of lifting my like 7th SL
09:01eth year of lifting has been my most
09:03productive and if you're doubting that
09:06go back to my older videos go back to
09:08like a training log from me uh o over a
09:11year ago go back to a training log that
09:13I posted anywhere from like last fall so
09:17fall of 2023 to the start of the channel
09:20and then watch one of my more recent
09:22Vlogs and I'm not talking just like
09:25looking at like a picture on Instagram
09:27or something where yeah you you can get
09:28the right and Lighting on Instagram and
09:30whatnot but watch my training logs where
09:32you can see me walking around not posing
09:34in bad lighting uh just wearing regular
09:37clothes just wa just watch me my
09:40physique is night and day different one
09:42or two years ago compared to now and
09:45that's year seven and eight I'm 25 I
09:47started lifting when I was like 17 or 18
09:50so yeah uh the yeah if I if I kept
09:55believing that my gains just started
09:57diminishing over time just because I'm
10:00farther removed from when I first
10:01stepped foot in the gym that's not the
10:03correct way to to look at things that
10:04would stunt my progress uh of course
10:07that's not going to happen to everybody
10:09but it's a real thing that did stunt my
10:11progress when I was younger I was like
10:13all right well I'm at year three or four
10:15I'll just kind of focus on powerlifting
10:16since I've maxed out my size potential
10:18sounds crazy right uh some people need
10:21to hear that so I would also say prog uh
10:24not progression progress comes in
10:28Seasons this is is probably the best way
10:30I could put it and this is a huge cope
10:34for people trying to say that actual
10:36highle Naturals are enhanced and they're
10:38fake natties they say oh well you just
10:40made relatively quick progress in a
10:43short period of time that's just you
10:45hopping on cycle it's like no that's not
10:48how that works you can grow pretty fast
10:51as a natural but for some reason people
10:52don't like to admit that and I know the
10:55reason why it's because the whole
10:57training limit thing when you are when
10:59you're when you never adapt your
11:01training your gains will diminish over
11:04time and I'm not saying it's it's
11:07guaranteed to always happen super fast
11:09but if you're a beginner and you're
11:10training like a beginner does and you're
11:12making good progress your gains will
11:14diminish over time you have to start
11:16changing things in terms of your it
11:18might not even have to be the program
11:20itself it could just be the like your
11:21intensity and of course you might have
11:23to change some things like exercise
11:24selection would be a huge one and then
11:26smaller things like frequency or volume
11:28and that kind of stuff maybe rep ranges
11:30even that's even a smaller Point uh
11:32stuff like that you're going to have to
11:34change uh and that's why progress does
11:37come in Seasons because it takes a long
11:39time to realize that something isn't
11:40working and it might take a long time to
11:43experiment with something new that does
11:45happen to work so if you find that the
11:47the beginner program that you started
11:48off on worked for a year and a half you
11:52don't just the first week it stops
11:54working ideally you don't really know
11:56like it takes you 3 four 5 months to be
11:58like all right it's probably time for a
11:59change and then when you change up your
12:02program what if the new program you try
12:04or the new Training Method you use kind
12:06of sucks and you might even at best
12:08maintain your progress you might lose a
12:10little bit and then you experiment with
12:12something else four months later five
12:14months later after after that second
12:16kind of experiment uh and then you maybe
12:19you find gold and you find something
12:21that actually works and you blow up is
12:23that just you like Hing on a cycle or is
12:25that you discovering how training
12:27changes over time as you advance lifter
12:30I'd say it's probably the latter and
12:31that's why I think training comes in
12:33seasons and you have to kind of adapt it
12:34over time as you grow so couple more uh
12:39pieces of wisdom here if your mindset
12:42isn't there your gains won't be and this
12:44is huge for Naturals so you have no you
12:49have no safety net as a natural lifter
12:52nothing like if if you're not going all
12:54out and your your mind isn't in the
12:56right place if you're yawning between
13:00going on your phone between sets
13:01daydreaming about other things while
13:03you're in the gym kind of like
13:05procrastinating on even Lifting for the
13:08like you you don't have the safety net
13:11of of peeds like you don't have that
13:14juice to kind of fall back on like a lot
13:16of these influencers do where the juice
13:18is giving them most of their progress
13:20and the training is kind of like the
13:21icing on the cake in all reality for for
13:23most of them at least I'm not saying
13:24that I'm I'm not talking about highlevel
13:27enhanced lifters here at all but but as
13:30a natural you you you are in charge of
13:32your training which is the only thing
13:34you have to force adaptations it's the
13:36only thing you have to force your
13:38muscles to grow so if your training
13:40isn't ideal like I'm sorry if you're an
13:42intermediate lifter and your training is
13:44not ideal you're probably not going to
13:46grow unless you're a genetic freak like
13:47I've been there before where I was like
13:49training incredibly hard I had the right
13:52frequency I had a good amount of volume
13:54but my technique was horrible and my
13:56exercise selection uh wasn't was n ideal
14:00th those two things both weren't ideal
14:01this is I'm referencing my power
14:02building days and I got stuck as an
14:04intermediate and it's like you would
14:06think that I could grow pretty easily
14:08just because I was training hard and
14:09training often enough doing enough work
14:11but there were a lot of things that I
14:13didn't understand and when I learned
14:16more about lifting and bodybuilding I
14:17realized how to move past that
14:19intermediate phase and Chip Away towards
14:21that advanced phase and that's kind of
14:23what I'm trying to do now so your your
14:26mind has to be in the right place you
14:27have to go in and you have to actually
14:29like genuinely want it uh the gym like
14:32lifting hard really is like kind of
14:35going to war with your own head uh in a
14:38weird way um and and a lot of people
14:41don't understand that and they might
14:43brush it off as like yeah yeah I get it
14:45I train hard but no most people don't
14:47train hard and that kind of leads me
14:48into uh into my next point you don't
14:52know as much as you think you do you
14:54don't train as hard as you think you do
14:56and your form isn't as good as you think
14:58it is and and I know this because the
15:00vast majority of people don't film their
15:02training until you film your training
15:04I'm sorry you just don't know training
15:07perceived difficulty of a
15:10set is drastically different than the
15:14way it looks and they're they're both
15:17useful methods for gauging intensity and
15:21effort but the way your set looks is
15:23going to be much more telling than the
15:25way it feels if you don't know how your
15:27set looks so what i' say to you is film
15:29your sets and don't change anything for
15:31the camera at first you're going to
15:33you're going to train harder when the
15:34camera's on you I can promise you that
15:36and if you train harder when the
15:38camera's on that means you weren't
15:39training hard enough in the first place
15:41and even then you're going to be like oh
15:43that last rep was a grinder and then you
15:45watch the last rep and you're like whoa
15:48that it still happens to me and I've
15:49been filming for years and I've been
15:51Lifting for even longer so I I have
15:54experience and it it still happens to me
15:56where I'll film a set of Smith bench and
15:59that I'll be like all right that last
16:00startup as a grinder and then I watch
16:01the film and I'm like you know what like
16:03yeah it was a hard set I'm not going to
16:05say it's an easy set but I genuinely
16:07think I had another and it's it's crazy
16:10to even wrap my head around that because
16:12if I didn't film The set I just went
16:14based off my feeling I would not think
16:16there's another rep in there so you
16:19don't train as hard as you think you do
16:21and obviously this doesn't go for
16:22everybody but please humble yourself and
16:26put yourself in the shoes that of of
16:29somebody that does not train as hard as
16:30they think they do and worst case if you
16:33do train as hard as you think you do and
16:34you film your set and you're like all
16:35right yeah I genuinely do train as hard
16:37as I thought I did you're fine like
16:39worst case it just nothing happens it
16:40confirms that you train hard but I'd say
16:42there's a lot of you out there that
16:43could train much harder than you do uh I
16:46would also say you don't know as much as
16:47you think you do think about
16:50this the majority I would say the
16:53majority of Fitness YouTubers don't
16:56understand strength curves or resistance
16:58profiles so the people that you get your
17:01information from no matter how smart
17:03they are no matter how many subscribers
17:05they have a lot of them genuinely don't
17:09understand how like the physics of
17:10lifting work think about that the people
17:13that you're getting your information
17:14from that you've always got your
17:16information from that everybody
17:18collectively believes and everybody
17:20collectively talks about because there's
17:22no where else you're going to access
17:24information like YouTube's probably the
17:25best of gets it's still very much so
17:28incomplete so just understand that you
17:31you can watch every YouTube video out
17:32there you can go you can follow every
17:34bodybuilder on Instagram but a lot of
17:38the a lot of kind of like the more
17:41complex stuff a lot of people either
17:43just don't understand there are
17:45absolutely big YouTubers that genuinely
17:47don't understand important uh in more
17:49complex topics there's a lot of people
17:51that don't care to talk about them
17:53because they they don't really get
17:54clicks or views I've learned that
17:56absolutely uh I made the mistake not not
17:59actually but I I made a very detail
18:02oriented video on Resistance profiles
18:05and it completely flopped so I I
18:06understand why people maybe don't make
18:07that type of content uh but it's just
18:10know that there's you uh how can I put
18:17know what doesn't exist so you all you
18:21know is everything that you're aware of
18:23if you're not aware of something it
18:25doesn't mean that it's not there to be
18:26discovered so that you you only know
18:29what you're exposed to if I could put
18:30that simply I wish I wish I was more
18:32profound than I am but hopefully I got
18:36uh yeah your form isn't as good as you
18:38think it is I'll leave uh I'll leave
18:39that one up to you film your sets guys
18:42um pay attention to cheating your
18:44Technique not just in terms of momentum
18:47because momentum is very appropriate uh
18:49in certain cases but I would say pay
18:51attention to different muscle lengths
18:54pay attention to Peak resistance and see
18:56what you're doing at Peak resistance are
18:59you trying to get momentum to go through
19:01Peak resistance are you trying to use
19:02momentum or shifting around your setup
19:05to make the hard Parts easier are you
19:07cutting your range of motion all these
19:09little things and I'm not telling you to
19:11be like a technique cyborg be a robot
19:13with your form get always go more out of
19:16less weight and whatnot I'm I'm not a a
19:18ma I'm not a massive fan of that in all
19:20cases uh even though it does apply in
19:23certain certain instances I would say
19:25for sure uh there's a difference between
19:28good cheating and bad cheating and if
19:30you don't even have the eye for that
19:31there's a lot a lot more for you to
19:32learn a lot more for you to experience
19:34uh and I would also say the counter that
19:37I get to most from most people saying
19:40that they feel like they're in a plateau
19:42or they've hit their limit they focus on
19:45their training age and their protein
19:47intake these things are important and
19:49relative but they are they're pretty far
19:52down the list so people will say I get
19:54this all the time like Instagram DMs I
19:56even get comments I and more so like I
20:00get it a decent amount of like in terms
20:02of communication to me but the amount of
20:05times I see this in just like the
20:06regular kind of mainstream Fitness
20:09industry insane people are like oh well
20:13I I stopped progressing but my protein
20:15intake is spoton it's like bro your
20:18protein intake like I'm sorry but you
20:21you you can't just have an improper
20:23Training Method or training approach
20:26that isn't great and then just a expect
20:28to be like all right well I hit a gram
20:30per of protein per pound of body weight
20:32and then expect that to force
20:34adaptations it's like people forget the
20:36adaptations come from the gym the
20:38protein is just to make sure that your
20:39body has enough resources to recover and
20:42grow it's very very protein is very
20:44simple you just eat it uh and people are
20:46like all right well my diet's on point
20:48my protein I'm getting enough protein in
20:50uh how am I not growing it's like it's
20:52not from the protein it's not from a
20:53lack of protein that's not causing you
20:55growth uh it's from your training 95% of
20:59the time if not more so with that being
21:01said that is all I got for today if
21:04anyone else has any wisdom you want to
21:05add in the comments let me know um and
21:08yeah hopefully that was a fun video um
21:10oh yeah let me post up those other
21:12videos of yeah my wingspan and my height
21:14crazy I'll see you guys in the next one
