Yeah, so I did some research today and I think maybe 1 pull up is possible in a month, but even that is a little unlikely. That initial goal wasn’t very informed - I guessed and then went to try and find out if it were possible and I think I’m gonna go for 1.
My main source at the moment is using the strengthlevel.com standards as a benchmarkk for where I want to get to. On some lifts I’m below beginner - so my goal is to try and reach beginner. And if I’m already passed beginner, then my goal is to try and reach novice. The timeframe I’ve calculated based on how far away my current weight and the progressive overload I am using. I would benefit from more sources though, I think it could give me a stronger understanding of what my potential strength gains are.
why is this a question that matters? Does it actually matter if your potential for bench press is 200 lbs, or 800 lbs? What difference does it make? If you haven’t hit your potential, it truly doesn’t matter what it is. It only matters when you get there, not now.
For all you know, you have the potential to be the strongest man who’s ever lived. Train that way. At the end of the day, that’s the only way to ensure that, eventually, you actually come anywhere close to realizing your potential. Stop trying to predict the future, or guess what’s coming. It’s not going to help you.
This makes me feel like you’ve played too many video games, lol. You’re thinking about this in terms of ‘leveling up’. Weightlifting progression just doesn’t work like that.
Get off the sites/sources that are trying to tell you what you are, what a beginner is, baseline numbers, etc. None of that stuff is useful, it’s all a distraction. It’s mental masturbation. Forget timelines, and just run weightlifting programs, almost ANY program will work, and do it again and again and again until you’re satisfied. Period. However long it takes. If it’s a fucking decade, so be it.
Having this mentality will lead to far more success, I promise you.
I think it’s probably appropriate/useful to give some context to my advice so you understand where I’m personally coming from on this. When I was 18 years old, I was 5’11, 125 lbs. The first time I tried to lift weights in a gym at that age, I shook violently trying to bench press an empty 45 lbs bar, and failed with 65 lbs. I was VERY weak, and VERY small.
The worst thing I could have done was put limits on myself. You know what my goal was from the first day I stepped in a gym? I wanted to look like Arnold. And I figured, maybe I’ll get there, maybe I won’t, but I damn sure won’t know if it’s possible without trying.
20 years later, I don’t look like Arnold. But at my best, I’ve been about as strong as he was at his peak (a little better at some things, a little worse at others). And I found my niche in the weightlifting world along the way (I became a strongman competitor). Based on my own experiences, I know that the more open to possibilities you are, the more likely you’ll have satisfaction and success in this endeavor. IT TAKES TIME. You won’t get much done in a month. But give it 6 months. A year. 2 years. 5 years. The time will fly, and you can ultimately transform yourself into something you never thought you could be.
@js78156 - You’ve had a good attitude and been very receptive to the advice you’ve asked for. That alone will put you years ahead of many others, and make people want to help you.
Start a training log on here! This forum is a great resource and if you listen to the people here, you’ll be capable of making some awesome progress.
Thanks, could you help me understand the difference between a strength program and a hypertrophy program. It’s probably not that important for me as a beginner, but when would you choose to use one over another?
The way you make a muscle stronger is by making it bigger. A hypertrophy program IS a strength program. That’s why strength athletes spend their off season getting bigger: so they will be stronger when they compete.
That’s known as an accumulation block. Once competition nears, they will begin specializing their training toward their specific goals in order to maximize their ability to use that increased muscular size. This is known as intensification and peaking. For a non-competitive trainee, it’s not very much necessary.
I’m always amused by novice lifters who say the exact same thing in your first post, then immediately follow with a similar “goal physique.” Let me be clear–this guy is VERY muscular. If you’re going at this natty, you will have to train and eat like you’re trying to get to Ronnie Coleman size for at least a decade to hit his level.
no kidding., I just pulled up this guy’s instagram, and the dude is absolutely jacked. Most people will never look like this no matter how much work they put in. To look like this in a ‘relaxed’ pose with less than ideal lighting, you have to put in serious work. Like you said, any new lifter should just be aiming at the stars if this is the goal physique.
And we’re circling back to the point I’ve been hammering about avoiding the internet/social media as a reference point. The fact that this is considered to be the baseline for ‘looking good with my shirt off’, and is remotely attainable in 6 months from a non-muscular starting point, is beyond insane. But, that’s what’s being sold out there (ahem Vshredz). Take my supplements, don’t eat terrible, buy my workout plan, BAM! 50 lbs of muscle in 8 weeks.
Definitely not my 6 month plan! Goodness - I’m pretty sure that would be impossible. I was thinking of it more as a long term goal rather than a short term goal. I think finding a picture that accurately represents my goal physique in 6 months is pretty futile because of the outsized expectations caused by social media so I instead defined my short term goals my following a routine, increasing my lifts and bulking to 80kg. Do you think I should try to look for an example of what I want to look like in the next few months?
Also, that photo’s just an ‘ideal’ I suppose? I’m probably gonna change it too as I learn about how my body responds to training and eating and I get a sense of what I want to get out of lifting. Definitely agree with you though that the bar for ‘look good’ is often massively unattainable.
Also, thanks for letting me know that this type of physique is not as attainable as I originally thought. It initially seemed big, but also athletic which is kinda what I was thinking of as a goal.
Since you’re quite new to lifting and fitness goals overall - can I recommend that you start a training log on here? It will keep you honest to your goals, and to yourself, while occasionally getting steered in the right direction by a community of people who have a significant amount of experience in this subject.
I wasted the first few years of my training based on a lot of outright bad information, and I am by no means the only person that has done this. Tracking your training and nutrition are the most overlooked parts of training IMO; you can’t adjust your course if you weren’t on a course to start with.
No, I think what you did was fine. You’ll get wherever you get in 6 months, but your work should be directed towards your long term goals. Which, now that I know what it is, helps.
And I don’t mean to suggest that that sort of physique isn’t ultimately attainable. It just takes years and years of work. I think that I probably have a similar physique to the one you shared the picture of, so I know what kind of work it took for me to get there.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking at a photograph of a human being, the physique is something you CAN reach if you work hard enough at it, because you are also a human being, lol. What I said was that most people won’t ever look like that. And that’s true, but only because most people won’t put in the work, over a long enough period of time.
The dude isn’t a genetic freak if that’s what you’re wondering. And you don’t have to be a genetic freak to look like him. If you want it bad enough, you’ll get to that point, given enough time.
Going off of the pictures you’ve posted in the past, and your avatar now, I think you look significantly mord jacked. I don’t have Instagram though so I can’t check what that guy looks like in different lighting conditions.