These people probably intuitively found good programming and know more than they thought . I’d say any form of progressive overload is pretty good programming.
Also, most of them probably had good genetics.
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I guess maybe this depends on what you mean by equipment. There are lots of examples of folks getting pretty strong with just a rack a bench and a barbell. I would not consider myself all that strong, but I’ve made a lot of progress with basically just this. If you mean these things as “access to equipment” then it probably moves up the importance list.
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- Intensity
- Diet
- Consistency/discipline
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Maybe I am just spoiled because I got my way much more often than not. I am extremely competitive in the gym, and I just can’t stand being stuck with inferior weight training equipment.
Because competitive bodybuilding was pretty much what had become my identity, I didn’t want to be lacking as far as equipment was concerned. My first experience was the “sick” wanting I had when I felt that the Nautilus Pullover Machine was the one missing link to my bodybuilding success. I know that is entirely irrational, but it was as if it were the holy grail of bodybuilding. (Also consider I had just seen Casey Viator guest pose at the first contest I entered.)
I wanted every competitive edge that I could get. And still, in many ways, I firmly believe the best equipment was very helpful for me achieving my best physique. If I get hurt, which happened fairly often, I needed the best work around.
Therefore, “equipment” is high on my list for success.
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- Consistency
- Diet
- Intensity
Not necessarily in that order either.
From experience, I have remained very consistent and follow a rigid diet that allows me to meet my goals of recovery and work. Until a year ago, intensity was not on my list. Now, I have discovered the intensity factor and it has done a world of wonders!
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- Consistency
- Intensity
- Diet
Put me in the camp of equipment and programs are interchangeable!
You have to recover, but diet helps drive that and consistency is an indicator (even if imperfect) that you are doing so. Plus I think the recovery boogeyman pendulum is on the “don’t do anything” extreme right now.
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You were incredibly thoughtful here; I really like how you took a deep look into which variables were dependent.
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I agree with the last few posts top 3. But I’d also add something like “reasoning” and “honest self-assessment”.
Like the ability to track what is and isn’t working, be honest about that, and make adjustments based on why you’re training and what actually working for those goals.
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Ya know, I’m gonna switch things up a bit.
My go to has always been “effort, consistency and time”. You have to train and eat hard, you have to do it ALL the time, and then you have to do it for a long time.
I still think those are good, but going DEEPER, I feel like I can find the root for all 3
Faith.
You have to BELIEVE in what you are doing. In the absence of faith, it doesn’t matter how “good” something is: if you don’t believe it’s going to work, it won’t.
And in the absence of faith, I find that effort just doesn’t get applied as hard as it’s supposed to. And we waiver on consistency: our unfaithfulness has our deviate and chase other shiny objects. And we eventually give up.
The training blocks that were the most successful for me were the ones that I had the most faith in. Super Squats, Deep Water, Mass Made Simple, 5/3/1 Building the Monolith: all of these I came in thinking “This is ABSOLUTELY going to work: it’s just on me to get through it”. Meanwhile, I’ve had programs that I was absolutely just paying lip service to, and it showed.
Same with nutrition: I had wanted to do the Velocity Diet for so long, and when I finally did, it went AWESOME. So did drinking a gallon of milk a day for Super Squats. So did 12 eggs and 1.5lbs of meat for Building the Monolith. Do did Jon Andersen’s Deep Water method. And so, too, my recent venture into carnivore. Meanwhile, when I tried eating how I was “supposed to”, it NEVER clicked, and I was miserable, and didn’t get the results I wanted.
Good coaches recognize this too: it doesn’t matter what is “best” for the athlete: it matters what will get the athlete bought in and ready to rock.
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- Consistency
- Diet
- Recovery - This used to be intensity for me, but as I’m getting older it’s changed - because it’s had to. lol
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Man, I almost forgot about strong urge to try out new equipment! Checking for new machines used to be the first thing I’d do at a new gym. Always hoping for great contraction and mind muscle connection.
Yesterday I was searching around the internet learning about preacher curls. Now, after reading what Larry Scott and Vince Gironda said, I NEED to try out a preacher bench with a curved pad.
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It suprises me how many people that dont do this. More specifically they cant even be bothered to log anything.
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An incredible feature of logging into this site is other people will follow along and point out stuff you don’t necessarily notice yourself.
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That may be my next sub-goal.
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This is what happens when you live on the other side of the world, you go to bed and miss all the action. Some great replies here from everyone. I’ll try and comment on some of the points.
I want to comment on this because whilst I think goals are important and I often ask people to define their own goals more clearly. I am not sure it is actually that important. I think if you have a general goal of get big and strong and have other factors sorted then you will still grow. If you have a clear goal but no way to achieve it or no effort it isn’t going to happen.
Seems to work really well for you sir, cant argue with the proof.
I love seeing this through your lens as a competitive bodybuilder. I can definitely see how equipment can make a difference.
Great that you have found intensity and it is working for you. Now that you know how to work hard, do you think other factors like programming will be more critical to get right.
I would have thought you would say recovery for sure. Hard to train with intensity when you are all broken!
Cant really see these being critical to success. I would think there are a lot of guys in here who grossly understate their size and strength because they are always chasing a goal. Being over critical can sometimes make you work harder.
ha ha I expected to see these three come up from you. We have discussed this many times and I am in form agreement that these are a great recipe for success.
This is something I really didn’t expect and it is really interesting. I know a lot of successful people talk about the belief they had in their goals as being absolute. Like they just knew they would achieve success but just had to work hard. I know a lot of people also use visualization techniques to see themselves achieving something before they do it. Many good strength lifters talk about seeing the lift in their mind 100’s of times before the execute the lift, so much so that when they go to lift it they just go through the motions.
I am not sure whether I can stretch to this. I am not sure I always have faith that things I am going to do will work. But if I apply myself properly I usually still see a good result. Maybe though with true faith I would see even better results. Although now you have me thinking (like you usually do), maybe I do have some belief in the program or the coach, otherwise why would I listen or blindly follow advise. Hmm I have more thinking to do on this one.
How did I know you would say diet. 
Recovery as we age is a really good one. It’s hard to train effectively when your body is broken down. I feel like maybe god programming should have this covered but my sore knee and hip are telling me I a wrong.
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Totally fair. I think I came at it from a behavior vs outcome kind of approach. I want recovery, but I have direct control over consistency, intensity and diet. If I manipulate those appropriately, I get recovery.
I’ve seen other folks outline a different thought process here, and I can get onboard with those ideas too!
As the OP I am playing a little devils advocate here because I am enjoying the conversation. I think you are right though, lots of people spending heaps of time on foam rolling and ice baths bit have shitty programming or don’t train hard enough to need either. I see recovery as something that happens naturally as long as my diet and sleep are on point. There is nothing like really bad leg doms to tell you not to train leg again for a few days.
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Regarding recovery thing… if im beat up or feeling like death. I have no issue postponing a lifting session until the next day.
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I think as we learn more about training and how are bodies react, this is a sensible approach. But when we are starting out the lure to train even when sore because that’s what the program said is very strong.
Well… im talking about beyond sore.
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