Good observation. The quicker you get rid of the need to max out every session, the quicker you’ll be on your way to making good progress.
Everyone and their scenarios are different, I don’t think it’s impossible, someone who has a very athletic background, or someone who has been doing physical work their whole life, may step into the gym and progress significantly faster because while they do have the muscle, they just need to train their nervous system to move that weight efficiently. For the vast majority of the population though, it would be very hard to make those kind of gains in that short of span.
Another thing that can hold an individual back is their form. You can be very strong but if you’re inefficient at moving the weight, ie. with bad form, your performance will be hindered significantly.
Nobody that’s been successful at lifting for more than a few months trains like this man. It’s how you fry your nervous system and get hurt in the process. @Hepsy is spot on in saying that most progress is made with volume in the 75-85% range. I think I’ve maybe pushed 10 sets to an RPE 9 over the last year or so (?) and have made some of the best progress of my life. You can’t make good progress if you’re grinding yourself into the ground everyday.
You’re putting too much faith in unproven internet claims because this is a rare accomplishment overall, much moreso if drugs aren’t involved. I’d say 1-2 years is more reasonable and even then it would involve intelligent training and eating.
Absolutely, I believe everything you are saying. It’s just something that I have to fix in my own training (and not let training turn into testing so often).
People making big jumps when first starting to lift happens all the time. My lifts made massive progressive extremely quick just from milking those newb gains, first starting to work out with proper diet and somewhat of a propper plan/intensity. Combine that with neural adaptations and there’s zero reason why people can’t make good progress quickly. Obviously it comes to a crawl sooner rather than later, but it does happen.
Mmmm yeah, I am actually curios about the science behind such (sometimes massive) discrepancies, surely it can’t be testosterone, I wonder how much incremental levels of testosterone even help really…
I’ve often (anecdotal) noticed untrained guys (even late teens) with big ass forearms, wrists, neck and medium size length of limbs come in with full muscle bellies and fuckin crush it in the gym even without having good diet or proper consistency, I’m guessing these are the so called “mesomorphs” who are just “built different” who get absolutely jacked within a matter of months/year.
So does it come down to genetic response to training in determining where someone starts and how fast they progress? And what exactly is that “genetic response,” its surely not just bloodwork such as Testosterone or Insulin, what is the core factor is what I am curios about? I’m guessing it has more to do with how the body uses testosterone and insulin but I’d be curios to know the actual science behind what that “thing” is.
Whether you intend it or not, this is still a backdoor into victimhood on your part. Don’t worry about others’ progress. Just worry about busting your ass and being smart. It’s cliche, but the only comparison you need to make is to your past self - anything else has proven destructive to your mindset.
Lol guys I know I will progress at my own pace, there is no victimhood or anything here, I’m just curios. It’s kind of like asking why some people become over 6 foot and under 5 foot, the answer on surface is “genetics” but I’d be more curios to see what is actually the thing inside genetics which triggers this type of stuff.
I was just curios, don’ take it the wrong way, I know I’ll progress at my own speed no point comparing with Eddie Hall or whatever but I will have some curiosity into the science behind it.
I highly suggest reading other logs on here. Some people engage in more or less introspection. Few second-guess themselves very much, because most don’t think about all the what ifs. They just lift 3x or 4x per week and move on.
It may provide some good perspective to get a feel for the range of styles, intensities, and rates of progress.
Look at their training for sure, but also look at how they assess their progress and how they feel as they work. 99.99% sure none of them are on gear, so progress is realistic (although, some are flying through the weights because they have all their shit in superb order).
Thanks for the tag man! Feel honored (and unworthy) to be tagged with the others.
@supercardrives lemme know if you have any specific questions about anything, although there are a lot more qualified than me to give advice on training lol.
Do you not realize this is exactly why I, and everyone else, get so frustrated with you? You have real people sharing real experiences, sharing what we’ve learned through decades of working on ourselves, and many of us as coaches as well, seeing hundreds and hundreds of clients, and you keep coming back with these ‘yes, but’. Just stop, man. Worry about yourself. You’re so concerned with what other people may or may not have done. That shit just absolutely doesn’t matter. You’re asking the worst questions, and you’re doing the thing you said you weren’t going to do. It’s like you have zero impulse control with these questions.
As others have said, curiosity is fine, but asking us these questions is not doing you any favors in terms of gaining good will back that you lost early on. Nobody wants to entertain your musings, it just adds to our frustration when we’re simply trying to give good advice. It clutters your log, and makes it hard to sift through.
relevant saying surely 
