Hindsight in bodybuilding: 11 mistakes
Hindsight is a strange thing. I know exactly what I should have done differently, but I only knew it once the damage was done. I’m writing these mistakes down for one simple reason: maybe some of you will learn from them and save yourselves the years I wasted.
The honest truth in bodybuilding and fitness circles is that nobody wants to listen. Everyone sticks to their own way. In the end we all reach the same conclusion: damn, I should have listened. I’ve caught myself thinking that more times than I can count.
Hindsight on off-season nutrition
Competitions are over, we eat ourselves up to +12 kg heavier and then charge back down with a hurrah. I’ve done it myself and I see plenty of others doing it. Warnings mostly don’t help. People only understand on the next prep, when for some reason it’s hellishly hard.
Cardio doesn’t have to be a miserable activity. For me it was, because I never did it in the off-season. I should have. The more of it you do in the off-season, the less you have to do when you’re prepping. It only turns miserable when you have to do cardio in an exhausted state.
The idea that cardio destroys muscle isn’t quite right. If you do it in the off-season and you’re in an energy surplus, muscle doesn’t go anywhere. Too much cardio while dieting — that does destroy it, and a lot of it.
Hindsight on programs and volume
I was constantly searching for some miracle program. Every workout was a new idea for how to hit the muscle. Repetition ranges, God knows what else. That way it’s impossible to track progress, and any development is, to put it mildly, chaotic. Systematic progression is the keyword — a set program, a set period of time.
People who hop between coaches belong in the same group. A new methodology every week and a hundred scraps of information. I’m not guilty of that myself, but as an onlooker I see it quite a lot.
If something works, it works. Why change just for the sake of changing? During some periods I did 10,000–12,000 repetitions a month. Did it make me better? Maybe in the first month. The next 4–5 months just deepened the overtraining. It took quite a while to realize that. My best sense of well-being and progress came at much lower volumes. A workout doesn’t have to be long or have insane volume — do the work efficiently and in as short a time as possible.
One more thing: how you lift matters, not how much you lift. During some periods I focused too much on how heavy the weight was rather than on how I was moving it. Certain muscle groups basically never grew while I mindlessly yanked weights around. Now I know better. Yes, we have to move weights, but we mustn’t forget about feel on top of the work. We aren’t powerlifters. On stage nobody asks how big a dumbbell you use for pullovers.
Hindsight on rest, health and motivation
If you don’t feel like training, there’s really no point in doing a workout. The body isn’t stupid. I had no appetite for training — what I had was a stupid sense of duty. Muscle will never grow if your body doesn’t want to be at that workout. Training just to go through the motions is pointless. Overtraining, what else. Learn to rest and to listen to your body. If the day is bad, go lighter or skip it. You come back the next day and things look different.
Why did I fly into overtraining? Because I copied other people’s volume. Someone else’s volume may be ideal for them. For you, five exercises and 45 minutes may genuinely be enough for an effective workout.
Bodybuilding is a hobby, not a matter of life and death. One of the biggest mistakes. You sacrifice work, friends, family. Can’t go there, can’t do that — all to have a good-looking physique. Dedication is great and you have to be dedicated if you want results, but it has to fit alongside the rest of your life. If you’re not a pro bodybuilder and aren’t making money from it, there’s no point in letting it take over your life.
The same goes for health. When preparing for competitions I thought only about how to get in shape and look as good as possible. Health came second. Because of that, quite a few things in my body have shifted out of place. Don’t make this mistake — it’s not worth it.
And then there’s know-it-all syndrome. Guilty. The moment you think you know everything about bodybuilding, training and nutrition, you’re toast. That’s the moment the brakes lock up.
Hindsight on nutrition and dieting
When it comes to nutrition, I’ve been too pedantic. Almost sickly so. During some periods I weighed cucumber and iceberg lettuce. I chased micronutrients with painful precision and believed that meal and nutrient timing was enormously important. I’m not claiming it doesn’t matter. You just don’t need to eat to the minute. There’s no need to stress yourself out over it.
Rushing and impatience affect several things at once. First, training — you mustn’t be impatient about adding weight. Even if your reserve seems big. Steady progress in baby steps is sustainable.
Second, dieting and cutting calories. The scale won’t budge, and out of sheer spite I turn off the taps — boom, 500 kcal. Great. The weight does drop. But what next? Your body adapts, and soon you need to cut again — most likely you’ll just keep doing that. You have to be patient and move forward in baby steps the same way. It pays off. If the scale stays put for two weeks, one day it can drop two weeks’ worth at once. Done and dusted.
FAQ
How much extra weight should you carry in the off-season?
My +12kg experience says: less is more. The smaller the jump, the shorter and more controlled the diet that follows. There’s no exact number that works for everyone — it depends on your body type and your condition from the previous season.
Does off-season cardio really eat away muscle?
No, not if you’re in a positive energy balance. Moderate cardio in the off-season actually helps your conditioning and makes the following diet phase easier. It only becomes a problem when too much cardio piles up during the diet.
What should you do if your weight stalls during a diet?
Don’t panic, and don’t immediately cut 500 kcal. Wait — the body often adapts with a delay, and after the scale has sat still for two weeks, your weight can suddenly drop two weeks’ worth at once. Baby steps, not leaps.
To sum up: learn from my mistakes and from other people’s. I know most of you won’t. I just wanted to write about it.
Author: Peep Reinart
Come and train! ArtGym
