Bodybuilding goals: keep your feet on the ground
A beginner needs a goal, but in bodybuilding a dream that’s too big can quickly hit a wall. If you have Markus Ruhl, Phil Heath, Ronnie and Vic Richards all in your head at once, it’s worth hitting the brakes for a moment: what can you actually do with your own body?
Why does a bodybuilding goal have to be realistic?
When you start training, it’s completely normal to look at the big names and think: I want a back, arms or legs like that. Some people see Arnold Schwarzenegger and get their first push to go to the gym. There’s nothing wrong with that. A role model can get a person moving.
The problem starts when the role model becomes the end goal. Jay Cutler, Dexter Jackson, Kevin Levrone, Coleman, Yates, Dillett, Cutler and Greene aren’t simply men who trained properly for a couple of years. They are elite bodybuilders with exceptional genetics, years of work and conditions behind them that an ordinary person can’t, and doesn’t need to, copy.
Honestly, this is a painful spot for many beginners. You’d like to believe that if you eat right, sleep well and train hard, you’ll get Cutler’s back, Richards’s legs or Levrone’s triceps. But the body doesn’t work that way. Training gives a lot, but it doesn’t erase genetic limits.
That doesn’t mean the effort is pointless. Quite the opposite. Realistic goals keep your training alive, because you can see progress. A utopian goal, on the other hand, often wrecks exactly that: it gives you momentum at first, then takes your motivation away.
Goals and role models: who is worth learning from?
If you could ask one bodybuilder everything about training and nutrition, who would you pick? Many people would immediately name one of the biggest names. Coleman. Yates. Levrone. Greene. That’s understandable, because their level seems almost mythical.
But does the biggest man always give the most useful advice? Not necessarily. He may say very interesting things, but his experience may not overlap with yours at all. If you’re genetically average, train naturally and started from zero, you have more to learn from someone who has walked a similar road.
This isn’t an attack on the top athletes. Greene certainly knows a lot about training. The question is simply whether that solution suits your body. A beginner can too easily think: if I follow the same plan, I’ll progress the same way. That’s usually not how it goes.
At the Estonian level, good examples include Marek Kalmus, Ott Kiivikas, Taavi Koovit, Kiivikas, Kalmus or Morozov. Their work ethic can’t be considered any smaller than that of IFBB pros either. Still, you have to understand that conditions, background and build aren’t the same for everyone.
How do you set a goal that actually works?
A simple truth: choose a goal you can measure on yourself, not by someone else’s stage condition. If your back is weak, don’t study only Joel Stubbs’s back secret. Look instead for someone whose back was once weak but who managed to build it up strong over the years.
The same goes for legs. The original author gives a good example from their own legs. They don’t claim those legs came with special genetics. Quite the opposite: developing them took a great deal of work. The author has done sets steadily from one to one hundred repetitions, squatted with different stances, to a high box and a low box, and done leg presses and lunges.
On top of that, the author has used heavy short sets, light long sets, special and shock methods, and squatting 1, 2, 3 and even 4 times a week. That’s a large training volume. Yet the author describes how the author’s brother trains legs maybe once a month and still almost always has the more massive legs. Examples like that show how big a role predisposition can play.
So what actually happens? Some body parts grow more easily. Some need constant attention. When the training load goes, the shape goes too. That doesn’t make a lifter bad; it gives you information: to hold on to that muscle, the work has to be consistent and smart.
Practical tips to keep your goal from falling apart
Don’t make people who seem to be “from another planet” your end goal. Taking the level of Yates, Wheeler or Osladil as your personal yardstick is self-deception in 99.9% of cases. If the gap between your current level and your goal is too big, it won’t produce lasting motivation.
It’s better to compete with yourself. Write down where you are right now: body weight, strength numbers, photos, how you feel and your recovery. Then check whether anything has improved after a month, two or three. Not everything has to change at once.
If you have a weak spot, pick as your adviser someone who has really dealt with the same problem. A lifter with great genetics may not even understand how much work a person with weaker predispositions has to do. That’s not their fault, but for you their advice may stay too general.
Use the stars’ information as inspiration, not for blind copying. Training plans, nutrition stories and videos can give you good ideas, but they have to be fitted to your own body, your time, your recovery and your goal. The biggest name isn’t always the smartest teacher for your situation.
A good goal doesn’t have to be modest. It has to be believable. It can stretch you, but not break you. If you see small wins along the way, it’s easier to keep going even when progress isn’t linear.
FAQ: goals and progress in bodybuilding
Is it worth setting your goal based on an elite bodybuilder?
You can take them as a role model, but preferably not as your end goal. The physique, genetics and circumstances of top athletes differ far too much from those of the average trainee.
Who should a beginner ask for training advice?
A good choice is an advanced trainee who started out in similar circumstances and has improved exactly the weak spot you’re struggling with.
What should you do if a muscle isn’t developing?
Review your training load, technique, recovery and consistency. Some muscles need more work than others, but the solution isn’t always simply a heavier weight or a famous guy’s program.
Author: Janar Rückenberg
Source:Turg.Fitness.ee
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