Hitting the gym day in and day out is all about achieving goals. If you aren’t trying to improve something about your body then what’s the point of going to the gym in the first place. As you get more experienced with your training, you come to realize that significant gains come from patience and persistence. Never missing a meal, being consistent with your efforts in the gym, ensuring your supplement protocol is on point and getting the proper rest are all factors in what will contribute to your overall success.
For seasoned veterans of the fitness and bodybuilding world, a few new pounds of muscle is considered a successful training season, while to beginners a few new pounds could be the reason they decide to end their training endeavors altogether because it’s not enough.
When you start out training, gains come very quickly. At almost an alarming rate, gains in strength and size seem to happen daily. It’s a great time in your training career, and you hit the gym each day full of enthusiasm and the readiness to break any and all of your previous personal bests. Then it happens. You hit your first plateau, and things come to a grinding halt. This plateau is the first test of your commitment to the iron and the first time you have to set new, realistic and achievable goals. Seasoned trainers are used to this and have developed the mental awareness to know that it’s just a bump in the road and it can be overcome by setting smaller goals.
There is no way to avoid reaching these plateaus, and I have seen far too many people experience this and then never step inside a gym again. It could have been because the inability to improve every day was too discouraging for them, or they figured they maxed out their potential and simply quit. Instead, they should have fought through the plateau and set their sights on goals that were more achievable.
Setting your sights too high too fast can be counterproductive to your training as well. It’s easy for this to happen especially when you are starting out. You see all these muscled up, fit and toned, lean, mean fitness machines walking around and you automatically feel like you have to put yourself on the fast track to looking like those people. The missing component to that thought process is the understanding that those physiques were not built overnight, many plateaus were met and fought through and the dedication put forth by these individuals for years is unparalleled.
In an age where instant gratification seems to take precedence over the process or journey, the physique world will not give you what you’re looking for. Instead, take your time, be dedicated to your training and nutrition and enjoy the ride. In the end, those small goals add up, and all that effort will be worth it.
My final piece of advice is to find a reputable supplement company that produces only the best and purest products on the market to help you along the way. AST Sports Science is that company, and with products such as VP2 Whey Isolate, MultiPro 32X and the all natural anabolic/anti-catabolic product Urso-X, you’ll find everything you need and more. Also, sign up for the free 12-week online Max-OT program to really get your training started the right way.
