When you first begin weight training, you are usually clueless and unaware of proper nutrition, rest, training, and all the key variables involved in getting results. For the fresh beginner, results will manifest regardless, simply due to the “foreign stress” that is happening to your immature muscle tissue. Muscle growth, increase in metabolic rate, and a better sense of well-being will inevitably happen…at first. Once this grace period comes to a halt (usually after several months), you’ll need to further educate yourself about proper nutrition and more sound training routines to keep the results soaring.

Although everybody gets results in the very early stages of weight training, some people respond abnormally well to lifting weights and will leave their training partners in the dust! So, when two trainees start weight training at the same time, and one surpasses the other by a huge margin, it becomes very apparent that genetics are a crucial element in muscle hypertrophy and favorable body composition.

So what can you do about this painful fact of life? First off, get your training and nutrition down as best as you can before even considering advanced supplementation beyond your protein powders, BCAAs, creatine, etc. Listen very closely now: Patience is a virtue. In this bodybuilding game, patience is absolutely mandatory. You must understand that nothing comes easy, nothing comes without sacrifce, and hard work will ultimately pay off.

If you can get the “most from the least,” you are on the correct path for longevity, health, results, and for maximizing your innate potential. Just because protein builds muscle, that doesn’t mean you should go from 300 grams a day to 600 grams a day, assuming it’ll double your muscle growth potential. It will likely stress your digestive tract, increase blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels, and could convert to glucose, and ultimately be stored as fat.

Just because training once a day in highvolume fashion produced amazing results, this doesn’t mean training high volume twice a day will double your results. Central nervous system fatigue, elevated cortisol levels, and constant muscle breakdown  could lead to heightened creatine kinase levels, which could lead to a catabolic condition called rhabdomyolysis.

If you can understand and comply with this list, then you are realistic enough and mature enough to take things to higher levels. You must segregate yourself from false perceptions and accept reality. Please do not become discouraged by the information given and use it to your beneft. Seek out your underlying potential, but just be realistic about it.

I personally have witnessed several competitive bodybuilders with average genetics annihilate genetically gifted or “elite” athletes due to impeccable work ethic, adherence to perfect nutrition, and giving everything they had to achieve the end result they sought. I’ve noticed that a lot of the time, the genetically gifted, elite athletes understand that they can do the bare minimum and look better than 95% of everyone else. This awareness makes them lazy. Can you imagine if that genetically gifted person had the same drive, will power, and persistence as the average workhorse athlete? It would be a sight to behold.

I hope everything discussed in this article will sink in and allow each and every one of you to acknowledge the importance of all the variables involved in the musclebuilding equation. Leave no stone unturned, and give it everything you got, because for most humans, building high-quality muscle isn’t easy. – FLEX