Iron & Iron Programming

Stop believing in fitness influencers on gear. Especially when they lie to you. They may take those placebo pills, but they normally are just taking TREN, RAD140, or some over PED. The oldest trick in the fitness-salesman handbook goes like this, “want to look like me, buy my program and nutrition program. I can make you look like me!” The results are not realistic and science shows that repeatedly. Most hypertrophy studies published by the greats like Dr Schoenfield will tell you that a untrained beginner can gain anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds of muscle in their first couple years of lifting. Once you become an intermediate lifter, muscle usually comes in 0.5-4 lb intervals depending on your composition of your muscle fibers and your training specifics. Once you’re advanced, you are lucky to put on a pound or two of muscle a year. Use me as a case study for a natty lifter.
The first picture shows my physique progress from 2018-2022 (picture taken today on leg day at 211lbs 2018 picture taking after rowing for 1.5 hours weighting 192lbs). In both photos, I am doing some sort of hard cardio and heavy lifting 5 to 6 days a week. If you have followed me for a while, you probably have deduced that I have a decent amount of training interferences going on in my routines. Over the last couple years, I have done better to periodize my program and prioritize for the sake of my physique and performance goals. Regardless, both of these photos show somebody that was training to be a Multipotentialite, somebody that was training to be able to do some form of cardio and lift heavy weights. I am by all definitions a pretty normal American dude. I eat like a normal guy. I have fast food 1-3x a week. I’ve kept my protein intake high around 1.2 to 1.6 g/lb. of body weight for the last four years. I’ve increased my deadlift from 465 to 565, my squat from 345 to 455, and my bench from 255 to 335.
anyways, this post was essentially designed to say don’t believe the lies and start setting realistic expectations. Comparison is the killer of joy. And if you were going to compare yourself, at least compare using the right unit of measurement.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is true strength, mastering yourself is true power”- Lao Tsu
Take control of your life. Take control of your mind, your heart, and your intentions. Make the step you need to take today. Train like a monster, train like old school Arnold, read 10 pages a day, drink a gallon of water a day, pray, cry, scream, whatever! Do what you need to do. Nothing gets better without the grunt work. Nothing good came easy.
Let’s go.

Happy thanksgiving everyone🍁🦃 make sure to eat all the food, listen to your body, and move a little. Thanksgiving is a time for celebration so make sure to cast off your anxieties and to enjoy your loved ones. Eat well and make gains 💪🏼