Questions About Training Advice & My Potential

Hello,

I need some unbiased opinions, and always when I asked, this forum has been serious and friendly. I will start with the question: What is my potential? Where can I get without anabolics if I dedicate myself to this sport (show me some similar physiques)?

I suffer from depression (and others) and in 2019 I started practicing “bodybuilding” at home, with the initial goal of losing weight. I started here:

APRIL 2019



It began to help me with my well-being, and with my self-confidence. But because of my illness, that’s not enough, and it turned into an torment. I looked at the top physics. I became obsessed with professional bodybuilders like Mike Mentzer (especially), Casey Viator, Franco Columbu, Ray Mentzer…

At the end of the first year (without any diet, only gym) I looked like this, with 15 kg less:

APRIL 2020



The workouts were getting annoying, I wasn’t performing well, I wasn’t satisfied, I didn’t even see how it was possible to get there (especially). I started to remove my body hair, I intensified my workouts, I started to eliminate unhealthy foods. This is what we looked like in AUGUST 2020 :



The diseases got worse and in February 2021 I tried to commit suicide. The last picture with my physique is from JANUARY 2021:

I recovered, but I don’t enjoy the sport so much without seeing the potential I have, compared to what I think I have to reach (for example, Mike Mentzer). The problem and the question are: Can I get somewhere? Do I have potential? What routes do I have to take to get where I want, of course, if I can get where I want? And if the answer is that I can, that the pictures left here shows that there is potential, then what advice do you give me? Tips? Supplements? More? Beyond the limits we talked about?

Thanks for the time, and leave whatever you think can help me. But please do not insist on exercise for health, for well-being, because, as I said, in my case it makes me worse (because I know where I can NOT get with it). In other words, if I can’t get there, for me bodybuilding will no longer exist. Sorry if I wrote something wrong, I used google translate and a grammar checker.

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First off, your progress is very noticeable and impressive. Nice work!

These guys were on a ton of steroids with superior genetics and dedication to the sport. I’ll break it to you right now; you will not look like them and neither will 99.99% of the rest of us who want to.

The good news, is you could make a massive body transformation but you need to reevaluate your goals and have a healthy relationship with the sport. Most of bodybuilding is a mental struggle, more so than diet and training. So a positive attitude while enjoying the journey is 100% essential to success.

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Make some realistic goals, at least for the short term. Example: Try to become the best built man in the gym you go to workout.

What I did was try to become better built than I guy I thought was a little better than me. Then pick the next best guy there and strive to be better than him. And so on and so on.

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Steroids are an awful idea for you: do not take them.

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If you don’t like training for what it is, then this is definitely the wrong sport for you.

Personally I don’t think in terms of goals or transformations that much either. I just train and improve. For me it’s those little victories, adding a pound to the bar or a couple mm to my arms, that matter the most and I know I’ll get out of it what I put in.

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This. Take your creatine and eat your vegetables like a good boy. That’s all you need right now.

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And I am saying you should not.

Someone with suicidal ideation and tendencies should not engage in amateur endocrine system manipulation.

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No one knows what your natural potential is, but you can get a reasonably close approximation based on work done by Greg Nuckols.

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I think the idea that “when I reach X, I will be happy” is deeply, fundamentally floored, whether that X is violin playing, bodybuilding, whatever. Aim to be happy or tranquil or whatever word you want to use. Aiming to look like a bodybuilder, so that you can be happy is taking the scenic route at best, and taking the wrong route at worst.

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Maybe there’s a language barrier here, but you say it’s not about happiness and then in the same paragraph bemoan the loss of joy. I’m unclear what your overarching goal is here but I’m not convinced you’ve fully let go of the idea that when you achieve X, you’ll be happy/joyful/content.

By the way, can I commend you for still getting after it at the ripe old age of 232?

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Franco, the Mentzners and Casey Viator where all diminutive, little guys. Bro, look at your pics! you’re Huge! You’ll look way better than those jokers after a few curls and tricep pushdowns.

That transformation so far is very commendable and should be kept going. Period!

Don’t idolize your fav. athlete so much, that gonna hamper your mindset, you never know what they went through to get that, depressed, anxious, skipped out on family, or whatever! Obviously there is a positive side to it too.

On the other hand, you can achieve alot just being NATURAL.
Focus on sleeping better, 8hrs of SOUND NIGHT SLEEP.
Take lesser and lesser STRESS, laugh often.
Work with a COACH.
Track your food and have CREATINE.
Supplement on multivitamins, zma, fishoil, etc.

Remember this journey is very rewarding and helped a ton of people with better life.

When you feel like quitting just remember WHY YOU STARTED!

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Because you can’t be some elite guy? That’s the majority on here. Most do BB …Pl or another activity Because it gives them somthing to strive for and achieve regardless of the level they reach. Most dont look at it as I want to go pro or anything like that.

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Those guys you mentioned are the top 0.001% of guys if they trained, ate and took drugs as if it was their career. Viator’s arm genetics are probably close to 1/100,000.

Why not shoot for the top 10% of physiques, then shoot for 5%, then 1%. If you reach 1% go from there.

I in no way have the genetics to be a top BBer. I powerlift, but am going after some physique goals right now. I went to the beach this weekend. Couple hundred people there. I had the best physique out of the guys there. Still not even close to stepping on stage. I still find the extra attention, and looking good to be pleasurable. There is a difference between something like playing the violin and lifting. With violin, unless you are good enough to be in a band, as an adult nobody give much of a shit. With lifting, it can get you to a body that is more attractive than almost everyone else. Many people do care about that, even if you are not Mike Mentzer. Feeling like an attractive guy can go a long way for confidence and well being IMO.

You have made good progress, but IMO, don’t look like even a gym rat yet. Get there and see how you feel.

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Unfortunately, for me, no matter how good I look, I would still not be satisfied in terms of attractiveness. I have never had friends, I have never held a girl’s hand, I am usually brutally rejected. As I know that social relationships are not for me, the viewers that find me attractive mean nothing. Only my view of “attractive” (e.g., Mike Mentzer) matters to me. If I could look like Jeff Cavaliere, I would feel as awful as a 100kg dwarf.

Excuse me for rejecting these answers in this way, but I am a strange and sick person. I agree with everything you write, but it doesn’t help me with my problem.

I don’t think a guy who looked like this at 19 years old is a very good standard to hold yourself to.

What does your training and nutrition currently look like? Knowing that will help us figure out what needs to change.

What do you currently look like?

And, most importantly, when you got straightforward training and diet advice back in January, did you put any of it into action?

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Maybe spending some of your time on this would help you. I think having a social life is important for mental health. Focus on what it is about you that people are rejecting.

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Who’s handling your nutrition and gym programming? If you’re dead set on being the best and have the “all or nothing” attitude I’m assuming you e hired a respectable coach? If not, maybe it’s time. I was hung up on doing it myself too. I just wanted to achieve what I wanted and look back and say I did that. Turns out I’m not qualified and don’t really know what I’m doing lol. I’ve made more progress in the first two weeks hiring a coach as I have the last 6 months doing it myself.

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Now I’m in my worst shape. That’s my post, I saw it remains. I then went on a diet and followed a program similar to The Arnold Blueprint to Mass (adapted). I had good results: went around 78kg, strength, but I especially liked the advance in flexibility from that period. But at the end of February I tried to commit suicide, and since then I’ve been in recovery, and I haven’t done anything. I’ve lost everything now. I can’t find any motivation to start, because of that, and that’s what I’m trying to look for here. Someone to convince me of THE MEANING of continuing.

For the most part, the decision is made… giving up (being clear of course that I would prefer not to give up). But I hope that someone who understood my thinking process will appear and give me a boost. A plan so that I can have tangible results and go in the direction I have chosen. Sorry, I’m tired and I don’t even know how to choose my words, but to translate them into English. Thanks for the reply anyway!

I have severe anxiety, I would like a coach but I am terrified to leave the house, I cannot concentrate and I am constantly shaking if I go to a gym. I contacted some coaches near me for some advice, but I didn’t receive any answers, some even said that I’m not really interested at all (that I’m making fun of them), that I’m lazy, etc… I can’t find a coach in my country to trust and nor the infrastructure to have optimal meeting.

In my country, mental illness is not taken seriously, and it makes me feel extremely stupid and embarrassing when I am in a situation like this: I can’t work at that bank, there are too many people around, trembling, sweating, my heart beats. Coach: this is nonsense, finish with it and go there, what is that fear of nothing? Say you’re too lazy to do it! … And after that I will probably not leave the house for 2 months of nerves and shame.