WB Archives 20180301 - Progress Cues

Progress Cues

There are, as far as I can tell, four things that happen as your lifting starts to progress and you begin to take on the athletic

A lot off truth here.

Obsession has costs

physique. These are the subtle cues that your workout is working out. Sometimes it is hard to tell. We look at ourselves in the mirror each and every day and the people we see most see us every day. It is very difficult for the changes to be noticed like this. It
can, at times, lead to frustration. You are putting in all this work and you don’t see the results. Trust me, the results are there. The four subtle cues things you should look out for. I am very excited to tell you that I am now the recipient of 3 of the four.
Cue 1:  Being Asked For Help
As your body starts to take to your lifting regiment and your form starts getting on point you will notice that people come to ask you for help. In the last 4 weeks three separate people have either asked me for advice, a form check or a spot. Forget what the mirror says and pay attention. If people in the gym are asking you for advice, spots or form checks it means your body is changing.

If someone asks you for a spot it means they trust you. That is a good indication that your gainz are showing

Don’t pay too much attention to your eyes.
Cue 2: The Question
When I first started talking to J.Nyx about a year ago he came right out, in conversation one, and asked the question. Are you on steroids? There was a time some years ago when I would get really upset if someone asked me that question. I don’t just go to the gym. I go two times a day for 2-4 hours each time. I have a strict diet. I study everything I can find. I wake up sore and I go to bed

Love the hate

with aches. I decided I wanted something and I sacrifice an enormous amount of time, an enormous amount of physical pain and more work than most to attain it. I work through injuries, fevers, exhaustion. I am out there grinding every day. I want an unnatural result and I train in an unnatural manner. So I would get pissed.
Eventually, however, I stopped getting angry. I realized that when someone asks you if you are on steroids what they are saying is that they can’t even fathom someone putting in the kind of work to get to where you are. When J.Nyx asked me if I was on juice I took it as a compliment. Sure enough, 6 weeks after starting my program he was texting me how his results were insane and he didn’t know his body was even capable of what was happening.
Sure enough I got “the question” last weekend. I ran into someone I haven’t seen in a lot of years and after chatting for a few minutes he finally got around to sheepishly ask me if I am using juice. I told him what I tell everyone, hard work and a fuck ton of protein. No steroids necessary.
If you are putting in the work, sooner or later someone is going to ask you the question. Take it from me, don’t get upset. Even if they don’t know it, they are paying you a very high compliment and you should take it that way. Further, use it as an opportunity to explain that if you want something from yourself there is always a natural way to get it. That way may be really difficult, but it is possible and if you make the sacrifices you can have it.
Cue 3: Gym Bruhs

100% accurate

Even if you do not see your body jumping right into the shape you want it to, you will notice that the bruhs in the gym start randomly talking to you. There will be all kinds of conversations from people asking you about how long you lifted to asking about rep ranges to just random chatting. If you start noticing that the regular gym goers and serious lifters are talking to you and becoming friendly it is a cue that your body is changing.
As in nature, like to like is just something that happens. As your body changes and your commitment becomes visible in your physique, you will notice that you have more gym friends. This started happening to me just a few days ago. People I see every day, but don’t really speak to started randomly chatting to me. Again, do not pay attention to your own head. You started lifting in January and now it is march and you expect to be a perfect specimen. Impatience. I really do get it. But watch for these cues.
Cue 4: Comments From Strangers.
This one hasn’t set in yet, but it will. I do a hard lifting push every year and have for many years now and every year the cues stay

Professional or no. Doesn’t matter where. ‘Mirin gonna happen.

the same. This is the final cue and when it happens, you know you are coming into your own despite what you are seeing in the mirror. Arnold said that the reason he spends so much time staring in to the mirror is that he is looking at his flaws. People think he is admiring himself, but it really was quite the opposite. If you have done any bodybuilding, you know this feeling. You are there in the mirror wondering what you can do to thin out your skin, to put more definition on your oblique, analyzing your weakest parts and obsessing over them.
At some point people will approach you in the outside world and ask you about the gym or working out. You will be sitting in a restaurant or in a store or walking down the street and a total stranger will, out of nowhere, come up to you and ask you about the gym. It happens EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Doesn’t matter who you are with, what you are doing, what is going on around you. People will just come up and start asking questions. When this happens you have hit your stride. It is the fourth and final sign that things are being pulled together.
So, in the meantime, while you are waiting for your body to change what should you do and what shouldn’t you do?
What you should do is simple. Plan your work and work your plan. You need to have faith in the process. Was your plan from a
good source? Do feel change? Are you noticing the subtle cues? Do not try to rush things. If you try to rush you will only wind up hurting yourself. We will get there, all of us, just keep on with the steady consistency. Get your lifts in. Get your cardio in. Keep your diet tight.

Trust the diet

What shouldn’t you do? First of all, you shouldn’t be a slave to the subjective judgment that you are getting in the mirror. Get yourself a tape measure

Hey WB how many days do you go to the gym?
All of them.
Feb included a 4 day long fever.

, a caliper and a scale. Measure you biceps, your quads, your chest, your shoulder, your body fat percentage and your weight every week. Look at objective metrics and remind yourself that when you look in the mirror you are comparing yourself to the absolute peak you and falling short. This is unfair as we are only 25% through our program.
Further things you should not do. Do not give yourself little treats. If you reward your healthy behavior with unhealthy behavior, you are teaching your body a bad lesson. If you want to give yourself a reward for making a goal that is great, but do not make that reward something contrary to the goal you are aiming at. Pizza, doughnuts, chocolate….these are not rewards for hitting milestones on your road to fitness. If you want to reward yourself for making a milestone, buy yourself a new pair of shorts for the gym or get yourself a nice shirt that will look good on you now that your muscle is filling out.