Never skip the hard work
So for the last few weeks, I've gotten bombarded by messages from guys about my body recomp over the last year, and without FAIL, 90%+ are guys asking what drugs they should take in order to do the same thing.
And this is the society we live in, and what "fitness" has become.
My recomp started due to the fact that I didn't like what my health looked like on a blood work report. My first thought was about my kids.
This took me over a year. Three diet phases, and at times, training up to three times a day, usually twice a day, for months on end.
There was no drug cocktail. I've never ever been about that.
This was about improving my health. Period. Which meant that some big drug cycle was never going to be part of the answer.
"Should I cut down and bulk, and risk losing what muscle I have in order to get big and lean? I'm on X mg a week and Y mg a week. Wondering your thoughts on this."
MY thoughts?
Clean up your fucking diet, train really really fucking hard for months and months on end, and stop relying on worrying about some secret drug formula in order to accomplish that.
If you're over 15% bodyfat (males) then why the fuck are you worrying about gaining size, when at that point you're just going to get fatter and fatter?
Second, if you do this right, and take your time you can retain as much muscle as possible. Will it take a long time? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes.
Most of these messages just affirm to me that the majority of people, regardless of what they "know", will do anything to avoid the process involved, or try to short circuit it in some way.
If you're trying to just get shredded, and want to introduce chemistry as a big part of that, then that can happen. But it's not sustainable, and in the long run you'll pay for it in some way, shape, or form.
If you're doing it for the reasons I did it, then it is sustainable, requires a lot of hard work and discipline, and will take a significant amount of time.
People want instant gratification now. I still get people talking about how hungry they are on diets. Boo fucking hoo. People want the rewards without the work, without the struggle, without the suffering.
I haven't found a way to do that yet. If I do, I will let everyone know. For right now, the only way I've found to do this is to work harder than you were working before, and to be as disciplined in the kitchen as you can possibly be.
I also did this at 41. Age is also not an excuse either. I've gotten a ton of messages from guys in their 40's who basically succumbed to the fact that they are "past their prime" and can't get in shape anymore.
I have no idea how they arrived at this conclusion. There are lots of dudes in their 40's walking around in the best shape of their life.
People who want to avoid what needs to be done will consistently look for short cuts, to avoid the hard work. And people will also look for excuses as to why they can't do it, to avoid the hard work.
At the end of the day, most things really worth having are going to require a tremendous amount of hard work, not being lazy AF, and having a tremendous amount of discipline in your life.
I respect the people who say "oh man, I really just don't give a AF about that" than the people who keep looking for the easy way out.
Paul Carter
