Dr. Ken Leistner wrote an article a long time a ago in Muscular Developement magazine when it wasn't the supplement circular as it is today.
In the article, Simple Does it and Does IT ALL, Dr. Ken laid out some gems.
Genetic limitations that most of us have cannot and will not be overcome by a willingness to work hard.
Trainees won't work hard anyway; they will work often, they will work long, but they won't actually work hard.
Most trainees are "typical." They work long hours in the gym for the types of gains that could be made during three thirty-minute sessions per week.
There is only one way out of this cycle of self-serving emotion and that is to admit that one is in fact, a typical trainee with all of the limitations that come with that.
These are some truisms that I've proven to myself through years of training. I've trained long enough and hard enough that if I had the potential to be at the top of the powerlifting game or strongman I would have made it.
The fact of the matter is that when I was 16 I could overhead press 140 after two years of training. When Bill Kazmaier did his first overhead presses at age 16 he made it with 250lbs. There is no amount of training or enthusiasm that is going to overcome a genetic deficit like that if the person with the favorable genetics decides to lift as well.
Most of us are average though sometimes don't like to admit it. Short intense workouts provide plenty of stimulation. More than this is either wasted time, or done solely for our own enjoyment. If one likes spending hours in the gym, I can respect that, but only if they do it because they enjoy it and not because they think it will bring greater results or bring results faster.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Dr. Ken says it best.
It's not easy for most of us to admit that we are "typcial trainees." But if we can, and then train accordingly, we can all make atypical gains!
