I have trained my body since the age of eleven up to this point, here is what has been true for me.
I started out with 2.5 kg dumbbells, just lifting them forwards for 20 minutes every day.
Weeks or days later I added another exercise using a gadget called roller slide. You sit on your knees and roll forward and backward. The way you get that tool from the shop is ineffective for training. A rubber band inside of it assists you in rolling back. Accidentally it broke and the exercise became as hard as it should have been from the beginning. There was no resistance anymore rolling in any direction. I did 300 repetitions every day for about 2 years. This only took 15 minutes every day.
At the age of 13 I got my abs, a big biceps, and a solid overall build.
At the age of 16 I trained my chest with a heavier dumbbell. I improvised and did not go to the gym up to this point.
The Food I ate
I ate pretty normally. I ate sweets, meat, vegetables, drank milk, water. Nothing out of the ordinary. I stayed consistent with my eating habits, I did not drinking stuff like Cola, barely drank alcohol, did not eat hamburgers all to often, maybe five times year. But I always ate chocolate as much as I wanted.
After less than 10 years of training I started doing a new exercises at home. I repeated it every single day for 9 months. It was a sit ups exercise with 10 kg on my chest. I did short lifts of the upper body in that position, about one repetition every second. That did train my breathing and the lower part of my abs. That static exercise improved my stamina for running a lot.
I would always do a single exercise for many months or years in a row. Always listening to the same few songs for months in an endless loop. This point is crucial too because what I did was anchoring the sensation of the training. It was so effective that just listening to the music was giving me a shot of adrenaline.
I have about a handful of exercises like that at this point. I master each exercise to a point where I reach a level that always seems insane to myself when I look back. At this point I can take it easy, and only exercise for 0-15 minutes a day, and still keep the build I earned.
After ten years of home training I joined the gym. Training at home for myself has always been much more motivating than driving to the gym and seeing people chatting rather than training. But going there got me on a new level a few times.
New Eating Habits
I started eating chocolate in moderation, completely cut cakes that contained cream, never drank sweet drinks anymore and cut hamburgers almost to zero.
With these eating habits I reached my second highest level, without ever taking any supplements or drinking protein shakes, or learning the names of muscles groups, WHILE at the same time I did one of the hardest training I had ever done at that point.
My main exercises at home were the above mentioned sit ups with 10 kg. The second one were push ups on fists and feet above the ground as in the top image.
Later I added a running exercise to my home training and cut the sit ups again. I ran 3-5 km with 2.5 kg attached on each wrist. That exercise helped me burn my last percentages of fat and improved the looks of my abs greatly, without me having to do sit ups at home, I did normal ones at the gym. That was when I reached my highest level.
Keeping The Build With Minimum Effort
Today I have shifted my focus, and do not train for improvement anymore, but for conserving what I have. I stopped going to the gym for over a year, did a few exercises about every second or third day. In terms of build I'm slightly below my peak performance, and that is crazy considering the effort I put into my training.
I do eat stricter than ever before. I don't eat any sweets, only fruits, no alcohol, no cakes, no exceptions. The reason I can afford minimum training is because that little training I do is on such a high level, that the average person would take years to reach. I can get off with 5 min of high level training every two days, because it is more intense on the muscles than 1h mediocre training.
In Conclusion
Here are the requirements for a few build levels - from my personal experience:
But first, here is how I distribute difficulty ratings for eating:
- Eating the worst food, not even normal food, only junk food and no water: Eating difficulty 0-1 of 5.
- Eating mediocre, like drinking Cola, eating normal food, eating cake, sweets, drinking alcohol: Eating difficulty 2 of 5.
- Eating way less of the bad foods, like Cola, hamburgers, cakes: Eating difficulty 3 of 5.
- Completely cutting off the obvious bad foods, like any sweet drinks, minimum alcohol, no sweets, no cakes, No cream: Eating difficulty 4 of 5.
- Counting calories, only eating what neutral or good for you, adding supplements: Eating difficulty 5 of 5. (No personal experience with this one)
Here is how I distribute difficulty ratings for training:
- Old people training, keeping the body in motion: Training difficulty 1 of 5.
- Training 2-3 times a week, stopping when muscles start to hurt: Training difficulty 2 of 5.
- Training as much as one got time for it, not being driven, by pain and sensation, average bodybuilder: Training difficulty 3 of 5.
- Training almost every day for at least 10 minutes, sometimes doing a 1-2 minute exercise because there's time to do so, being overall consistent in doing at least something every day, going as far as possible, enduring pain for several minutes, being driven biochemically and reaching full potential: Training difficulty 4 of 5.
- See Training difficulty 4 of 5 + knowing exactly how to train each muscle. Body awareness and experience. Having gone through trial and error for y few years, and being highly knowledgeable in the field, mastering the broad range of exercises, not focusing on just specific groups or exercises: Training difficulty 5 of 5. (No personal experience with this one)
Here is what's required for different build types:
- Average build: Eating difficulty 2-3 / Training difficulty 2-3
- Above Average build, nice physique: Eating difficulty 3-5 / Training difficulty 3
- Well defined and strong muscles, body control, athletic build, outstanding results on specific exercises: Eating difficulty 3-4 / Training difficulty 4
- Flawless build, control, strength, speed, health: Eating difficulty 4-5 / Training difficulty 5
The point I'm trying to get across is just this:
Hard training is the dominant factor and the minimum requirement to reach new heights. Micromanaging theory and circle jerking after every gym session won't get you far.
You basically get what you train for.
Let me hear what you think about that? Does this sound plausible to you? If yes why, and if not, why not?