How did you tell a nice person that don’t waste your time on competitive bodybuilding simply because they don’t have the genetics?

[Shelby]

Just speaking from my own very limited experience:
- I never asked for advice (at least in terms of a bodybuilding "career")
- I don't remember ever being given advice
- I know I loved the endeavor
- I know that I could continue to improve as long as I stayed consistent

I never expected to turn pro, but I did. One time I was even in the first callout at the Chicago Pro, beating people with much better physical genetics than I had.
Bodybuilding opened many doors for me, and my life would have turned out very different had it taken another direction.
No one knows how anything will turn out, ever.
You could give someone the advice to pursue something else, and they could fail at that too.
Advice is pretty much always auto-biographical (people give you advice based on their own, limited experience and perspective), and people almost always learn best from their own first-hand experience.
So the "mind your own business" method that @Fleezy mentioned is a great path to follow.

 

[Flocci]

from a structure POV, from a response to training, diet, drugs POV? from a health POV?

I see guys mention dave palumbo, but he had great genetics for putting on mass and staying lean, though his structure was bad.

You have those with bad genetics for it all. What about them? lol

 

[graybass]

Hi. I think I got very lucky back in the early 2000s when I trained at a gym that had many ifbb pros and although I was very determined I have long limbs, short shoulder ratio and large waist bones, always store fat in my torso and most people with origins from my part of the world (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc) are almost always skinny fat. A kind former IFBB pro bodybuilder let me know that I’m just not built for this. Painful to hear at that time but I’m so glad he told me the honest truth.

Thankfully I used that drive for bodybuilding and went into real estate and did pretty okay while training as a hobby and being a bodybuilding fan.

Did any of your folks hear this from others or had to tell a driven young person you know so they don’t waste their health and time on a goal that is simply unattainable?

No offence but, people from your area of the world always have bad diets. I'm a trainer (semi retired) for 35 years. I've trained many people like you describe. You can make a big difference adding a boat load of protein. I trained an India kid that had no muscles! Took two years but he lost 50lbs of fat and gained 50lbs of muscles.

 

[ScoobyPrep]

So i grew up with my dad bodybuilding but him never competing.

He always told me i could be anything if put my mind to it and i believed him.

I got into lifting and started to get serious, not eating pizza with the fam, eaeting 6 meals, etc and so forth. Just trying to live the lifestyle and see what i could do.

One day he goes what are you doing youre not going to ever be a pro at this you dont have the genes.

Well that was it from that day on i kept at it. Turned pro at 38 and went on to run 3, 7 figure fitness businesses. My best placing as a pro was 2018 i got second in the open one spot from making the classic physique O. That season i wasnt out of the top 5 any show i did. In 2019 I needed 2 points to qualify on points and my ex wife at the time forbid me from competing or get a divorce, she hated it. Well we see i said ex right, but i let 2019 pass by. Anyways im rambling now. In 2024 i won the Masters Tampa pro qualiying me for the Masters O, then i got EBV reactivation and realized my body at 47 just is done. The O i guess wasnt meant to be. BUt i proved more than even the man who said i could be anything believed i could be in regards to bodybuilding.

My point is i wouldnt offer that advice to anyone UNLESS they ask me can i be pro. Even then i usually tell them their weaknesses BUT say I really wont know your pontential for 5-10 years of relentless pursuit. Maybe thats why I went into coaching and left being a lawyer after 15 years. I like to unlock others potential more than i liked putting out rich mens fires lol

 

[cm]

Hi. I think I got very lucky back in the early 2000s when I trained at a gym that had many ifbb pros and although I was very determined I have long limbs, short shoulder ratio and large waist bones, always store fat in my torso and most people with origins from my part of the world (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc) are almost always skinny fat. A kind former IFBB pro bodybuilder let me know that I’m just not built for this. Painful to hear at that time but I’m so glad he told me the honest truth.

Thankfully I used that drive for bodybuilding and went into real estate and did pretty okay while training as a hobby and being a bodybuilding fan.

Did any of your folks hear this from others or had to tell a driven young person you know so they don’t waste their health and time on a goal that is simply unattainable?

good for you to say you feel lucky you got that advice. I often think if I wouldnt have pursued, much like you did, what I would have/could have done with my time: but I have never felt unlucky. Not saying I had/have any bb career, but its still the time money effort sacrifice of any other career, and then some. I also may be wired soemwhat different, because if I heard what you did, (even though I did hear it) just not from someone in the arena: I would have gone against it, appreciated their doubt, and thanked them for the inspriration. Nothing like someone opining on my future, and what I may be capable of, to get both middle fingers to go up

 

[OldManLogan]

I would offer that perhaps the approach might be along the lines of telling the person “it’s maybe unlikely that you can be a pro, given what I see from a genetics or potential standpoint… but one thing is for sure- you absolutely won’t if you don’t try.”

Give it your best, let bodybuilding fulfill whatever role makes sense and fulfills you- there are so many approaches, goals and different challenges and opportunities… pick the ones that make sense and give you joy.

Another thought- having an ambitious goal, even if you never achieve it, can serve as a guiding principle. I’d love to become a masters pro before I turn 60. Likely to happen? Fucking hell no. But it gives me a direction to focus efforts toward, strategically. Then I can make tactical decisions for the short term- get bigger, learn to pose better, do at least one big cut and one show a year, etc. use it to motivate you, even if it’s likely unachievable…

 

[massephase]

from a structure POV, from a response to training, diet, drugs POV? from a health POV?

I see guys mention dave palumbo, but he had great genetics for putting on mass and staying lean, though his structure was bad.

You have those with bad genetics for it all. What about them? lol

They have to try giving it at least 90% day in day out for at least 3-5 years before they can be sure that they have "bad genetics for it all".

And even if they don't build a lot of size, they can still get absolutely shredded. That's much less of a genetic thing and more of a mental fortitude thing.

 

[Brock456]

Just don’t feel like it’s my place going around telling people what I think they could or couldn’t achieve. Let them do what they want

Maybe it’s different if they were paying you to try to get them to IFBB pro, and there’s no change in hell it would happen. At that point maybe just a little bit a realism would helps otherwise let people live in their delusion if it allows them to push harder

THIS!

Idc if it’s Ronnie Coleman, no one should go shooting down someone else’s dream.

Let them live their life.

 

[cm]

good for you to say you feel lucky you got that advice. I often think if I wouldnt have pursued, much like you did, what I would have/could have done with my time: but I have never felt unlucky. Not saying I had/have any bb career, but its still the time money effort sacrifice of any other career, and then some. I also may be wired soemwhat different, because if I heard what you did, (even though I did hear it) just not from someone in the arena: I would have gone against it, appreciated their doubt, and thanked them for the inspriration. Nothing like someone opining on my future, and what I may be capable of, to get both middle fingers to go up

I actually thought about this topic more as the day went on, and when I was training. I made a mistake saying no one in the arena had ever told me not to compete.

I didnt make a mistake when saying I would have used it to prove myself right, prove them wrong, but it did slip my mind.

Some shit head local promoters did that to me. One is/was a ifbb pro, the other was one of those NPC child prodigy, next big thing, until he got in trouble, went to jail, and now tells everyone to be natural. Both spend thier lives handing out flyers and asking everyone with a sports bra to get on thier stage, and even tell people they invented the bikini division.

I didnt remember, because I have distanced myself so far from the inner workings of the bodybuilding industry and most of the people in it. What terrible advice it would have been for me to take, esp becasue of the type of people they were, and absolutely still are.

I realize, today, an ifbb pro isnt the same as it was , and the trophies at shows dont mean the same, but some of my trophies and medals have numbers lower then his. It truly ended up being self serving advice given out, and selfish because I couldnt compete at their rinky dink shows anymore. What good was I to them?!. Glad I went down that memory road, as those memories will prob. fuel some smiles and some heavy weights moving around.
btw Thanks OP. definitely got me thinking

 

[AllOkJumpmaster]

Just speaking from my own very limited experience:
- I never asked for advice (at least in terms of a bodybuilding "career")
- I don't remember ever being given advice
- I know I loved the endeavor
- I know that I could continue to improve as long as I stayed consistent

I never expected to turn pro, but I did. One time I was even in the first callout at the Chicago Pro, beating people with much better physical genetics than I had.
Bodybuilding opened many doors for me, and my life would have turned out very different had it taken another direction.
No one knows how anything will turn out, ever.
You could give someone the advice to pursue something else, and they could fail at that too.
Advice is pretty much always auto-biographical (people give you advice based on their own, limited experience and perspective), and people almost always learn best from their own first-hand experience.
So the "mind your own business" method that @Fleezy mentioned is a great path to follow.

side comment, but just wanted to tell you that I will never forget the interview you did with Dave Palumbo after the win when you turned pro. I reference it ften to people, it is one of my favorite / most motivational clips when it comes to achieving goals.

 

[Fa Seeshus]

No offence but, people from your area of the world always have bad diets. I'm a trainer (semi retired) for 35 years. I've trained many people like you describe. You can make a big difference adding a boat load of protein. I trained an India kid that had no muscles! Took two years but he lost 50lbs of fat and gained 50lbs of muscles.

My lifting buddy who has the best response to training and gear is Indian. I really don't think "genetics" from that area are somehow inferior for bodybuilding. When proper nutrition, training and supplementation are applied the lighter bone structure gives more appearance of size.

 

[Massivekaos]

I mean it’s hard to tell if someone has shitty genetics early into lifting. Have you seen some of the pro transformations? I saw one of Jordan Hutchinson from when he first started and everyone would tell you right now based on where he started he had no future in bodybuilding but look how that changed when he actually developed size?

 

[hawkmoon]

I'm reading these responses and seeing some things about what each of us means as competitive.

Competitive as in getting on stage
Competitive as in winning local shows
Competitive as in going to the nationals with real possibilities.
Competitive as in getting a pro card
Competitive as in being a top pro

I lean towards the second half of that progression, and it IS most definitely my bias showing, but I'm honest about it.

Most of you know I think turning pro today is too easy. In the era I came up in Matt Mendenhall and Rory Leidelmeyer were amateurs. There were three cards a year. Every pro competed vigorously or retired.

Again it's my bias and I admit that. But when I speak from the heart on PM that's the voice you hear.

All that said if someone young comes to me (and they have) I look at the current landscape objectively. Even then it's reality vs expectations.

 

[massephase]

I mean it’s hard to tell if someone has shitty genetics early into lifting. Have you seen some of the pro transformations? I saw one of Jordan Hutchinson from when he first started and everyone would tell you right now based on where he started he had no future in bodybuilding but look how that changed when he actually developed size?

The question is how does someone look after 2-3 very solid years of training, gear, nutrition - not how did they look before they started, that's irrelevant.
If they look like me, I don't think they will be the next Jordan Hutchinson. I think they can become pretty massive/ impressive after a decade or more of doing this 100%. But they will never come close to Jordan Hutchinson et. al

I can't relate to the people that dream of really making it in bodybuilding, because I never assumed I could. So the important thing is just having realistic expectations, as has been stated enough times now. If you don't wow everyone after the first couple of years (assuming you are doing things correctly) then you should probably drop the expectations to ever wow anyone on a pro stage.

 

[luki7788]

The question is how does someone look after 2-3 very solid years of training, gear, nutrition - not how did they look before they started, that's irrelevant.
If they look like me, I don't think they will be the next Jordan Hutchinson. I think they can become pretty massive/ impressive after a decade or more of doing this 100%. But they will never come close to Jordan Hutchinson et. al

I can't relate to the people that dream of really making it in bodybuilding, because I never assumed I could. So the important thing is just having realistic expectations, as has been stated enough times now. If you don't wow everyone after the first couple of years (assuming you are doing things correctly) then you should probably drop the expectations to ever wow anyone on a pro stage.

Bro, can I be honest with you?

You were with me for a short time on coaching, you post a lot on the forum, and you know it yourself: you overcomplicate everything.
And because you were coached by me, we already know how your body responds, we know how you look, we know your potential. So don’t say you have bad genetics, because you have great genetics.
You could be a pro athlete, and you could be on a much higher level than you are now, if you finally stopped overthinking, experimenting all the time, and hurting yourself. Because the way you do things now leads to one thing: you’re not healthy.
You keep testing everything on yourself instead of putting yourself in someone’s hands and trusting an experienced person. If you want to experiment, ok, do it, but remember: you will lose time, you will lose years, and you won’t use the potential you clearly have.

Trust me, you do have it. I’ve been in this for many years, I worked with athletes with great genetics and with weaker genetics, and you can see who has the structure and who doesn’t.
But physical potential has to go together with the mental side. And honestly, only a small percent of people have both. That’s why so few people become pros.