A Question of Innocence, Expectations, & Motivation

Can naivety of what we can realistically accomplish in the gym lead to success?

In this article:

• I’m going to ask you a question and I hope you weigh in with a comment response.

• I’ll give my answer and the story behind it.

• You’ll see answers from others who I’ve asked the same question.

• I’ll share my thoughts on the opposing answer/point of view.

The Setup

Say you’re young and just getting into weightlifting. You want to look like the incredibly muscular and lean lifters you see as you search online and scroll on your phone. You’re after that comic super hero look. They have it, you don’t. If you train hard enough and eat right, you’ll get there too. Right?

Sidebar: If you’re 40+ like me, replace ‘search online’ and ‘scrolling on your phone’ with ‘flipping through a magazine.’ I remember reading Muscular Development, Flex, and Muscle & Fitness, to name a few.

The absolute specimens of muscle and strength you see train very, very hard, of course. However, it just so happens that they also take performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), which most people just call steroids. At this point, you don’t know this because, remember, you’re young, naive, innocent, and inexperienced. On top of that, many of these athletes claim they’re not on PEDs and built their superhuman physiques through years of hard work and dedication. They wouldn’t lie in a magazine or while being interviewed, would they?

The Question

Is it better for you to remain in the dark about PED usage and believe you can reach that superhuman level through hard work and dedication alone, or, is it better for you to start your bodybuilding journey knowing you’ll only reach that level if you’re drug-assisted?

My Answer

While this question is a thinker, it was easy for me to answer because I went through this situation as a teen and I remember exactly how I thought, felt, and approached training back then. I remember the guys I was looking at for motivation and inspiration too. Names like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Dorian Yates, Dexter Jackson, and other Mr. Olympia competitors were at the top of my mind when hitting the gym.

I was 135 pounds, skinny, and wanting a twig-to-big transformation. My how-to sources were gym magazines at the local drug store, that’s it. Do you think those magazines showed naturally obtainable physiques? Pshhhh. Do you think a single word was written mentioning or even hinting at PED usage? Hell no. According to the magazines, if you wanted massive amounts of muscle, you followed their training and nutrition advice, so that’s what I did.

Truly, I was young, naive, innocent, and inexperienced. My access to information was limited and I was being fooled.

If I could go back and enlighten my teenage self on the realities of what those guys were doing…I wouldn’t do it.

Yes, you read that right, I wouldn’t do it. Honestly, I’m thankful for my only sources of information being professional bodybuilders with no intention of discussing their PED use. I’m thankful those magazine articles made me believe I could train hard and eat right and gain as much muscle as the pros. I’m thankful I didn’t know anyone, personally, who told me different.

Of course, I eventually learned the stark realities of natural versus enhanced bodybuilding and training and realized I would never grow to the size of enhanced bodybuilders. I chose, and still choose, the natural path, but will always respect the hard work that anyone with significant muscle has to put in…natural or not. Muscle doesn’t build itself and it doesn’t come easy.

Thinking back, being naive and inexperienced were the exact traits that lit my internal fire and kept it burning so hot. Without that fire, I’m not sure I would’ve kept training so consistently and with such endless tenacity through those early-stage years. Those years were valuable because they got me started and locked into this game, regardless of whether or not I could look like Mr. Olympia.

It’s not out of the question to theorize that I wouldn’t have trained past the early-stage years, put in my 10,000 gym hours, and gained the expertise I possess today had it not been for my innocent unrealistic expectations.

This is exactly why my answer is what it is and I feel it’s best for everyone to have that innocent period of genuinely believing they can do and aim for more than what’s realistic.

Over time, I’ve asked this question to hundreds of people, and while most answer differently, these fellow gym junkies echo’d my sentiment, sometimes to an eerily similar level.

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“Only speaking from my own experience, I’m actually glad I was naive when I began at 14. I think it kept me motivated to blindly push on during those beginning years. By the time I realized what was what a few years later, I was already well-situated into the lifestyle and too in love with it to be swayed. I had also been able to witness some natural gains being made which prevented me from feeling discouraged when I discovered the truth.

Had I learned right from the start, that all may have been different.” Nick W.

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“So I'm 17, the only resource available is M&F magazine, or FLEX, and all us young guys want to be jacked like the pics. Frank Zane stood out for me, and me naively thinking that with a good year or three could make me look like that may have inspired me to join Golds gym. Sure, after a year I realized that something wasn't right, I was a bit different, and at that rate I would need 172 years to get that jacked, but now I'm in. You know, in for a penny, in for a pound. By the time I figured out the "trick," I was older, enjoyed the training for what it did, even if that wasn't what I started out for. So hey, let's keep going.

So if I knew, right out of the gate, that I'd have to work hard for years to have people suspect I lifted at all, I may not have bothered, thinking hey, this is all too hard anyway, so why bother.

To know which answer is right, I'd need to go back to 17 and have a talk with young me, and see if I felt the same back then.” Brad M.

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“I’d say it depends. I started training at 15 in 1985. Grew up watching Pumping Iron on VHS and in a gym with posters of the big names in bodybuilding on the walls.

From the outset I was hooked, and that gym environment became my normal, in terms of landscape and view, for what ‘men’ looked like.

Did the realization matter, some years later, that all I admired used drugs to get there? Nope. It may have taken some years to fully realize the truth, but I don't personally feel it harmed me.

Would others find it a harsh wake-up call, and be disillusioned? Maybe.” Neil B.

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To close out my answer, quotes like the one below can be cheesy at times, but they can also be a perfect way to drive a message home when the time is right. I believe this is one of those right times.

Another Point of View

The opposing view to my answer is actually the more common of the two. I’ve asked this question to hundreds of people and this side of the coin far outweighs my own. I’ve placed some real-world client, subscriber, and friend answers below.

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“I say knowing what’s capable beforehand would be more realistic for a new lifter. Striving for something unreachable without steroids might lead to discouragement and thinking they’re doing something wrong.” Shaunta M.

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“I was the person you described in this scenario. I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, that it is (would have been) better to know. Would have avoided years of frustration and confusion at “lack of results”, buying every gimmick and product that promised what I wanted, and listening to bullshit.

You, Ryan, were the first person to explain progressive overload and proper programming to me, and helped me to have much more realistic expectations. I would give anything to be able to go back and tell my teenage self what I know now. Ignorance is NOT bliss.” Josh M.

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“Knowledge brings reasonable expectations” Gale M.

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“I think transparency and better explanation in the fitness community and in films of what people are doing can only help.” Ryan N.

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“Better to know, and also better to be shown some natural body building athletes who are big and shredded guys, many are just as admirable for motivation to get started!” Ashley C.

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“For me, I'd rather know if the person uses drugs so I have a realistic viewpoint. I can know this information and still believe it comes down to training hard as to not limit myself, but also realize I'll never look like one of the pros that uses PEDs.” Jeana B.

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My Closing Thoughts

I’m going to start by saying that no answer is the correct answer here. There is no right or wrong point of view because there are people with incredible physiques and competition wins under their belts who’ve added their input above, and they fall into both camps. We’re individuals and what discourages one person can motivate another.

There’s just one thing that keeps bugging me about the outlook of wanting to know everything right away and throwing naivety and innocence out the window. I can’t help but think back on how motivated I was by the combination of the bodies I saw and how little I knew. Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine being as driven as I was if I’d known the truth right from the jump.

Instead of an informed inner voice telling me, ‘you’ll never get there, it’s not realistic, they all take steroids,’ my naive inner voice was full of awe, belief, and encouragement, as it told me, ‘train hard, stick to it, and you’ll get there someday.’ To me, I’ll take the encouraging inner voice all day, even if it’s jaded.

I strongly believe, as Nick, Neil, and Brad also expressed in their answers, that blind ambition is such a powerful driver of initial effort towards the gym. It’s those imaginative thoughts of what one can become, realistic or not, that keep the fire going until true love and passion for training are developed, take over, and become the reason to continue training forever.

And while this is a bit of a tangent, I do feel a little sad inside for the youth of today. With information being a million times more accessible for them, and every piece of content being picked apart by public comments, so little is left to their imagination.

Whether or not a naive inner voice is even possible anymore, I don’t know. But I do know one thing; I sure hope it is.

Thank you for reading and I hope you comment and chime in with your answer. As you head for the exit, let me tell you a joke on your way out.

Two Chameleons are working out. The first one says, “Spot me, bro.” The second replies, “Who said that?”