Hardworking people not reaching their goals?

[Jmek]

Ok first of all i am not writing this topic to find an excuse. My question is with all the success stories popping up (or more likely i am biased), how many here know people who gave it their all and didn't reach their goal?

I am writing this because i got my friend to do SS for a while and we were supposed to have a bet who lifts most adjusted to bodyweight at the end of the year. However he quit doing the program after a month because "the gains were not as big as promised". He doesn't really care about squats but he likes doing deadlifts so i kind of hoped that could keep him on the program but it didn't. Actually he overdid the deadlifts and now he has some sort of upper back injury.

He can curl all day all month long and has been doing that for a long time, upper body work mainly for at least three years. Despite all that curling he is still sort of skinny, but definitely tough. He is a bit short but i know shorter people who are bigger and do bigger lifts than i do.

I do realize that he didn't exactly go all-in so my question in this case is a bit off but how common is it that people who always show up, lift and eat according to the program fail to meet their goals? Know anyone too small, too skinny who just couldn't cut it?

I am trying to figure out ways to get his motivation back. He still continues to train, he does his curls he does his upper body work but he has been doing that for a time and still he doesn't have the physique he wants. I know SS is not a BB routine but a grown man with an 99 lbs squat and wanting to be larger just doesn't make any sense.

[Nic Lane]

Presumably, if he always showed up, lifted, and ate according to the program, he would have added weight to the bar every time he lifted over that month. What better gains can one have than lifting more every single time you hit the gym? Then again, if you don't want to squat, SS probably isn't the right program for you.

Look at the upside, you won the bet.

[Corrie]

Presumably, if he always showed up, lifted, and ate according to the program, he would have added weight to the bar every time he lifted over that month. What better gains can one have than lifting more every single time you hit the gym? Then again, if you don't want to squat, SS probably isn't the right program for you.

Look at the upside, you won the bet.

I was wondering this too. Either he means body size gains, in which his diet is probably going to affect that more than anything, or he means strength gains in which he must not have added 5lbs to the bar each workout, or started too high and couldn't keep up. I don't really get what he means.

[Mr. Galaxy]

Don't worry about what your friend is doing. Lead by example.

[gzt]

Depends what their goals are.

[Kyle Schuant]

I am writing this because i got my friend to do SS for a while and we were supposed to have a bet who lifts most adjusted to bodyweight at the end of the year. However he quit doing the program after a month because "the gains were not as big as promised".

If you went to university would you expect to get great results after one month?
If you dated a girl would you expect her to be ready to marry you after one month?
If you started building a house on your own would you expect it to be ready to live in after one month?
If you started a new job at entry level would you expect to be manager after one month?

Impatience.

how common is it that people who always show up, lift and eat according to the program fail to meet their goals?

Assuming the goals are rational - nobody sets world records within 12 months of picking up a barbell for the first time - it never happens. People who eat good food, lift with correct form, progress the resistance, and keep showing up over months or years get results. Some may get awesome results, and some only good results, all of us have ups and downs over the years of training, but everyone gets results if they stick with it.

That's the great thing about barbell training. In no other area of life is hard work always rewarded. University can fuck you, work can cheat you, and sometimes however hard you work on a relationship it still fails. But everyone who sticks with the Iron gets results.

Your friend is lazy. Sorry. No doubt he reached a weight on the lifts where he had to grind out a few reps, and then he realised that after this grind he still had to do more next time, and shit himself and ran away to the comfort of curls and crunches.

This is not uncommon as a response to correct training.

[strideknight]

Know anyone too small, too skinny who just couldn't cut it?

Part of the program is to eat more. If someone's skinny, they're not working hard at it.

[Ewan]

A grown man with a 99 lbs squat? That's just gay . . .

*awaiting incoming shitstorm*

[Tamara Reynolds]

Doing SS for one month and "giving it your all" are SOOOOOOOOO FAR from each other that it's just not even worth comparing the two...

[DJC416]

Part of the program is to eat more. If someone's skinny, they're not working hard at it.

This. Diet is harder than going to the gym for like 5 hours a week.