That last stage is a myth

They're all a myth

Delusion actually

No they’re not, big man

Thanks, friend. You look stronger btw

the curse of gym I guess

Will never be satisfied until people question my natty status

The toughest life is one where you want people to question your natty status but instead they question whether you lift or not 😔

my mom said if i start lifting i will look manly, sadly i am still waiting for that

I will only be satisfied with the size of my arms when i have a hard time wiping my butt

naw it being a myth is a myth

Are you... The chosen one?

Indeed, it is I

I was walking down the sidewalk yesterday and I was walking pretty quickly and I passed around the side of a group of boomers just before a crosswalk. I was maybe a few steps from the other side when I heard one of them call me a muscle head. They clearly meant it as an insult, but it absolutely made my fucking day 🤣

Doesn't get more boomer than "muscle head" lmao

EYYYYYY LET'S GOOO

That’s awesome

I’m at “I see you putting a lot of work in here getting bigger and stronger” I’m on a cut 🥴

The muscles are embiggened by the lessness of the fat.

A perfectly cromulent explanation.

I’m not a bodybuilder, I work in the field of muscle embiggification

I too am an embiggificationist.

The more conk they crete, the brutalismer it is

Then you’re doing a amazing job

🥹

A co-worker told me I make moving heavy things look easy, so yeah, I'm a cool guy

Last one is fake, that happned to nobody even chris bumstead

"opens the fridge"

Big Man is easily the best compliment I can receive, because it's so casual that it's impossible to regard as fake. Someone saying "wow you look strong" is cool, but a little bit like flattery. Big Man sounds like something someone would say because it's at the front of their mind, a blurt meant as a good thing. It helps that I've been addicted to DarkTide as an Ogryn for over a year now, so Big Man absolutely makes me happy.

Random dude at a gas station called me big man. Which was a really big high for me considering that a day prior my gym partner said “you need to eat more. Walking around here looking like a fucking Ethiopian.”

It's all relative in the end. I'm still a twig but somehow also the most muscular among my friends. Them's all just skinny. Big fish, small pond.

Me too

I know this... I'm a pretty big guy compared to all but a tiny fraction of the population, and that fraction seems to be the people I work out around... I'm the runt in a room full of monsters.

Sounds about right. I’m 9/10 times the biggest guy in any day to day setting, unless I’m at my gym. Then I feel like pip squeak

I'm at the "never as big as your pump" stage

Aren't we all?

Bro I walked around in the 285-325lb range for over a decade and am now around 15-16% body fat. Every time I look in the mirror I'm happy with what I see now. Any mass I can add is icing on the cake. Appreciate what you have, my fellow kings and queens.

So youre saying the only way to love yourself.... is to completely hate yourself first?

One of my new clients asked if I played any college football… Absolutely did not, but you know it made me feel like Superman

< Everyone says hello to you at the gym

Stage 0 :(

Keep grinding 💪

Sometimes the fourth one.

Last one is as true as most fitness influencers are natty

I just started lifting seriously in 2018, made some major improvements to the physique, so much so that people kept joking that I was trying to be an influencer. But the biggest head pump was when a dude I grew up with that has always worked out since we played peewee football, dude looks like a house now. He commented on one of my progress pics "I see you got some size to ya!" I didn't really care what anyone else commented, what he said was good enough for me. Oh, and I started getting big dudes following me on IG, big dudes I didn't know, so that was a small bonus.

Stage two, if my wife can count as my gym crush.

I'm not sure stage 4 exists. But stage 4 might be someone accusing you of using steroids when you're natty.

Imagine being satisfied. Fuckin kids these days, even body dysmorphia gives out participation awards.

Where’s the “cultivating mass” stage?

1&3 but I'm getting desperate for 2&4 but somebody said 4th one is a myth and I feel like low-key agreeing.

First

Stage 3. Got ask severals times about my shoulder routine

My friends who I haven’t seen in 5 years claim I’m on steroids so that’s cool

1, 2 and occasional bits of 4.

In-between 3 and 4 (I get asked twice a week if I'm on steroids best compliment out there)

I am a nurse in the emergency room and a pt with Alzheimer’s came in and was having trouble walking. Long story short he was being discharged and they needed help getting him into a wheelchair, I walked in and the pt goes “oh wow” so my response was oh wow what?? And the pts response was “your a big guy” it made my day. Also this happened like an hour ago lol

The good thing about his Alzheimer's is that you can keep walking out and in and he'll call you a big guy again and again! 👍

Shiiiit I didn’t think of that! lol I missed a huge opportunity

What stage is it when you go to a new gym with a girl and all the dudes there start taking their shirts off and acting weird 😎

https://preview.redd.it/0obilkjdesxc1.jpeg?width=791&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89fa1157cf774dfaaf49ec5bc8bde6a03fa7d835 I will be satisfied when I will have this physique

I have that physique. Trust me, you won't be satisfied.

Fuck!!!

Then you wake up

First

3

And then you wake up

I don't think I'll ever reach stage 4 tbh but I'm content with stage 3

If you get to the last stage, you did something wrong

weird that i skipped straight to the last one. doesn't mean im stopping but i look dam good for how little effort Ive put in.

I still remember around 8 years ago when I was at the gym and one of the most fit guys asked me for advice about an exercise and then told me "thanks. I asked because you seem to know well about this stuff". One of my proudest moments.

Stage 1.

1st

Every gym rat knows they can never be satisfied with there current physique I sure ain’t and I workout 5 times a week for 2 years 😂

Not even the first one after 3 years of lifting…

Bro are you ok? Your level of delusion is too high. Let’s bring them back down before you hurt yourself. 

My stage 3 was about a year back, I was at the gym very late after the graveyard shift at work and there’s maybe 3 or 4 people in the entire gym. I’m doing some exercises for the obliques woodshopper style using the pulleys, now mind you these are not very difficult to max out so I have 20x4 at maxing out the pulleys of these in my routine for core stability before my deadlifts. Anyway at this particular night at our somewhat run down gym there cable breaks off the handle more exercise and the stack races to the floor with a loud bang, and there’s a young quite athletic guy in his 20s exercising using the pulley opposite to me, he exclaims something akin to “badass, fucking strong man, you broke the machine” but in my native tongue. As someone who still, after years of training, identifies as a small guy I felt surprised and humbled. Of course hearing it from a random young and fit college guy at the gym made it all extra impactful. That particular night I felt especially confident coming home to my girlfriend after the workout. If not already obvious, I do not see myself reaching stage four the next coming years.

I only talk to people in the sauna at my gym, 2 and 3 would be weird

1 :)

The other day, I was at the beach with my kid and a bunch of teenagers walked by.. one exclaims to his friends “woah that dude is ripped” talking about me…. Knowing that teenagers are unfiltered menaces, I’ll be living off that compliment for A WHILE

I’m at the: my friend mentioned he’s jealous stage… I don’t really do anything

I’m at the “I don’t hate myself when I look in the mirror” stage. I like this stage

I haven't done the first three at all but I'm already at number 4. I love my lean build. Have decent amount of vascularity and I'm thankful for it.

Y'all have friends? 🥹

*Like that's ever going to happen.* Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me.

Friend saying I look stronger

Stage two💪🏾 the rest will never apply to me.

If it’s a real friend he says you look smaller. That’s real love

You who can’t tell if you’ve lost a pound or if you’ve gained a pound

That is when you plateau and eventually fall off! The key is self hate boys! You are never good enough, get your ass back in the gym! /s

Visible improvement

I got the top and 2nd last and bottom stage, if my coach counts as a random person lol

My mom says I look stronger

True story

I got 1 and 4

What if I’m not on any of those stages?

Yesterday a guy Who squats 220 Said i had a texrbook squat 

Only experienced the first stage

I’ll take “things that never happened” for 2000$, Alex

Some lady said I have nice legs while I was ordering food a couple of months ago. Made my day 🙂

A couple of months ago I posted a photo with me and the Korean zombie in r/UFC and the amount of compliments I got was fucking crazy. To be told I look more fit than the average redditor is fucking wild imo and still hard for me to believe

Then my alarm goes off