What’s a mistake beginners make in bodybuilding?
Michli says: “Failing to fall in love with the process! Results don’t come overnight, bodybuilding is a never-ending way of life. There is no finish line, perfection can never be achieved, although we will always strive for it, which is ultimately where the beauty of bodybuilding lies.
“Spending our lives chasing after something that cannot be achieved but staying as close as possible to it. When you truly understand this concept then you’ll fall in love with bodybuilding forever, and your mindset will always be superior.”
How important is nutrition compared to training?
“Nutrition will always be more important than the actual training element. You cannot grow or repair your muscles without feeding them the correct nutrients,” says Michli. “The three basic elements of bodybuilding are nutrition, recovery and training. You will need to provide your body with the correct nutrients throughout the day for your muscles to recover and grow while you’re sleeping. You do not grow while you’re in the gym, you only damage your muscle fibres while you’re in the gym. You grow while you’re sleeping! And without the correct nutrients, your muscles will not repair and grow while you’re sleeping.”
Advice for breaking through a plateau?
“Do something different,” suggests Michli. “When we train in the gym it’s easy to just keep repeating the same workout week after week, but what happens when you do this is your muscles become resilient to the same damage being caused, and thus don’t allow for new muscle growth.
“Your diet can remain the same with minor adjustments, but your training must constantly adapt and evolve. Another point to consider is not letting your ego get in the way of your progress. We’re not powerlifters, we don’t want to just shift weight through momentum. It’s quite the opposite. As bodybuilders, we want to make the lightest weight feel as heavy as possible by isolating the tension to the desired muscle.”
