5 Lessons the Average Gym-Goer Can Take From Olympia Weekend

5 Lessons the Average Gym-Goer Can Take From Olympia Weekend

Olympia weekend is obviously the biggest weekend of the year in bodybuilding, and while most people reading this probably have absolutely no desire to ever step on a bodybuilding stage, I actually think there’s a lot the normal person who goes to the gym can take away from watching it.

You don’t have to care who wins Open Bodybuilding or understand exactly what the judges are looking for in Figure versus Bikini. If you take away all of the competition side of it, you’re basically watching people who have spent years trying to improve their physiques. Some of the things you see at that level are actually good reminders for the rest of us who are just trying to look better, get stronger and make progress in the gym.

1. There Really Isn’t One “Perfect” Physique

Just look at how many divisions there are at the Olympia and how different the athletes look from one division to another. Open Bodybuilding is completely different from Classic Physique and Men’s Physique. Then you have Bikini, Figure, Wellness and Women’s Physique on the women’s side, all looking for something different.

I think that’s worth remembering because people get very caught up in what they think they’re supposed to look like. The reality is that even at the highest level of physique competition, there isn’t one universally accepted version of the perfect body.

The same should apply to the rest of us. One person might want bigger legs and shoulders while somebody else wants a leaner, less muscular look. You might want abs. Your friend might not care about abs at all and just wants to feel good in a bathing suit. Someone else might care much more about what they can do in the gym than what they weigh.

I spend a lot of time talking to people about goals, and sometimes I think we need to do a better job of asking what we actually want instead of automatically deciding we need to lose weight because that’s what we’ve always associated with “getting in shape.”

2. For Better or Worse, Genetics Matter

You really can’t watch the Olympia without realizing how much genetics play a role in how somebody’s physique looks. That doesn’t take anything away from the insane amount of work these athletes put in, but people are built differently. We have different structures, different muscle shapes and insertions, different limb lengths, different tendencies for where we store body fat, and some of us are simply going to have an easier time developing certain areas than others.

I think there’s a useful lesson in that for normal people because we spend way too much time comparing ourselves to other bodies.

Two people could train together, eat similarly and make great progress, and still look nothing alike. One person might have naturally great legs and struggle to build their upper body. Someone else might barely have to think about their shoulders but spend years trying to bring their legs up.

Genetics aren’t a reason to decide you can’t improve. They’re just part of the equation. You still have an enormous amount of control over how much muscle you build, how strong you become, your body fat and the habits you develop. The part that usually isn’t very productive is deciding that your success depends on whether you can eventually look like somebody whose body was built completely differently from yours.

I’d much rather see someone find out how good their body can look.

3. Sometimes You Need to Stop Dieting and Actually Build Something

This is probably the biggest connection I see between bodybuilding and the people we work with every day.

A lot of people have spent years thinking that improving their physique always means losing more weight. They lose 10 pounds, look in the mirror and still aren’t completely happy, so naturally the answer becomes losing another 10.

There are definitely times when more fat loss is appropriate, but there are also plenty of times when the thing someone wants isn’t going to come from getting smaller. If you want more shape in your shoulders, better legs, more glute development or just more of an athletic appearance, eventually you need muscle to create that.

That’s something you see very clearly in bodybuilding because competitors don’t spend the entire year dieting. There has to be time devoted to actually improving the physique before they diet down and reveal it again.

Obviously the average person doesn’t need a bodybuilding offseason, but the principle still applies. There can be periods where your biggest priority isn’t making the scale go down. Maybe you’re eating around maintenance, training harder, trying to get stronger and giving yourself enough food to recover. You might even gain a few pounds while looking better.

We get so conditioned to judge progress by whether our weight is dropping that sometimes we miss the fact that building a better physique and weighing less aren’t always the same goal.

4. Even the Best in the World Have Things They Need to Improve

This one always makes me laugh a little when you think about it. Someone can have one of the best physiques on the entire planet, stand on the Olympia stage, and people are still analyzing what they need to bring up next year.

Maybe their back needs more thickness. Maybe their legs need to come up. Maybe their conditioning needs to be a little better. At that level the differences can be incredibly small, but there’s still something to work on.

For the rest of us, weak points are obviously going to be much easier to find, and that’s completely normal. What matters is what you do once you recognize them.

If you’ve been saying for three years that your legs are your weak point but you still train them half-heartedly once a week, you probably already know why they haven’t changed much. The same goes for strength, conditioning, mobility or anything else you’re trying to improve.

You don’t need to completely reinvent your training every month. Sometimes you just need to be a little more intentional about where you’re putting your effort and give it enough time to actually work.

5. Remember What You’re Actually Looking At

This might be the biggest reality check from Olympia weekend.

When you see these athletes on stage, you’re looking at them at a very specific point in time after months of preparation. You’re seeing the tan, the lighting, the posing and a level of conditioning that was specifically timed for them to look their best when they walked onto that stage.

That’s very different from what someone’s body looks like throughout an entire year.

I think social media has blurred that distinction for a lot of people. We see stage pictures, photoshoots and somebody’s best pictures from when they were at their absolute leanest, and after seeing enough of that it starts to feel normal. Then you look at yourself after dinner on a Wednesday night and wonder why you don’t look anything like it.

Even the people in those pictures don’t look like the people in those pictures all the time.

There are going to be times when you’re leaner and times when you’re not. There might be periods where you’re pushing harder for fat loss and others where you’re eating more and focusing on strength or muscle. You can also reach a point where you’re simply happy with your body and want to maintain it for a while.

None of those phases mean you’re doing anything wrong.

If there’s one thing I’d take away from watching Olympia weekend, it’s probably that building a physique is a much longer process than most people give it credit for. These athletes are obviously an extreme example, but the same basic idea applies to the rest of us. Your body is something you can continue working on for years. You don’t have to accomplish everything during your next eight-week diet.

Know what you want, work with the body you have, spend some time actually building instead of constantly trying to get smaller, and give the process enough time to see what you’re capable of!