If Building Muscle Is Easy, Why Is Everyone Stuck?

Summer mailbag time, and you guys and gals sent us a bunch of great questions once again! The first one deals with the hidden gap between fitness science and real life: If research shows that building muscle is easy, why isn't every person you see at the gym jacked?

We spent a good deal of time on that one before moving on to four more questions; see the timestamps below.

We'll be back next week with the second part of this mailbag, answering another handful of questions.

Timestamps:

• 04:00 - Question 1: It seems to me that many of the studies you discuss show that it's easier to gain muscle and strength than what is commonly believed. This clashes a bit with my real-life experience, where I see the same people (more or less) at the gym, seemingly not progressing much. Why this dichotomy?
• 19:15 - Question 2: I've started doing the incline bench press due to time constraints, as I believe it's a good exercise for both the shoulders and the chest. But will it instead mean that neither of them gets enough training? Is it better to choose either shoulder presses or regular bench presses instead?
• 24:45 - Question 3: You guys do an amazing job with StrengthLog, this podcast, and the community. Top quality in everything. What are the main challenges you face in keeping this up? Especially when there are f***ing annoying people like me?
• 30:00 - Question 4: What do you think are the most under-trained muscles or muscle groups, and why? Should programming best practices include coverage for these muscles, and can it be done without very specialized equipment?
• 39:30 - Question 5: I'd like to know your origin story! How did you meet? What made you decide to make your app/company?

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that follow button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You'll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our Reddit community here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with "Train hard, eat well, die anyway", check out our shop here.