My point was that its not your job to manage peoples expectations.
On here, nope. It's simply a portal for all of us to share points of view. It would be cool though if it were a job!
In real life, as a trainer, you damn well better believe it's my job to manage people's expectations. Or at least help them to do so on their own.
So I'm not sure what you're referring to with your above statement... the former or latter?
If I think I can look like arnold and I want to strive towards that goal and work hard at it, then thats what I should do. If you want to be supportive then you should be, "yeah, you can do it shaun!". If you don't want to be supportive then you could just STFU

. True, I may never look exactly like arnold in his Mr Olympia days, but maybe I'll see certain things. "Oh, my shoulders are starting to get a lot more defined, my calves are getting some serious mass, etc."
I understand all of what you're saying. I just think peoples expectations are their own, it's not our job to manage them or tell them how realistic they are. As they make progress they'll realize things on their own and their expectations will change. IMO
Yea, that would be fine if that's how things played out in real life commonly.
Too bad it's not the common experience, especially with women. I see your point. Shoot for the moon... if you miss you'll be among the stars. We were just talking about this in my journal yesterday... or someplace around here.
I'm a huuuggggeee believer in setting BIG goals.
I'm also a firm believer in being logical.
These two things must be mixed. In my experience, take it for what you will, in real life scenarios people hold on to illogical goals and expectations to the end. Instead of being dynamic and flexible in their approach, their poor logic starts butting heads with reality. Frustration sets in. People give up.
I'm not suggesting this is everyone. It might not be the case with you, NB. If it's not, chalk yourself up there as one of the logical, rational, flexible, dynamic, bright ones.
But when it comes to my role as a trainer and my experience with a rather large spectrum of clientèle, what you're saying doesn't mesh with the reality of it all from my perspective.
So STFU
Ya see, being realistic and guiding expectations to the logical realm doesn't automatically mean I'm being negative or I'm being unsupportive. It's not so black and white.
I educate, align expectations with said education, and than support, cheer, motivate and whatever else you want to add to the list.