Modern-day bodybuilding icon Chris Bumstead did something uncharacteristic in a clip from a recent video. While the five-time Classic Physique Olympia winner is often soft-spoken and encouraging to his audience, he decided to show everyone a little tough love. CBum wants people to stop overthinking.

While many people vow to make progress and take up fitness, they never start. According to CBum, this is because people think more and do less. “Was having one of those cynical days and felt like ranting a little…“ the King of Classic Physique wrote in his caption, adding that people are missing their opportunities.

“Honestly! There’s some optimism here, for some low barrier of entry personal growth,“ said CBum. “Stop analyzing, stop criticizing, both yourself and others, and go fail at some sh*t,“ wrote Chris Bumstead. The 29-year-old explained that many overthink their approach and criticize those who try and fail but don’t give up.

“Go give someone a ‘good job!‘ for sucking at something, because at least they’re trying. Maybe it will even give yourself permission to do the same,” wrote the Canadian bodybuilding icon. Chris Bumstead thinks that everyone is too afraid to fail. Owing to perfectly curated social media, people only believe there is joy in success, says the bodybuilder.

However, they forget that to become successful at something, you must fail before getting better. “We find meaning in trying difficult things, not just in succeeding at them,” Chris Bumstead wrote.

Earlier, the bodybuilding champion had spoken about his experience trying to become a bodybuilding champion, giving budding bodybuilders another lesson at keeping at it no matter what the odds. 

Chris Bumstead wasn’t scared to fail

While Bumstead now trains with legendary Coach Hanry Rambod, he started out like everyone else. The five-time Mr. Olympia winner used training and the gym to escape stress. He also made several training mistakes. “I was training max out fu**ng two rep, one rep maxes, three times a week, and I was 20 years old,” CBum said in the original video.

While the reigning champion’s body could handle it, he learned from those mistakes. In fact, Chris Bumstead even got hurt and tore a few muscles during his training sessions. That being said, he wouldn’t have learned if he was too afraid to try different programs or experiment with his training.

The 29-year-old thus reminds people not to obsess over optimizing their training and diet. While optimization helps, it may also drag you into constantly analyzing your program rather than going to the gym and training. At the end of the day, CBum wants people to put their thoughts into action instead of perpetually devising the perfect plan.