In a recent video on the Athlean-X channel, Jesse Laico has shared a video of his gradual progress in building strength and muscle in the gym over four years.

Considering he is a self-described “hardgainer” with a naturally skinny physique who struggles to put on weight, Laico’s body transformation is an impressive one—and as he has stated in previous videos, it was a journey that involved getting over his own ego and starting from scratch.

“I realized we all start somewhere,” he said. “It was forgetting about that embarrassment, going through the process, and learning how to do the lifts the right way. I’ve seen so much progress, not just in numbers but in my control of the bar.”

Bodyweight exercises were also an important part of Laico’s routine, as they helped him develop his control and stability which he was then able to apply to his weight training. “I was trying to command my body in space, and really slowed the movements down so that way I could feel every single muscle working throughout that movement,” he explained.

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One of the most consistently challenging aspects of the routine for a hardgainer like Laico, however, was on the nutrition side. “A lot of skinny guys think they’re eating a ton,” he says, “but if you write down what it is that you ate, you find out that you really weren’t eating as much as you thought. You thought you were eating like a beast, you were eating like a bird… It’s something I’m working on daily.”

Read more: Men’s Health