doesn't make any sense whatsoever

Is muscle building really this brutally slow or is it just me?

You see all these people on YouTube that do these three months Transformations, put on like 25 lb of muscle and go from fat to shredded. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. I'm definitely getting stronger, all my core exercises are increasing, I'm getting bigger, but it's unbelievably slow in comparison with the amount of work that I'm doing and my nutrition.

Here's what I do, tell me if I'm doing anything wrong:

I beat the ever-living crap out of a different muscle group everyday for at least two to three hours to the point where I almost always have direct onset muscle soreness and that muscle for the next day or two. I don't wimp out on weightlifting, I don't sit it on my phone at the gym, I give it everything I have every single day. In fact I actually own a gym!

I'm a 180 lb, so I get 180 grams of protein every single day

I eat at least 2000 calories everyday, eating more food is so hard for me. I hate being full all the time.

I get plenty of sleep, meditation, I allow at least two days for a muscle group to recover before I work on it again

I've been doing this consistently for 3 months, and the amount of progress I've made is pitiful compared to all this goddamn work I'm putting in. What the hell am I doing wrong? Is it really this insanely slow to have a shredded, super muscular body? why does it seem like everybody else is blowing up so quick? It really makes me question whether people are doing steroids or hgh. How can they not be? I'm literally doing everything correct and the progress is insanely slow.

As long as I know not doing anything wrong, I'm definitely willing to keep this up for the next 20 years if I have to. I just want to find out if it's really this slow or not.

Yep, it is slow.

Ignore "transformations" you see because there is a lot of smoke and mirrors involved. There are various factors at play such as
- actually already built lots of muscle - just need to cut or even just drop water
- use better lighting
- lie
- use a raft of drugs

etc.

Another thing - at 180lbs, unless you are very tall, you probably carry more bodyfat than your realise. This will prevent modest amounts of muscle showing because your BF% is too high. You may be alarmed to learn that you would actually need to drop anything up to 30lbs at this point to look lean and toned.

Getting shredded at 180lbs is a multi year goal for sure. Possibly even a lifetime natty best

I wrote a long response for the first time in a while and due to a forum error it wouldn't let me post it.

Cliff notes:

1. If you can work out for 2-3 hours a day you are not working very hard in the gym or you're taking a long a$$ time between sets or you're lollygagging around. You should be done with a strength training workout in an hour to a hour and a half - MAX.

2. Unless you're 6'1" - 6'2" you're not going to look muscular and well defined as a natural at 180 lbs, and even then it will take you a few years (think at least 3-5) to get there. As a natural you can expect to build 8-12 lbs of muscle in your FIRST YEAR of training (with perfect training and nutrition), then it drops by 50% for each successive year after that.

3. Online "transformations" are basically BS as Suffolk mentioned above. Most of those people already had a boatload of muscle and just go on a steep cut dropping 25-30 lbs to look shredded.