Was the potential of the old saiyan blocked?

[Alkiser]

As we know the Saiyans liked to rely excessively on the Oozaru form, and they were sent to easily conquered planets such as Kanassa or Cereal, which is why they may have been so weak compared to the current Earth generation of Saiyans And as we know conquering planets without fighting does not, after all, lead to the zenkai boost which is their key feature of development.

And in your opinion, were the Saiyans of planet Vegeta so weak at their own request or simply the conditions were not conducive to their development?

[Trouser]

They were "weak" because they didn't train. Son Goku is the only exception, he wanted to be the strongest and wanted to fight strong opponents. Vegeta started training only because he developed an obsession to beat Son Goku. He started training only after Namek's events.

Saiyans, as a race, were lazy bums, depending only on Oozaru's tranformations and zenkai.

[theherodjl]

A number of Saiyans also weren't too powerful to begin with. Paragus actually even killed another Saiyan with a simple laser gun, so just because some Saiyans were born as Saiyans didn't make them inherently strong or special. Ginyu mentioned something about how some fighters may be mutants and are thus, stronger than others as a result. I think that describes how Goku & Vegeta(and Gohan & Broly too) are, aberrations among Saiyans; and I don't think it's a coincidence that they were, given that they all appeared when the universe required a fighter(s) strong enough to contend with Beerus as per destiny.

[Hulk10]

I think Toriyama or Toyotaro said that most Saiyans were low level ones. Of the 1,000 or so Saiyans on Planet Vegeta, only 12 were elites and 3 were super elites. Those super elites being Vegeta III, Vegeta IV and Broly.

[nickzambuto]

I know we hate the S cells thing, but the idea that saiyans grow stronger in a peaceful environment rather than a stressful environment does explain this. It also explains why Future Gohan could never beat the androids.

[Hulk10]

Future Gohan never got stronger because he never thought to properly train his Super Saiyan form. Higher S-cell count only refers to becoming a Super Saiyan as far as I know.