This is a set of information where I have learned from my mistakes and my progress has skyrocketed because of it.
Eating and Food:Gaining muscle is much easier for me when eating cleaner. It is much easier to see progress when you aren't stuffing McDoubles down your throat every week.
My number 1 point of advice on this subject is learn how to cook and create some good meals. I personally eat chicken, hamburger, or steak everyday post workout. Cooking for yourself not only helps you keep track of your macros, but it can also better you as a human being.
Listen to your body:
For me, overtraining hasn't been an issue. I can workout everyday for months on end and still see solid gains. I went from 157 to 185 in a period of 8 months with little fat gain.
I spent a lot of time stuck at 180 because I wasn't eating enough. I then used a calorie calculator to calculate what I needed to be eating. Apparently I was supposed to be getting 3500 calories to gain weight. What I didn't factor in was my hyper active metabolism. Because of my metabolism, I had to eat over 4000 calories to notice any types of weight gain over the week. If I strayed away from the calculator earlier and looked at my mistake, I could be a few pounds heavier now rather than just hanging around at my maintenance level.
Always Push Yourself:
My philosophy in life is to excel at everything I do. In order to excel in lifting you really have to put in the full 110% if you are planning on making good gains week after week. When I got lazy I noticed that I wouldn't break any of my plateaus and it seemed like I was just going through the motions. I had to pump myself up and go to the gym and break every plateau to push myself to the next level.
If you aren't at 110% don't go to the gym. Save it for another day.
