Hey, friends. After my last ranting post, I figured that I might as well contribute something helpful to the community, after months of leeching and learning. I know that a lot of you might already know this, but if I could help somebody better themselves with this post, I will. This is how I learned.

Take this advice at your own discretion. I'm far from a genius and far from licensed. This is how I understand things.

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Law 1: Thou Shall Eat Depending On Your Goals

Are you a chubby guy? You want to lose some weight? Eat in a caloric deficit. Weight is determined by how many calories you eat. If you eat over the amount that your body burns per day, you will gain weight. If you eat under the amount your body burns per day, you will lose weight. If you're skinny and you want to get bigger, eat more calories than your body burns. It's that easy. Your metabolism is not as high as you think it is. As a matter of fact, several studies have shown (i'll link them if anyone wants me to go look for them) that the highest of metabolisms (extreme outliers) only change your BMR (basal metabolic rate, the amount of energy your body expends without any physical activity) by 300 calories at an extreme maximum.

There are no excuses. Not losing weight? You're not a caloric deficit. Not gaining weight? You're not in a caloric surplus. It's that simple. Track your caloric intake using MyFitnessPal and buy a scale and weigh your fucking food. There is no shame in doing so. It will give you data and statistics and that's better than just saying "just fuckin eat less man!!!!! JUST start doing CARDIO brah!!!!"

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Law 2: Thou Shall Not Neglect Thy Macronutrients

While it is evident that bodyweight is determined by an energy balance (calories in, calories out), your body's COMPOSITION is determined by macronutrients. Now, if you're in a surplus, meaning you're gaining weight, this law isn't as important. However, if you're LOSING weight, it's important to keep protein high. The reason for this is that protein helps you preserve lean muscle mass, and if you're a natural, drug free lifter, your body will be in a catabolic state whilst in a caloric deficit. This means that although you're burning fat, you're also burning through muscle tissue. This comes with the game, so keeping protein relatively high (1.0-1.2g/lb bw) will help.

Also, keeping protein high on a cut will help you feel satiated. That's why a lot of people do ketogenic diets.

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Law 3: Thou Shall Follow a Goddamned Program

Stop making your own splits. Seriously. If you want to be simple about it, you can be, but for drug-free lifters, there are tons of ways you can make better progress if you follow a lot of the linear progression programs (if you're a beginner) that you can find in the Fitness sub. Also, follow a program that is relative to your goals. Do your research. If you're a beginner, you don't need to follow a 6-day PPL (push, pull, legs) split to make good progress.

For beginners, I'd recommend full body routines with added accessories as you see fit. Something like Jason Blaha's Ice-Cream Fitness 5x5 will do perfectly, although, it depends on your goals. Also, don't neglect compound movements. More on this later.

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Law 4: Thou Shall Sleep

You can eat good, train good, but if your sleep is shitty, you will not make progress as fast as you could be making it with adequate sleep. Believe me. The results are day and night. (haha!) Food is important to training because of the added recovery benefits just as well as because it helps you build new tissue. Sleep is also very important for added recovery benefits. I'd recommend getting up to 9 hours of sleep if you can, with 7 being the bare minimum.

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Law 5: Thou Shall Not Neglect Compounds

Don't be Johnny Bodybuilder, going to the gym to hit your 3x8 curls and your 4x12 flies and then leave. Compound movements are gifts sent from the heavens. Instead of isolating each muscle and adding unwanted pressure to your ligaments and tendons with insane amounts of volume, what if I told you that you could hit MULTIPLE muscle groups with one exercise?

The main, conventional compound lifts are considered to be the flat barbell bench press, the barbell row, the barbell overhead press, the deadlift, and the squat.

Exercises like the deadlift work almost your entire lower body, parts of your upper body, and your posterior chain. Squats work your core and your entire lower body, pretty much. You get the point. You can google these exercises to see exactly the muscle groups that they work. Take the bench press, compared to a fly. With the bench press, you're activating your posterior chain when using leg drive, your pecs, your shoulders, your forearms, and your triceps. With a fly, you'll get mainly pec activation. What would you rather spend your time on?

Train smarter, not harder.

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Law 6: Thou Shall Remain Consistent

Law speaks for itself. The results aren't going to be there tomorrow. Or next week. You'll start seeing them eventually, but don't stop. Keep pushing. The results will pay off one day, especially if you follow the tips and tricks I've outlined for you in this writeup.

Make sure you're tracking your progress, eating, sleeping, and good things will come. Don't get lazy once it's been a month and you're results that are not up to your standards or when you go to the gym and the workout is hard. You've got to push yourself for these things. Nothing worth having comes easily. There will be days where you want to quit. There will be days where that pack of oreos is staring at you in the face, but you're on a cut. There will be days where that plate of food looks like it's gonna push you over the edge and make you puke, but you're trying to gain.

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Law 7: Thou Shall Always Look To Improve

Don't reach a goal and be happy with it. You can be content in the moment, but never settle. Part of the game is always trying to reach the top. You hit a new bench PR? Good. Go hit another one. Don't give up because you hit your "goal" because there's always a higher ceiling.

What's that? You're a natural drug free lifter with the world record in every lift in every weight class? Looks like your ass better hop on gear and go break some more records, because there's always more room to improve. Never settle. You can always push yourself to do bigger and better things. That's what separates the good from the relentless. That never-ending drive to continue to push yourself.

(Disclaimer: I just graduated highschool. I am NOT a professional coach, athlete, or anything of the sort. These are things that I have learned on my own time.)