In 2018 when I found out about TRP, I started lifting and I tried my best to build muscles but little did I know, I was a hardcase of fucking around and I was lifting on and off throughout the year and ended up with no gains whatsoever. It really fucked with my mind seeing guys posting newbie gains and I wished I had those gains. I did my research, I was following a typical beginner LP program at the gym but I was never making any noticeable progress.

Sure. I felt better now that I'm moving and making blood flow more than usual, but there were no gains and I got frustrated really quick and gave up.

Anyways fast forward to pre-quarantine 2020 with a few months, I started doing calisthenics and it really resonated with me. Something about working out in the park under the sun and wind that made me find the gym claustrophobic and disgusting. Covid19 happened shortly after and i got locked down at home and my only outlet to get better physically was shut down to an indefinite time. I stayed in my home with one thought and one thought only, "I need to make gains no matter the fuck what".

I designed a very simple workout routine with the stuff I had in my dorm room: 2 small tables and a space large enough to be able to lie on my back and do sit-ups.

I started with 5 handstand push-ups + fill failure 5 dips on the 2 tables + till failure 10 pushups + till failure Per set 3 sets perk workout

Now I'm doing 10, 15, and 20

Seriously. That's it. Every workout I'd just switch the width of my grip to target different muscles but those exercises I've done consistently for the past month and what the actual fuck. I made gains. Especially around my pecs and shoulders.

It has been well over a month since I started working out at home for real and I can finally say I made some newbie gains and it feels fucking awesome. I just want to share my experience figuring it might help somebody.

I've also just ordered a pull-up bar and it should arrive tomorrow. I'm gonna add pull-ups and Australian pull-ups to my workout. And thinking about moving from normal pushups to declined pushups. Anyways let me know how I can add more volume to my workout.

1st mistake: never daring to go beyond what I can do fearing an injury

In the past, I'd set a number of reps following a strict working out routine and I'd stick with it for dear life whether I felt tired or not. And whenever I worked out, I'd never go beyond what I could do. I never did reps to failure the way they're supposed to. I'd do as much as I could but I'd stop right after 1 or 2 failed reps. I never really crashed my body, so I never made any progress. Now whenever I workout, I make sure to (a) aim for + 3-5 reps since last workout (depending on how difficult the exercise is), (b) extend the range of motion of the movement, and (c) go for a few more reps after until I literally can't feel my hands. It doesn't matter if I crash in the middle of the set, if the minimum number is not reached, I'd take a short break and then get back to work. By the end of the workout, my hands start to literally move all over the place as I twist my torso like dead body parts glued to me. And it is painful.

2nd mistake: never gave myself time to recover

As it turned out, 1 day is simply not enough for me to recover. The most common workout schedule is to work out a day, rest the next and work out the day after. Well that never worked for me.

Depending on how intense my last workout was and how many workouts I've done prior to it in a week span, I'd probably rest for 2-3 days. Sometimes I'd work out twice a week. And I learnt that one workout with that explosive muscle energy that you get from recovering is x963637 times better than a workout when you're exhausted. I think there's a misconception about overworking out with no rest days or whatever, but it's really not a good advice. Hypertrophy happens when you're resting and I'd say that the equation to making gains is as such

20%workout + 40% rest + 40% food.

From a technical standpoint, my workout sucks, but i made gains regardless, why? Because I crushed it.

Other things I did to speed up my recovery are yoga stretching and napping.

3rd mistake: never eating enough

Who wants to get fat? I genuinely believed that I can "lean bulk" for a very long term but I've never been more wrong in my life. I started eating at least 70g of proteins everyday from meat, protein shakes and nuts. Which all adds up to around 2000-2400kcal, that's +200-600kcal surplus. I did get fatter and gained some weight but I did also build some muscle. 70g is nowhere near the 180g recommended as per the 1g of protein per 1lbs of mass you see everywhere, but for me, again, it was more than enough. When I hit the 70g threshold, I just can't eat more. I'd feel sick and probably throw up. So I listened to my body and ate what I can and it worked.

Whenever someone said I need to eat in a caloric surplus, I never really saw the point. But now I get it. To hit that proteins amount necessary to build muscle, you've gotta go in a caloric surplus because you're not only eating proteins but also fats and carbs. My favourite meat is pork, minced, baconed, fried idgaf, if it's pork, I'd eat it. The only downside to it is that it's full of fats but for once in my life I stopped giving a fuck and I started eating whatever I could get my hands on and hey it worked. For every 20g of protein in 100g of minced pork, there are 4.7g of fats. For every 26g of protein peanuts, there are +40g of fats, so u see the point. Doesn't matter what you do, you can't avoid the extra fats you'll have.

So there you go. My 2 cents on TRP advice on building muscle and I hope it helps someone.