Don't wanna invest too much time in reading heaps of lengthy articles on specific things or in order to learn the basics or just want a refresher? Well then good, here ya go.
The things you NEED to know:
-The Principals of strength training (Individual differences and responses to training, specificity, overload, progression, adaptation, recovery, reversibility.
-Volume and intensity
-Periodization
-Diet, Supps and recovery modalities (btw SLEEP IS KING)
-Adherence is the way to success
Some Detail:
Everyone is different, Different recovery speeds and sleep needs and metabolisms not to mention limb lengths and muscle insertion points or genetic predispositions to being able/unable to easily add muscle and strength. Specificity to a skill allows for more efficient movement pattern. Overload is essentially why we train or rather it's the result we seek each time we hit the gym it's those microtears that our body has to adapt from. speaking of adaptation that's how we respond once we've recovered and just being aware of how you're responding to dif training stimulus and how that changes with new exercises, plans, diets or even daily fluctuations like sleep you can altar your recovery by sleeping an extra hour and maybe resting between sets a little longer or adding sets and volume in the long term. Reversibility is essentially when someone gets detrained from a stimulus or movement pattern and the muscle adaptation for that rep range or movement is deteoriated and some atrophy may occur as well as the neural efficiency declines. Supps aren't that important compared to your macronutrient ratio and calories which btw is how you lose weight or gain weight just track those suckers by how much you eat and burn with a fitbit or just eat an amount more or less then you usauly do and check weight and caliper progress to align with your goals. Losing %1 bodyweight per week is a good goal if you're above 15% bodyfat then below that it's something like 0.5-0.8% that you wanna shoot for. Gaining weight is largely genetic dependent but in the first year of lifting men usually gain 20-25lbs of weight (muscle only? can't remember the source and the study cited) and 5-10 per year until the 2 year is common then 3-5lbs per year after 2 years is the norm. Hot and Cold therapy and massage or ART or even myofascial release all are helpful for recovery especially with chronic injuries and deload weeks. SLEEP IS KING. Fuck Volume get yo sleep MOFO srs sleep is like the steroids of natural lifting it's the difference between success and failure on any plan, any workout, any day and every aspect of a persons cognitve functions and physical endurance and strength are effected i don't have scientific studies just self evidential experiences but I'm sure you'll forgive me because we've all experienced sleep deprivation and it SUCKS. Lastly slow and steady is the mindset since that's the name of the game you gotta be in for the long haul it's a lifetime sport unlike most sports gains and progress can be made up to a persons 40s if you start in your 20s that's 2 decades!!! This is all about the habits of success and not just about motivating yourself to your goals, make your goals go on autopilot so they happen regardless of how you're feeling
TLDR Everyone is different, specificity to a skill allows for more efficiency, overload and progression drive stimulus which creates the opportunity for adaptation with good recovery. Recovery is what makes you get stronger. You stop doing something and you get worse at that thing. Volume can act as overload but to a point it's inefficient as intensity is lowered. Fluctuate Volume and Intensity for a hypertrophy phase and a strength phase. Food is your fuel and is second to sleep only as your body needs energy and time to recover and adapt efficiently. Supps are not that important but if you don't wanna leave any stone unturned then your best bets are creatine monohydrate, citruline mallate and caffeine. Hot and cold showers or sauna and pool or etc helps blood flow and recovery. Adherence is the only way to maximizing your potential and actually reaching your genetic potential.
Thanks for reading and happy gainsgiving
-Mr Wolf
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