Things you need to know when trying to change your physique.

Lately, I have had a few guys approach me for coaching (from this forum, and not, but because I love this open forum I'm going to make a post here..) and there are a few misconceptions of what is required, what to expect, and just general things that need to be spoken about.

1.) Old habits do not create new results.
Everyone wants to be in the best shape possible and expects to get there doing the same things that got them where they currently are. In order to get to a new destination, you need to change your route, which means you need to change your habits. This means: that you need to comply with your diet, if you have a certain number of calories you are allowed to consume per day, do not be surprised that things go off the rails when you don't stick to it.  You need to come to terms with behavioral changes, this means that working 5 days a week and just throwing it in the fuck it bucket for 2 days over the weekend is not going to cut it. YOU NEED TO COMPLY WITH YOUR PLAN FOR IT TO WORK. 

2.) you need to track what you are doing in order to judge progress.
This means you need to track your step count, you need to track your food, you need to track your workouts, you need to track your measurements and you need to log all of these things and keep records. Think of your body as an investment account, if you aren't getting statements from your broker/bank and you don't know if your investment is growing or declining and for what reason, you would be pretty upset when the long-term goal is investment accrual (lean body mass). When you don't have data to reflect from, it's impossible to know what performance is doing. It would be the same with your salary, if you didn't know how much you were getting every month, how would you budget? would you say I'm trying to save money, but then not look at the prices of things and swipe your card and hope and pray there is money left over at the end of the month? no. So why do the same with your physique?

3.) YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN DO THE WORK, PUT IN THE EFFORT, AND GET THE RESULTS.
If you dont comply and do what you need to do, what failed? the plan or the application? sorry to tell you this, but there is 0 magic bullet, there is no magical food, macro ratio, or workout split, it's all about consistent effort over time, so if you aren't willing to put in the work,dont expect the results.

4.) It does get hard, it does get boring, but what are you wanting?
Be realistic with your goals and know sometimes discipline is going to be more of a driver than motivation. It is not my job as a coach to motivate you, its my job as a coach to track what you are doing, make amendments and tailor your plan based on what you are achieving. Yes doing squats is boring, but if you are making progress, that should motivate you to try and do better and push harder. When trying to gain muscle it is hard, progress can be slow, but not as slow as if you actually dont do the work.

5.) if you have been a certain way for years dont expect overnight changes.
if you have been overweight for 20 years and want to be lean in 12 weeks. Your body will fight you as it likes homeostasis. the longer you are at a certain point, the longer it will take to adapt to the new set point and stay there. same if you have been skinny with no muscle for 12 years, dont expect 1 course of gear to make you Ronnie Coleman. 

6.) Gear is a part of the process, not the whole process.
Yes, there are studies done that say 600mg of testosterone with no exercise grows more muscle than no gear and exercise, but why not add all of the elements and make the same time frame more efficient?
you still need to give the body a stimulus to recover from (training) the building blocks to create new muscle (food) and time to recover and grow new muscle ( sleep and recovery) and then gear to accelerate the whole process. I would rather see clients grow 4-6kgs of lean tissue over 10 weeks in a 10-week course 3-4x a year than someone put on 20kgs in one cycle to lose 40% of it when coming off but also have health complications as a result of high doses.

7.) longer, lower, slower.
as I said above, the longer you are at a certain point, the better your body becomes at staying there. so add 5kgs, maintain it, and the body gets used to it. add another 5, rinse wash, and repeat. gaining 10kgs of muscle is easier to maintain when done over a year vs done over 10 weeks.

8.) cardio still needs to be done.
even if you dont want to be lean and you want gainz and to be jacked bro, cardio helps you stay alive, which is way more beneficial to being big and jacked than being in a box dead. 

9.) get your blood work done at least 2x a year.
if you are doing the blast and cruise idea, get the blood work done at the end of your course at the maximum dosing. and then 8-12 weeks later on your HRT doing. This is to see where your health is at is possibly worse, and at its possible best and you can have data to work from (like tracking all the other shit) 

10.) program your training to allow for rest periods.
"deload" every couple of weeks. Sadly joints and tendons dont get the same stimulation as muscles, so they are slow to repair in comparison to muscles. if you are pushing 100% balls out the whole 16-week period without some proper plan in place, you are asking for injury. Im not saying you have to stay out of the gym for a week. but even dropping your work sets from 4 to 2 and keeping the load the same but also coming down from 10 reps to 6 reps for a week, will allow for better recovery than just slamming your body into the ground with training for 16 weeks straight.

So much truth in one post

Its kak hard, Its kak sad, Its kak...

But , living lekker got me to where I was, Living better got me to where I am now, and living Right is going to get me to my goal.

I dont like focusing on the long goal, I prefer to be better than Obelix from yesterday.
American Glutton podcast had a good way of thinking about it, If you from yesterday had to rock up now and challenge you to fight to the death, you need to be able to beat him.

I like to think that everyday I will be able to kick yesterdays ass

you have 365 days in a year, and if you are better each day, 0,27% better than before, which all adds up to being 100% better each year.

Focus on the little wins, and the little progresses cos the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.