I have felt so much more relaxed because I’ve upped my cardio to, at times, twice a day.  The extra cardio is relieving my stress in a big way.  This is important because when my stress is down my concentration is up.

Most people start out by cutting calories down so severely that they can’t possibly gain muscle.  Eating should be clean, but you have to keep your calories up if you expect to grow.  Some people are able to see growth right at their maintenance level.  Others, like me, need a slight increase in calories to grow.

I will let you in on a secret.  When you see those people who have done tremendous physique transformations and they look like they’ve gained so much muscle, the real truth is that they’ve cut out their body fat so much that the muscle underneath shows better.  They have not gained muscle, they have created an illusion by removing fat.

Consistency is one of the things that is hard to develop and even harder to hang on to.  You have to do things to keep yourself consistent.  I have personally discovered that I need to workout early in the morning.  If I don’t, life gets in the way and it doesn’t happen.  My way of keeping myself consistent in the morning is to set two alarm clocks, one that I have to get up and turn off.  Once I am up I am ready to hit the gym.

Most people do not get enough rest.  They compromise their ability to grow by not getting enough sleep.  I have found that taking naps is essential.  My body just makes me do it.  The harder I work in the gym the more my body demands rest.  I listen and give it what it needs.

Your muscles rebuild while you rest.  In addition, your body releases human growth hormone in the early stages of your sleep.  The two combined do wonders for keeping your body growing.

As you workout you will find the need to use progression in your program.  Progression comes in the form of either increased repetitions or increased weight being moved.  The fact is that your muscles get used to the amount of volume you subject them to.  Progression is a way to insure that you continue to challenge your muscles.

Another form of progressions is time under tension for the muscle.  This is one of the key concepts of the slow repetition.  You increase the time under tension to push your muscles harder.  This, in turn, causes growth to happen.