Goals
Set short and long term goals. These goals should be realistic. Dont plan on gaining 50 lbs of muscle in 3 months. Twenty to twenty-five pounds of weight gain with 10 to 15 lbs of it being muscle in a year is a reasonable goal. Have an ultimate goal in mind for a year or more down the road, but set shorter term intermediate goals which lead up to the ultimate goal. These shorter intermediate goals when met help provide motivation in striving for the long term goals.
Water
Drink plenty of water on a continual basis. But sure to stay fully hydrated especially during workouts. Water will help you stay energized and help keep your body cooled through the workout. If you do not replace the fluids you use during exercise, your blood pressure can rise, placing stress on your cardiovascular system. Headaches, dizziness and a felling of tiredness can result. See my article, How Much Water You Should Be Drinking Daily for specific daily water drinking recommendations.
Protein
Plan to eat a whole lot of protein. Since you will be very active, your body will require more protein than if you were sedentary. You should plan to consume 2/3 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Since you are breaking down your muscles when you train, eating a lot of protein (especially after a workout) will release amino acids into your blood which will be drawn upon for the rebuilding of your muscle tissue. This is how you attain muscle growth.
Meals
Split your daily food intake up into at least 4 separate meals. Six meals would be ideal, but four is acceptable, just dont eat one huge meal for the day. Try to have at least 20 grams of protein in each meal, and be sure that the total amount of protein for all meals combined adds up to the amount recommended for your body weight according to the previous paragraph. Your body needs nutrients throughout the day especially after physical activity. The idea is to feed your body the nutrients it needs when it needs them. Nutrients you take in that are not needed by your body at the time will be stored as fat. Of course this may not be as big of an issue for you if you are looking to gain muscle size and mass, but if kept unchecked you will find that not only are your biceps getting bigger but also your mid section. Keep in mind that a meal referred to here does not necessarily have to be a large amount of food. In fact, a meal could be a glass of milk and a peanut butter sandwi ch, a protein bar, a few slices of cheddar cheese and some whole wheat crackers, or whatever else you would like. Just make sure to get in your protein.
Calories
Be sure that in addition to protein that you body gets enough calories. Plan to shoot for getting 20 calories per pound of body weight each day. This will account for the fact that you are replacing calories expended during physical activity and an extra amount you are including to allow your body to grow bigger and therefore accommodate more muscle. If you keep your calories too low you will more than likely not add muscle mass unless you have great genetics.
Weight Lifting
Plan to put in some effort at the gym. You should plan to train each of the major muscle groups: Pectorals (Chest), Latissimus Dorsi (Back), Deltoids (Shoulders), Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Trapezious (Neck), Biceps, Triceps, Abdominals and Calves. In general, it would be good to plan on training each muscle group, once or twice per week. At the beginning of each workout, perform one or two light warm up sets for each muscle group then proceed to the working sets. Each set should contain 6 to 12 repetitions of the exercise movement. If you are a beginner, you would want to do no more than 5 working sets (not including warm up sets) per muscle group per week. If you have been at this for a while, I would personally not recommend more than 12 working sets per muscle group per week. Two possible exceptions may be abdominals and calves. You could work these muscles out a little more often if you wanted to. Remember more is not better when it comes to work out volume, too much can d iminish your gains.
Weight Lifting Schedule
Try to schedule your workouts at a time of day you can actually make. This could be in the morning before work, at your lunch break or in the evening. The point is that you set a schedule and stick to it.
Muscle Rest
You are pushing your body very hard and it needs to rest. You are continually breaking down your muscles when you lift weights, so you feed your muscles the nutrients they need, but now is by far the most important step for muscle growth, rest. When your muscles are resting, they are rebuilding bigger and stronger. If you train a muscle not fully recovered on a consistent basis, you break it down further and over time it will actually lose size and strength. Symptoms of overtraining include but are not limited to: persistent muscle soreness, sustained decrease in muscle strength (performance), fatigue, and depression.
Accountability
Having an inner drive and an external motivation (a goal) are two great things and will get you far, but the day in and day out discipline required to maintain this program can try the very best. Undoubtedly most of us start out with zeal and passion to start our workout plan, but as with most things we will go through highs and lows. There will be days when you are tired (even if you have not overtrained and have gotten plenty of sleep the night before) and dont want to go to the gym or would just rather do something else. But you have to go to the gym and do your workout. Even when its a hassle to pack the extra sandwich and milk in your lunch, you will have to do if you want to be successful. Here is where an accountability / training partner is an invaluable asset. Having someone to train with or hold you to account will push you in ways you could not push yourself. You will find that if you have a partner who knows your goals and is dedicated to helping you achieve them , you will make sure to show up at the gym, you will also stick well to your eating plan, because if you dont youll have to answer for it. This accountability is of course mutual. With a training partner you will also have someone to push you to make sure you give it your all in your workouts. This way both of you will succeed.
Training Log
You should keep a training journal to keep track of your progress. This could minimally be achieved by writing down for each of your workouts, the date, time of the day, exercises, sets, reps, and weights in each exercise. Once you have a few weeks worth of information, you can use this data to determine what time of day do you perform best, what exercises yield you the most gains, the number of reps your body best responds to, etc. Overtime, you will begin to see how much progress you have made in your strength in the various exercises and be motivated by it. It would also be helpful to take measurements of specific body parts such as arms, shoulders, upper thigh, etc. This will allow you to see just how much physically your muscles have grown.
Sleep
Be sure to get plenty of sleep each night. You are demanding a lot from your body, dont shortchange it from the sleep it needs. Getting between 6 to 8 hours of sleep each night would be preferable. Try 6 hours for a few nights and try 8, see which works best for you, your body will tell you what it needs.
Tip:
Really give it your all in each of the outlined areas because you really will get out of it what you put in!
Warning:
Be sure to consult your medical physician before performing any exercise routine especially if you have a physical condition that may be adversely affected. When training, use common sense and caution.
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Sources:
How Much Muscle Can You Gain In A Year Really?
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Home :: Muscle Building Nutrition :: Fluids
/fluids-water.htm
How Many Calories Can I Have And Still Lose Weight?
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Muscle, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
/wiki/Muscle
Adequate Rest to Avoid Overtraining and Maximize Muscle Gain
/adequate-rest.html
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