TRAINING

Coach Blu's
General Training Tips

Form > Weight

Master form first.

You may find that you have hindrances to mastering your form. For example, tight calves or poor ankle mobility will result in poor form when performing squats. Your goal, then, would be to improve your ankle mobility first before you start adding weight to your squat.
Avoid adding too much weight where your form is sacrificed. If your form is thrown off due to weight, then lower the weight, no exceptions.
With proper form, you can control the weight, and ultimately control the time your muscles are under tension, which enables you to really fine-tune your workouts, sets, and reps.
When in doubt, pretend you're a robot. When a robot moves, it's linear, strict, and steady.

Nutrition & Dieting > Training

You can do all the exercises in the world, spend infinite hours at the gym, and run as many miles as you like, but it all means nothing without proper nutrition. Just as you can't build a building without materials, you can't build muscles without a healthy diet and enough calories. Nutrition and consuming enough calories was and still is the most difficult part of fitness for me and probably half the population. Figuring out your nutrition and diet first will not only help you build muscle and endurance, but it will help you for the rest of your life as your body, metabolism, and priorities change.

For Strength, focus on the Major Compound Exercises

Major compound exercises include:

Bench Press
Shoulder Press
Dips

Deadlifts
Squats
Lunges

Rows
Pull-ups

If you cannot perform these exercises, then you should train to be able to perform these exercises.

For example, pull-ups. Doing a pull-up with just body weight and proper form can be difficult. Use exercises like lat pulldowns, dead hangs, and pull-up eccentrics/negatives to work your way up to performing pull-ups.

Add Tempo/Time under Tension to your Sets

Most workout plans will only list sets and repetitions. The tempo for both the concentric and eccentric phases of a lift is just as important. This represents the time your muscles are under tension for each repetition. For example, in a bicep curl, you lift the weight up (concentric) and lower the weight down (eccentric). Setting a tempo for each phase might look like "Set 1, 10 reps, 2-second concentric, 4-second eccentric". Aiming to meet a tempo will indirectly force you to focus on form and control and will also increase muscle hypertrophy and endurance, which is what it's all about!