[BendtheBar]

Great story Gaz. Thanks for sharing. We share some similarities in our journey. I was very active earlier in life - running, baseball and basketball. I joined the military and start drinking, smoking and chasing tail. When I left the military I gained quite a bit of weight, simply because my activity level dropped. Lifting has been the only consistency throughout. It has been my source of confidence.

You have lifting and life in a healthy perspective, and that is always good to see.

Originally Posted by Gaz6682

-Listen. You have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk. Listen to those who have been there and done it and benefit from their experience.
-Form. Form is paramount, crack your form and the weight will follow.
-Diet. If you want get big eat, if you want to lose weight eat less. It doesn't have to be much more complicated than that for a beginner.
-Compounds.Do them. I dont care how bad for your back you think they are.
-Supplements.Stick to the basics, ignore fancy packaging and clever marketing and worry about whats in them.
-Criticism.Don't let Billy Biceps put you off with his 10 sets of 15 every day. Concentrate on you and your goals and the gains will come.
-Literature.If anything seems too good to be true it probably is. If it starts with "ripped in 30 days" don't waste your hard-earned cash. You get nothing in this game without working hard for it.
-Patience. Lastly but probably most important of all is patience. Rome wasn't built in a day. Be persistent, keep pushing yourself in all that you do and never, EVER give up.

^ That is a great list. A road map to success.