Table of Contents About Me……………………………………………………… ………………….…….pg. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………...................................pg. 3 Chapter 2: 10 Things I Wish I knew When I Started Lifting………....pg. 4 Chapter 3: Diet and Nutrition………………………………………….………..pg. 7 The Basics………………………………………………………………………...pg. 7 Calculating Macros……………………………………………..……………...pg. 7 Example Macro Calculation……………….………………………………...pg. 9 Composing Meals………………………..……………………………………...pg. 11 Tracking Your Diet………………………………………………………...….pg. 11 Meal Timing and Meal Frequency……………………………….…………pg. 11 Fiber……………………………………………………………………………… pg. 12 Sodium……………………………………………………………………………pg. 12 Flexible Dieting……………………………………………………………...…pg. 12 Fine Tuning Maintenance Calories………………………………...………pg. 12 Deciding to Bulk or Cut……………………………………………………...pg. 13 Gain Muscle and Lose Fat Simultaneously…………………………....…pg. 13 What About Skinny Fat? ………………………………………………....…pg. 14 If Your Goal is to Gain Muscle…………………………………...…………pg. 14 If Your Goal is to Lose Fat…………………………………...………………pg. 15 HELP! I Stalled……………………………………………………………….…pg. 15 Transitioning Between Bulking/Cutting…………………………..……pg.15 Tracking Macros When Eating Out…………………………………..……pg.16 Tracking Less Seriously………………………………………………...……pg. 17 Sample Meal Plans………………………………………………………..……pg. 18 Sample Meal Plan: Maintenance Macros…………………………….……pg.19 Sample Meal Plan: Bulking Macros………………………………..………pg. 20 Sample Meal Plan: Cutting Macros…………………………………...……pg.21 Chapter 4: Training……………………………………………………………...….pg. 23 Intro……………………………………………………………………………….pg.23 Four Types of Routines………………………………………………………pg.23 Full Body Routine……………………………………………………………..pg. 24 Body Part Split…………………………………………………………………pg.24 Upper/Lower Split……………………………………………………………pg. 25 Push/Pull/Legs…………………………………………………………………pg. 25 Sample Full Body Routine…………………………………………………..pg.25 Strength vs. Hypertrophy…………………………………………………..pg.28 Progressive Overload…………………………………………………………pg.28 Sample Intermediate Routine: Upper/Lower Split…………………..pg. 29 Sample Advanced Routine: Push/Pull/Legs Split……………………..pg.32 Chapter 5: Supplements……………………………………………………….......pg. 37 Recommended………………………………………………………………..…pg.37 Works But Not Necessary……………………………………………………pg.38 Useless…………………………………………………………….………………pg. 39 Chapter 6: Conclusion……………………………………………………………...pg. 40 ABOUT ME My name is Adam Pfau. At the time of writing this book, I am 27 years old. I began working out at the end of 2005 and like a lot of you now, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. After years of frustration and experimentation, I started to figure things out and made some decent progress. Although I never intended to compete in bodybuilding competitions, I wound up competing in my first show in 2010, two more in 2011, and a fourth one in 2015 where I won the overall and a WNBF pro card. Now, I can call myself a professional natural bodybuilder which is pretty cool. Despite this accomplishment, I’m just a guy who likes to live the fitness lifestyle. I know how frustrating it is when you first get into this so my goal is to help as many people as possible because it still feels like yesterday when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I am not a certified trainer or dietician. Everything you read in this book is strictly based on my own research and experimentation since 2005. Below you will see my progress over the years from 2005 to present day. Before beginning any new exercise or diet program, it is recommended that you seek medical advice from your personal physician. This book is not intended to be a substitute for the advice of a licensed physician, nor is it intended for the treatment or prevention of disease. Use of the information herein is at the sole risk of the reader. Copyright. No Part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. Copyright © 2017 by Adam Pfau. All rights reserved. 1 2015- After winning the overall at the WNBF Autumn Explosion and earning a Pro Card. 2 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION I remember joining the gym at the end of 2005 and immediately became addicted. Naturally, I wanted to maximize my progress so I tried to learn as much as possible in regards to training, nutrition, and supplements. However, I was soon bombarded with a ton of conflicting information. I read some articles telling me there were supplements I needed to take. There were other articles saying those same supplements were useless. Some articles recommended full body routines. Others recommended body part splits. There were some people who said I needed to go on an all-out bulk to make any kind of progress. Other articles recommended a slower approach. With so much conflicting information and people trying to sell me stuff, I had no clue what the best approach was and who to believe. This feeling is probably how a lot of you feel. Unfortunately for me, it took me several years to weed through the misinformation and experiment with different methods to figure out the truth. That is why I wrote this book. The point of this book is so you can bypass the beginning stages that I went through where you feel completely lost and confused and don’t know what to believe. If I had this when I started, I would have saved myself a lot of frustration and been on my way to making progress a lot sooner. This book is geared towards beginners. I define a beginner as someone who has been working out for 0-12 months. However, you will probably find this beneficial even as an intermediate lifter as well. If you come across anything in this book that you don’t understand or you want clarification on, feel free to reach out to me via my Instagram @apfau or e-mail at pfaufitness@gmail.com. Just tell me you purchased the book, reference the part you want some clarification on, and I will be happy to help. This book is not meant to encompass every single aspect of training and nutrition. Rather, it is supposed to be a huge initial stepping stone to get you on your way to making gains without suffering that initial phase of confusion. 3