Sleep, Eat, Train

I have touched on this concept in the past, but I am as big a believer in it now as I have ever been.  Sleep, eat, train... there is no way around this equation.  This is where the myth of overtraining has gained so much traction. If you are training, this is the order of priority. Each of these (and in this order) must be attacked fiercely.  While there are individual variations in everyone, I will give a general guideline.

Sleep
1. Completely dark room - Cover the clock and throw out the television.  If you have a night light, no judging here, but for God's sake, my two year old son doesn't need a night light.

2. Minimum of eight hours - Please don't tell me how tough you are because you can get by on five hours of sleep.  No one admires your studliness because you watch reruns of Deadliest Catch until midnight, then wake up at 5:00 AM, chug $10 worth of coffee, slam a Monster in the afternoon before you cry at your desk.  Trust me, you are not missing that much: they swear, they catch some crabs, the waves are bad, it is cold... that is about it.

Eat
This is the TP Food Guide

1. Eat breakfast every day

2. Eat something with a face at each meal (Robb Wolf)

3. Eat veggies or fruit at each meal

4. Earn your starches through exercise

Exercise
Train for a goal with these priorities.

1. Learn movement - running gate, squat, swimming stroke, snatch, clean & jerk, etc.

2. Get strong

3. Add work capacity - cardio / mileage / more volume of work (sets and reps)

These are very easy to understand, but very hard to follow.  Good luck!

Quest for Greatest Beard in Weightlifting Update