Hi. First of all congrats on deciding to take the first step. Its good that you are reading the vault and trying to educate yourself on training, diet etc.
Here's a few basic pointers that helped me out:
1. Diet is ALL important. Eat every 3-4 hours. If you're trying to bulk, you'll have to eat LOTS. Every meal should have at least 30 g of protein (this is the same as a small whey shake or a chicken breast, or 4-5 large eggs). Educate yourself on diet. You should know approximately how many calories and how many grams of protein a meal has. You're young and still growing, so you'll have to eat LOTS!
* for protein:
- Chicken/chicken breasts.
- Ground beef.
- Steak.
- Bison.
- Eggs.
- Tuna.
- Cottage cheese.
- Salmon other fish.
* Pretty much any fruits and vegetables are good.
* For carbs:
- Wild rice/brown rice.
- Yams
- Whole grain pastas and breads.
2. Eat like a caveman: Caveman didn't have kraft dinner and other prepackaged processed crap that we have access to today. Our metabolisms aren't great at handling that much food processing as is evidenced by the rampant rates of obesity in the US. Eat whole foods, closest to their natural form. Ei: fruit instead of fruit juice, steak instead of lunch deli meats.
3. Train w/ basic simple compound movements: Squat, Deadlift, Bench variations (dumbell or barbell), shoulder press, chin ups and dips. These exercises should be the foundation of your program.
4. Train w/ high intensity. If you don't beat the crap out of your body on a regular basis and also give it enough resources to recover, your progress will be slower. Intensity is key because it gives your body the stimulus it needs to change.
5. Get enough recovery time. This is often overlooked by newer trainees. As you progress your recovery ability will get better, but for now learn to listen to your body and avoid overtraining like the plague. I'd suggest lifting weights 3x/week and doing other stuff (cardio, sports, etc) for another 2 days.
6. Change up your program every so often. This prevents the body from adjusting, which can slow progress.
7. Supplement properly. There's tons of crappy overhyped supplements out there that the average trainee really doesn't need. For supplementation I'd recommend a good multivitamin (I take the GNC ones), essential fatty acids (I prefer fish oil and ground flax seed powder), and of course whey protein powder. I like to use energy drinks as well to ramp up my intensity for workouts, but using stuff like this is an individual thing.
8. Be in it for the long haul. I started training when I was 17, with stats very similar to your own (5'8" - 125 to 130). I've been at this for over 10 years and still love it. I can't imagine not going to the gym. You gotta love the journey. Commit yourself to a lifestyle change for the rest of your life. Stuff will definitely get in the way, but do your best to maintain healthy, active habits.
9. Enjoy it! For me there's something innately pleasurable about throwing around big chunks of iron just because you can.
10. Educate yourself and learn what works for YOU. Everyone's body and metabolism are pretty unique. It takes a while to figure out what combo of training, diet and supplementation will give you the best results.
Hope this helps... good luck!
