I can write a book on body building but here are few lines. You can delve deeper on each one. Internet is your friend.
1) Body building is a science. It involves calculated steps. No two bodies are alike and hence two people cannot share a single plan (diet + exercise + rest). I kicked out my personal trainer once I realized this.
2) Try out different plans (diet + exercise + rest) each month and see which one helps you stay energized for the whole day. This will tell you how much rest you need between each exercise set and exercise day. You may need upto 2 days of rest to fully recover for lifting weights again. Gradually, increase weights and diet as you pack on more muscles. No one can understand your body better than you; so, cut back on exercise if you need to (soreness, tired, injured etc).
3) Read up on all possible exercises for a muscle group. You may not be able to try all that in an Indian gym but you may improvise on some. These exercises will help you when you reach the dreaded plateau.
4) Get a notepad and keep log of all of your plans. Record your progress each day in that log. This is the number 1 reason why people don't see results, as they don't know where they are going.
5) Whenever you exit the gym, make sure you have beaten your previous exercise record. It could be in the form of more reps, more sets or more weight. Same holds true for cardio.
6) Evil cardio: I am not a cardio fan but I do it once in a while to gauge my limits. If you need to lose weight, stick to High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). You can do HIIT on any cardio machine. Most of the people think they need hours of cardio but you just need 16 mins max; after which catabolism kicks in and you start to lose muscles. This is applicable for serious HIIT only. Keep taking nutrition while doing such exercises to minimize your losses (your muscles). Please note that for males, belly fat is the last one to melt away.
7) Regular nutrition rule holds true for heavy lifting as well. BTW, if you are a serious lifter, you should complete all your exercises within 30~50 mins. After which, your body starts to break down (catabolism). This is not true for professional body builders. They don't have anything else to do and can have as much rest and food as they want. We have our jobs/school/college to attend to and we don't eat on time. This puts a limit on our exercise plans.
8) If you can't make progress according to your exercise log, check what needs to be corrected. You may need variety in exercise to break your plateau. Variety means different sets and different exercises for the same and opposing muscle group. e.g., if you are not able to cross 80KG mark on incline bench press then it could be because your supporting muscles are not helping you (triceps) or you need more nutrition or you simply may not have recovered from your previous exercise (rest interval between sets or exercise days). If you tire up your smaller muscles first (triceps) then also it impacts your bench press performance. See what's impacting you and fix it.
9) Don't come to gym half heartedly... if you are not in the mood or having less energy or having soreness then skip for the day. Otherwise, you may end up injuring yourself. Always try to keep your log book in upward trend... this is your only source of motivation and will keep you going.
10) I have a lot more to add on diet and rest but can't type that much. Maybe next time.
11) I sincerely follow whatever I've written here and I have six-pack abs (but I wasn't overweight to begin with). 2 years with my personal trainer yielded me nothing but stretch marks and a loss of few lakh rupees. Chiefly, this is what I do:
a) Work out only 3 days per week.
b) Stick to free weights and stay away from machines for at least 2 months. Go to machine only to fix my posture or to break plateau. Also, I do one-rep-maxes in order to break plateau.
c) Never forget the shoulder warm up set. Have you seen how many celebrities have gone thru injuries despite having best of the trainers at their disposal? I admire Sallu bhai's motto of "safety first."
d) I don't ignore deadlifts, squats, shoulder presses and chin ups. And I have never done any sit-ups or usual crunches for my abs.
e) I try to eat every 2~3 hours. (You should never skimp on fats). My nutrition ratio is 40% Fats, 40% Proteins and 30% Carbs.
f) I take 1 month rest after 3 months of rigorous training and then pick up a new plan.
g) I finish my exercises in exact 45 mins.
i) I cheat on my diet plan only 2 times in a month. My office bag mainly contains food
j) When I do cardio, I try to hit 80~85% increase in BPM wrt to my resting heart rate. (only drawback is that I can't read magazines while doing cardio; unlike the girls in my gym).
In my opinion, one should take up body building only if they are dead serious about it. Otherwise, they'll end up in wasting time and money and probably injuring themselves. Make a goal to stay fit each day of your life.
I have left out a lot of crucial stuff, so ask me if you have any questions.
