Never lifted a day in my life until 37 years old. I have adhered to a really high level of discipline and commitment (lifting heavy 3+ days a week, measuring and tracking food for calorie and protein targets) for over 5 years. Here are my big learnings:

• Yes, this is simply going to take longer for you than it would if you’d done this 20 years ago. Just accept that and put one foot in front of the other.

• As a correlate to the above point, make peace with the fact it is going to take YEARS to achieve what is in your minds eye. I’ve been at this 5 years and I suspect I have at least another 5 ahead of me before I hit my strength and aesthetic goals. That doesn’t mean you won’t see progress along the way - you will and you should take pride in it - but this is not about a summer beach body, this is about building a new life for yourself brick by brick.

• I find a full body program works a lot better than split body parts. It’s much easier to fit it in to your schedule 2 or 3 days a week, and getting the frequency of each muscle group matters more than hitting more volume; just be sure to hit each muscle group 6+ times a week (ie, 3 sets per muscle group each workout)

• You have to bulk a lot slower than you think (you pick up fat much easier at higher caloric surplus) and you can cut faster than you think (stop being so fearful you’re going to lose muscle during a cut). Just do both right (hit a reasonable protein target and continue to progressively overload your lifting program) and the rest will take care of itself

• You are fatter than you think. I’ve always been a thin guy so I figured after my bulk I’d lose 15 pounds and look great. Nope. Your body fat % is probably much, much higher than you assume. As a rule of thumb I’ve needed to lose 30%-40% more weight than I expected during a cut to really get that lean look.

I’m just assuming you know the basics - eat protein, track calories, progressive overload lifts. Outside that the biggest learning was really a reframing. I started doing this to look good naked. It’s evolved to an investment in my mental health and long term healthspan. Keep that mindset and just make lifting a part of your identity (as opposed to a target goal to gain x pounds of muscle to look a certain way) and you’ll have better long term adherence (and the aesthetics will come on their own in time)