Guido is right about the need for the right ammt of carbs. When younger I made the mistake of taking in too much protein as I wasn't educated enough and basically my thinking was 'protein builds muscle, therefore take lots of it'. There is a science behind what % of carbs vs protein vs. fats/oils you should take to optimize your muscle development. Also the timing of when to take what is important.
Cuious, do you know what 'body type' you are? Some ppl are more naturally gifted genetically to be able to build large muscles. Our muscles have both 'fast twitch' and 'slow twitch'. This is why some ppl can run like the wind and some ppl can do 500 reps of a low weight while others can't do that but can lift a ton once or twice. Find out what your body type is so your expectations can be in line with what is realistic genetically and also research fast twitch and slow twitch muscles and build working each type into your workout routines.
there are tons of diff programs out there but this is why (I think, and at least in part) why different programs will have people do heavy days and light days. Diff programs break it down differently (i.e. 4 weeks heavy 2 weeks lighter with higher reps) things like that.
Also, sleep is VERY important. It's one of the key (natural) factors along with diet, actual lifting, and mental/pssycchological. You also might want to conisider positive visualization or guided imagry (my spelling sucks ass) to maximize the ammt of mental and psychological focused and deliberate effort you build into your workout routines. The pro athletes have special coaches that help them with this and I work in the field of psychology and am a strong believer in this kind of thing. I think most amature bb'ers don't do much, if any, of this. [I'm just pulling this example out my but, but for example if you visualized some smoking hot babe you would love to bang, really visualized her, her looks, her smell, what her voice would sound like talking to you, how she would complement you on your body and talk to her friends about how hot she thought your body was, etc] during each rep and make each rep deliberate I think your gonna get a lot more out of such a workout compared to just stacking up weights and pushing out sets of 8-10.
If steroids or other supplements are not going to be part of your arsenal I suggest you research every other possible tool you can add into your arsenal to help reach your goals!
