Just finished my first cycle. Was reasonably pleased with the cycle I set up and was consistent with the quality and frequency of my workouts. However, though my strength levels were high, my gains were modest at best.
The aspect that I failed to plan and structure was my diet. I was convinced that my protein intake was more than adequate and stumbled along stupidly assuming I was on track. My results suggested otherwise.
My one source of pride was not immediately blaming the gear for my lack of results and did a thorough overhaul of my diet and calculated exactly my protein intake.
Turns out, though my calorie intake was ok, my protein was a miserable 180grams a day (if I was lucky) and weekends it was even worse. At close to 225 pounds to start with, it would have been a miracle to see results. In fact, I'm probably lucky to have maintained and not lost. I have radically changed my diet and now consume 240-260 grams of protein daily in preparation for next cycle.
Basically, the moral of the story is you have to plan everything for your whole cycle, from gear, training and DIET. All aspects are important or you have wasted time and money.
I will consider my next cycle my first now.