|
2009/10/26, 08:56 AM
Hi everyone! I just signed on to freetrainers.com and thought I'd come here and introduce myself to the community. My name is Steve and I am 26 years old. I recently lost 20 lbs, mostly of excess fat, but a bit of muscle as well. While I still feel there is some excess fat I am carrying, I'd like to shift my focus over to building muscle. I'd particularly like to tighten up and build a bit in my upper body. I'm not looking to get really built - I did a quick google image search and found that this is probably a good illustration of where I'd ultimately like to be: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3636/3394609600_21435a03c6_o.jpg .
I had been on a diet for 5 weeks in whcih I consumed 1900 calories, remained fairly active (walk 2 miles/dy, bike 6 mi/day, tennis several times a week, jog 1-2 times a wk 30-40 min, lifting weights moderately,pushups). Now, since I would like to start building, I will happily start consuming more food. Although I would still like to lose the remain fat as well - which is mostly now around my stomach - particularly around my lower back - and a bit in my chest.
Also, I should mention I've consciously tried to have a very well balanced diet and would like to continue to do so - lots of vegetables, proteins, no processed foods, fiber, etc. At the moment, the only meat I am eating is fish - namely salmon. I usually drink non fat soy milk as oppossed to regular dairy.
Any suggestions would be appreciated - specific or otherwise.
I would also, ideally, like to be close to my goal by the beginning of December. I don't know if that is realistic and if my even considering it shows me as naive. But I do have the time to commit myself totally to this pursuit, so perhaps 5-6 weeks will be enough in significantly getting me there.
|
|
|
|
2009/10/26, 08:58 AM
PS I don't know why I made my topic greeting: "hello everyone?" .
It should have read "hello everyone!"
|
|
2009/10/26, 09:03 AM
Ooops - one other thing - I encourage everyone who is wanting to offer some advice to check out my showcase profile, to get a more precise idea of my body condition at the moment.
Oh, and I do not have access to the gym. I have access to a barbell (no bench though) and a dumbbell, but no other equipment.
And any questions are welcome too of course!
|
|
2009/10/26, 01:21 PM
It's gonna be hard for you to reach your goal without having at least a few more basic pieces of equipment to start out with. I highly recommend a set of adjustable dumbbells and at least an adjustable bench. You can get a routine from this site for body weight exercises, but you'll never get the full benefits that a food set of weights and a bench can provide.
As fat as bulking goes; Yes, eat as much of the good stuff(what you're eating now) as you can and lift heavy. The only drawback is that you will put some fat weight on in the process. It's inevitable, but it also comes off very easy when you cut your calories back down.
|
|
2009/10/26, 05:49 PM
Thanks returnofplex for the advice! I will have access to a gym in December, but for the next 5 weeks I will only habe the few weights I've mentioned here.
A few questions:
I've heard it suggested that to lose weight and build muscle, you can alternate days of fat loss with days of muscle building - i.e. day 1 - eat more, focus on muscle building, day 2 - eat less, focus on cardio. Is there any merit to that suggestion and if not, why not?
In general, should I cut back from cardio activitiy on days that I'm weight training?
Also, sou said that pointing on fat weight is inevitable? Why is that the case? Couldn't I just eat enough to build muscle and not accumulate fat?
Thanks again for the input!
|
|
2009/10/27, 01:02 PM
The theory behind gaining serious muscle is that you take in an amount of calories in excess of what you use during the day in order to have extra material to build muscle from. The only hitch is that your body won't just use 100% of the calories for muscle, and that's where the fat comes from. It's not a process that you can be up and down on. Your body is always in a continuous state of doing, so the muscle growth doesn't just happen on the days you lift. The trick is eating enough calories to see good gains in mass and minimal gains in fat. That process in itself will take a few weeks to dial in.
If you're trying to gain muscle, cardio works against this because it burns valuable calories that could go to building muscle. I'm not saying to not do it, but keep it to a minimum if that's your goal.
|
