Can my pot belly fuel my muscle growth?

J

j0equ1nn

0
I just started routinely excercising, and I want to do it right, but my body type and circumstances are abnormal enough that I have a hard time figuring out what approach suits me. I'm 6 foot 7, 230 pounds, and I look like I like beer and hate sports. I have a pot belly with a pair of love handles but very little fat anywhere else on my body. Growing up I was always skinny, almost dangerously skinny, not very athletic, and had a hard time gaining weight. At 6'4" I weighed 160 pounds, then started going to a gym 3 times a week and got up to 185, and I looked more lean and healthy. I made progress very quickly, but quit after a year or so. Then I started drinking a lot and putting on fat, and I recently decided I've gotten too out of shape and it's time to do something about it.

I discovered I could only do 10 pushups in a set, and I was exhausted after jogging half a mile. Pathetic. I've started doing upper body workouts twice a week, and running twice a week (things started getting easier pretty quickly), and I've increased my protein intake and decreased my fat intake, but I'm not stressing much about my diet. I think I have a naturally fast metabolism, but I've just been drinking too much beer and not excercising enough so I'm overweight anyway.

I don't really care about having a six pack or whatever. I just want to feel healthier and stronger, and look better with my shirt off. Do you experienced fitness people think I'm doing the right thing so far?
 
No your not:

Eat right.....GET IT RIGHT (research this forum for help)
Quite drinking so much (intoxication is toxic)
Let us see your exercise journal....you don't have one....well make one:confused:

Let's start by getting the basic stuff right. Then you can get into manipulation of certain factors
 
fat in your belly cannot be converted into muscle.

you cannot shed body fat, while gaining lean muscle mass, at any decent pace. doing this is commonly referred to as a 'recomposition' routine...you very slowly lose fat, and very slowly put on muscle. its annoyingly slow.

better to either cut fat, or bulk up muscle.

Decreasing your fat intake isn't exactly a solution. fat doesn't make you fat. too many calories makes you fat. they can come from fat, carbs (including alcohol) or protein...too much of any will make you fat.

cutting fat from the diet can actually worsen things...go too low and you start lowering testosterone levels...and test. is a natural fat burning hormone (this is why women have a naturally higher bodyfat percentage than men). to shed the fat, you wanna focus more on restricting carbohydrates from starchy and sugary foods.
 
more info for you

Wow, I'm surprized by the quick replies. I appreciate that.

<<better to either cut fat, or bulk up muscle.>>

Well in that case, for now I'd rather focus on building muscle than cutting fat. After I feel like I have muscle worth exposing, then I'll probably want to spend some time on the other.

I have some freeweights but no bench. I'm willing to join a gym if the consensus is that this isn't good enough. Here is my current schedule.

Day 1:
run 2 miles

Day 2:
(with all these excercises, I usually can't make it to the last rep by set 3)
3 sets of 10: pushups
3 sets of 12: bicycle style crunches (legs in the air)
3 sets of 8: curls, with 30lbs.
3 sets of 8: both hands lifting from behind the head to straight up, using triceps, with 30 lbs.
3 sets of 8: lifting out to the side with one arm, using shoulder, with 15 lbs.
&
walk 2 miles

Day 3:
walk 2 miles

Repeat.

Now it may look like a light workout to someone not out of shape like myself, but I assure you it takes a couple days for the soreness to go away after each of these workouts. And my leg muscles are definitely talking after that run.

As for my diet, a typical day might look like this:

Meal 1:
2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, fried onions and peppers, piece of wholegrain toast, orange juice.

Meal 2:
protein shake with a banana, half a cup of cottage cheese

Meal 3:
tuna sandwhich, an apple, glass of soy milk

Meal 4:
steak or chicken or some kind of meat, a vegetable, a piece of bread, 2 12oz. beers (is 2 a day so bad?)

Meal 5:
cup of yogurt with jelly mixed in

Meal 6 (occassionally):
cup of ice cream

And I'm making sure to drink a lot of water.

I hope this gives a better starting point for anyone nice enough to help me out.
 
I should also add that I'm 27.

I just spent some time looking around at other stuff on the forum, and I think I may be too much of a beginner to even think about bulking/cutting. Would it make sense to say that I should first spend a couple months just getting used to excercising and eating better? I mean, how much bulking am I really going to do when I can only do 10 pushups at a time? But I will say that I have a long term goal of building serious muscles.
 
It would be an excellent idea to hit the gym.
Starting in a gym atmosphere makes it easy to stay consistent. Trust me.

You want to build a solid foundation?

- Make a regiment that will last 4-8 weeks
- Quit all that jogging.
- Easy on the junkfood unless you want to bulk up in the belly
- list good proteins/carbs/fats and only eat combos from your list...eventually you will learn to habitually consume proper meals
- Did I already mention you need to get to a gym?
- Do more pulling motions than pushing motions
- Learn and master the basics (pushup,squat,dips,pullups, eventually deadlifts)
- It might be a good idea to have a trainer help you create a program. Try to find a smart one....probably the one that's not picking his nose OR trying to sell you a years worth of sessions.
- Seriously though.....get into a gym. Have I already stated that??
 
i luv this community its posts like this not only helpful for the person who asked but EVERYONE else as well
 
o yes it is VERY VERY slow if u wanna keep ur BF down and gain muscle mass at the same time, it took me about 1 year to put 1 inch on my arms and my BF only went up by 1%, if i were in ur shoes what i would do is get BF down to 10% then bulk till 17% or so take it back down to 10% and repeat
thats the best way i think
 
Okay, well without having done a proper BF test, I'd say it's probably around 20-25%. So would it be foolish to attempt bulking muscle when it's that high? What if I want to look like Hacksaw Jim Dougin? Or Andre the Giant? Afterall I am 6 foot 7 (that's over 2 meters for folks in Europe), so that might be pretty awesome. But if it's a better idea to ditch my current fat, then bulk back up while building muscle, I'm willing to do that.
 
And I will take your advice, trainerty, about joining a gym, I just want a well-informed opinion on what sort of program to pursue before I get there.
 
I think joining the right gym is a good idea. by 'right' i mean, they have the equipment you want (plenty of freeweights, benches, squat rack, pull up station, and a cable station), and that you feel comfortable at, and they don't rape you on the rates.

if you feel that 'chubby' then leaning out a little first is probably wise, especially since you'll still put on a little muscle at first since you'll get the 'newbie gains'. spend time learning all the best exercises, and add weight as you feel comfortable. then when you decide to bulk, you'll be able to make the most of your time.
 
thanks!

I greatly appreciate the advice.

I also learned a lot reading around on the forum and I want to say to other beginners: there's lots to learn from using the search function and looking through threads, which is faster than asking questions that have already been answered and waiting for replies.

I've already started on a strength training / HIIT routine, which I plan to stick to for a good 6 weeks, or longer if I feel I need it. I'm starting to feel better already.

Thanks again.
 
I don't know if anyone would still look at this thread cuz it's been a long time, but man you guys should have told me HIIT is not for people who aren't used to running. I thought the beginner program could apply to beginners at running when in fact it's for experienced runners that are beginners at HIIT. So ... I snapped my achilles tendon.
 
its not necessarily down to being new, it could just be one of those things. but you should have been made more aware of the dangers and im sure there'll be a few guilty members after reading this.

And the moral of todays story is..... research beyond this forum.
 
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