I'm Skinny Fat...help me out

[heath01]

I'm about 5'11 180 lbs. I used to be a cross country runner in high school and did some weight training along with it, but never really got much definition.

Now, about 4 years later, with little lifting and not much exercise other than the occasional run I'm looking to focus on weight training. I have an awkward build with a small frame, but actually am kinda fat in some areas - particularly my gut, chest, and triceps. The rest of my body is pretty skinny.

My biggest concerns is toning up my pecks more than anything. And by pecks I mean my man-boobs. My gut is also awful as well. Even when I was at my peak fitness in high school at about 5'10 135 lbs I still had a gut. I can't get rid of it for the life of me. I have hopes for my pecks because I starting seeing results in high school and managed to bench about 180 lbs when I weighed 160, which isn't so bad. My triceps and biceps respond reasonably well, too. However, my shoulder and back have pretty much never been worked when I think about it.

What kind of workouts should I be doing at this build? I started lifting about 2 weeks ago and my routine is basically:

Day 1: Chest/Triceps
Day 2: Cardio/Abs
Day 3: Biceps/Back
Day 4: Cardio/Abs
Day 5: Legs/Shoulders
Day 6: Cardio Abs

And then I start over again. Anyone got some beginner advice for someone of my build? Any info on weight lifting and dieting would be great! I'm new so talk to me like i'm retarded.

 

[Goldfish]

I'd do 3 whole body resistance training sessions a week, rather than 1/session per bodypart. Burns more energy during the session, so more fat loss, and stimulates each muscle more, so more muscular hypertrophy. If you're going to do ab-work, I'd also do it on those 3 RT sessions after your big exercises, because if you train them on your off-days, then your core will be weakened on your next training day, impairing your ability to safely lift weights normally. Cardio on off-days is fine...I would probably keep it at a low-to-moderate intensity rather than high intensity. While high intensity cardio is better for fat loss, you're new to training and you need to recover from the previous day's workout, so cardio can be used as recovery training and to remove a few extra calories as a suppliment for weight loss, rather than as the driving force behind it.

ETA: Your resistance training should probably consist of a leg exercise, a push and a pull, followed by your ab-work. Try the following A/B split.

A: Squats, Press, Chin Ups or Pull Ups.
B: Deadlifts, Bench Press, Barbell Row.
Do a few warm up sets of each exercise, progressing towards 3 work sets at 5-10 reps (choose a number of reps to do, such as 3x5, 3x8 or 3x10, and stick with that number for a month or so. Don't train to failure, only to the point at which you cannot maintain technique). Do your core exercises once you've completed all of the big compound lifts.