Need advice! Trying to get ripped! Any advice greatly appreciated!

[Fario]

Hi all, this is my first post on this forum so please go easy on me if I say anything stupid!

I've been training for about 10 months now, and i've gone from about 238lbs (pretty fat) down to 182 by using purely cardio, I was running around 10km a day, 5 times a week. I'm 5'10 and i've got quite a big frame so i've always held the weight quite 'well'.

Being happy with the fat loss I then discovered what I could achieve by lifting weights. I've gone from a complete rookie to having some of the best workouts in my arsenal now, being lucky enough to spend plenty of time with the Royal Marines at work they have taught me quite a lot!

I'm now up to 213lbs and It's all weight gained through muscle, I eat very well (almost every day bar one on a weekend every couple of weeks) but my main problem is that there are certain parts of my body where i'm really struggling to get the fat to leave. These are:

-Under my armpits
-The middle of my back
-The obvious one which is the midriff front and back.

The questions i'm posing to everyone are:

- Are these all common places to retain fat?
- Is there a certain amount of time it takes to get ripped?
- How much cardio should I put in?
- Does doing cardio really make you lose muscle?

and the big one:

I'm mainly doing a lot of isolation 3-4 times a week and the compound lifts 1-2 times week (squats, deadlifts, bench press)

- Is there any benefit of doing isolation workouts when the main goal is fat loss?
- How often should I do compound lifts?
- Should I be lifting heavier or lighter if I'm trying to achieve fat loss?


If you have read all this, then thank you very much, any advice is great advice and will be respectfully received!

 

[CrazyOldMan]

- Are these all common places to retain fat?
Yes, torso especially lower half. Fat is viewed as protection by the body and there are essential organs there the body considers valuable enough to protect. On women the same is true of reproductive areas. Other areas can be genetic tendant, buttocks etc.
- Is there a certain amount of time it takes to get ripped?
No. This is dependant on so many factors you cannot set a time for it. For an ectomorph, hard gainer, scrawny git like me dropping body fat is easy, while gaining muscle is hellishly hard. Endomorphs can look at a dumbbell and pack on a pound of muscle or a cake and find a new pound of fat, not literally but you get the idea. Starting point is another obvious factor, if you are on greenpeace most rescued list you are looking at years, if you're nearly there anyway it could be weeks. There are other major factors of course, don't be too unrealistic with timescales.
- How much cardio should I put in?
As much as you want. Bulging biceps look very pretty, but there aren't any government warnings about looking after your bicep strength.
- Does doing cardio really make you lose muscle?
No. The most impressive heaviweight body-builders do cardio to give them the vascular look judges like, if they can be that big with cardio in the routine, I think we can call this a myth.
If all you do is low intensity cardio you will only be using the red, slow twitch muscle fibres so the body will see the white twitch fibres as valid fuel to burn for recovery etc. If your program also includes heavy weight training that will not be the case.

and the big one:

I'm mainly doing a lot of isolation 3-4 times a week and the compound lifts 1-2 times week (squats, deadlifts, bench press)

- Is there any benefit of doing isolation workouts when the main goal is fat loss?
Yes. Any energy used is good when trying to loss excess. The more muscle you are carrying the more energy you will be using while at rest.
- How often should I do compound lifts?
Compound work activates more muscles and therefore burns more energy and is better for weight loss. Do these as often as you are able, ideal sessions may use compound for most of them with some isolation as form of active rest.
- Should I be lifting heavier or lighter if I'm trying to achieve fat loss?
Yes definately.
Lifitng light measn you can make the weight training session into a mix of local muscular endurance and cardio work if you keep intensity low enough to maintain for a long duration with no stitch and only occaional periods where you are out of breath if any. Good for fat loss.
Lifting heavy will burn more energy in short duration and during recover. Muscle is hungry stuff and needs feeding even at rest so building up the white fast twitch fibres will mean burning fat while watching tv. Good for fat loss.
Doing a mix of both with other cardio is the holy grail, of fitening up and getting into shape.

 

[legend-writer II]

In order to get ripped my way, nutrition is important. Eating habit needs to be worked correctly, and a diet plan is crucial. Create yourself a program that incorporates a 2000-2500 calorie a day diet.