So confused. Make me smarter please.

G

generalgrant

0
Ok, So I was reading through the stuff for newbs and it looks like what I want to do cant be done like I want. Im 6' 185, but my waist is a 36 and my arms are terribly skinny. For the past 4 weeks I have been doing 45 min of cardio on an empty stomach in the morning everyday. eating and going back the gym to lift. Lifting 4-5 times a week doing the whole chest day, back day , arms, shoulders, legs day type thing.

But its looking like that is sub optimal. My goal is pretty simple I think, I wanna lower my body fat (bye bye belly) and develop my skinny ass arms. Im doing a full body thing, but I feel like my arms are under developed. Im working on the diet aspect numbers trying to figure out what i need to eat. But Im not sure Im training properly...
 
so, are you doing fbw? or your split you were talking about..

go with a fbw because your split is horrible.

If you are just starting to lift you will gain strength and lose fat. Aterwards you will have to go with one or the other. If you want to lose fat right now, do 3 fbws a week. and lift hard. Lifting hard ensures that you won't lose as much of the muscle you have while you have a deficient diet. On off days (one between each lifting day) run. Take a complete rest on the seventh day.
 
Try doing a FBW 3 x per week rather than doing a specific area once a week. You don't need to spend a whole workout on one body part. For example, on M, T and W do four to five of the following making sure you work both upper and lower body:

Bench press
Bent over rows
Squats
Lunges
Pull-ups
Chin-ups
Military press

*there are other compounds you can also try. Do a search.

If you do four compounds you might want to do a couple of isolation exercises such as ab work or bicep and tricep work. Mixing it up is the key.

If you want to do cardio then do it on alternate days. Not terribly necessary but it is good for your cardio vascular system. HIIT is a great option.

MOST importantly, make sure you are getting enough calories, particularly protein. Don't make up the calories with crap food. Eat plenty of chicken, tuna, fish, lean meat, vegetables, fruit, wholemeal bread/pasta, nuts etc. You may want to supplement you protein intake with a protein shake.
 
Im just very leery of the whole FBW thing, if only because I have a certain group of muscles (arms) that need some extra attention. I am messing around with excel right now trying to figure out my diet plan. I picked up some shakes, and Im gonna put together a 2500 calorie a day diet with like 150 grams of protein a day.

So is it safe to say Im doing to much cardio now? Also I always do cardio on an empty stomach (was told thats how to burn fat) is that true?

Would it be ok to do a fbw and isolated arms stuff every other day? Also I cant do chin ups what can I do to substitute, pull downs?


Also with this FBW thing Im only doing 4 total exercises a day? Am I reading that right?
 
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Whether or not you do too much cardio depends on your goal. If you tihnk of yourself as fat and you prioritize losing weight, then do that first. If you really want to just bulk up and develop those arms first, don't do the cardio. If you really want some arm isolation, then do it with the fbw, but you'll get plenty just doing the fbw.
 
It seems the major issues have been addressed, I wanted to take point on "if only because I have a certain group of muscles (arms) that need some extra attention."

Don't worry about extra attention. If you perform the right full body workout you're arms will come along fine. Bi's and Tri's (The muscles that comprise your arm) are secondary movers to ALL upper body compound movements. Every pushing activity activates the tris, every pulling activates the bi's. So don't worry about doing curls or extensions until you're blue in the face, you'll be doing more harm than good.
 
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