Newbie Advice (Yes, I've looked around)

[nickyb]

Alright, I'm 23, 5'10", 165-170#'s, last check was about 12-14% body fat. My diet is in balance, although work makes it tough to always get paced correctly. I'm doing light cardio (20 minutes, 50-60%) 3 days a week, heavy cardio (45 minutes, 85-90%) 3 days a week and lifting 3 days a week with a wide variety of exercises for each body part.

Even when I was in high school and running cross country (80-100 miles per week) and swimming year round (and training with the weights for it), I never really had a chest, arms or abs. I was in good shape, but never had a defined shape.

I'm happy with most of my body and don't have anybody I need to impress (I'm engaged), but I would love to get some pecs, arms and abs. It feels like all of my 12-14% body fat is in my abs. I don't mind lifting, but cardio irks me anymore.

I'm looking for some way to accelerate the results to help keep me motivated. I really do not want to inject anything (needles scare the **** out of me). My primary goal is to lose the gut. Building the chest and arms would be second on my list.

Does anybody know anything about the stuff on the Steroids Alternative page? (http://www.steroid.com/steralt.php) Dermagain and Dermalean sound great, but do they actually do anything?

Based on my body as I described it and my goals, what does anyone recommend?

[KAEW44]

just wanna loose the gut?and also gain some definition and get some extra lean muscle? dont like injectibles? i'm guessing you dont want many sides either?

my recomendation...do tons of cardio and keep your diet on check so you can lower your body fat as low as 10-12%, do lots of ab exercise ....and then you can do one month or 6weeks of Anavar +clenbuterol .....there is no arguing you will get ripped and gain some solid pounds wich will last, and guess what....no sides!!

I have spoken!!!!!

[shrunkennutz116]

if ur primary goal is to loose weight than all u need is diet and cardio. if ur trying to loose weight u must lower ur calories and make sure there good calories not junk food. if u dont want to inject ne thing u should not be using ne gear. i dont think u would need to do cardio 6 days a week. try it 3-4 times a week and spread ur workouts out to 4-5 days a week.

[damiongage]

diet and cardio can get you all the results you need(for fat loss)....however there are things that can help you along. Try researching clenbuterol , and cytomel (t3). Start by reading their profiles on the main page, try entering a search for those items.

As far as building muscle without injects and little sides you may want to try anavar .
I am not big on orals and am only using injectables myself.....but i have no problems with needles.

good luck

[Senior_FKG]

It looks like you have almost no experience really working out....working out hard i mean....I would not recommend you do a cycle now, no matter how easy, just keep your cardio, diet, and training in check...bump your training up to at least 4 or 5 days a week. and remember to train hard, no matter what your poundage may be...soon enough you will see results, slowly but steadily they will come.

[BUYLONGTERM]

NO injections? Your definitely not ready to do steroids . I know thats not what you want to hear, but spend the next several months on the board learning as much as you can.

[dogsofwar]

Unless you go on a high protein, low carb diet (atkins), then it will be difficult to loose weight without cardio. I have a lot of weight on atkins and without sides other than constip. Its too bad you can't loose fat regionally. Ab exercises will really help though. They will tighten the stomach enough to support the fat behind the muscle (or in front) giving a more "sucked in" appearance... You will definately need to think about good muscular maintenance in the stomach area (especially when you reach 30+ Cardio, low carb, and an anavar cycle, then potentially winstrol if needles are an issue. Lastly, I would just make sure your lifting techniques are solid. (no rocking or swinging, keeping the movements isolated). Good luck and happy gearing.

[nickyb]

Thanks for the advice everybody.

I have been lifting consistently for the past year and half or so and doing cardio for the past 3 years consistently, a break of about a year before that, then hard core cardio for the 6 or so years before that.

My lifting at first was relatively low weights and higher reps/sets, but I wasn't feeling fatigued at all when I was done. For the last nine months or so I've been doing fewer reps with higher weights working towards exhaustion with each muscle group. What does anyone think/know about doing 1 muscle group per day? IE- Do three exercises per muscle group per day: Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders, Back, Pecs, Legs with some abs thrown in every third day or so, but lifting six days a week with a week recovery period between muscle groups?

I was weighing about 205-210 about a year ago and did Atkins to get down to my weight right now, but have gone to about a 40% protien, 40% carb, 20% fat diet. I tried one of those BodyGem metabolism tester devices and found that my resting metabolism is roughly 2200 calories and I my cardio and weights are probably giving me an additional burn of 500-700 calories per day, so I've been keeping my caloric consumption at the 2200-2400 calories per day and I've definitely seen some changes in my arms and pecs, but my abs never change. Even when I was a scrawny little **** back in high school, I never had abs.

There's not too much in the way of a question there, but some more background info, so if anybody has some more advice based on that on how to lose the gut once and for all (since for some reason diet and cardio aren't doing much for me and yes, I know it's a long process) it would be greatly appreciated. I'm just getting to the point where I'm starting to lose motivation for the first time in a long time because I'm not seeing the results in the one area I want to see them and to the best of my knowledge, I'm doing everything right. I've even asked my doctor, my naturopath, my accupuncturist and hired a personal trainer (a crappy 24 Hour Fitness one though) and they say I'm doing the right thing, just keep doing it for another frickin' 15-20 years and I'll be there.

Grrr....just ranting a bit.

[UrbanDawg]

pardon my paroting but I gota chime into agree here

if you dont like needles forget AAS. Besides your stated goals dont require AAS. Wait till you get a little older - your metab. will slow down and youll be able to pacl some muscle on.

I ran X/C in HS too - when you are puting that kinda mileage on the road your body will never pack on muscle.

NO injections? Your definitely not ready to do steroids. I know thats not what you want to hear, but spend the next several months on the board learning as much as you can.

[nickyb]

Yeah, I'm not looking to really pack on muscle. I'd like to tone up a bit in the arms and chest, but I'm getting that just from diet and exercise. My biggest goal is to lose the gut which watching my caloric intake and cardio hasn't been helping at all. That's why I was looking at something like the Dermalean or something like it if it actually would work.

[BodyMechanic]

Yeah, I'm not looking to really pack on muscle. I'd like to tone up a bit in the arms and chest, but I'm getting that just from diet and exercise. My biggest goal is to lose the gut which watching my caloric intake and cardio hasn't been helping at all. That's why I was looking at something like the Dermalean or something like it if it actually would work.

well you have to burn more calories than you are taking in in order to get cut. You say you are watching your calorie intake and doing cardio and it is not helping well then something is wrong.I think you need to step back and actually look at your diet more closely and with some research in the diet forum you will probably find what is wrong with it.

[AandF6969]

Bro - first off, if you want to gain ANY muscle, get rid of the high intensity cardio. Any cardio above around 75% of your target heart rate burns MUSCLE instead of fat. Keep it low intensity (65-75%) for 45 mins to an hour on an EMPTY STOMACH in the morning. If you do it with food in your digestive track, it just burns that and you're essentially skipping a meal. HORRIBLE for muscle growth.

Also, do Tri/Bi on the same day. You don't need that many sets for either if you do them heavy and to exhaustion.

To get more defined, check out the cutting sticky in the Diet forum. Works pretty d@mn well if you ask me.

[nickyb]

I can't find Anavar on the profile page, but I've been looking around for info on it. Am I correct in summarizing that it really doesn't do anything for fat loss, but does help to increase the size of muscles produced without waste-water byproduct? Or is there someone out there who has experience who could tell me what their experience was like taking it?

[BUYLONGTERM]

Anavar =Oxandrolone.
http://www.steroid.com/18.php

I believe in order to get good noticable results from VAR, you really need to have lower body fat. For the $$, I don't think it's what your looking for. Take everyone's advise and up your cardio....

[nickyb]

So decrease my intensity and increase the time and frequency, right? Thoughts on clenbuterol or cytomel or a combo as an assist?

[bluethunder]

i agree with A& F. drop the high intensity cardio completly. Concentrate on the back,which you need strong for abs. Arms blasting tri/bis same time good choice. I would also do trunk twist with a stick. (thats what im doing and working) This will slowly help the oblique(love handles). After they get down then the stomach fat can be started on with cardio at 65% RHR. Its very hard to lose stomach fat(IV been trying for awhile but im much older too..) Using side bends with weight can actually build the sides & if theres fat will make it appear worse. good luck

[stitch1967]

I can't find Anavar on the profile page, but I've been looking around for info on it. Am I correct in summarizing that it really doesn't do anything for fat loss, but does help to increase the size of muscles produced without waste-water byproduct? Or is there someone out there who has experience who could tell me what their experience was like taking it?

Anavar is like "Kleenex". the real name is Oxandrolone. It's expensive.

I've read some articles on a new prohormone out that supposedly works well, Oxovar. Gaspari Nutrition is of the companies that carries it. I have no personal experience but you may want to research it or throw it out in the supplement forum.

[cpt steele]

Bro to be honest your not going to see any results if you havent any muscle to show. If you havent any muscle taking all the dfat off is not going to do anything. LIke abs I train them once every 5days heavy 10 rep failure, I want them to grow so they will show through. Anavar isnt going to make you shed fat to and grow your muscles enought to meet your goals imo