[the wolf at the door]

I'm skinny with a little beer belly. I'm looking to try (in a perfect world) to get a six pack and get more defined pecs and just generally a bit bigger around the top of me.


So my questions are:

Should I eat before or after exercise? and roughly how long before/after? is it necessary to wait long before/after?


Also, I have dumbells and a punchbag. What are the best exercises I can do with these instruments to have the outcome that I want?

[the wolf at the door]

Also, how useful are press-ups?

[HFerguson]

To make any kind of decent progress you're gonna want to have a decent routine/program and sort the diet out. Six pack is made in the kitchen - gotta drop the bodyfat, which is done by running a constant caloric deficit and doing the right kinds of exercise (high intensity interval cardio and freeweights).

Eating before exercise is good - carbs are the (primary) fuel for workouts. Eating after workouts is also good - if you've done resistance exercise, this will have provided the muscles with a stimulus to repair and grow, which requires protein and energy (which is provided by carbs). Workouts also deplete muscle glycogen stores, so you'll want some form of carbohydrate to refill muscle glycogen post workout. Some people can eat straight after working out, for others it can make them nauseous. There's no time limit within which you have to eat after working out, but soon after is good. Don't panic about "missing the anabolic window" and that you'll "go catabolic" within 5 minutes post workout if you dont consume something.

The best exercises are compound exercises, which involve movement at more than 1 joint, and therefore recruit most muscle fibres. Good examples of compound movements - squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, chinups/pullups, rows. They can be done with dumbells. These should be done for 3 or 4 sets of 5-10 reps, with a weight challenging enough and as heavy as you can handle without form degrading.

Press-ups aren't a bad exercise, but they'll only provide a stimulus for so long. If you can do more than 15 for a set, you probably want to increase the resistance in some way, by adding weight for example. Backpack full of bricks?

I can also thoroughly recommend the stickies.

[Old School]

(Original post by tamimi)
Have a decent eating routine. I wouldn't associate training with eating on a time line.

I'd have smaller frequent meals. This allows your stomach to fold back to natural size without compromising on how much you eat per day.

A beer belly can come about in many ways. Most commonly is lack of protein in your diet. Which brings you to another point: If you ever intend on getting "hench", you'll need a sufficient amount of protein intake per day. It'll help rebuild any tissues you damage or break during intense exercise.

There's a lot of debate room on how you should carry out exercise. I have a "Day on-day off" strategy. A friend of mine works out 6 days a week and rests a day. He's usually far more exhausted than I am, but in fairness he's bigger in bulk. So it depends on what physique you're aiming for.

If you want to get fit, cardio is more important than anything probably, but for getting muscle building up, you'll need to do a lot more than that, curling, situps and pushups are the most common things you can do.

Sit ups are key to the six pack (after you waste the beer belly). When I started off, I had issues keeping my legs on the floor, what I found useful is putting my feet under the dumbells to keep them flat down.

I tend to do things in sets of 3.
E.g. 12 reps break 12 reps break 12 reps next exercise.

But that's just personal preference.

If you're unsure, pop into your local gym/health centre and ask for an assessment.

Lol. So much fail in that post it's unreal.

OP- Do what Hferguson says. Pretty much everything else you're going to read in this thread is going to be utter rubbish- as per the above post.

[Scoobiedoobiedo]

(Original post by tamimi)
Have a decent eating routine. I wouldn't associate training with eating on a time line.

I'd have smaller frequent meals. This allows your stomach to fold back to natural size without compromising on how much you eat per day.

A beer belly can come about in many ways. Most commonly is lack of protein in your diet.

wow

[Photox]

If you can't happily get to a gym, I can thoroughly recommend push-ups for chest, but you'll be wanting to get yourself some resistance after the first few weeks, once you can happily do 3 sets of ten with around a minutes rest between each I reckon you'll have got the movement and posture correct. Then start adding resistance, I started that at about Christmas, and when I cant get to the gym I find 12-15 lots of 10 with an extra 15kg on my back really gets my chest burning, so that's the kind of progress you can make (I didn't progress as quickly as I could have done and I started of from being able to do perhaps 3 push-ups with no weight (embarrassing now I know :L )) . Push-ups are also good for core strength, which will help abs, but as has been said, abs are made in the kitchen, gotta cut that beer-belly-making-diet right out. Beer especially is empty empty calories, its really terrible for abs, they're called beer bellies for a reason.

[sconter]

(Original post by tamimi)
Not sure why you're not convinced. I can back up everything I said with references, but heyho. I'm going to delete my first post to prevent a ****-storm.

please back the last point up, and point out the relevence of everything else, thanks. xxx

[sconter]

(Original post by tamimi)
I don't get why some people on TSR get a shot of serotonin from being rude. You could've just said "I disagree" if you do.

there's nothing to disagree with, it's not ****ing subjective. people with 'beer-bellies' dont have kwashiorkor malnutrition. the way you wrote 'have you never heard of' in such a condecending way, you probably got a boner writing it, yet it is probably the most moronic thing ive ever seen on this board; and that is truely saying something.
where is this science you said you had to back it up, and where have you shown me the relevence of everything else you said?

[HFerguson]

(Original post by tamimi)
Not sure why you're not convinced. I can back up everything I said with references, but heyho. I'm going to delete my first post to prevent a ****-storm.

I hope those "references" are scientific journal articles, else you can **** off

Kwashiorkor just does not occur in the western world, not in the UK, NOR is it caused by expansion of the gut to maximise surface area - ****ing lold. The ascites and oedema of kwashiorkor occurs due to a reduced oncotic pressure of the blood due to reduced albumin production by the liver, because of the low dietary protein. Not that you'd know that.

[the wolf at the door]

(Original post by HFerguson)
To make any kind of decent progress you're gonna want to have a decent routine/program and sort the diet out. Six pack is made in the kitchen - gotta drop the bodyfat, which is done by running a constant caloric deficit and doing the right kinds of exercise (high intensity interval cardio and freeweights).

Eating before exercise is good - carbs are the (primary) fuel for workouts. Eating after workouts is also good - if you've done resistance exercise, this will have provided the muscles with a stimulus to repair and grow, which requires protein and energy (which is provided by carbs). Workouts also deplete muscle glycogen stores, so you'll want some form of carbohydrate to refill muscle glycogen post workout. Some people can eat straight after working out, for others it can make them nauseous. There's no time limit within which you have to eat after working out, but soon after is good. Don't panic about "missing the anabolic window" and that you'll "go catabolic" within 5 minutes post workout if you dont consume something.

The best exercises are compound exercises, which involve movement at more than 1 joint, and therefore recruit most muscle fibres. Good examples of compound movements - squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, chinups/pullups, rows. They can be done with dumbells. These should be done for 3 or 4 sets of 5-10 reps, with a weight challenging enough and as heavy as you can handle without form degrading.

Press-ups aren't a bad exercise, but they'll only provide a stimulus for so long. If you can do more than 15 for a set, you probably want to increase the resistance in some way, by adding weight for example. Backpack full of bricks?

I can also thoroughly recommend the stickies.

thanks for reply. Out of interest, what would we be the ideal diet for one day?

[Chicken Hulk]

Hferguson somes it up really.


For a diet if your wanting to lose that fat you need to first find your daily calorie intake (you can google BMR calculator online to do this). Once you find your daily intake then minus say 500 calories from it to begin losing weight.

You can really eat whatever you want as long as you are below your daily intake. However eating healthy foods with a combo of good protein/carbs/fats is much better for health and progress.

[the wolf at the door]

but to put on muscle you need to eat more than your normal calorie intake, right? seems like its a choice between flat stomach and muscle

[sconter]

(Original post by the wolf at the door)
but to put on muscle you need to eat more than your normal calorie intake, right? seems like its a choice between flat stomach and muscle

the choice is short term.

[Scoobiedoobiedo]

(Original post by the wolf at the door)
but to put on muscle you need to eat more than your normal calorie intake, right? seems like its a choice between flat stomach and muscle

Just don't go OTT