Best workout routine, timing and products?

[bapcaa]

5'11", 181 lbs, 23, male.
I've been working out 3-5 days a week for the past 2 months. Have seen little result but not satisfied.
I usually start by running on treadmill for 20-50 minutes on increasing pace speed 5.5-7.5 no incline without rest and burn about 350-650 calories with average of 157 bmp to max of 180 bmp. After the treadmill I do weight lifting for about an hour. Over all I burn 800-1400 calories within and hour to 2. Result is not really satisfying me compare to what i do. Using a multivitamin before and protein shake after exercise once a day. Lost about 10 lbs only, muscle appearance isn't noticeably increased. Lately having stiff neck and shoulders more. But extremely like the after feeling of exercise. Trying to eat less but more likely keeping it at the same level i used to. Still have my belly fat but can feel 6 packs behind it when tightened.
I use Polar F11 HRM, measure my ownindex every 3 days in the morning, vo2max changes up and down, sometimes 37-43 sometimes 49 to 53. And my goal is to have a beach body before July.
So final questions are:
What routine will give me the best result?
Am i doing too much and not allowing my body to develop?
Is my heart rate high compare to other people?
Most effective way of working on treadmill? Is elliptical is better than treadmill?
How to get rid of my belly fat easily?
Should i separate cardio and weightlifting into two different days?
What is your average heart rate when walking?
What kind of drink should i use while working out? - plain water doesn't really do good for me, it makes my mouth feel dry and drink too much. tried vitamin water but has too much sugar.

Advise me whatever can help me to achieve my goal, share your personal experience and send me a helpful weblinks and product recommendation
Thank u very much!

 

[Goldfish]

What routine will give me the best result?

I believe I'd be throwing my credibility down the drain if I announced that there's a single best routine out there. But people have a lot of success using compound freeweight exercises. A/B splits with 3-4 exercises (1 leg, 1 push, 1 pull, and perhaps 1 accessory exercise) tend to be pretty effective. I think there's a good example of this in the weight-training 101 sticky (check the weight-training forums), but it might have been another sticky thread I'm thinking of. Key is big exercises using lots of muscle.

Am i doing too much and not allowing my body to develop?

Probably. Your program should consist of a warm up followed by strength training 3 non-consecutive days/week. A warm up does not mean 50min cardio, it means doing just enough to break a sweat. If you do 50min cardio, then you will have expended a lot of energy, in particular a lot of glycogen, and you won't be able to perform as efficiently when lifting weights, so you won't get anywhere near as good an outcome. You should aim to be in and out of the gym in about an hour. Sessions can go longer, but 1hour is a good timeframe to work around. If you want to do 50min cardio, do it on days between strength training sessions.

Is my heart rate high compare to other people?

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but if you're concerned about optimum heart rate zones, I wouldn't be. As you adapt to exercise, the optimum HR zones for different effects change. 60-80% of MHR is often recommended, but it's not really that specific. Firstly, depending on age, improvements in fitness may cause MHR to increase or decrease. Often as your fitness improves, your resting HR will also decrease, which is important if you work around heart-rate reserve rather than simply MHR. The truth is that you can make cardiovascular adpatations and/or decrease fat between 40% and 100% of your MHR (ie at total rest through to maximum exertion). Plenty of trainers out there overstate risk factors of training above 80%MHR, as if training that high will give you a heart attack. If you've had a heart attack, this is possibly true. But it would be normal for an athlete to train up to 90%MHR, and some will go up to the 100% mark for their sport, and they are generally considered to have pretty strong hearts.

If your goal is weight loss, train in a way that results in energy expenditure. I would be tempted to recommend HIIT or tabata method to you, but it may interfere with recovery between resistance training days, so endurance-style training may be apt. You could perhaps involve some Tabata training in your resistance training days, such as by doing core-work Tabata-style.

Most effective way of working on treadmill? Is elliptical is better than treadmill?

They both have their pros and cons. If your running technique is bad, elliptical may be better, as a combination of bad technique/joint alignment, endurance, and high impact is a recipe for injury. If your running technique is good and you have great alignment, then running would actually reduce risk of injury, as impact loading is actually what causes your joints to become nourished. High impact activities also stimulate an increase in bone density. But both options will result in increased circulation to the body, and about the same amount of energy expenditure for the same intensity and duration of work.

How to get rid of my belly fat easily?

Eat about 2,000kcal/day, try to have 4-out-of-5 meals wholesome and nutrient-dense, and do your 3 strength training sessions per week plus cardio acting a supplement.

Should i separate cardio and weightlifting into two different days?

Probably. As I said before, you want to get in, do your strength training and get out. If you go on to do cardio afterwards, your form may be sloppy, increasing risk of injury. If you do cardio before strength training, then your strength training is very likely to suffer for it. High performance athletes may train several hours a day, but you're not one of them, and at 2 months, you're not ready to be one. On the other hand, sensible cardio on your off-days can aid recovery and help burn a little extra fat.

What is your average heart rate when walking?

I have no idea. I haven't measured my heart rate during activity in a very long time. Besides that, it naturally depends on many variables...how fast/urgently am I walking; who am I walking with; where am I walking?

What kind of drink should i use while working out? - plain water doesn't really do good for me, it makes my mouth feel dry and drink too much. tried vitamin water but has too much sugar.

You don't need anything more than water if training for <1hr. If training for several hours, then it's much more appropriate to consume drinks such as Gatorade, but I'm recommending against you training that long.