Growing older and need some guidance

F

Frank C

0
Hi folks,
I need some help. I am a 36 year old male 5’9” tall weighing in at 162 pounds. I wouldn’t say I’m fat but I have a “beer belly”. I’m going on my 13th year with a job that keeps me tied to my desk for 10 to 12 hours a day. My diet isn’t great but not completely terrible. I eat lots of fish, chicken, and vegetables and the most sugar I get a day is in my 4 cups of coffee in the morning (1tsp per cup). Besides my coffee in the AM I drink water most of the day with a coke once or twice a week. I take a multi-vitamin and a B complex daily.
I have tried several times to get into shape and failed each time. The longest stretch I went of regular exercise was 4 months with marginal results. I was able to drop over 30 pounds (and I have kept it off) but I was never able to really build any muscle, or any noticeable muscle any way. While it was impressive when I flexed it never materialized into anything when resting. Those marginal results may be due to the equipment I have available, I’ll list it below.

Weight bench
150lbs of free weights
Dumbbells
Treadmill
Stationary bike
Elliptical machine
Not a very impressive list I know but it’s what I have available.

And now what I’m looking for: I want to put together a routine with the above listed equipment or a cheap purchase or two to reduce my body fat from about 16% to about 9 to 10% and add some “noticeable” muscle while resting to my upper body in a 4 month time frame. I understand these are somewhat high expectations for the time frame but for me, if I can’t see the results in that amount of time my motivation will decrease and I will again fail. Any type of help or guidance would be very much appreciated, thank you.
 
You have a good list there!

3 days a week fullbody workout. Cardio 3 days a week when not lifting. (you listed weight so I'm not shy to point you at weights) Check the first entry in my journal for ideas.

Checkout weight training stickies.....

I'm 40
 
I think one of the first things that you must do to succeed is have the desire, drive, motivation, and determination to. The second thing is you *have* to clean up your diet, and I mean clean it up if you expect to get to 9-10% BF.

You have a weight bench and some weights. You also can use your own body weight, and can find other creative solutions to move heavy weights when you are ready :) (you can google body weight exercises, and exercises without weights and find a slew of things)

The bike, elliptic, and treadmill can all be used for your cardio.

You may also want to read some of the stickies in the forum, they are very helpful....
 
Good luck.
Drop the sugar. Change your diet from not terrible to very good.


Start lifting. When I started I did . It is a solid routine with compound moves and can carry you through a year. The goal for YOU is to complete it. (Since you keep quiting)
I am 39.
 
Fear of failure is a strong motivator. Sign up for a triathlon or 5K road race in early 2010 and pay your entry fee. Write this date on a calendar. Knowing that you will be shirtless and not want to embarrass yourself should be a strong motivator to lose fat, gain muscle, and gain some special skills; swimming, cycling and running.
 
g8r80 said:
Fear of failure is a strong motivator. Sign up for a triathlon or 5K road race in early 2010 and pay your entry fee. Write this date on a calendar. Knowing that you will be shirtless and not want to embarrass yourself should be a strong motivator to lose fat, gain muscle, and gain some special skills; swimming, cycling and running.
Click to expand...

OR...you could just plan on going to the pool and take off your shirt...no need to do all that running. :)
 
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