Thread: don't know what to do...

Hi..my name is josh i'm almost 18..about 220 and 6 ft....i have some muscle already but what i am looking to do is gain more muscle mass on my arms and upper body but at the same time eliminate my stomache and pec fat..is this possible..if so how..also i am limited to my workout because one, i live in a small trailer and two, all i have is dumbells..no room for a weight bench or anything.. in the trailer and the nearest gym is 40 mins. away...HELP PLEASE....

Yo Dude,

Can you not run to the gym, the gym near me is about 40 mins away, and i find that running there, helps my cardio abilityand acts as a part of my warmup routiene this means that when i get to the gym i can have a full body workout there, Then i can do a gentle jog back as part of a cooldown exercise

Suhieb

hello,

interesting situation. here is the magic formula. to lose the fat, you will need to control your diet (you did not mention this factor, so it may not be a problem for you) and you will need to do aerobic excercise (sometimes referred to as cardio work). these are two different things.

do aerobic excercise. this is how you will lose the fat. this is the slow steady exercise type. go walking for about 1 hour (or more if time permits). this should be a fairly fast pace (like you have somewhere to be, but not like powerwalking or speedwalking).

on "cardio machines", pick a pace that targets your optimal fatburning heartrate. (200 minus your age) minus 10% of the result.

for you.... 200 - 18 = 182 - 164.

164 is your target heart rate. 164 beats per minute. on any machine you use, pick the pace that allows for this heart rate.

remember, this is slow stuff. this is not cardio work. cardio is for building up your "wind" or stamina. that is not your purpose here. you want to lose fat. slow and steady is how you do it.

maintain your target heart rate for a minimum of 30 minutes 3-4 times weekly.

more to follow.

hello,

now. on to building muscle in your upper body. it would be helpful if you could elaborate on your goal or purpose.

what is your condition/build now? how do you want it changed?

only asking because it is easy to get carried away and overdevelop various muscles or muscle groups. this can cause some uncomfortable problems in the joints.

looking foreward to hearing from you.

thanks

well building muscle and eliminating fat at the same time is kind of tough to do.

to build new muscle mass you new an excess of (energy) calories, along with mass building exercises.

to lose body fat you need a deficit of (energy) calories, along with fat burning exercise. do the exercise laz was referring to after your weight routine to get the most out of calorie burning.

you will burn more fat being intense about your weight training in the beginning of your workout, and having a light jog afterwards, like laz was saying.

never short your body needed protein, 2 grams per lb of body weight.

spot elimination of fat doesn't really exist, like doing a ton of sit ups to get rid of fat in your stomach. it is determined by your genetics where your body takes stored fat from when it is burned.

hello,

bulletproofglass is correct. on all counts. this is part of the clarification you need to make.

depending on your goals, it may be better to just build a lot of muscle. it is also possible that a lot of excess muscle could be a liability (it happens).

so let us know what you want to do. if you really don't know, or have no sport specific goals in mind (a lot of us don't), join a gym and talk to a trainer.

thanks