New and need help

[bean319]

Hi everyone. I am 19, about 5'8", weight 160 lbs, and wear pants that are 32 inches around the waist. A year back I weighed almost 200 lbs. I started going to the gym about 3 times a week and reduced my calorie intake and got down to about 179 lbs. Then I headed off to college. The college I go to has a huge campus so I lost another 10 pounds from walking to class every day and watching what I ate (nasty dorm food ) Now that I am back at home for the summer, I go to the gym about 3 times a week and do cardio once a week. I think I might go back to doing cardio 3 times a week right after I finish lifting. I recently started the 5x5 weight training program and have been making steady gains each week in the the amount I lift. Here's what my workout program looks like:

Monday/Friday
Barbell Bench Presses
Dips
Squats
Rows
Lat Pulldowns
Bicep Curls
Crunches

Wednesday
Dumbbell Presses
Dips
Squats
Deadlifts
Lat Pulldowns
Bicep Curls
Crunches

The question I have is whether I should be cutting or bulking at this point. I don't know my body fat percentage, but I'm guessing its still pretty high as my upper body still looks like that of a chubby/fat person. I have no definition in my upper body and my thighs are huge and jiggly from the fat I still have. The only part of my body that I am somewhat satisfied with are my arms.

In terms of diet, I am Chinese and my family likes to go out to Chinese restaurants to eat A LOT. I have a hard time controlling what I eat when I am with my family / at home when I pretty much have 3 cheat days a week D:. Furthermore, my family isn't very supportive of my efforts to change my body. I did try to somewhat have a 6 meal diet plan which consisted of cereal + milk in a morning, a snack of yogurt and almonds, a lunch consisting of a salad with some chicken, and then another snack of almonds and a granola bar, and then whatever my mom decided to make for dinner. Currently I am taking about 20g of whey protein before my workouts and 40g post workout. Any help would be appreciated. I've attached some pics of myself. Thanks!

 

[Will Goes Boing]

I'm no expert, but from my gobs of research and so far what I've experienced I'm a firm believer that all the workout in the world is useless without a proper healthy diet. And being Chinese I can relate to your issues with your family. Asian people think "buff" = hard laborer and they think "chubby" = weatlhy/fortunate.

It's good that you're self motivated to do this because in the end this is beneficial to your health and the way you feel about yourself. From looking at your pictures you do lack muscle, so I would suggest a bulk with plenty of weight lifting with a little bit of cardio and a healthy bulk diet.

Get up to about 180 and then cut back down to 160. And when you are on a cut, make sure you get in at least 200g of protein per day to minimize muscle loss. As for exercise I would recommend doing lifting in the AM and cardio in the PM if you have the time.

 

[bean319]

Thanks for the reply man! Good to know there's someone that can relate to my situation. That's exactly what my parents think. After I lost the 40 pounds they tell me I am too skinny. Kind of obvious I am still packing a few extra pounds from the pictures D:. I kind of figured that the biggest reason why my workouts aren't giving me fast results is because of my diet. Maybe when school starts again in 2 months I can really commit to this.

 

[Will Goes Boing]

Well the good news for you is that you can take this opportunity to bulk. You should still eat a clean diet while bulking but the important thing is packing in the protein and working out properly to gain muscle. Ask your mom to cook more beef and I know Chinese moms love cooking fish which is perfect. Eat a lot of vegetables and fruits too.

And once you're back off to college and you're on your own, it is a good chance to be on your cutting phase because you have to limit yourself a lot more strict than when you were on your bulking diet. Just make sure you stay away from fast food, soda, candy, anything with a crap load of sugar in it. And that goes for bulking and cutting.

Also for your weight lifting routine..... it's best if you start out with compound lifts (bench, squat, deadlifts) but it's not easy to learn on your own. So if you must do isolation exercises, do them in parts.

Here's a simple example:

Monday: Biceps and Triceps, Shoulders

Wednesday: Legs

Friday: Chest and Back

And do some light cardio after lifting to build a good base so when you go into your cutting phase you can do some higher intensity cardio. I would recommend you read up as much as you can on workingout. Surprisingly youtube has a lot of good videos to demonstrate lifts so you might want to check that out. There is so much more to it, but since you're just starting out keeping it simple is the best.

 

[bean319]

Thanks once again! I have a quick question. I've been doing barbell bench presses for a few weeks now but I notice that my arms are always sore after workouts but my chest always feels fine. Does this have to do with the amount of weight I am lifting or my form? Currently trying to increase the amount I lift each week.

 

[raze]

Whilst it great to try and lift more weight each week it will come to a point where it will take time to increase the weight so keep that in mind. I would recommend picking a weight that is heavy for you and aim to lift heavier but you have to be realistic about picking a weight that is 1 heavy but 2 a weight that allows you to do the exercise properly. I would be aiming for 8 - 10 sets of a chest exercise and when benching bring the bar right down to your chest. If your not bringing it right down to your chest you will be working your triceps. Welcome to the forums