Ok, i was 230lb when i first started to work out, lost 60lb and now the rest of my fat doesnt want to come off.
recently i started strictly dieting, like protein..meats,fish,tuna you know, Also salads.
I do sport particuarly wrestling, and im starting too run...ALOT
like 5 to 10 miles a day, im trying to set lifting habit its just i have no idea how to lift successfully and get real muscel gain

thanks, i appreciate all replys.

Welcome. Nice work on getting yourself into shape. :tucool:

We need more info.

-- Age, height?
-- How much more weight do you need to lose?
-- What kind of strength training equipment do you have access to?

Running 30+ miles a week and trying to gain real muscle is likely to represent two conflicting goals. I'm not saying this is "wrong", just that you need to make sure your activities and time spent training match up with your goals.

If you really like running, aim to be a better runner, want to run a 15k/marathon, etc., that's great. If you're running to try and gain muscle, that probably won't work out the way you want it to.

Take a look in the sticky threads to see if some of the information you're looking for is contained within. Feel free to ask follow-up questions within this thread.

well im 15 years old
im 6'0 weighing 172
and i am a member at the YMCA so thee have bacically any weight equipment you can think of.

So with heavy lifting, i should do little cardio it just confuses me cause im not sure how to know how many reps of each exercise to do?

So with heavy lifting, i should do little cardio it just confuses me cause im not sure how to know how many reps of each exercise to do?

No not necessarily but you need to make sure that you are eating enough to compensate for all that running. If you are running that much your body is using a lot of energy, calories. If you weight train and do that much cardio, on say 2000 calories, it's not going to be enough to even keep, or build, a lot of muscle.

I'm not an expert on food, or much of anything, especially for teenagers. But what I have read around the forums is that you should be eating healthy and lots of it. Eat right, doesn't mean eat less, lift weights, and then focus on cardio.

Cardio is a tool. But a very complex tool. If you are training to be a runner then you probably want to do some endurance running.(Again I'm no expert on endurance running here so I could be way off)

If you want to shed fat it really isn't necessary to run 30 miles a week. You can do some light fasted cardio in the morning, called Liss, for up to 45 minutes and see some great results without losing muscle, if your diet and training is on par.

But Nowhereman I don't have 45 minutes to waste each day. Well then HITT might be right up your alley. You can do 20 minutes of intense interval training. That helps lose fat and also boosts your cardiovascular level, Liss doesn't really do this.

Search through the forums and take a look at what others are doing for cardio, don't get too much into the debate of which one is best. Find what is best for YOU.

Read the stickies and see if your diet is good. Also take a look at the stickies for some weight training exercises and routines.

I know I spent a lot of time writing about cardio but it really shouldn't be your focus if you want to lose fat. The other two should be tightened up before the cardio.

I can't necessarily suggest how much cardio you should be doing; that's for you to decide. I think you'll find once you understand what your goals are, the activity you need to support those goals starts to come into focus a little better.

It's pretty simple really, for any chosen activity, make it have a reason, purpose, and effective level of contribution towards your goals. And so it's obvious, doing something because you really like it can be a great reason to do it.

It's when people start adding in a whole bunch of activity without considering why it's there that they get off track, or just generally confused. So if you really don't have a reason as to why you're doing all the running you are, that's not the best sign.

If you decide to play a whole bunch of racquetball, I'm going to hope it's because you enjoy playing it, want to get better at it, and not because you think it's the best way to help you learn how to play tennis. If you want to learn how to play tennis, there's a more effective method -- go play tennis. :)

If you're running 30+ miles, I'm going to assume it's because you enjoy running, and have some performance related goals within the endurance field of running (or at least see some carryover into another activity). Maybe you want to join your school's cross-country team, enter a recreational distance race, etc.

I mentioned the distance running can conflict with your goal of gaining muscle, because the activity of distrance running doesn't promote the need for the body to carry anymore bodyweight than necessary to get the job done as efficiently as possible. It also doesn't promote the qualities of raw strength or explosiveness the same way weight training does.

Now your diet and its role in your overall energy balance is going to affect your weight, but it's important to understand what the activity itself is going to benefit from, because over time, that's the direction the body will generally go in.

The closest connection between running and strength training would probably be sprinting, and if you think about the needs of this activity as compared to distance running -- quick explosive action with emphasis on speed vs. sustained steady state action with emphasis on endurance -- you should be able to see why this is.

ok i will check in to thins and see what kind of lifting and how much running i should really do at my level, that would be good for me
thanks for all the help

Sounds like you have the right idea. It's a good idea to give yourself a general education on things so you're able to divise an intelligent plan aimed at meeting your goals, but it's never going to be something where someone else can tell you "exactly" what you should be doing.

At 170 lbs on a 6 foot frame, I wouldn't recommend keeping your body in a calorie deficit with explicit dietary restrictions. I know you mentioned looking for additional fat loss, but with as active as you are, your body fat shouldn't be much of an issue. It would appear you've already slayed that beast, and additional recomposition is likely to take place as a result of staying active and training hard.

A good healthy diet composed of quality food sources like you've been using with totals starting a little above your maintenance point would appear to be a good course of action.

It sounds like you have a termendous opportunity with the facility you have access to in the way of equipment. Strength training will enable your body to take on a completely different look. Learn how to get strong, and your body will learn how to look strong.

A really good book I could recommend for you would be Starting Strength 2nd Edition - Basic Barbell Training. (http://www.johnstonefitness.com/store/shop.php?c=books&n=1000&i=0976805421&x=Starting_Strength_2nd_edition) You can order it through the JSF Amazon Mall, and it will provide a really good course on how to use your strength training time effectively.