Hi,


I'm a 27 year old male from the Netherlands who has been browsing this forum for a while now and I'm looking for some advice on how to continue my workout / eating schedule. A little information about me, I'm fairly active now but up until 5 years ago I hardly ever did any exercise. Nowadays I skate, goto the gym three times a week and recently took up break dancing two times a week which is my new passion. I goto the gym with my overweight friend thats about 115kg (253 lbs) which helps to keep us both motivated. I've just started keeping track of my food intake today so I'm adding that to my list in a while.


I have a few goals in mind as to why I train. These are:
-Flat stomach
-Gain strength
-Better endurance
-Buff up a bit.

My stats:
27 years old, 180 cm (5.9ft), weigh 67.7kg (149.25 lbs). Body fat 10.9% and BMI 20.7. Taken on 8 October with a hand held device at my local gym. I'm planning to do these measurements monthly.

To reach my goals I should probably bulk up. Which is kind of scary to me because I'm very insecure about my body and how I look. Having to take pictures and actually posting them on line is quite difficult.
Anyways, I was hoping some of you would be kind enough to look at my training schedule posted below and offer me some advice on if its effective. If and how it can be improved and give me some general advice.

Thanks for reading :) :tucool:


Here are some pictures of me taken on 24 October 2008 (with flash). I'm planning to do these weekly.
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/4702/241008voorkantkleinat5.th.jpg (http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=241008voorkantkleinat5.jpg)http://img136.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)


http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2469/241008zijkantkleinwp8.th.jpg (http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=241008zijkantkleinwp8.jpg)http://img136.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)


My workout schedule looks like this at the moment:

Monday:
2km rowing (warming up)
Stretching

I do this set 4 times with about 30 seconds break in between.
Hanging leg raises 12x
Rope crunch 12x
Reverse crunch 12x
Weighted ball crunch 12x

Superman back exercise
Machine lap working basically all the muscle groups (the weight room is packed on Mondays)
30 min cross trainer
Stretching


Wednesday:
2km rowing (warming up)
Stretching

I do this set 4 times with about 30 seconds break in between.
Hanging leg raises 12x
Rope crunch 12x
Reverse crunch 12x
Weighted ball crunch 12x

Superman back exercise
3x12 Squat
3x12 Bench press
3x12 Death lift
30 min cross trainer
Stretching


Thursday:
Break dance training


Friday:
2km rowing (warming up)
Stretching

I do this set 4 times with about 30 seconds break in between.
Side bends dumbbells overhead 12x
Oblique crunch 12
Side bends dumbbells overhead 12x
Lateral raises on back extension machine

Superman back exercise
3x12 squat
3x12 overhead press
3x12 barbell row technogym
30 min cross trainer
Stretching


Sunday:
Break dance training

I also do push ups every morning (currently at 20) and increasing them each time I hit the 5 mark (10, 15, 20, ect).

Hi there. You seem to be very, very active. Good for you!

In order to bulk up by gaining lean muscle mass you need to figure out what your Basic Metabolic Rate is and then factor in your activity level. This will tell you how many calories you need to eat per day simply to maintain weight.

In order to gain lean mass, you would then need to increase your intake of clean calories and enhance your weight lifting and do less cardio. There's a chance that when doing this you could gain a bit of fat because it's not designed to cut.

In order to cut fat and get a flat stomach, like you want, you need to decrease your caloric intake to a level that will burn about a pound of fat a week.

There are stickies in this forum up top that you should read in order to learn more about all of this.

One thing: Your goals don't fit with each other. What I mean by this is you'll need to decide if you want to bulk now or if you want to bulk after you cut.

If you want the flat stomach and don't have it yet I'd say go for a cut now since you're already fairly skinny and appear healthy from your stats. I think this would be easier for you consider how active you are and much of your exercise is based on cardio. Of course you still want to lift weights to burn that fat.

I would try to cut down a few BF% and then try to bulk up.

Definitely check out the stickies, they'll really help you. Check out Marcus's weight loss guide and Gravityhomer's, too.

Bulk, without a doubt, bulk.

Yes, you'll gain some fat, but you can cut that after at least a handful of months gaining some muscle. You're already pretty lean fat wise really, going any more will make you a walking twig without the muscle. Plus if you have extra muscle it will make getting you down where you want to be a tad easier probably.

At first I was trying to cut down to 8% THEN bulk, but it's turned out to be a bit stupid. I got down to 15% but things got difficult. Really I need to get some muscle on me, and after that cut a bit more.

Don't rush things, plan. It will take time no matter what way you go, but you've got a great starting spot.

Hi!

I'd like to thank you for your comments. A short while after this post was made I've made the decicion to indeed bulk. Yesterday was the first day of eating better, more and lifting heavier weights. I've decieded to make a journal on this forum and track my progress with FitDay. Gaining strength and learning how to eat right are now my first priority's.