alright, others in the past have said im too fat so that’s why im confused, if i east less i’ll be more defined but i also don’t want to lose what little i’ve gained either, and i don’t want to be a toothpick
You're not fat, you're skinny fat. Your body will recomp over time with lifting, just eat a little more than what you currently are so you don't gain too much fat in comparison to muscle.
i don’t go to the gym, that’s probably 90% of the problem right there, i workout from home, dips, pushups, dumbbells, mainly. but yeah, if i work on abs i’ll at least give the illusion of being more fit i guess, i workout every second day for about an hour and on “off days” i try to hit a quota of 100 pushups a day and 50 dips
Work out 6 days a week but alternate weight/ exercises. I have been doing the same kinda thing thing about the same length of time but at twice your intensity.
Don't do pushups and dips on the same day. Get a bench, it help a lot, used ones are cheap. What dumbbell weights?
Try lifting weights. It doesn't matter if you cut or bulk because untrained individuals will gain muscle in almost any conditions once they start lifting
Gain weight, takes a lot of effort to gain 10 lbs of muscle, almost none to lose 10 lbs of fat. Focus on intensity over volume, learn how to push it. 2 sets of gut grinding effort is better than 3-4 of half assed effort if you can't figure out where the middle is.
Pretty much what everyone else said. Just do starting strength with arm/ab isolations, eat 200-400 over maintainence for like six months and you'll look better
Might want to add some more chest work, 3x5 barbell bench just isn't enough. I'd probably do some 5x10 dumbbell incline bench and 3xfail dips, you could alternate them after the main workout I guess.
No one said starting strength, don't listen to this homosexual. I did it for 6 months and I gained 0 muscle, only fat from the moronic diet that comes with it.
Just follow a routine written by someone who knows what they are doing. Do the routine on the bodyweightfitness reddit if you dont have access to a gym.
>3x5 add reps until can do 3x8 then move to more difficult variant of the move
the jumps between some move variants are way too big to make progress like that
I'm probably less of an expert then most of the people on IST but I agree with the anon that said, body fat's not your issue. If you gain lean mass, even if you don't lose any body fat at all, you'll still look much more "athletic". Also remember that the heavier weights you can lift, the easier it is for you to burn fat in the long run.
Also, progress doesn't look bad for four months. The key point is to be consistent. So any consistent progress is good progress, is what I'd like to think. You're def going to make it, at your own pace!
Assuming you are eating >100g protein a day and don't have moronic programming, the rest of your results are genetically determined. It was obvious which ones were after (top right and bottom left), ignore the trolls.
i don’t go to the gym, that’s probably 90% of the problem right there, i workout from home, dips, pushups, dumbbells, mainly. but yeah, if i work on abs i’ll at least give the illusion of being more fit i guess, i workout every second day for about an hour and on “off days” i try to hit a quota of 100 pushups a day and 50 dips
whoops just saw this. you have moronic programming.
You've been sitting your whole life and your abdomen sticks out like a baby.
You need to pull your guts in and stand up straight and tall.
Here's my 1 yr progress coming out of ~10yr sedentary life as an office worker (IT/computer related).
I found fastest progress in simply walking on treadmill carrying dumbbells of increasing weight. Keep at it until you can hold 30lbs at maximum incline for 2 miles straight (speed at whatever you can manage).
Anytime you feel yourself slumping over, focus your willpower on standing up straight and tall.
This should be your cardio/warmup.
Work in proper form decline situps and get started on barbell complex.
In lieu of barbell complex....bench, squats, curls, Overhead press.
I'm 36yrs old and haven't lifted weights since start of 2020 (lol COVID).
By simply keeping good eating habits I've continued to lose weight/cut to point that 6 pack is visible again.
Once again....after lifting heavy and eating at a surplus in 2018-2019, I haven't lifted or done any exercise other than walking and hikes and at 36 fricking years old, I still have/making aesthetic gains.
The changes your body goes through via lifting stay with you a long time if done correctly.
Reps of 15-20, as many sets as you can do while staying above 10 reps.
When form breaks, lower weight.
Once you got your muscles working, throw in some "heavy shit" (5repsx5sets of heavy fricking weight) until your reps gradually increase.
After a couple of months, deload and go for higher reps again.
The shit you do for endurance and higher reps (15-20reps) work your type I muscle fibers. These are your actual muscle fibers build from blood capillaries and stay with you long after you stop working out.
Heavy weight rep schemes work your Type 2 fibers which are mostly fluid. You get a pump, but it fades quickly (within days/weeks away from gym).
You are only ever lossing mass (cutting) or gaining (bulking). Maintaining is kinda sorta a thing, but in the end not perfect. Either over or under eating.
1) weight gain = more mass
2) muscle is denser than fat
3) strength muscle fibers are denser than high capacity medium strength fibers (mostly water).
Thats why hypertrophy gays lose all size quickly.
And without strength training or training slow twitch(endurance), they also lose strength.
I consider these mediun strength/hypertrophy fibers to be for aesthetics and mostly for show.
Lastly...training for hypertrophy and training for strength yield different results .
Strength training is slower and requires you to gradually reinforce bone and TENDON. Tendons heal much slower than muscle.
Generally no one on IST will tell you to train for endurance (type i) but these muscles are recruited first and alongside all other muscles and since they are build via capillaries are incredibly Dense and full of blood. Meaning they don't give you much size, but give you near wolverine level healing factor and fat burning/metabolism.
TLDR)
1) Size =/= strength
2) Mix endurance work with strength training to maximize gains
3) switch to hypertrophy to blow up size after you've hit some fat loss and strength goals. If you start with hypertrophy, your lifts will be shit.
4) make sure you do complete range of motion (i.e. good form) to ensure you completely work muscle fibers otherwise you have "short muscles that pop" (not "elongated muscles that work"). It's much harder to regain full ROM if you spent months half-assing your way there...literally fighting your shorter tendons and muscle pull to "stretch" properly.
which of those are before and which are after?
alright, this is not a good sign…
before:: top left, bottom right
after: top right, bottom left
it's ok progress. keep at it.
Have you tried lifting weights?
it’s seriously that bad? at least give me some advice AND shit on me, instead of just shitting on me
eat more do more volume/increase intensity
alright, others in the past have said im too fat so that’s why im confused, if i east less i’ll be more defined but i also don’t want to lose what little i’ve gained either, and i don’t want to be a toothpick
You're not fat, you're skinny fat. Your body will recomp over time with lifting, just eat a little more than what you currently are so you don't gain too much fat in comparison to muscle.
alright thank you anon
Let me know if this is correct: top left and bottom right are “before”, and top right and bottom left are “after”?
correct
maybe you should focus a litle more on your abs bro also how many days you hit the gym per week?
i don’t go to the gym, that’s probably 90% of the problem right there, i workout from home, dips, pushups, dumbbells, mainly. but yeah, if i work on abs i’ll at least give the illusion of being more fit i guess, i workout every second day for about an hour and on “off days” i try to hit a quota of 100 pushups a day and 50 dips
Work out 6 days a week but alternate weight/ exercises. I have been doing the same kinda thing thing about the same length of time but at twice your intensity.
Don't do pushups and dips on the same day. Get a bench, it help a lot, used ones are cheap. What dumbbell weights?
35lbs, i mainly just do curls and overhead presses, and flat dumbbell presses since i don’t have a bench
Try lifting weights. It doesn't matter if you cut or bulk because untrained individuals will gain muscle in almost any conditions once they start lifting
Gain weight, takes a lot of effort to gain 10 lbs of muscle, almost none to lose 10 lbs of fat. Focus on intensity over volume, learn how to push it. 2 sets of gut grinding effort is better than 3-4 of half assed effort if you can't figure out where the middle is.
Gain. Lift more weight, do more chest work, weighted crunches
Pretty much what everyone else said. Just do starting strength with arm/ab isolations, eat 200-400 over maintainence for like six months and you'll look better
Might want to add some more chest work, 3x5 barbell bench just isn't enough. I'd probably do some 5x10 dumbbell incline bench and 3xfail dips, you could alternate them after the main workout I guess.
No one said starting strength, don't listen to this homosexual. I did it for 6 months and I gained 0 muscle, only fat from the moronic diet that comes with it.
Just follow a routine written by someone who knows what they are doing. Do the routine on the bodyweightfitness reddit if you dont have access to a gym.
>3x5 add reps until can do 3x8 then move to more difficult variant of the move
the jumps between some move variants are way too big to make progress like that
I'm probably less of an expert then most of the people on IST but I agree with the anon that said, body fat's not your issue. If you gain lean mass, even if you don't lose any body fat at all, you'll still look much more "athletic". Also remember that the heavier weights you can lift, the easier it is for you to burn fat in the long run.
Also, progress doesn't look bad for four months. The key point is to be consistent. So any consistent progress is good progress, is what I'd like to think. You're def going to make it, at your own pace!
Assuming you are eating >100g protein a day and don't have moronic programming, the rest of your results are genetically determined. It was obvious which ones were after (top right and bottom left), ignore the trolls.
Keep up the consistency and don't get injured.
whoops just saw this. you have moronic programming.
My dude why don't you just go to the gym? Stop wasting so much time fricking around and use real weights to get real results.
This. I never gained a single ounce of visible muscle until I finally started hitting the barbells and dumbbells.
Your posture is shit.
You've been sitting your whole life and your abdomen sticks out like a baby.
You need to pull your guts in and stand up straight and tall.
Here's my 1 yr progress coming out of ~10yr sedentary life as an office worker (IT/computer related).
I found fastest progress in simply walking on treadmill carrying dumbbells of increasing weight. Keep at it until you can hold 30lbs at maximum incline for 2 miles straight (speed at whatever you can manage).
Anytime you feel yourself slumping over, focus your willpower on standing up straight and tall.
This should be your cardio/warmup.
Work in proper form decline situps and get started on barbell complex.
In lieu of barbell complex....bench, squats, curls, Overhead press.
I'm 36yrs old and haven't lifted weights since start of 2020 (lol COVID).
By simply keeping good eating habits I've continued to lose weight/cut to point that 6 pack is visible again.
Once again....after lifting heavy and eating at a surplus in 2018-2019, I haven't lifted or done any exercise other than walking and hikes and at 36 fricking years old, I still have/making aesthetic gains.
The changes your body goes through via lifting stay with you a long time if done correctly.
Reps of 15-20, as many sets as you can do while staying above 10 reps.
When form breaks, lower weight.
Once you got your muscles working, throw in some "heavy shit" (5repsx5sets of heavy fricking weight) until your reps gradually increase.
After a couple of months, deload and go for higher reps again.
The shit you do for endurance and higher reps (15-20reps) work your type I muscle fibers. These are your actual muscle fibers build from blood capillaries and stay with you long after you stop working out.
Heavy weight rep schemes work your Type 2 fibers which are mostly fluid. You get a pump, but it fades quickly (within days/weeks away from gym).
You are only ever lossing mass (cutting) or gaining (bulking). Maintaining is kinda sorta a thing, but in the end not perfect. Either over or under eating.
1) weight gain = more mass
2) muscle is denser than fat
3) strength muscle fibers are denser than high capacity medium strength fibers (mostly water).
Thats why hypertrophy gays lose all size quickly.
And without strength training or training slow twitch(endurance), they also lose strength.
I consider these mediun strength/hypertrophy fibers to be for aesthetics and mostly for show.
Lastly...training for hypertrophy and training for strength yield different results .
Strength training is slower and requires you to gradually reinforce bone and TENDON. Tendons heal much slower than muscle.
Generally no one on IST will tell you to train for endurance (type i) but these muscles are recruited first and alongside all other muscles and since they are build via capillaries are incredibly Dense and full of blood. Meaning they don't give you much size, but give you near wolverine level healing factor and fat burning/metabolism.
TLDR)
1) Size =/= strength
2) Mix endurance work with strength training to maximize gains
3) switch to hypertrophy to blow up size after you've hit some fat loss and strength goals. If you start with hypertrophy, your lifts will be shit.
4) make sure you do complete range of motion (i.e. good form) to ensure you completely work muscle fibers otherwise you have "short muscles that pop" (not "elongated muscles that work"). It's much harder to regain full ROM if you spent months half-assing your way there...literally fighting your shorter tendons and muscle pull to "stretch" properly.
Examples of endurance work.
100lb Dumbell hip thrusts, 30reps x 5 sets
Farmers carries with heavy weight for MILES (Not yards).
>if you spent months half-assing your way there
>months
i've been doing that my whole life in every aspect of life. not going to change that
I used to look like that 4mo s ago. I need to work more on the arms, I have been focusing on the chest since I started 8 (now nearly 9) months.