Anyone Suggest a Workout for Me?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
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Hey guys, I’m new to the site, I’ve been browsing around all day and it seems like I’ve finally found somewhere where everyone knows what they’re talking about. Well I could really use some advice to help me acheive the physique I am dying to get. Right now I am 6’2" 173 lbs. I am thinking my body fat is around 16% but its just an estimate.

My goal is to drastically lower my bodyfat percentage but not lose too much muscle. I tried this in the past and was weighing in at 160 which I think is extremely low with no real definition.

I have been trying to bulk lately but it seems like all I’m doing is putting on fat. I workout 6 days a week right now, doing cardio and ab work every other day but I know that my workout can greatly be enhanced. As of now it is…

Monday, Chest

Bench Press
Incline DB Press
Cable Crossovers
Decline DB Press
Incline DB Flyes

Tuesday

25 min cardio
60 leg raises
30 russian twists
60 decline crunches

Wednesday, Arms

Incline DB Curls
Hammer Curls
Isometric DB curls
Skull Crushers
Tricep Extensions
Dips

Thursday

25 min cardio
60 leg raises
30 russian twists
60 decline crunches

Friday, Back/Shoulders

Seated Rows
Seated Pull Downs
Upright Rows
DB Shoulder Press
Front and Side DB Raises

Saturday

25 min cardio
60 leg raises
30 russian twists
60 decline crunches

Sunday
Rest

Now this is something I completely put together myself and I know it could use a lot of tweaking if not a completely new basis altogether. I’m open for any ideas. I just want a workout that will help me lower my body fat and give me a very lean athletic appearance. If you need any more info let me know. These are my pics from about 3 weeks ago.

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more pics

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last pic

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there is no way your body fat is at 16%

more like 10% but you dont have much muscle…

99% of people here along with me will tell you to forget being in a calorie deficit. you do have a low body fat%, you need muscle. bulk up

eat around 4000 calories a day(maybe even 4500 or 5000 depending on your activity). give it a month or so and see i you gain weight. if not increase it to 4500. tweak it on your own.

your program is huge and with all that cardio and stuff of course you wont gain weight.

search for rippetoe’s starting strength program. its small and great:
day 1:
35 squats
35 bench press
15 deadlift
day 2:
35 squats
35 overhead press
53 pendlay rows

you workout 3 days a week. thats it.

for example
monday you do day 1
wednesday you do day 2
saturday day 1
then repeat on monday starting with day 2

if you want to, do a LITTLE(little with capitals for a reason… so dont do it very often) HIIT cardio to keep from gaining too much fat as you gain weight. preferably on your off days, and preferably in the morning, some people like to do it before eating anything so they burn fat with it.

anyway look up the program for details.

as for what you should eat

6-7 meals a day, evenly divided more or less, if you cant evenly divide it, just get at LEAST enough calories and protein

get the 4000 or howeve rmany calories you need and at least 200 grams of protein a day.

eat whole wheat stuff for carbs, 2-3 fruits a day and veggies. also only after workout drink something with sugars(when i say this im not saying that i “allow” you, its something you should do).

an hour after workout is probably one of the most important meals so eat then lots of carbs and protein.

get healthy fats (olive oil, fish oil… almonds and other nuts… and meat/fish fat)

as for protein, its good to have variety if you can get it… i personally am bored to have it. the most important thing is that you get enough nutrients every day of the right kind though. variety comes second.

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[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
there is no way your body fat is at 16%

more like 10% but you dont have much muscle…

99% of people here along with me will tell you to forget being in a calorie deficit. you do have a low body fat%, you need muscle. bulk up

eat around 4000 calories a day(maybe even 4500 or 5000 depending on your activity). give it a month or so and see i you gain weight. if not increase it to 4500. tweak it on your own.

your program is huge and with all that cardio and stuff of course you wont gain weight.

search for rippetoe’s starting strength program. its small and great:
day 1:
35 squats
35 bench press
15 deadlift
day 2:
35 squats
35 overhead press
53 pendlay rows

you workout 3 days a week. thats it.

for example
monday you do day 1
wednesday you do day 2
saturday day 1
then repeat on monday starting with day 2

if you want to, do a LITTLE(little with capitals for a reason… so dont do it very often) HIIT cardio to keep from gaining too much fat as you gain weight. preferably on your off days, and preferably in the morning, some people like to do it before eating anything so they burn fat with it.

anyway look up the program for details.

as for what you should eat

6-7 meals a day, evenly divided more or less, if you cant evenly divide it, just get at LEAST enough calories and protein

get the 4000 or howeve rmany calories you need and at least 200 grams of protein a day.

eat whole wheat stuff for carbs, 2-3 fruits a day and veggies. also only after workout drink something with sugars(when i say this im not saying that i “allow” you, its something you should do).

an hour after workout is probably one of the most important meals so eat then lots of carbs and protein.

get healthy fats (olive oil, fish oil… almonds and other nuts… and meat/fish fat)

as for protein, its good to have variety if you can get it… i personally am bored to have it. the most important thing is that you get enough nutrients every day of the right kind though. variety comes second.[/quote]

Good advice.

OP, if your estimation about bf % is right, then you only have 145 lbs of lean mass. Sorry, but no matter how low you get your bf, you’re not likely go have an athletic look. You’ll look more like Christian Bale in “The Machinist”.

Lordstrom is right on that you need to add some muscle if you ever want to achieve your goal. I’d say that judging by the fact that you’re already thin you probably want to also take his advice about eating 4,000-4,500 kcals each day.

Also, don’t try to write your own programs, especially when you’re first starting out. You simply don’t have the knowledge or experience to be able to write yourself well balanced programs at this point. Ripptoe’s program is a good one for beginners, and I’d second the advice to follow it. But, in all honesty as long as the program is well balanced, progressive, gives you plenty of practice at the movements and is accompanied by effort in the gym (and the kitchen) it should give you results.

Good luck.

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I can’t believe no one has pointed out the complete lack of leg work.

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but we both told him to completely change the program :wink:

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Don’t tweak your program…completely annihilate it.

You’re a skinny bastard so I’d either follow Rippetoe’s as suggested above or WS4SB.

WS4SB:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459321

Pick one of these program and stop all that cardio. Maybe do one day max.

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Wow, I would have never imagined needing to take in all of those calories. I guess I had the mindset that loosing weight would be the only way for my abs to show because all of my friends are skinny and they all have visible abs. Thanks for the input guys, anymore is very welcome.

Well I guess I should go inhale some more food

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Wow, I would never imagine needing to take in that many calories. I’ll try this program out immediately and start inhaling some more food. Any easy in-between meals you guys can suggest? Anymore pointers would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

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Yeah, that’s probably the #1 thing I learned on this site…you need to eat to gain!

Post your planned diet then we can help you. Come up with something that has 6-7 meals and 4000 calories. There’s a shitload of articles on here to start from. Nutrition for newbs, etc, etc.

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[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
I can’t believe no one has pointed out the complete lack of leg work.[/quote]

I actually had written it into my response, but I decided to delete that statement due to the fact that just following Ripptoe’s program would take care of the lack of legs.

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http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=640350

Read this thread. I’m not sure what you have been reading all day, but this one thread should have you covered to start.

A point of warning- you must eat to gain, but be careful your “beginner’s zeal” doesn’t cause you to try to gain to quickly or add calories too quickly-- you will just add smooth bulk and get discouraged (or, worse, deceive yourself into thinking you are looking good). Do it gradually. Lift intensely, with perfect form and steadily add pounds to the bar.

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there is always whey protein shakes.

other good stuff are milk, drink lots of it, its good for your bones too after all, and if you are gonna be having hundreds of pounds on your bones i dont think it would do bad to drink milk.

brown rice and brown spaghetti (and normal ones are ok too) are good.

almonds or other nuts . olive oil, fish oil.

as for meats and fish, pretty much anything really. try to get some fat from meats too.

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Yeah I’m pretty knowledgable about nutrition, I know what to eat and what things to stay away from. It just seems like whenever I put on weight I can only see it in my midsection so thats why I’ve been weary to take in extra cals

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give it time. if your lifts are going up then dont worry too much

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Thank you my Greek brother

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Oh and can anyone suggest some simple supplements I should be taking to help reach my goal and when to take them? The only thing I’m very familiar with right now is whey.

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Whey as a staple

optionals:
beta alinine (I take this occasionally when doing snatches/clean n jerks)
creatine
fishoil
zma