Q&A for: 24-Sep-07
2460. Q:
hey mike im 18 6 foot 180 and my nips stick out i dont think i have man boobs but there out like a inch if i do its nothing major but was wondering what workouts i can do for my chest and would dumbells be a good enough workout to put on arm mass or is there a better way .........thanks alot
A:
There're a few things in play here. First off, at 6 feet and 180 pounds you are not overweight so you should not have excessive amount of chest fat which is often responsible for 'man boobs'. As far nipples 'sticking out' to a degree it is also normal and it might naturally decrease in the next 1-2 years.
What is more likely to make nipples appear to stick out is that you do not have much chest muscle. If you have significant amount of chest muscle it fills out the chest and the 'man boob' affect is not nearly as noticeable. So what you probably want to do is start weight training and eating appropriately for building muscle.
If you've never really worked out before, you will probably be able to achieve some muscle gains with almost any program (something as simple as doing pushups and pullups daily), but if you want to optimize your results you need to spend some time learning how to train and eat right. Please read my Nutrition and Weight Training articles to learn the basics (re-read them a couple of times if needed to make sure you grasp all the major points) and fill out Fitness Guide specifying 'Gain Muscle' as your goal. Notice that the recommended program will have you exercise all your muscle groups, not just arms and chest -- that will actually help your arm and chest development more than if you only did arms and chest exercises. If you only have access to dumbbells, then you can still make progress by following Dumbbell-only program.
Remember to not only weight train but also eat healthy and gain weight as slowly as possible in order to make sure you gain muscles and not fat. Good luck!
2461. Q:
I want to be able to do a cardio workout where my pulse is between 140-155 for at least at least 20minutes non-stop and up to 30 minutes.Can creatine help me in this case or Is it better to do it without creatine?
A:
No, creatine will not help you at all with this goal. Creatine is useful for anaerobic training such as weightlifting or sprinting. It does not help with aerobic training such as endurance cardio.
2462. Q:
while i was going to the gym i was maintaing my weight at 60 kilos im 5ft 2 and 38 years old and a pear shape then i stopped going after 5 years for a couple of months now and my weights gone up to 65 kilos realisticly i want to be between 55 and 57 kilos i couldnt get to this weight when i going to the gym,how can i do this now.and i eat reasonably healthy so what can the problem be can you help? thanks .pembe
A:
Pembe, you should be able to achieve your goal of 55-57 kgs, but it will probably take more diligent training and more importantly nutrition than you've been following so far. It is great that you attend cardio classes in your gym, but they all more or less stress your aerobic system, so you don't get any of the fat-burning benefits from anaerobic training. You also did not mention your diet, so I assume that you like most people do not have the optimal diet for fat burning -- many foods commonly considered healthy such as bread or pasta or cold breakfast cereals are actually undesirable when trying to burn fat.
Please read my Fat Loss article and read it and the Nutrition and Weight Training articles it references carefully. Once you get the basics, start incorporating my nutrition suggestion into your diet and weight training into your gym routine. With time you should be able to reach your goals. Good luck!
2463. Q:
hi its pembe again just forgot to tell you that when i was going to gym i was attending all the aeobics classes inc step ,spinning and once a week i did body pump but there was no change in inches as you would at least expect yes?
A:
Pembe, you should be able to achieve your goal of 55-57 kgs, but it will probably take more diligent training and more importantly nutrition than you've been following so far. It is great that you attend cardio classes in your gym, but they all more or less stress your aerobic system, so you don't get any of the fat-burning benefits from anaerobic training. You also did not mention your diet, so I assume that you like most people do not have the optimal diet for fat burning -- many foods commonly considered healthy such as bread or pasta or cold breakfast cereals are actually undesirable when trying to burn fat.
Please read my Fat Loss article and read it and the Nutrition and Weight Training articles it references carefully. Once you get the basics, start incorporating my nutrition suggestion into your diet and weight training into your gym routine. With time you should be able to reach your goals. Good luck!
2464. Q:
i'm a wrestler and i have this workout program that i almost have complete. the only thing i'm stuck on is how many sets and repetitions to do for each muscle group. so how many sets and reps should i do depending on the muscle group?
A:
This can really vary depending on your program, goals, and objective in training...
If your weight training with the goal of bulking up, then you will want to select weights such that you reach or come close to (with 1-2 reps of) muscular failure on any given set in between 6 and 12 reps. So all your sets would be in 6-12 rep range. As far as number of sets, again it can vary, but a typical program will have you do around 12-15 sets for legs, 12-15 sets for back, 9-12 sets for chest, 9-12 sets for shoulders, and 9-12 sets for biceps/triceps/forearms over the course of one week, usually split into 3-5 training sessions.
If your goal with this program is speciflly improving power and strength without necessarily bulking up, then the program would consist mainly of big compound exercises such as cleans, jerks, squats, deadlifts, and presses. You would not want to reach muscular failure, so you would keep weights moderate and do only a few reps per set -- typically 4-6 reps per set. The number of sets might be between 30-60 per week with more sets if you are using light weights and fewer sets if you are using heavier weights. Hope that helps.
2465. Q:
i used to weigh about 102kgs but recently i have been taking protein supplements,stopped drinking,eat 5-6 meals a day,fish,chicken,fruit,cracker bread,basically healthly food.i do resistance training and sit ups 6 evenings a week,i probably weigh about 83kgs now done this in about 7 weeks,i want my chest bigger and stomach flatter and more defined,do i need to rest more for quicker results,i dont want to burn myself out.
A:
Congrats on your recent weight loss! 20 kgs in just 7 weeks is very impressive! However going forward I would urge you to slow down weight loss to no more than about 1 kg per week. If you lose weight much faster then you risk losing a lot of muscle mass along with fat which will come back to bite you down the road -- your muscles mass is your best friend in burning fat AND keeping it off. So if you lose too much muscle quickly you won't be able to burn fat for very long and will be very vulnerable to regaining the weight later. So eat more to make sure your weight loss is not so drastic going forward. With slower weight loss you'll give your body the opportunity to actually build muscle even as you lose fat and weight -- which will help you accomplish your goals of bigger chest and flatter stomach.
Aside from that it sounds like you are doing great, just keep it going! If you would like some ideas on how to optimize your training and diet even more, you can always read my Nutrition and Weight Training articles. Good luck!
2467. Q:
From reading your articles and Q&A's, I understand that fat loss is achieved more effectively by weight training and proper nutrition than by cardio. My question is whether cardio interferes with the development of muscle? Is weight loss through cardio burning muscle or fat? Thanks.
A:
Excessive cardio can harm muscle development and actually hurt your long-term fat loss. But brisk moderate duration cardio is beneficial for your health, assists in fat burning, and may actually help muscle development by improving your recuperative ability. So I typically recommend 2-3 sessions of 20-30 minutes of fairly intense cardio per week for an average person trying to lose fat (combined with good diet and weight training, of course). Another option for cardio is HIIT -- you can read my comments on HIIT for it by using the search box in the upper right.
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