Q: Hello Mike.
Just been looking at your website its quite helpful.
I was hoping for some advice, as i am fairly new to all this gym business!
I have been going to a small private gym now for about 6-8 weeks with the hope of burning fat and gaining muscle.
I am 21 years old of average build and weigh in at about 13 stone and i am generally fit and healthy.
I have yet to see any difference except for my arms getting slightly bigger but not a lot bigger at that.
I tend to attend 3 times a week for around a hour at a time.
I know it takes time but is it normal to see as little result as i am doing?
I was hoping you may be able to give me some pointers as what is best to use.
The gym has rowing machine, treadmill, bike, cross trainer, dumbells and barbells, a basic multigym, pull up bar and a sit up bench.
I have also read that drinkng chocolate milk after a session is good for you....any truth in this as this is what i have been doing as cant really afford whey protein at those prices!
Many thanks

A: It sounds like you are well on your way. As you said, it takes time, especially since you sound like you are in good shape already. Three hour-long workouts per week is good. You should focus on using dumbbells and barbells as much as possible and prioritize big compound exercises that hit large muscle groups -- these include squats, lunges, deadlifts, pullups/pulldowns, barbell/dumbbell rows, bench presses, and shoulder presses. Here's one program like that: http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/exercise-program-weights-medium-volu... but almost any weight training program should be fine, as long as it emphasizes free weights and large compound exercises.

The more important part of your program should be your diet which you haven't mentioned. Here things are simple: either you go for building muscle by gaining weight or you go for losing fat by losing weight. If you try to accomplish both at once by staying at about the same weight and just working out your progress will be painfully slow. You would do much better to pick one or the other and structure your diet accordingly. You will be eating more or less same foods in either case, but the amount will vary. If you decide to focus on losing fat then you will eat less so you slowly lose weight (losing 1 pound or less per week). If you decide to focus on building muscle then you will eat more so you very slowly gain weight (gaining no more than 1 pound every 2 weeks or so). If several weeks pass without your weight changing then you'll need to adjust your calories up or down, depending on which way you decided to go.

So, you need to decide is whether you are more interested in losing fat or in building muscle and develop your nutrition plan accordingly. This means you need to plan out your entire daily food intake, not just the post-workout chocolate shake (which by the way is not really ideal in my opinion -- I talk about post-workout meal in my Protein Supplementation article). If you don't have a good control of your diet and just eat whatever whenever you simply will not achieve very good results, whether building muscle or losing fat. Read my Diet and Nutrition article and use its advice to put together a sample diet plan for yourself after you've decided whether you want to lose fat or build muscle first. If you are still unsure what your meal plan should look like, use http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/fat-loss-diet-1900-calories as a starting point for burning fat and http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/muscle-gain-diet-2800-calories for building muscle.

Once you've reached your initial fat burning or muscle building goal you can turn things around and change your diet to accomplish the other goal. If at first you decided to build muscle by gaining weight, it is unavoidable that after accomplishing that you also gained some new fat -- so you will probably want to go on a fat-burning cycle next by reducing your calories and losing weight. Similarly, if at first your decided to lose the extra fat by losing weight, you might then want to build up some new muscle by increasing calories and gaining weight. So whether your body primarily loses fat or builds muscle is determined entirely by your nutrition and the amount of calories you consume. In either case you should continue weight training and your weight training programs can be similar or even same, whether you are losing fat or building muscle. It's your nutrition and daily calories that have to change.

Most people also do more cardio while losing weight and fat than when building muscle, but even that is not strictly necessary. You can control whether your body is losing fat or building muscle solely by adjusting nutrition and calories while keeping the exercise programs the same.

So, to review:
(1) Pick a good weight training program that prioritizes dumbbell and barbell exercises that hit your body's major muscle groups: legs, lower and upper back, chest, and shoulders. It's a good idea to change programs every two months or so and there's an endless number of good programs available.
(1b) Pick a cardio program you prefer. Short, intense cardio sessions are generally more productive than long, slow ones, but either is better than nothing at all, especially if you are trying to lose fat.
(2) Decide whether your want to first lose fat or build muscle.
(3) If you decided to lose fat, plan out your diet with fewer calories so you slowly lose weight.
(3b) If you decided to build muscle, plan out your diet with more calories so you very slowly gain weight.
(4) Stick to your exercise and diet programs and monitor your weight so you stay on track, whether losing or gaining weight slowly. If your weight doesn't change as it should, increase or decrease calories accordingly.
(5) After you've reached your initial goal, go back to step (2) and choose the other goal.

Good luck!