Q: Hi Mike,
Am really desperate for your help. What would be the best exercise schedule would you recommend me to follow if i were to do weights and cardio (would running be ok?) and for how long till i see the results? i'm 28, M, 5'10' and weighs 75kg, i'm having problems with fat deposits in my chest area (giving me a 'man-boobs' look) and flabby abs.

What i'm currently doing for the past five months:-
i'm working out by doing sports like soccer and badminton, twice a week for 2 hours (weekends) and a little of weight trainings at home with dumbells, normally for 1/2hr four times a week with pushups. but i just don't see any significant results especially in my chest and abs area although i did lose some weight (previously was 80kg).

Question on weight training:-
What would be the ideal weight to train with? i'm not aiming to be muscular like bodybuilders but just want to build muscles in a lean way, decent definition on the biceps, triceps, shoulders, chests and with flat abs that's all (if you know what i mean).

Main aim:-
To lose fats in chest area 'man-boobs' , flabby abs and to build muscles.

Would really appreciate your advice and help... thanks a million!

Cheers!
Dave

A: First thing is that you'll need to decide whether you want to prioritize losing that extra fat first or building muscle first. It's not completely impossible to do both at the same time, but it's a lot more productive to focus on one or the other. The difference will be primarily in diet... When trying to lose fat you'll eat less and with fewer carbs to slowly lose weight. When building muscle you'll eat more, including more carbs, to very slowly gain weight (this should be done as slowly as possible to avoid extra new fat -- 1 kg/month is a good rate).

From what you've described it sounds like you want to first focus on losing extra fat. You have cardio part of it covered with soccer and badminton. You mentioned you do some weights, but did not go into much detail on that. There are two very key points when you are using weights to lose fat -- one you want to select weights that are heavy and two you want to do exercises for your entire body (not just chest, abs, and arms).

The first point, about using heavy weights, is important because heavy weights will actually damage your muscles forcing your body to repair them. This repair process can burn a lot of fat in between your training sessions while you are going about your everyday life. 'Heavy' means such a weight that you can only perform a given exercise no more than 12 or so times in a row before physically being unable to do another repetition without rest. This weight will be different for different exercises, but the key point is that you should almost always be lifting heavy weights.

The second point is to work your entire body. Many people omit working out their lower body with weights even though it has more muscle mass and therefore more fat-burning potential than the upper body. Many people don't adequately workout upper back either. Chest, shoulders, and arms altogether add up to maybe a third of your muscle mass so by only working them you miss out on two thirds of potential fat burning. Read my weight training article and choose from one of the programs there ('split' ones are a good choice).

Finally, you didn't mention your diet but your diet is at least as important as training if you want to burn fat or build muscle. Read my nutrition article and fill out my fitness guide specifying 'Lose Fat' for the goal to get a starter diet suggestion. Then you can customize it for your tastes (and scheduled) as I describe in the article.

Hope that helps you get started on improving your routine. If you have more specific questions about diet or training, post them here and I'll do my best to answer them. Good luck!