Q: how long should I bulk up before I go to the calorie-deficit stage? Or does this depend on how much/how fast I want to lose the weight after?

Also, I am a 19 year old female. What is 'bulking' up for me now--gaining how much weight? I already weigh 155 from strength training for two years, but never devoted time specifically to bulking up

Q: Mike, could you shed some light on sports drinks such as Gatorade/Gatorade Light. Are they beneficial? It seems to me, that my pre- and post-workout meals should provide whatever such drinks claim to offer. When would such drinks be beneficial?

Q: Hi Mike just found your excellent site and hope you can be of help to someone who is desperate.After having two children my stomach muscles are non existant and i need to know if i am stuck with this or is there anything i could try to try and tone an tighten them. P.S.husbands booked us a two week holiday leaving in 3 1/2 weeks any magic cure

Q: When we exercise does the fat we have round our middle ? is this fat burned off or does the body spread the fat around the body in a more even distribution?

A: That fat is burned off, but it comes from all over your body, not just from the waist area. So the net effect is that you look leaner everywhere, not just at the waist. Of course it also means that it takes longer to burn off the waist area fat.

Q: How do I lose my manboobs?

A: Please read my fat loss article. 'Manboobs' are simply excess fat on your body and in order to lose them you have to lose fat!

Q: In your article ?Lose Man Boobs?! Lose Belly Fat?! Get Abs Instead of the Fat Tire?!? you say that in repairing the body after lifting heavy weights ? that this process has incredible fat burning potential. Why should this process burn fat and why can?t moderate weights be used? Surely heavy weights will build bulky muscle and not all of us want that.

Q: Person from 1627: I was working yesterday for one of the first times and I began to sweat really badly. Is there a reason why I sweat so much? It is very embarrasing to have to interact with people while I am sweating like a pig. Is the reason jyst because I am out of shape or what? By the way, I am going to start HIT exercise. I will do it with running and along with that I will lift weights.

Q: In answering a previous question (1604) you said the following ?One can train specifically for strength and power as opposed to training for muscle mass.? My question is ,exactly how can you train for strength and power without gaining muscle mass?

Q: Mike, im on your push/pull schedule. Heres my question. On push day, i do my incline, regular benchpress. then for triceps i do pushdowns, but i dont like the other exercise, it hurts my elbows.. Could i sub it with close grips? I think this is good because 1. my inner chest is lacking, and i need to fill it out, and 2. it doesnt hurt my elbows, therefore getting a more effective tricep workout. what do you think? is this too much benching?

Q: i mant to increase my weight

A: Two words: EAT MORE! :) It really comes down to simply eating more -- even the skinniest guys can gain weight if they make up their mind to eat more every single day and every single meal. If you're still not gaining weight, then you simply have to eat even more!

Q: Is it possible to build muscle on a low carb diet like Atkins or South Beach?

Q: Hey Mike, I'm a big guy, about 235 lbs with minimum muscle. I need to lose weight. The full-scale dumbbell-only program I found of yours eventually lost my interest, as did the no equipment routine. I live in a rural area with lots of hills, and I was wondering if I biked for a certain distance and then just did upper-body related dumbbell lifting if that would be sufficient enough to lose weight?

Q: Are there any specific excercise programs you reccomend for increasing chest size? I am currently doing the push pull program you have, and it is awesome. I don't get as sore compared to heavy to failure programs, but it still feels like I am getting a good workout. So thanks for that!

Q: Hi im the person from 1614, so what your trying to say that i can eat as much veggies as i want and it wont affect my health but help on my fitness too ?

A: Yes! In fact, they will likely help both your health and your fitness efforts. Eat your veggies, especially green stuff like spinach, green beans, lettuce, etc. Just go easy on potatoes or corn.

Q: hi mike here is one thing i don't understand. Why is it good to take lots of vegetables like broccoli and carrots as we can overeat them and people say always eat normally not excessively

Q: In question 1609 I was referring to liposuction. I am not a big fan of pills either. I have tried them before and they make me feel anxious. I know an invasive procedure is probly not the best, but I have been trying really hard, and just not achieving a full six pack with diet and working out alone. I can feel my abs, and just barely see them when I flex. I thought maybe sucking out all that fat would bring them out more.

Q: Mike, I am going to take a week off from weightlifting. I assume it is okay to do cardio during that week, right? Or should I just stay away from the gym?

A: I usually take the week off from all training, not just from weights. But it's not an absolute requirement, so if you like you can continue doing some cardio.

Q: Are cold cuts healthy. Thanks

A: Cold cuts can vary a lot. Some are low in protein and high in fat and probably should be avoided. Others are high in protein and low in fat and are fine. A separate consideration is all the preservatives that typically get packed into cold cuts -- I personally try to avoid preservative-laden foods like that.

Q: will taking lipo6 help lose these man boobs

A: Pills are virtually never the best or the right approach. Check out http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/diet-pills for reasons why. If you are a teenager and are not overweight, then you just have to be patient -- man boobs will go away with time. Otherwise, check out my fat loss article to learn how to get rid of man boobs.

Q: How is it you can get people who are very defined muscle wise and strong yet they have very slim physiques ? ie a high power to weight ration. Most people would say you would need to have big muscles to be very strong. This is important because most people do have the time, energy, dedication or genes to be bodybuilders.

A: There is no one answer I can give you, but it is a combination of factors:

Q: there is a pool party in around 2 weeks. Im around 100 pounds and very close to getting a six pack (if you pull the thin layer of fat on my stomach dow you can see a six pack). well...my question is how many pounds can i lose by then (like 1-2 pounds right?). also how much is necessary to see my 6 pack? Thanks mike!!!

Q: whAT ARE THE steps of the 3 week beach body workout?

A: Sorry, there's no such thing as an effective 3-week workout program. Best an average person can realistically hope for in 3 weeks is lose maybe 6 pounds of fat max at the expense of additional muscle mass lost (which increases likelyhood of fat returning later). My recommendation would be to lose only 3-4 pounds in 3 weeks which would ensure that you lose little or no muscle which would in turn ensure that the fat and weight doesn't come back.

Q: In relation to calories needed daily for adult males , I?ve thought if I can work out my body mass index and body fat ratio monthly using body fat/weight scales -which would be 12 and half stone for my height 6 foot two inches and under 25% body fat. If my weight and body fat goes up ? I know to eat less ? particularly of unhealthy food ? if it goes down I know I need to eat more. I?m aware that the bmi scale allows a variation something like a stone or 14 pounds above or below the ?ideal? weight ?

Q: Mike in one of the questions of your site i saw u said that in order to lose the last bit of fat u have to obtain some muscles first that will help u do it.I was 66 kgs and in 7 months i went near 75 with heavy weight training and nutrition.Must be mostly muscles cause i didnt get any fat and my arms and legs got bigger.My body fat percentage is 12,5% currently.If i start losing slowly fat will i be able in time to lose even some only of the last bit of fat from my stomach area?I dont have fat in other parts of my body only in this area(iam well-shapped everywhere else)so if i lose fat it

Q: Hi Mike! I have been working out for almost a year now and really need to change my routine. I am starting your 4 day push pull program this week. I was wondering is this a long term program? Or something one would do like four to six weeks. I did notice that abs and calves are not included. I know that standing calve raises would be a push excercise, but would abs go on push or pull days? Also would this be considered a light or heavy routine? i have been following a pretty heavy routine for almost the entire time I have been working out.

Q: In reply to 1590.

Q: Hello Mike.I have recently started a program for some cutting.And i was told to do this:Begin weight training with an 20 mins warm up at brisk pace(like fast walking) and then lots of reps with low kgs and only 30 sec breaks through all sets.So,the whole training his way should last about 1 hour max(along with 20 mins warm up).This is supposed to burn a lot of calories cause its continuous as u let ur body rest for a little time only and then go on.I do this 2 weeks now and every time i finish this my body hurts and iam exhausted but i got used to it.My question is:Is this program correct i

Q: Dear Mike,