Do I need to jog a lot - or just weight train?

[davema]

I'm what you would call a Skinny flabby guy (lol)

 

 

Most people call me skinny as I appear to be in shape. I'm not overweight, I look fine with a shirt on.

 

 

HOWEVER (I'm just gonna be honest and admit it) I suffer from flab around my belly (tiny beer gut, unless I suck it in, lol), some flab around the buns, small love handles and the slight beginnings of "man boobs". About 5 years ago I was considerably heavier, about 10 pounds more than I am now. I wasn't eating right. I changed and started running a lot and got back to a healthy 156 for my height.

 

 

But I have flab I really want to get rid of so that when I run around at the beach, I'm not jiggling all over the place (because I do and it's embarrassing). I need to tone up and wouldn't mind adding a little muscle, not a ton but some.

 

 

But I work a lot of hours. I CAN make the time to exercise but I don't want to waste my time on the wrong thing. In other words, I don't want to waste my time on running if I really should be focusing on weight and resistance training in the areas I need to fix.

 

 

Anyway have any insight?

[thefooloftheyear]

High intensity weight training.....

 

Jogging is better than nothing, but its a horrible way of getting "bang for the buck" time wise..You'd be far better off doing sprints and hills..Even if you lost some weight, you will still probably look crappy....You will look like an out of shape, smaller, skinny -fat guy...Don't believe me look at the bodies of your typical jogger..eh...

 

Build a base of musculature and get your core strong..I wouldn't even worry about losing weight right now...In fact eat a surplus and build some muscle, then chisel the fat off after you have built some lean mass....

 

Despite what some say, unless you have ridiculous genetics(sounds like you dont), then you have to consume a fair amount of calories to pack some muscle...

 

If it works the way it should, you may not see any weight loss, but you will look and feel way better..

 

.02

 

TFY

[Harradin]

I'd recommend kettlebells, although you'd need someone with knowledge of them to teach you how to use them.

 

They "combine" strength and cardio and most kettlebell exercises work the whole body. You won't gain as much strength as proper weight training (ie leg press, dumbells etc) but the kettlebell is a great conditioning tool.

 

My friend introduced me to them and I'm in love with them!

[fitnessfan365]

High intensity training is great. But the problem is that people who aren't properly conditioned just jump right into it because they hear it's a great way to lose fat. Then they either get injured or burned out by the difficulty. So my advice as a personal trainer is to spend three months or so on basic training to increase your strength and lung capacity. This will prepare you for intense training down the road.

 

2x a week (ex - Mon/Thurs) do full body strength training w-compound movements. Workout 1 (Mon) DB goblet squats (YouTube it) going below parallel, upper body push, and upper body pull. Workout 2 (Thurs) - Walking lunges, different push, and different pull. A few suggestions for pushing exercises - push-ups, dips, overhead DB shoulder press. A few suggestions for pulling exercises - one arm DB rows, lat pulldowns, weight assisted pull-ups. For each exercise use a weight that's actually heavy you can only do 8-10x. Do three sets of each exercise and rest 2 minutes between sets. As you get in better shape increase the weight by 5-10lbs when able, and decrease rest time between sets to progress. After you finish the strength training, set a treadmill @ a max incline of 15.0 and a speed of 2.5mph. Walk without holding on. Go for two minutes, then grab the handles, step off onto the sides, and rest for one minute. Then back on, let go, and walk for two minutes w/o holding on again. Try to do this for 10 rounds/30 minutes. Once you're able to get through 10 rounds relatively easy, increase to 2.6 mph, then 2.7mph, etc..

 

2x a week (ex - Tues/Fri) - Climb stairs. Find a good set of 10-15 flights (they're all over the place in office buildings, apartment complexes, etc). Briskly walk every other step up, and one at a time on the way down. See how many fights you can do in 45 minutes. As you get in better shape, start taking less rest and trying to go continuously for the entire time. Just like w-the treadmill DO NOT hold onto the railing. Stay in the middle of the stairs and use your body to control itself going up and down.

 

** Then once you're finally doing the incline walking and stairs MUCH easier, you'll be ready to start training a lot more intensely w-hill sprints, kettlebell swings, burpees, etc.. But if you stick to what I mentioned 4x a week, eat properly w-nutrition/right calories, and drink TONS of water, you'll probably drop at least 15lbs of fat in the first 3-4 months. But the best part will be that you're conditioning your body w-strength training and cardiovascular work that will actually strengthen your lungs which will allow you to train harder down the road.

Edited September 2, 2015 by fitnessfan365

[empresario]

Former skinny-fat guy here. I wish I could post before and after.

 

I was 6'2'' 155 lbs, and am now 180 lbs and about half the body fat percent I used to be. I know your dilemma very intimately.

 

Running actually CREATES flabby bodies. Any extended cardio will. Why? Because you have a fast metabolism. You are already not eating enough. Adding cardio on top of that will put your body into extreme starvation mode and you will store bad weight. You don't see a lot of good looking runners. There's a reason for that.

 

For us skinny folk, we have to worry about two things:

1) Eating

2) Muscle training

 

I have tried every workout, every diet plan, and every supplement. Here were the keys that finally got me to where I wanted to be:

 

- I eat 6-7 meals a day, each with 30g+ of protein. The protein amount is very important. Your body automatically goes into muscle-build mode if you consume 30g of protein. This prevents ectomorphs like us from losing our hard earned gains.

 

- I do short weight workouts or burst exercises like rock climbing or swimming. We will gain the most when we do it as quickly as possible. Read Jim Wendler's [5-3-1] training. The workout that made me look good was the 'boring but big' exercise model.

 

- Only buy the foods you plan to eat during that week (no junk food) and meal prep in the morning or the day before. This forces you to stick to your diet. Dieting for skinny people is just as important as dieting is for fat people.

 

- Count/record everything. Count your calories and macro nutrients. I prefer "Lose it!" app. The free version gives you calories, bar code scanning, and macro-nutrients. Keep track of your gains. However, don't worry about things when you're counting. The reason you count is to adjust if you need to...but I promise you it you won't explode with weight or anything. I eat 3k calories a day and I am maintaining right now.

 

- Stick with it. Unfortunately due to our nature of keeping weight off...don't expect a quick transition. Mine took 3 years (given, I had to figure it all out) to feel happy, and 4 to love my build. But it's worth it.

[austyre]

Mate you need to clean your diet up abs are made in the kitchen but seriously working on fitness is great jogging and stuff but what I find if you want to get serious need to change the way you eat into a healthy lifestyle > I am a runner myself it doesn't help with major weight loss

[whirl3daway]

Here's another recc for the 5-3-1 program, although if you're a complete beginner a routine like StrongLifts or Starting Strength or even Ice Cream Fitness will be awesome for you.

[whirl3daway]

Oh, and you should definitely focus on lifting heavy weights over doing hours and hours of cardio.