[TJ1991UK]

Hi I'm a 29 year old male, I'm about 5'10 and weigh around 178lb, throughout my childhood and teens I was always anorexic looking skinny and looked alot younger than I was due to this, I've always lacked confidence and it's carried on into my adult life with the added bonus of a ridiculous, constantly bloated looking pot belly. To the point we're I hate summer and t shirt weather in the UK because the only part of a t shirt I can fill is the stomach part, I will usually always have a jacket on that hides my arms until it gets really really hot. I've never really got into a gym/workout routine because I've always thought "oh I'm too skinny there's no way my arms can build muscle they're basically a bone" Ive basically put it off my whole life and been really lazy but I have kids now and I really wanna sort myself out. Another of my excuses through the last 6 or 7 years were I've had my pot belly is "I don't know wethere to lose the fat first or bulk first". My diets really really bad also and the only gym equipment I have in my house are a pair of adjustable power block dumbells as I have no access to a gym ? any advice would be greatly appreciated...

What would you guys advice be for me to do in order to pack muscle on whilst also losing the stupid belly.

Thanks in advance.

https://ibb.co/ZH9zwdb

https://ibb.co/CJ4wFtH

https://ibb.co/hWs6J1x

 

[Youdontknowme]

You're not anorexic now, you're carrying fat with very little muscle which is why you have the shape you do.

if you'd have asked me a year ago I'd have just said start lifting an eating and growing. Now my advice would be to cut the fat, diet, get lean. Then back out of your diet. Lift weights the whole time , maybe some cardio , grow. Starting from a lean base is in my opinion a better option

 

[Sasnak]

It looks to me like you have a slight anterior pelvic tilt. Do you spend a lot of time sitting down, desk job? This exacerbates the pot belly. Stand up straight. Core exercises to strengthen muscles to rectify this will help.

Diet. Work out your tdee here https://tdeecalculator.net/ this will calculate calories for dieting. Download MyFitnessPal to your phone and track what you eat. Minus 500 cals on tdee will see you lose about 2lb a week. Adjust calories if you don't lose weight or lose too much.

Training. Can you not join a gym? If not below is an example off the top of my head. Upper lower body split.

Upper

Pressups 4x12

Bent over row with a bag of building sand or resistance band. 4x12

Overhead press with building sand 4x12

Facepulls or lateral pull down with resistance band 4x12

Curls with your dumbbells 4x12

Skullcrushers with your dumbbells 4x12

Lower (legs)

Hindu squats 3x12 hold a bag of sand.

Dumbbell lunges 4x12

Raised leg Bulgarian split squats holding your dumbbells 3x12 each leg.

Calf raises holding bag of cement 3x12

Adjust the sets and reps if you want. Do upper one day, legs the next, day off and repeat. Add cardio

Just an idea for starters.

 

[TJ1991UK]

You're not anorexic now, you're carrying fat with very little muscle which is why you have the shape you do.

if you'd have asked me a year ago I'd have just said start lifting an eating and growing. Now my advice would be to cut the fat, diet, get lean. Then back out of your diet. Lift weights the whole time , maybe some cardio , grow. Starting from a lean base is in my opinion a better option

Thanks for the reply mate, sorry I should of been more clear I meant my arms are anorexic looking they're like sticks ☹ thanks for the advice mate I appreciate it, a few people on different platforms have also said since I asked it is probably best to get lean first!

It looks to me like you have a slight anterior pelvic tilt. Do you spend a lot of time sitting down, desk job? This exacerbates the pot belly. Stand up straight. Core exercises to strengthen muscles to rectify this will help.

Diet. Work out your tdee here https://tdeecalculator.net/ this will calculate calories for dieting. Download MyFitnessPal to your phone and track what you eat. Minus 500 cals on tdee will see you lose about 2lb a week. Adjust calories if you don't lose weight or lose too much.

Training. Can you not join a gym? If not below is an example off the top of my head. Upper lower body split.

Upper

Pressups 4x12

Bent over row with a bag of building sand or resistance band. 4x12

Overhead press with building sand 4x12

Facepulls or lateral pull down with resistance band 4x12

Curls with your dumbbells 4x12

Skullcrushers with your dumbbells 4x12

Lower (legs)

Hindu squats 3x12 hold a bag of sand.

Dumbbell lunges 4x12

Raised leg Bulgarian split squats holding your dumbbells 3x12 each leg.

Calf raises holding bag of cement 3x12

Adjust the sets and reps if you want. Do upper one day, legs the next, day off and repeat. Add cardio

Just an idea for starters.

My posture is so bad mate I agree I really need to figure that out!

In terms of joining a gym the closest one to me is quite a distance away and even still due to the current covid situation aren't accepting new members, only current members. So it's just the powerblock adjustable dumbells for me at the moment, is it better to do less reps with heavier weights or more reps with a lighter weight? also I will look into resistance bands, is there any specific ones I should go for?

 

[M.I.A]

Agree with the comments, lose the fat first.

 

[Sasnak]

is it better to do less reps with heavier weights or more reps with a lighter weight?

Doesn't really matter. It's more about total weight shifted. In your current situation with limited equipment I'd go for more reps and I reflected this in my example routine. I purchased the below identical bands when we were in lockdown. There's plenty you can do with them especially given you are just starting.

Where are you from? You don't need to be too specific.

 

[Sasnak]

^above is eBay

 

[TRT]

Regardless of whether you decide to bulk/cut first the main priority should just be to join a gym and get on a decent lifting routine. Not impossible to gain muscle whilst dropping alot of fat at your starting point.

 

[YoelD]

What exactly are you eating at the moment?

The only real advice I can give at the moment is eat decent food and start some form of regular exercise. You'll start gaining muscle, nonetheless.

 

[TJ1991UK]

Doesn't really matter. It's more about total weight shifted. In your current situation with limited equipment I'd go for more reps and I reflected this in my example routine. I purchased the below identical bands when we were in lockdown. There's plenty you can do with them especially given you are just starting.

Where are you from? You don't need to be too specific.

View attachment 187529

View attachment 187531

Thanks, I will look for some bands on amazon I'm in England mate, is there certain exercises that are better with bands rather than dumbbells would you say? Thanks for the rep example diagram mate it simplifies things alot. One more thing sorry for harassing you ? how slow or fast is the rep best performed, I've read something about time under tension and its better to perform the reps quite slow?

What exactly are you eating at the moment?

The only real advice I can give at the moment is eat decent food and start some form of regular exercise. You'll start gaining muscle, nonetheless.

My diet isn't the worst mate but its no where near clean just a few bad/lazy habits. I don't eat or drink sugary sweets/sugarydrinks, chocolate or fast food. But there's alot of quick picky bits suck as toast, noodles, and frozen food such as chicken strips etc, I know I need to get rid of all processed stuff. I think I need to meal prep as I work shifts on a factory and also have 2 kids so there is no time in the day to be cooking however many meals I need.

 

[Sasnak]

how slow or fast is the rep best performed

it's no hassle.....

With bands you don't get eccentric and concentric resistance like you do with weights so when the band is tight pause for 2 seconds before releasing. A medium pace is fine.

Tip re diet. There's nothing wrong with eating what you want, broadly speaking. Most people that are overweight are overweight not so much because of what they eat at mealtimes, it's the rubbish they eat in between. Start with eating 3 meals a day and nothing in between. Breakfast, lunch and evening meal. Bringing structure to when you eat makes dieting easier. Take one day a week off dieting though.