HELP: Very general & important questions!

[InGearX]

HELP: Very general & important questions!
Dear friends, I'd like your personal & professional advice on a number of important questions for me...

First off: I am 20 years old, 5"9', wide shoulder build, 190lbs and have 15.3% body fat (that's 30lbs of fat).
> Question 1) What should my body fat % be? ideal? average?

Any way I want to get in a good over all shape [build up and then cut up] (I try to balance/do both at the same time) and already train regularly for the past 4 months - 6 days a week, 3 hours of intensive gym activity per day (@ Bally Total Fitness)!
15 min - cardio warm up
25 min - stretching
90 min - do body part (I do one body part per day; order of days is biceps, chest, shoulders, back, triceps, legs (& then restart) I do abs every day)
40 min - of intensive cardio (85% of max hart rate all time)!

also to note: when I do my body part I'll do 4 exercises (4 sets 8-12 reps) and then go do 2 exercises for my abs and so on for 90 minutes!
> Question 2) when I do my body part then switch to abs, is that OK? This way my body part can rest while I do abs and vice versa! is that OK to do?

> Question 3) Is that a good amount of cardio? too little/much? People tell me I can over train with too much cardio... but then again they say if I want to get in shape I must do cardio, is 40 intense min x 6 days OK?

> Question 4) What do you think of my routine in general, what should I consider changing/improving? Your opinions?

Diet:
I've been trying to eat right!
That is no food intake (except fruits) 3 hours prior to bed time!
breakfast (10am) - is pretty average (i.e. white rice with eggs)
lunch (1pm) - I eat soup and chicken with a side dish!
4-8pm is gym and when I come home I have dinner
dinner (9pm) - average meat with a side dish...
and I go to bed at around 2am

> Question 5) I've been taking protein shakes (i.e. Isopure 100% protein powderer), right after work out, but cut down because they kill liver/kidneys (I got a blood test result with above average/normal liver activity). So I want to know which protein supplement is safest to take? I'd be glad to replace my dinner with it! Is 'Lean Body meal replacement' OK? Which ones are?

> Question 6) How dose this diet balance look? Is anything wrong? Advice? Should I replace my dinner with some light snack? Some Protein shake? What do you advice?

Now that you know all that info I want to ask:

> Question 7) I've been doing my abs - abdominal all this time about 4 exercises each day: (3 sets x 30 reps) so that 30th is making in burn all this time and see little improvement in my belly (which is - should I say covered with fat!)
Note:
I can feel by abs hard as a rock underneath about 1/2 - 1/3 of an inch of fat!
Besides that fat on my abdominal muscles my belly stands out as if thought my stomach/guts are too big in side :-( !
HOW do I get rid of this? As I see little improvement after what I do! What can you recommend in this regard? Looking for advice!

> Question 8) I can say that my muscles have increased strength and mass, but by weight and % body fat have remained the same over this time!
What dose that mean in general? how can I make my body fat % drop?
Should I drop a few pound of weight?

> Question 9) If I want to get cut - loose body fat what is the procedure? What steps should I take? Should/can I still gain muscle mass during that time?

I know it's a lot of questions packed together, but I feel that all info and Q are very interconnected...

I really appreciate your help!
I will be checking this post very often, and I really appreciate your advice and help!
If you have any questions please post and I'll reply immediately, or if you feel you need to contact me directly please do at InGearX@email.com

 

[InGearX]

anyone?

 

[Burner02]

Hey!
Welcome aboard!
Let's see what I can help to start things off with.

1) What do you want to look like? It all depends on your genetic make-up. If you want deep cuts in your abs / see serious striations on your muscles, you will be in the single digit %. That is MASSIVE diet and maintaining. Kind of hard to answer.

2) Are you plateauing? It looks as if you might be doing too many days in a row, without enough time to recouperate. How long have you been doing this workout? Ever change it up? If you are not really seeing too much in the way of change, switch it up! Change your routine, allow time to rest and grow!

Personally, I think 40 mins of warm-up AND stretching is too much.
Maybe give some light stretching and 5 - 10 min of cardio to warm up the body should be good enough to get you ready to go.

90 min to do single body part is too long. Your whole workout, start to finish should take no more than 90 min. How long are your rests between sets? Keep 1 - 2 mins, if going for heavy maybe longer...just long enough to get your breath back, change weight if neccesary and the pain to become bearable again! Then HIT it!

Try and reorder your muscles. You say you start off with biceps. That is a minor body part. Start of with one of the larger groups where you can do compound movements. If you notice, Mondays seem to be the universal CHEST day!
Maybe try some sort of push / pull routine:
example:
day 1: chest / tris
day 2: back / bis
day 3: rest
day 4: delts
day 5: legs
day 6: rest
day 7: rest

That's just one of several workouts....read books, Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building is a good one, as are others.
Just main thing to keep in mind, LESS is MORE! Get in the gym, do what you are there for. then LEAVE!

3) your cardio might (might) be too much if you want to build. I'll let a more experienced trainer answer this one....w8lifter or Gopro or one of the many other experts here can much better answer that one!

4) Already answered this one. You've got great determination, just change it up, reorder your muscle groups and allow more time for rest!

5) Start in your order: I believe you should lay off the fruits in the early afternoon...lots of sugars in there. Make sure you have time to burn those off! (protein shake / bar, something along those lines will do much better!)

How big are your servings? How many cals are you consuming? There is a great post, either on this site or another one baout how to calculate how many cals and at what % to take them in.
Make sure you take in 5 - 6 quality meals per day. Eating every three hours or so. Ramp up that metabolism!
Soup is HIGH in sodium! Watch that.

5) I believe you will only do damage if taken in too much quantities. You probably will not need to worry about it. Don't replace main food with supps! Supps like protein shakes are great for convenience, but do not replace meals with them! Personal trainer friends of mine do not really even use supps, they just EAT! Look through the posts (diet and nutricion section)and find the info you need!

6) Just work on eating every three hours, small, balanced meals. Get your carbs early in the day, taper off in the afternoons.
I'd suggest hiring a nutricionist that can analize your needs and prescribe a 'diet' to follow.

7) are you doing any type of weighted ab work? You cannot se your abs due to your diet. No other reason.

8) Again, diet

9) You can gain /lose at the same time. It will be slower to gain your objectives this way. Alot of people will suggest bulking up, then cutting up. You REALLY need to know how to manipulate your diet for this!

This is general, and there are others on this site that can go into much better detail and offer better advice than I can, hopefully, some will see this and offer their help! They are great here.
good luck!