Pictures + A Ton of Questions
First things first, I owe everyone here an introduction. Hey guys, my name is Tidus, I'm a 19 year old who started body-building because I was sick of being a fat-ass.
I've been lifting for over 3 years, but never seriously. Rarely have I stuck to a weight lifting program without skipping workouts. The only regime I've stuck to is cardio. Die hard cardio, to burn the enormous amount of fat I had accumulated over the years. Now, I've taken a week or two off from the gym to re-evalute myself and my goals.
I'm a long time reader here at BBforums and have gotten to admire the community and successful members.
As far as my knowledge goes, I think I know my basics. My diet is and has been super-clean for the past six months or so. I don't do cheat meals.
Sadly, I'm not a topless chick. I suffer from gyneacomastia, so I can't show off a brilliant chest like all of you (yet - surgery is early next year), hopefully I won't be ridiculed for it around here. I was debating whether or not to post pictures, eventually I decided to.
Anyway, enough about me. Here are my stats, followed by my questions.
Pre- working out (Sorry, no pictures)
5'6 - 220 lbs.
Currently
5'11 and 1/2 - 168 lbs.
Now, I have a series of questions, hopefully they all fit and I can attain answers to them through other members.
0.5) Based on the pictures below, what would you say my BF % is?
1) Because of my gyne, I have always been ridiculed because of my chest. It's mentally exhausting how much I do to try and correct it, I recently learned I had gynecomastia, and I couldn't correct it, I'm scheduled for surgery early next year but what I do now is push - ups. I do a lot of push-ups. I've given myself a chest workout due to them. I average about 300 a day. When I wake up in the morning I'll do 40. Every-time I walk out of a room, I'll do a set of 20. At the end of the day, I'll do a set of 60. Do the people around here with the massive chests do push-ups to that degree? Should I continue or cease?
2) I want to get abs, but don't know how to go about it. I've been cutting this past summer, really cutting. I've lost a lot of fat and I want to show off my abs. Right now, I have a Chuck Liddell thing going on. I wanted to know whether it was possible to achieve abs through heavy weight training? Or is cutting the way to stay?
3) My body type is that of an endomorph. I constantly worry about putting on weight / gaining fat. It scares the **** out of me. Is this out of my control? Does my body type dictate the way my body gathers fat? Could I get some advice on how to balance cardio / weight training? Can lifting heavy and doing cardio achieve abs for an endo-morph?
4) Food break-down. I mentioned earlier I have a super-clean diet, but I don't count calories. Nor do I break my food down into any portions for macro-nutrients. Should I start if I wish to achieve optimal results? I heard 40 protein / 20 carbs / 20 fats was a good place to start?
5) I stop eating at 6 pm every-day, and go to bed around 11pm. I used to do that when I cut. I cut during the summer, since school has been back, I haven't changed my ways. I'm scared ****less about putting on fat if I start eating after 6 again. Should I continue eating my last meal of the day at 6pm? Because of this I get only 4 meals a day.
6) A lot of guys on the boards here are skinny dudes. I'm clearly not. I currently take Optimum Nutrition Whey 100% Gold Formula for my protein supplementation needs. Is there anything else you recommend, I heard Cell-Tech (Or something along those lines) was beneficial, but I always thought it would make an endomorph like me, become fat again?
7) Based on the pictures, what would you say I should strive for for goals? More muscle-mass? Lift heavy? Cut more? Any specific body parts I should work on?
Thanks a million guys. It feels great to be able to ask people questions and get answers. I plan to start a workout journal to keep myself committed to going to the gym. Hopefully everything works out. Any responses would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
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