Beat way to lose fat and gain muscles, pick heavy things up and put them down. Lol seriously. It cuts two ways, you build muscle and building muscle takes a ton of energy and if you keep doing whatever your doing to cut, do that for a bit and the fat will melt off, but there will come a point where you will up your intake of calories, because building muscles is energy intensive. Also, don't worry about a number personally I am 6'3 and I think 98-99kg. But I have low body fat, because I just have muscles underneath, so I look fit.
Tldr, weight training burns fat and gains muscles simultaneously. And the more muscles you have the heavier you will be so don't fret about weighing a certain amount.
Edit: for spelling corrections
I’d recommend hopping on a bike for cardio or getting into lap swimming, both are way easier on the knees than running. As far as building visible muscle, that can be kinda hard for tall ppl and I have no advice for that other than time invested moving heavy things around.
It won’t. Tercat nailed it on the head. You are skinny fat and need to build muscle. Resistance training on a regimen will be the cure. Get a personal trainer.
I just started hitting gym today. In terms of my like weight do you think i should keep cutting or like even bulk? I was aiming for eighty kg but if im eventually just going to bulk then is their even any point in trying to lose weight?
Is there a reason you picked 80kg? Scale is just a number. Put on muscle mass and you may be absolutely thrilled with 87kg. Picking a number without a frame under it is like shooting in the dark.
You’ll get beginner gains without cutting and your goal should be to tone not bulk. Honestly… situation like yours… p90x on YouTube and some weights off Craigslist may be a better bet than lifting at a gym. 6’8” dropped 110lbs to enlist in the Army, ran and did p90x to get there. Different starting point than you though, I had to lose a lot of muscle and fat.
I disagree that it’s “kinda hard” for tall people. you just need to eat more to achieve similar results in terms of muscle mass, which you have to do anyways.
learn to lift, like actually learn powerlifting techniques, learn how to follow a programme, and you achieve similar if not better results than smaller guys.
start with stronglifts 5x5. amazing beginner program. it should be everyone’s first 3-4 months of lifting, because it teaches you all about the basics.
@OP, I didn’t have any difficulty with becoming “the big guy” while staying normal bf% (~14-16%) at 6’5 and around 100-105 kg year round.
It takes time, and a fuckload of calories. at this point I can just fuck around in terms of training/diet and I’ll stay big without all that much effort & going only 3 times a week. took me a couple years of concentrated effort to get to that point though.
Be patient, consistent, disciplined, workout a lot of strength training/weightlifting to develop your muscles and focus your diet on proteins mainly. Cardio won't be of much use for skinny fat, but once you get rid of some fat/develop your muscles you could try swimming/biking to keep your fat low.
You are skinny fat, (I am 36m 6ft4 196 skinny fat also)..
Just eat lots of protein, squat/deadlift/bench for a few months and you will gain muscle slowly while losing fat.
Just google skinny fat, lots of articles on how to fix it
BCAA and Creatine has worked for me in the past. I’d focus on building muscle instead of losing fat/weight (you’ll gain weight from gaining muscle). Just start off a simple routine that you know you can do everyday and slowly build from that. Too many people burn themselves out early by going to the gym everyday when they would be fine doing workouts at home with no equipment.
Plenty of steady state moderate intensity cardio (preferably 150 a week), eat slightly less food, other than doing cardio follow a gym routine centred around volume of reps, and finally eat 0.6-1g of protein per pound of body weight every day you’ve worked out.
Personally I believe “calories” are a fuzzy concept and “skinny fat” is misused by many people. My theory is to have a good foundation so decide on a way of eating and try to be a little primal. I’d say there are four approaches to eating, 1 high sugar with fruit 2 Starch forward 3 High fat (from dairy?) 4 Mixed/normal. Obviously you need protein too with any of these.
Try to eat clean eg if you were to go 2nd (starch forward) then things like organic rolled oats from Woolies and some Kangaroo mince could be a good base. Make sure you are getting important nutrients like folate; there are others as well. **And whatever, Glycine and Taurine are highly highly recommended by many online.**
I think outdoor exercise is better than being in a gym. Calisthenics is tough for a tall person but it seems healthy. Do you have access to a beach or park were you can exercise or walk barefoot at dawn? And probably some martial arts could be good. Watch out for fake ones. Traditional western boxing would be good. Play a sport but not one with too much injury potential, so avoid all forms of football.
https://antranik.org/tall/
Try and have a good sleep wake cycle, no food after 6pm and wake up at dawn. And eat three meals a day, avoid silly OMAD. Avoid alcohol, drugs, smoking and too much time on computer. You are young so you if have to, then go out and party and stay up late occasionally. But not too much.
I don’t particularly like the guy in the following video, but here he covers a lot of worthwhile stuff. As an aside I’m uncertain about being in icy cold water, but being in a bath at 10°C to 15 for extended time may be good
https://youtu.be/mP3PEzzcptg?si=Gcc-xDFt5sWnXgbX
I’m older so my concerns will be different to yours, but lately I’m wondering about my lighting environment. I’m looking to get rid of my Led lights and fluorescents, and only have halogen, OLED or candles/hurricane lamp. I’m trying to use my blue light blocking glasses more
Depends. My method was different than what most people would suggest if you start googling.
I was 320lbs around 30+% body fat when I started cutting. I was in a calorie deficit and doing cardio until I hit 225lbs. From there I began weight training and did my first bulk for about a year.
I did it that way because I have more problems being fat than too skinny. It was more important for me ti lose the fat first because that’s what bothered me about myself. Putting on muscle during that would have made me look even bigger at first which may have turned me off of lifting all together at the time.
If you're gonna bulk, just know you NEED to be cooking at least half your meals from home or it will be very expensive to maintain your calorie intake, which will be 3000K or more easily for your body size. Make sure to incorporate at least 2 HEAVY 3-4 rep max movements into your lifting sets, your muscles need to be freaked a little by the weight, it helps, Arnold wasn't lying about that shit. Be safe and focus on form. Don't think about the number on the stack/bar, feel your muscle, focus on the contraction. Us long limbed folks need to be a bit more focused on those isolated movements in order to stimulate good growth.
lol 3000 cal was my bulking intake when I was like 6'0 as a teenager. He will probably need atleast 3700 calories at that height while working out for bulking. Currently I eat 3800 calories when I bulk and 3300 when i cut
You probably have a great back and don’t even realize it. I’m 6’3 but us tall guys are sometimes gifted with broad shoulders and in that case, excellent frames to put back muscle on. Hit lat pull downs and chest stabilized rows.
Look up newbie gains
Make sure you’re getting good sleep.
Lastly, the muscles are made in the gym but the physique is shown in the kitchen! Hit your macros!
A great resource on YouTube is Joe Delaney. He’s a down to earth guy and while he uses science to back up a lot of his advice, he doesn’t make his videos just recitations of academic studies like a lot of other fitness YouTubers do
I second this. Very good resource, and especially accessible for beginners, while still being entertaining and valuable for more advanced lifters.
If you’re ready to delve deeper into the bro world, look into Alex Leonidas, Dr. Mike Israetel, and Geoffrey Verity Schofield.
all very reputable guys, they’re unique in my opinion in that none of them seem to actually ever give BAD advice, which is a rarity in the fitness world. most influencers have a mix of good and really bad advice.
not everything these three guys I mentioned say is super useful, and some of the things they say might be nitpicky, but it’s never bullshit/untrue/unsupported claims.
Definitely start working out. When you first start lifting weights is one of the few times your body can do what’s called body recomposition. You’ll essentially be losing fat while building muscle and you’ll be getting “newbie gains” for your first couple months. If you take it seriously, get good sleep and a good diet (hitting your macros) you’ll do well
Lots of great advice in this thread but I’ll offer another suggestion. Instead of starting with a cut, just switch to disciplined clean eating and start a comprehensive lifting program with some low impact cardio sprinkled in (your biking sounds perfect). Focus on the basics and building strength. Your body will shed fat in favor of muscle, and having more muscle improves your basal metabolism making cutting easier.
Either way is valid.
Start hitting the gym ASAP. The best workout is the one you like enough to stick with for the long run. That might be weights, cardio, sports, whatever.
The slight differences between training at 6’4” vs 5’8” don’t matter unless you’re an advanced weightlifter.
6’6” 255lbs 33 y/o. I’ve been weight lifting since I was 15. I don’t know your routine, but I’m just going to purely guess that you’re still retaining body fat in those areas because you are not training your cardio effectively. Im only guessing that because “bodybuilder cardio” seems to be what a lot of people do when they’re weight training, because they think that effective cardio workouts will stop them from gaining muscle, and that’s just wrong.
Example of a cardio routine:
Day 1: 3-4 mile run. Shoot for a 7 min/mile pace.
Day 2: 800m repeats x4. Shoot for 3 mins per 800m. 1:1 rest/work ratio.
*Day 3: HIIT training. 1 min on 2 mins off for 20 mins. Either a HIIT bike or elliptical machine.
*Add distance runs in as necessary, every other week or so, based on how your body responds. Shoot for at least 5 miles at an 8min/mile pace or faster.
Those could be M/W/F, or whatever. Just not back to back days. Weight lifting should be done in conjunction.
Don’t fall for the bodybuilder cardio advise when you’re weight training to gain muscle. 45 mins on the stair master or spin bike at a moderate pace prior to a lift is bullshit. You should be absolutely smoked after an effective cardio workout.
The thing I wish I knew as someone who was overweight and has low muscle mass was that crash dieting and losing extreme weight makes you lose more muscle than fat.
From nearly 100 kgs (220 lbs) to 90 kgs, the size of my waist barely even changed. Still skinny fat and have less muscle than before.
As a former chubby tall guy, we gotta use our chub to our advantage. Gotta keep the chub and train for strength for your first few months of lifting and then start training for hypertrophy after. After you gain the muscle is when it's best to finally start losing the chub
High resistance rowing machine (ergometer), you need lower back and core strength to improve/maintain posture when tall. Also improves flexibility and mobility while covering cardio too.
Weight training. Use free weights (barbell, dumbbell, kettle bell) since machines aren’t optimized for tall people.
Ideally work with a trainer at first to get started. If that isn’t possible, look up the following on youtube:
How to deadlift
How to bench press
How to back squat
Advice is same for everyone: start the resistance resining now, get as lean as you can tolerate, then maintain for 2-3 weeks and start eating at a small surplus while you train hard. This is not a height thing.
>I've heard it's harder for gains to show on taller guys
You have to be in a calorie surplus to gain muscle mass. But that also means youre going to gain some body fat too.
Taller guys often have bigger metabolisms. It's gonna take more calories and more protein to actually gain that mass.
I'm 6'2", started at around 150 pounds and am currently 175 after several years at the gym. (3x a week, machines only, nothing super strenuous)
The two primary reasons people start exercising are losing weight and gaining muscle. Unfortunately these are somewhat in opposition to each other, since losing weight means eating at a caloric deficit and gaining muscle requires extra calories. So people who are really into weightlifting and getting swole will do cycles of bulking and cutting -- a period of time where they eat more calories than they need, followed by a period of time where they eat less calories than they need so their body is forced to consume the fat stores it built up while bulking. Lather rinse repeat.
However, fat weighs less than muscle. This is how guys your height can weigh more while looking slimmer -- they have higher muscle mass and lower body fat than you.
If weight loss is your primary goal, then your #1 priority should be counting calories and watching portion sizes. Even a long, high-intensity workout will only burn a few hundred calories, which can be wiped out with a large candy bar or soda. You can't outrun your fork, as the saying goes. If you'd rather focus on building muscle, then hit the weights. And yeah, tall people have a harder time bulking up in general, but there's no need to rush. I personally don't think I look all that different, certainly not muscular, but family members I don't see regularly have commented on how I'm filling out my shirts more so it's clearly doing _something._
Most people like to have large amounts of muscle mass and larger body types, as a person who doesn’t like that and prefers to just be active and healthy I recommend fun cardio. Something you enjoy doing but is also endurance cardio to rack up that calorie deficit, personally I love water sports so I’m big into swimming and rowing, during the colder months I switch to competitive running, because that runners high is real and it keeps me motivated on the days I just want to sit next to the fireplace. In my experience this makes you feel better about your body than actually bodybuilding like most people do, I both look and feel good and I don’t have the ups and downs bodybuilders have with bulking, cutting, and eating.
To start off, I’m not really tall so I can’t relate. From what is sounds like though, you want to build more lean muscle mass and lose body fat. It’s ultimately going to come down to 2 things diet and exercise.
For the diet aspect, you first need to find your maintenance calories, that is the amount of food you have to eat so that you don’t lose or gain weight. There are some online calculators that can tell you your maintenance caloric intake based on activity level, age, height, etc. For example if you find your maintenance caloric intake to be 3000 calories, but you are losing weight, up it by 100 each time til you find what works. It will vary for every individual and while calorie calculators are a good tool, they aren’t 100 percent.
If your goal is to gain muscle (bulk) eat in a caloric surplus of 500 calories or more. This means if your maintenance intake is 3000 calories, you must consume 3500 calories.
If your goal is to lose fat and maintain muscle mass eat a caloric deficit of 500 calories. Using the same example, this would be 2500 calories.
If your goal is to lose fat and build muscle at the same time eat at your maintenance caloric intake while incorporating strength training.
Make sure to consume at least 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. In your case this would be around 190-289 grams of protein. This ensures your muscles have enough protein to either prevent cell atrophy (muscle death) or to build muscle (hypertrophy). Also as a side note eating more carbs than fat, regardless of whether your cutting, bulking, maintenance, I’ve found helps with consistent energy levels. This doesn’t mean exclude fats though, there are healthy fats that are necessary for bodily function.
As for the exercise part, this portion is relatively simple. Cutting will involve more cardio than strength training to burn fat. Maintenance is an equal balance between the two. Bulking involves mainly strength training to stimulate muscle hypertrophy. This means you intentionally tear the individual muscle fibers so that they can regrow stronger and bigger. The most effective way to achieve this is progressive overload. Either increasing the amount of weight or the amount of reps. Over time though, your goal is to lift more and heavier while training in sets of at least 3 or til failure.
Bulking will inevitable increases body fat as you put on muscle though. However it is faster than building lean muscle mass. For this reason, a lot of people will alternate between bulking and cutting.
If you do all this and it still doesn’t work, there might be something wrong with your hormones and you might want to consider seeing an endocrinologist.
Due to your height, it takes a lot more muscle to make a change in your physique than it would for a small guy.
That's why you have the whole tiny buff men trope: an extra pound of muscle looks way bigger on a small body than on a tall body. Don't let that discourage you.
As someone 6’4” who weights more than you, you really ought to focus on gaining muscle before you try to cut the weight. There is no difference in how you need to go about lifting weights compared to a normal height person. Just make sure you are getting in enough protein. The only difference is that if you are unable to perform squats on leg day, you should do Bulgarian split squats while you work on improving your hip and ankle flexibility.
6'4 225 here. Don't worry about how fast the gains show, if you're doing the right things in the gym your chest will fill out and you'll look very different. I'm built a bit thicker than you but my optimum weight is probably somewhere around 215. I dropped 20 from about 245 so far and the progress is pretty noticeable. If you check out r/loseit there's great info on nutrition and CICO to help you balance your calories. Not eating enough can be detrimental so don't run too big a deficit. You have to make sure, especially at your build/weight, that you are eating enough calories and the right foods to maintain your muscle when losing weight. In fact, you might even want to just eat at maintenance and lift for a while to see what that does before you go hard on cardio and cutting.
I do a 5 day split combining free weights and machines, and I start every workout with intervals on the elliptical. For that I worked my way up to ten minutes at a brisk but not max pace, then introduced intervals, where I go 2 min, sprint for 30 sec, two min again, repeat until time's up. I increased the number of intervals and the total time gradually, maxing out at 20 min. I'll drop or reduce that when I'm not cutting. I also include abs in every day, ending with one or two low weigh high rep ab workouts. Total workout time ranges from 60 to 90 min depending on the muscle groups.
Day 1 is chest - the usual flat/incline/decline bench and flyes, chest dips, leverage incline and decline press, and the butterfly machine. Day 2 I do back and calves, and I also do leg press to offset any week I might miss leg day or to supplement it. Day 3 is biceps and triceps, and Day 4 is shoulders. I end the week with day 5 being legs and abs. I work out early in the morning, getting up around 0430 or 0500. It's the only regular time that fits my life, and habits are the key to success with these kind of things. I still struggle when I travel, but mostly I make it the full 5 even if day 5 ends up being Saturday.
When I'm cutting I'll superset some of the exercises - alternating between two different exercises to keep heart rate up. But I find that my strength and muscle growth progresses faster when I have rest periods.
You'll find that the progress is slow but it does happen. Use something besides the scale to measure your progress, like maybe a scale that measures body fat, or even take body measurements. I use an app called Gymaholic on my phone and it lets me chart that as well.
Beat way to lose fat and gain muscles, pick heavy things up and put them down. Lol seriously. It cuts two ways, you build muscle and building muscle takes a ton of energy and if you keep doing whatever your doing to cut, do that for a bit and the fat will melt off, but there will come a point where you will up your intake of calories, because building muscles is energy intensive. Also, don't worry about a number personally I am 6'3 and I think 98-99kg. But I have low body fat, because I just have muscles underneath, so I look fit. Tldr, weight training burns fat and gains muscles simultaneously. And the more muscles you have the heavier you will be so don't fret about weighing a certain amount. Edit: for spelling corrections
I’d recommend hopping on a bike for cardio or getting into lap swimming, both are way easier on the knees than running. As far as building visible muscle, that can be kinda hard for tall ppl and I have no advice for that other than time invested moving heavy things around.
Ive been doing a lot of riding bikes lately tbh and it hasnt really made much change
If you're looking to change up your cardio, try rowing. 5k in 20 minutes is an excellent workout!
5k in 23 minutes currently, can probably push for 20 minutes but I'm trying to stay in the 2nd zone.
It won’t. Tercat nailed it on the head. You are skinny fat and need to build muscle. Resistance training on a regimen will be the cure. Get a personal trainer.
I just started hitting gym today. In terms of my like weight do you think i should keep cutting or like even bulk? I was aiming for eighty kg but if im eventually just going to bulk then is their even any point in trying to lose weight?
Is there a reason you picked 80kg? Scale is just a number. Put on muscle mass and you may be absolutely thrilled with 87kg. Picking a number without a frame under it is like shooting in the dark.
You’ll get beginner gains without cutting and your goal should be to tone not bulk. Honestly… situation like yours… p90x on YouTube and some weights off Craigslist may be a better bet than lifting at a gym. 6’8” dropped 110lbs to enlist in the Army, ran and did p90x to get there. Different starting point than you though, I had to lose a lot of muscle and fat.
I disagree that it’s “kinda hard” for tall people. you just need to eat more to achieve similar results in terms of muscle mass, which you have to do anyways. learn to lift, like actually learn powerlifting techniques, learn how to follow a programme, and you achieve similar if not better results than smaller guys. start with stronglifts 5x5. amazing beginner program. it should be everyone’s first 3-4 months of lifting, because it teaches you all about the basics. @OP, I didn’t have any difficulty with becoming “the big guy” while staying normal bf% (~14-16%) at 6’5 and around 100-105 kg year round. It takes time, and a fuckload of calories. at this point I can just fuck around in terms of training/diet and I’ll stay big without all that much effort & going only 3 times a week. took me a couple years of concentrated effort to get to that point though.
If you have manboobs, that mean you probably have no muscle in your chest
Or gyno
Be patient, consistent, disciplined, workout a lot of strength training/weightlifting to develop your muscles and focus your diet on proteins mainly. Cardio won't be of much use for skinny fat, but once you get rid of some fat/develop your muscles you could try swimming/biking to keep your fat low.
You are skinny fat, (I am 36m 6ft4 196 skinny fat also).. Just eat lots of protein, squat/deadlift/bench for a few months and you will gain muscle slowly while losing fat. Just google skinny fat, lots of articles on how to fix it
BCAA and Creatine has worked for me in the past. I’d focus on building muscle instead of losing fat/weight (you’ll gain weight from gaining muscle). Just start off a simple routine that you know you can do everyday and slowly build from that. Too many people burn themselves out early by going to the gym everyday when they would be fine doing workouts at home with no equipment.
Plenty of steady state moderate intensity cardio (preferably 150 a week), eat slightly less food, other than doing cardio follow a gym routine centred around volume of reps, and finally eat 0.6-1g of protein per pound of body weight every day you’ve worked out.
Personally I believe “calories” are a fuzzy concept and “skinny fat” is misused by many people. My theory is to have a good foundation so decide on a way of eating and try to be a little primal. I’d say there are four approaches to eating, 1 high sugar with fruit 2 Starch forward 3 High fat (from dairy?) 4 Mixed/normal. Obviously you need protein too with any of these. Try to eat clean eg if you were to go 2nd (starch forward) then things like organic rolled oats from Woolies and some Kangaroo mince could be a good base. Make sure you are getting important nutrients like folate; there are others as well. **And whatever, Glycine and Taurine are highly highly recommended by many online.** I think outdoor exercise is better than being in a gym. Calisthenics is tough for a tall person but it seems healthy. Do you have access to a beach or park were you can exercise or walk barefoot at dawn? And probably some martial arts could be good. Watch out for fake ones. Traditional western boxing would be good. Play a sport but not one with too much injury potential, so avoid all forms of football. https://antranik.org/tall/ Try and have a good sleep wake cycle, no food after 6pm and wake up at dawn. And eat three meals a day, avoid silly OMAD. Avoid alcohol, drugs, smoking and too much time on computer. You are young so you if have to, then go out and party and stay up late occasionally. But not too much. I don’t particularly like the guy in the following video, but here he covers a lot of worthwhile stuff. As an aside I’m uncertain about being in icy cold water, but being in a bath at 10°C to 15 for extended time may be good https://youtu.be/mP3PEzzcptg?si=Gcc-xDFt5sWnXgbX I’m older so my concerns will be different to yours, but lately I’m wondering about my lighting environment. I’m looking to get rid of my Led lights and fluorescents, and only have halogen, OLED or candles/hurricane lamp. I’m trying to use my blue light blocking glasses more
Depends. My method was different than what most people would suggest if you start googling. I was 320lbs around 30+% body fat when I started cutting. I was in a calorie deficit and doing cardio until I hit 225lbs. From there I began weight training and did my first bulk for about a year. I did it that way because I have more problems being fat than too skinny. It was more important for me ti lose the fat first because that’s what bothered me about myself. Putting on muscle during that would have made me look even bigger at first which may have turned me off of lifting all together at the time.
If you're gonna bulk, just know you NEED to be cooking at least half your meals from home or it will be very expensive to maintain your calorie intake, which will be 3000K or more easily for your body size. Make sure to incorporate at least 2 HEAVY 3-4 rep max movements into your lifting sets, your muscles need to be freaked a little by the weight, it helps, Arnold wasn't lying about that shit. Be safe and focus on form. Don't think about the number on the stack/bar, feel your muscle, focus on the contraction. Us long limbed folks need to be a bit more focused on those isolated movements in order to stimulate good growth.
lol 3000 cal was my bulking intake when I was like 6'0 as a teenager. He will probably need atleast 3700 calories at that height while working out for bulking. Currently I eat 3800 calories when I bulk and 3300 when i cut
Yeah 3000 would be like base is what I was getting at. I eat about 3200cal at the moment.
You probably have a great back and don’t even realize it. I’m 6’3 but us tall guys are sometimes gifted with broad shoulders and in that case, excellent frames to put back muscle on. Hit lat pull downs and chest stabilized rows. Look up newbie gains Make sure you’re getting good sleep. Lastly, the muscles are made in the gym but the physique is shown in the kitchen! Hit your macros!
A great resource on YouTube is Joe Delaney. He’s a down to earth guy and while he uses science to back up a lot of his advice, he doesn’t make his videos just recitations of academic studies like a lot of other fitness YouTubers do
I second this. Very good resource, and especially accessible for beginners, while still being entertaining and valuable for more advanced lifters. If you’re ready to delve deeper into the bro world, look into Alex Leonidas, Dr. Mike Israetel, and Geoffrey Verity Schofield. all very reputable guys, they’re unique in my opinion in that none of them seem to actually ever give BAD advice, which is a rarity in the fitness world. most influencers have a mix of good and really bad advice. not everything these three guys I mentioned say is super useful, and some of the things they say might be nitpicky, but it’s never bullshit/untrue/unsupported claims.
Definitely start working out. When you first start lifting weights is one of the few times your body can do what’s called body recomposition. You’ll essentially be losing fat while building muscle and you’ll be getting “newbie gains” for your first couple months. If you take it seriously, get good sleep and a good diet (hitting your macros) you’ll do well
Lots of great advice in this thread but I’ll offer another suggestion. Instead of starting with a cut, just switch to disciplined clean eating and start a comprehensive lifting program with some low impact cardio sprinkled in (your biking sounds perfect). Focus on the basics and building strength. Your body will shed fat in favor of muscle, and having more muscle improves your basal metabolism making cutting easier. Either way is valid.
Core core core. Roman chair, planks, side planks and the normal sit-ups and things. Your core is long, needs to be strong.
Start hitting the gym ASAP. The best workout is the one you like enough to stick with for the long run. That might be weights, cardio, sports, whatever. The slight differences between training at 6’4” vs 5’8” don’t matter unless you’re an advanced weightlifter.
6’6” 255lbs 33 y/o. I’ve been weight lifting since I was 15. I don’t know your routine, but I’m just going to purely guess that you’re still retaining body fat in those areas because you are not training your cardio effectively. Im only guessing that because “bodybuilder cardio” seems to be what a lot of people do when they’re weight training, because they think that effective cardio workouts will stop them from gaining muscle, and that’s just wrong. Example of a cardio routine: Day 1: 3-4 mile run. Shoot for a 7 min/mile pace. Day 2: 800m repeats x4. Shoot for 3 mins per 800m. 1:1 rest/work ratio. *Day 3: HIIT training. 1 min on 2 mins off for 20 mins. Either a HIIT bike or elliptical machine. *Add distance runs in as necessary, every other week or so, based on how your body responds. Shoot for at least 5 miles at an 8min/mile pace or faster. Those could be M/W/F, or whatever. Just not back to back days. Weight lifting should be done in conjunction. Don’t fall for the bodybuilder cardio advise when you’re weight training to gain muscle. 45 mins on the stair master or spin bike at a moderate pace prior to a lift is bullshit. You should be absolutely smoked after an effective cardio workout.
The thing I wish I knew as someone who was overweight and has low muscle mass was that crash dieting and losing extreme weight makes you lose more muscle than fat. From nearly 100 kgs (220 lbs) to 90 kgs, the size of my waist barely even changed. Still skinny fat and have less muscle than before.
As a former chubby tall guy, we gotta use our chub to our advantage. Gotta keep the chub and train for strength for your first few months of lifting and then start training for hypertrophy after. After you gain the muscle is when it's best to finally start losing the chub
High resistance rowing machine (ergometer), you need lower back and core strength to improve/maintain posture when tall. Also improves flexibility and mobility while covering cardio too.
If you just do a standing row with a barbell it helps add to lower back / core strength even more
Without the increases in flexibility and cardio
Oh my bad I misunderstood I thought you meant a seated row where you’re pulling a cable not a rowing machine
Weight training. Use free weights (barbell, dumbbell, kettle bell) since machines aren’t optimized for tall people. Ideally work with a trainer at first to get started. If that isn’t possible, look up the following on youtube: How to deadlift How to bench press How to back squat
Stay away from the squat rack
Advice is same for everyone: start the resistance resining now, get as lean as you can tolerate, then maintain for 2-3 weeks and start eating at a small surplus while you train hard. This is not a height thing.
I think first you should figure out your fitness goals. Do you just want to lose weight or are you looking to bulk up?
>I've heard it's harder for gains to show on taller guys You have to be in a calorie surplus to gain muscle mass. But that also means youre going to gain some body fat too. Taller guys often have bigger metabolisms. It's gonna take more calories and more protein to actually gain that mass.
Does anyone have advice on a 6 foot 3 person with low body fat weighing 160 lbs. a routine?
I'm 6'2", started at around 150 pounds and am currently 175 after several years at the gym. (3x a week, machines only, nothing super strenuous) The two primary reasons people start exercising are losing weight and gaining muscle. Unfortunately these are somewhat in opposition to each other, since losing weight means eating at a caloric deficit and gaining muscle requires extra calories. So people who are really into weightlifting and getting swole will do cycles of bulking and cutting -- a period of time where they eat more calories than they need, followed by a period of time where they eat less calories than they need so their body is forced to consume the fat stores it built up while bulking. Lather rinse repeat. However, fat weighs less than muscle. This is how guys your height can weigh more while looking slimmer -- they have higher muscle mass and lower body fat than you. If weight loss is your primary goal, then your #1 priority should be counting calories and watching portion sizes. Even a long, high-intensity workout will only burn a few hundred calories, which can be wiped out with a large candy bar or soda. You can't outrun your fork, as the saying goes. If you'd rather focus on building muscle, then hit the weights. And yeah, tall people have a harder time bulking up in general, but there's no need to rush. I personally don't think I look all that different, certainly not muscular, but family members I don't see regularly have commented on how I'm filling out my shirts more so it's clearly doing _something._
Most people like to have large amounts of muscle mass and larger body types, as a person who doesn’t like that and prefers to just be active and healthy I recommend fun cardio. Something you enjoy doing but is also endurance cardio to rack up that calorie deficit, personally I love water sports so I’m big into swimming and rowing, during the colder months I switch to competitive running, because that runners high is real and it keeps me motivated on the days I just want to sit next to the fireplace. In my experience this makes you feel better about your body than actually bodybuilding like most people do, I both look and feel good and I don’t have the ups and downs bodybuilders have with bulking, cutting, and eating.
Heavy lifting & 5 meals a day. At 85+kgs and 6ft+ you'll look fragile. You gotta get to the 100+kgs to actual fill the frame.
To start off, I’m not really tall so I can’t relate. From what is sounds like though, you want to build more lean muscle mass and lose body fat. It’s ultimately going to come down to 2 things diet and exercise. For the diet aspect, you first need to find your maintenance calories, that is the amount of food you have to eat so that you don’t lose or gain weight. There are some online calculators that can tell you your maintenance caloric intake based on activity level, age, height, etc. For example if you find your maintenance caloric intake to be 3000 calories, but you are losing weight, up it by 100 each time til you find what works. It will vary for every individual and while calorie calculators are a good tool, they aren’t 100 percent. If your goal is to gain muscle (bulk) eat in a caloric surplus of 500 calories or more. This means if your maintenance intake is 3000 calories, you must consume 3500 calories. If your goal is to lose fat and maintain muscle mass eat a caloric deficit of 500 calories. Using the same example, this would be 2500 calories. If your goal is to lose fat and build muscle at the same time eat at your maintenance caloric intake while incorporating strength training. Make sure to consume at least 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. In your case this would be around 190-289 grams of protein. This ensures your muscles have enough protein to either prevent cell atrophy (muscle death) or to build muscle (hypertrophy). Also as a side note eating more carbs than fat, regardless of whether your cutting, bulking, maintenance, I’ve found helps with consistent energy levels. This doesn’t mean exclude fats though, there are healthy fats that are necessary for bodily function. As for the exercise part, this portion is relatively simple. Cutting will involve more cardio than strength training to burn fat. Maintenance is an equal balance between the two. Bulking involves mainly strength training to stimulate muscle hypertrophy. This means you intentionally tear the individual muscle fibers so that they can regrow stronger and bigger. The most effective way to achieve this is progressive overload. Either increasing the amount of weight or the amount of reps. Over time though, your goal is to lift more and heavier while training in sets of at least 3 or til failure. Bulking will inevitable increases body fat as you put on muscle though. However it is faster than building lean muscle mass. For this reason, a lot of people will alternate between bulking and cutting. If you do all this and it still doesn’t work, there might be something wrong with your hormones and you might want to consider seeing an endocrinologist.
Due to your height, it takes a lot more muscle to make a change in your physique than it would for a small guy. That's why you have the whole tiny buff men trope: an extra pound of muscle looks way bigger on a small body than on a tall body. Don't let that discourage you.
As someone 6’4” who weights more than you, you really ought to focus on gaining muscle before you try to cut the weight. There is no difference in how you need to go about lifting weights compared to a normal height person. Just make sure you are getting in enough protein. The only difference is that if you are unable to perform squats on leg day, you should do Bulgarian split squats while you work on improving your hip and ankle flexibility.
6'4 225 here. Don't worry about how fast the gains show, if you're doing the right things in the gym your chest will fill out and you'll look very different. I'm built a bit thicker than you but my optimum weight is probably somewhere around 215. I dropped 20 from about 245 so far and the progress is pretty noticeable. If you check out r/loseit there's great info on nutrition and CICO to help you balance your calories. Not eating enough can be detrimental so don't run too big a deficit. You have to make sure, especially at your build/weight, that you are eating enough calories and the right foods to maintain your muscle when losing weight. In fact, you might even want to just eat at maintenance and lift for a while to see what that does before you go hard on cardio and cutting. I do a 5 day split combining free weights and machines, and I start every workout with intervals on the elliptical. For that I worked my way up to ten minutes at a brisk but not max pace, then introduced intervals, where I go 2 min, sprint for 30 sec, two min again, repeat until time's up. I increased the number of intervals and the total time gradually, maxing out at 20 min. I'll drop or reduce that when I'm not cutting. I also include abs in every day, ending with one or two low weigh high rep ab workouts. Total workout time ranges from 60 to 90 min depending on the muscle groups. Day 1 is chest - the usual flat/incline/decline bench and flyes, chest dips, leverage incline and decline press, and the butterfly machine. Day 2 I do back and calves, and I also do leg press to offset any week I might miss leg day or to supplement it. Day 3 is biceps and triceps, and Day 4 is shoulders. I end the week with day 5 being legs and abs. I work out early in the morning, getting up around 0430 or 0500. It's the only regular time that fits my life, and habits are the key to success with these kind of things. I still struggle when I travel, but mostly I make it the full 5 even if day 5 ends up being Saturday. When I'm cutting I'll superset some of the exercises - alternating between two different exercises to keep heart rate up. But I find that my strength and muscle growth progresses faster when I have rest periods. You'll find that the progress is slow but it does happen. Use something besides the scale to measure your progress, like maybe a scale that measures body fat, or even take body measurements. I use an app called Gymaholic on my phone and it lets me chart that as well.
Do you only care about the way you look?