Scott. I'm Steve. I'm 26 years old with a height of 6'1. The high tech looking digital scale at my gym(LifeTime Fitness) says my weight is 188-190lbs. When I had my weight examined they calculated my weight at 188 with a BF% of 15.6%. A BMI calculator I just used currently says my BMI is 1987.54. Food wise, I start my day with protein pancakes or oatmeal. The rest of the day I'll eat 2 meals that I made the night before, usually chicken breast and steamed veggies. I'll have yogurt or brown rice ricecakes with peanut butter as snacks. Dinner is usually more meat such as chicken talapia with sauteed veggies. Sometimes bread will be had with dinner. Fitness wise, here's my schedule. Monday is chest/triceps. 4 exercies of each in 3 sets of 8-10 reps. Wednesday is back/biceps. 5 back exercies and 3 biceps in 3 sets of 8-10 reps. Fridays is shoulders and legs. 3 leg exercies and 4 shoulders in 3 sets of -8-10 reps. Each of those days I'll 30 minutes of steady pace cardio after the weights. I do abdominals in between each set. Tuesday is a cardio day. 20 minutes on a treadmill, 20 on the bike and 20 more on a stairmaster. Thursday is HIIT. Saturday and Sundays one of those days is another HIIT day and the other will be a day off. What do you think I should change up or add.

 Edit: I'm an ectomorph body type.

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Hey Stephen!

Well what I need first is a macro breakdown of your daily food intake. "What" you are eating doesn't help me. I need the numbers in grams.

If you need help you can use my meal planner. It adds everything for you. All you do is pick the food. Super easy you can use promo code: FREEFITNESS for a one month trial of my PLATINUM membership for access to meal plan and the rest of the platinum features. If not, just google search the food to find the calories and macro breakown.

Also, find your BMR "IN MOTION" and "AT REST" on my meal plan page using my BMR calculator at the top. I need those numbers.

Once I have that i can help with meal plan.

As far as routine, personally for muscle gain I try to stick to 12-15 reps of 3-4 sets per exercise and at least 3 - 4 exercises per mucle group.

Can you list our your complete routine? I don't understand how you can only do 3 exercises for LEGS.. and 4 for shoulders. LEGS are a massive part of your body... they will need more work than just 3 exercises.

Once you list this I can help better as well.

Merry Christmas! #HTH

Well, for legs I do squats, leg extentions and leg curls. My legs are already pretty decent in size and still want to be a decent runner. On Monday for chest, I do flat bench press, incline dumbbell bench, flyes(either with dumbbells or cables and then cable cross over. For triceps, its skull crushers (dumbbell or barbell), tricep dips with a 10 pound weight, tricep rope pull downs and reverse grip pull downs. For back, I do reverse grip barbell rows, deadlifts, lat pull downs, t-bar rows and barbell shrugs. Biceps its any kind of external curl, hammer curls and then internal curls. For shoulders, its side lateral raises with my arms fully extended, dumbbell shoulder press, front raises, dumbbell shrugs and upright rows.

I don't think I can provide macros for my food since I think I would have to measure the size and everything of the chicken breast I eat (they're huge). I'm willing to bet though the numbers are probably lower than what I need. There's a lot of information out there that makes me unsure of what to do. Some information says since I have a thin frame I should be doing zero cardio.

My weekly routine has changed this week.

Stephen,

If you google search the food you eat, you can figure out your macros very quickly. Or you can usemy custom meal planner. With my meal planner all you have to do is enter the food and amount and it automatically calculates the protein, carbs, and fat: www.SottHermanFitness.com/mealplan.php

Sorry I didn't get to your last post, holidays have been a bit crazy.

If your routine has changed.. please list it again BUT list it by day

Example

Monday- Chest

1. Exercise 1 (4 sets of 12 reps)
2. Exercise 2 (4 sets of 12 reps)
3. Exercise 3 (4 sets of 12 reps)

It's frustrating to read a routine in paragaph form... (which is why probably no one answered it )

Get on those macros and let me know what they are! #HTH

My routine is the following;

Monday-Chest, Triceps, Shoulders

Chest:

Bench Press (3 sets 8/10 reps)

Inclinde Dumb Bell Bench (3 sets 10 reps)

Standing Cable Flys (3 sets 10 reps)

Triceps:

Tricep kick backs (3 sets 10 reps)

Tricep rope pull downs (3 sets 10 reps)

Reverse grip pull downs (3 sets 10 reps)

Shoulders:

Dumb Bell shoulder press (3 sets 10 reps)Tu

Side lateral raises (3 sets 8/10 reps)

Dumb bell front raises (3 sets 8/10 reps)

Tuesday-Back, Biceps, Legs

Back:

Barbell Rows (3 sets 8/10 reps) having a hard time increasing weight while maintain form.

Lat pull downs (3 sets 10 reps)

T-Bar Row (3 sets 10 reps)

Deadlift (3 sets 8/10 reps)

Barbell Shrugs (3 sets 10 reps)

Biceps:

Alternating Dumb Bell Curls (3 sets 10 reps)

Hammer Curls (3 sets 10 reps)

Internal EZ Curls (3 sets 10 reps)

Legs:

Squats (3 sets 8/10 reps)

Leg Extention (3 sets 10 reps)

Leg Curls (3 sets 10 reps)

Wednesday-Chest, Triceps, Shoulders

Chest:

Bench Press (3 sets 8/10 reps)

Decline Dumb Bell Bench (3 sets 10 reps)

Cable Cross Overs (3 sets 10 reps)

Triceps:

Dumb Bell Skullcrushers (3 sets 10 reps)

Body Weight Dips + 15-20lbs Dumb Bell (3 sets 10 reps)

Close Grip Pull Down (3 sets 10 reps)

Shoulders: Same as Monday

Thursday-Back, Biceps, Legs

Back: Same as Tuesday

Biceps:

Straight Barbell Curls (3 sets 10 reps)

Hammer Rope Curls (3 sets 10 reps)

Preacher Curls (3 sets 10 reps)

Legs:

Same as Tuesday.

Each day gets some form of an ab workout in between sets and each weight day is followed by 15 minutes on the treadmill at 4mph at a 10% incline.

Hey Stephen,

Based on your body image, it looks like your goal is to gain muscle?

I can see that you want to train your muscles twice a week, but you need to split it up more. Would you like a better split? You should check out the routine on my profile. the muscle splits would be perfect or you.

Also, have you seen my lastest meal plan video? It will help you figure out your exact macros.

Let me know!

Scott,

That video was incrediably helpful. I now know my macro count. You're right, though. My goal is to gain muscle but I also want clean abs. People have told me I have abs in that pic but I disagree. I'm at 15% body fat right now (need to get that checked again) and I figured to get cut enough I should try to get down to at least 12%. I'm assuming if I consume the proper calories I can gain muscle weight and burn off the extra fat at the same time. The only dilema I'm exerperiencing is knowing how much cardio I should do. As I said earlier, I'm an thin body type, an ectomorph. Common for tall people as I am I'm told. I'm 6'1. Much info says I should do zero cardio because that'll just cause my metabolism to burn off more mass. I know that was happening when I would run 6 miles 3 days a week without proper calories consumed but now I'm doing steady pace after weights and sometimes HIIT on certain days. I viewd your split workout and might give it a try. According to the chart in your video and your website's BMR calculator, these are what my daily macros should be:

Weight- 190lbs

Body Fat%: 15%

Fat weight= 28.5lbs

Lean weight: 161.5lbs

BMR Rest: 2002.31 calories

BMR Motion: 3103.59 calories

Average 2552.95 calories + 250= 2802.95

Protein-

Lose weight: 1gx161.5=161.5 grams

Gain weight: 1.5gx161.5= 242.25 grams

Fat-

Lose weight: .35gx161.5=56.525 grams

Gain weight: .5gx161.5= 80.75 grams

Meal Plan-

Protein: 242.25gx4=969 calories

Fat: 80.75gx9=726.75 calories

Total=1695.75 calories

Carbs-

Protein/Fat 1695.75 calories

BMR Average: 2552.95 calories

Carb calories: 2802.95-1695.75=1107.2 calories

Carbs in Grams= 1107.2/4 = 276.8 grams.

Final Macros-

Protein: 242.25 grams=969 calories

Carbs: 276.8 grams=1107.2 calories

Fat: 80.75 grams=726.75 calories.

 EDIT: Took this photo today after doing the workout I have listed for Thursday. Not sure if much difference is visable.

Anything else to add Scott? Still unsure how much cardio I should be doing.

Updates:

Did my BF% again yesterday. Total weight is 193. 30lbs of my weight is fat and my lean body mass is 163lbs so I'm at 15% body fat. Ideally I want that total fat weight be 10-15lbs lower and probably replaced with muscle weight. I'm still trying to follow my macros, I know I need higher protein consumption but what leaves me unsure is going at determing how much fat and carbs I should consume while still buring away the un-needed fat in my stomach area. How does that work?

Can Scott or anyone answer my last few questions? Kinda sitting in the dark knowledge wise.

Well, at the end of the video I go over ratios of carbs for fat burning based on your goals.

Final Macros-

Protein: 242.25 grams=969 calories

Carbs: 276.8 grams=1107.2 calories

Fat: 80.75 grams=726.75 calories.

If I were you I would adjust to the following to focus on lean gains.

Final Macros-

Protein: 280 grams

Carbs: 220 grams

Fat: 90grams

Also, start to add in some circuits / 15-20 minutes of cardio after your workouts.

have you seen the routine on my profile? It is geared toward lean gains

I did read your routine and have tried that split. It hurt lol. It just didn't tell me how much cardio I should be do doing. Lately I've been doing 30 minutes on the treadmill wilth a 10% inclinde at 3.5-4mph. Thanks Scott.

Oh nice!!! haha glad it hurts!

I usually do 15-20 minutes 3-4 times a week AFTER my workout on a 3% incline at around 6-7mph. Good stuff!

Keep up the great work man! You are looking awesome!

You know what also hurt at the gym tonight? The two abe exercies you have going on at 6:15 in your Be a 10 in 2010 V-Cut Ripped 6-pacl abs video. Alternating bosu ball and floor crunches. Ouch. 3 sets of 30 reps on each with my arms pointed up was difficult.

So now I've gained a few more pounds, making my weight 195. Though it may be retained water from eating carbs.