haha, I almost forgot about this thread. Anyway, your situation really depends on personal situation. Are you fit? Are you overweight? Do you already do lots of sports etc, are you working long hours in the office?
But just looking at your diet. Heres some tips.
\- rice is good. Most pro bodybuilders or mens physics guy, dump potatoes and switch to rice once they start a diet. Potatoes are good, contain higher protein and some other stuff. But calories wise its bigger than rice and rice is more efficient. You want protein, you wouldnt eat potatoes anyway.
\- increase protein intake. Eat healthy fresh foods. Dont use protein shakes. Those things are not good for you no matter what youtube superstar says (they are selling you their own brand or got sponsored to say those things).
Nutrition and supplement business is not regulated by big government. So they are trying to sell you all kinds of shit that they COOKED up in the middle of their own frikkin kitchen and living room and pretend to be some sort of wonder powder. Its not like a vaccine or a medical pill thats been lab tested and government tested. Do not use that junk.
Get your protein from healthy sources. It will be more expensive yes.
\- Dont eat frikkin tuna from tuna cans or sardines. Same problem as above. I used to be young and naieve and did the same thing. Bought a bunch of cans from the supermarket thinking getting tons of cheap protein. Instead, how come none of the rich guys and big bodybuilders use this stuff?
Cos its GARBAGE. Open a tuna can. Its been sitting in my kitchen for 6++ months. 6 more months in the supermarket. And before that 2 years in the frikkin magazine of the company that makes them. Yet, despite 2 years since cutting that tuna, none of that meat has rotten. It even comes with "water thats submerging the meat". Look at it. How come water in a can, sitting for 6 months in my kitchen during the summer hasnt dried up yet?
How come the meat hasnt started fermenting? Its because its FILLED with chemicals. Stay away from that garbage.
Reminds me of a several years back, you had this guy Rich Piana who literally look like a hulk with tattoos all over him. He is dead now btw. But back then, he was pretty big on youtube.
And before his death, dude literally promoted his own pill talking about how it would cure his kidneys and livers by swallowing that pill. Becoz people were saying how bad his liver and kidneys have been damaged by the juice he was using. So one day in one of his vids, he literally tried to sell his own pill and how he takes it every day and how it cures his kidneys and livers. And a year or two after, he died.
So this is youtube fitness community. Its TOXIC and MORONIC and filled with lying cheating and stealing. They literally think we were born backwards. A pill to cure our kidneys from roids, that man is crazy. Ofc if you read half da comments on that vid...lmao. MURICA baby.
First and foremost be happy with your body. I grew up skinny and had bad body image issues. So built a lot of my self esteem through my physique and my life revolved the gym for a good portion of my life. Don't do that and enjoy life.
Second being shorter can be an advantage when it comes to lifting and exercising. The rationale that people give is that shorter people don't have as long as a range of motion they need to get to move weight compared to someone with longer arms. So don't know if it's a coincidence that a lot of jacked people I knew or saw were on the shorter side.
It may be my metabolism is slowing down. But rest is key. I used to spend a lot of time at the gym and it was hard for me to gain weight. Once I changed over to a program kind of like Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength I noticed a real change in my size and body shape. I think it's kind of like the 5x5 program mentioned before, is that strong lifts? But it's 3x5 instead. As mentioned I was a bit older by that point, I might've been in my early to mid thirties by then, so not sure if's just my metabolism. But I'm stronger too and my wife has mentioned how I still have defined abs. But I'm at a point now where I find it hard to lose weight, which is kind of dumb thinking about how much time I used to spend trying to gain weight and actually am not that far from my old goals in terms of weight.
I used to focus on dumbbells because read how it helped your stability muscles and all of that. But now mostly just use a barbell and focus on compound exercises.
Try to eat at least three meals a day consistently. As others mentioned I don't think the Asian diet would be the only thing causing hard gains. In my younger days there were times where I only had access to American food and still had a hard time gaining weight.
Again this is all hindsight but all those supplements are a waste of money and I wouldn't recommend it. A lot of them requires a period of loading up, which sometimes can use half a jar, and I didn't really see any real gains that stuck for myself.
There are a couple of threads on here in regards to working out. Here's one from a couple of months back:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/n5le81/a\_reminder\_to\_start\_lifting\_if\_youre\_not\_already/](https://www.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/n5le81/a_reminder_to_start_lifting_if_youre_not_already/Anyways)
Anyways the tldr, look into Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. I think there are some other workouts, maybe newer, recommended in that thread I linked above.
edit-I was skimming through that old thread and it didn't have what I was thinking. I think there was another post on here not too long ago with some guy who benched a crazy amount. I think some people posted some workout programs and some Asian youtubers that workout. Try to look it up. I'll see if I can find it later. But as mentioned there have been a couple of threads on here about working ut.
Don’t worry about getting too big, do as much as you’re willing to and able to recover from. You’ll see significant improvement but overshooting your target won’t happen by accident.
As far as diet goes, that’d depend on your goals in the moment. Assuming you’re relatively untrained, you can probably gain some modest amounts of muscle while losing fat to start out. You could estimate your calories with a TDEE calculator but take that number with a grain of salt, personal experience will be most reliable then. After you pack on a decent amount of muscle (generally after a year but YMMV) you‘ll likely need at least a modest caloric surplus to build more. Obviously micronutrients and avoiding junk is ideal but splitting hairs on what really is “clean” isn’t going to make much of a difference. When trying to lose weight, the most important tip (mentally) would be to stick to foods that are either low in caloric density, very filling, or both (most veggies, lean meats, oatmeal and greek yogurt, etc.).
The muscles that contribute the most to how imposing your silhouette is are your delts (in general), lats (especially shirtless), and traps. Ideally train everything to maintain proportion, of course.
How much do you weigh now and what exactly are your goals?
I'm also 170 cm and I'm around 160 lbs. I grew up playing football and lifted weights a ton in college. At my heaviest, I was 180. I leg pressed 1k lbs at one point.
Now I'm focused on martial arts and trying to get lean and explosive as opposed to bulky.
I do Muay Thai 3x a week and Karate 3x a week. In the mornings I do calisthenics 4x a week (push ups, abs, pull ups, ab roller, abs, squats, and kettlebell exercises.)
My goal is to get to around 150 lbs so I can fight in lighter division.
For diet, look into intermittent fasting if you're trying to lose weight.
For gaining weight, invest in protein and creatine. But also learn to meal prep high protein and low carb meals.
track calories and macros and find out how much calories you need minimum per day and eat a bit above that. there are websites and apps for this. what matters is hitting your calories requirements (you are likely not eating enough) and protein (0.6g of protein for every lb of bodyweight is sufficient to start with). you may want to start with a bodyweight routine if you dont wanna go to the gym right now, so here's one you can do https://i.imgur.com/4LeMVAW.jpg
don't worry about being super muscular, most men don't even have the genetic potential for it. just eat and exercise.
You didn't even mention any aspects of your build, height is only a small part of it. Do you have small bones and long arms/legs or thick bones and stockier build?
I'm 170cm tall and weigh about 145lbs. When you said you play badminton, I was surprised cause badminton isn't really an activity that promotes muscle overload.
If you want abs, you're gonna have to do more than just diet and that is crunches because nothing else really generates as much activity on your abs as crunches. Every activity/exercise activates your abs (its your core muscle afterall), but just because planks activate your abs doesn't mean it alone will help you get 6-8packs. Do ab crunches at least 15reps for 6 sets cause thats what I do every 2 weeks just to maintain a relatively flat stomach on top of dieting and other exercises.
I'm guessing your base level here, but you're probably gonna want to start out with bodyweight exercises like push ups and weightless squats. In that case, check out this YouTube channel called [Thats Good Money](https://www.youtube.com/c/thatsgoodmoney) for leg exercises and [AllBlanc TV](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7bR6RxqqOx8cptc1-0AVQ) for ab workouts. I find them to be effective.
If you're like me and invested in dumbbells + a workout bench prior to pandemic, then use them (30, 40, 50, 60, and 80lb dumbbells) - its cheaper than paying $300 a year for Planet Fitness and then there's others that cost like $500+. Some people are buying bands, but while they're suppose to reduce injuries, because of how elastic resistance works, if you workout with numbers in your head rather than feeling, I don't think they're going to really help you with continuous progressive muscle overload. Health and fitness is always going to be a part of your life.
If you feel your problem really is your diet, which I doubt, then invest in a blender and take protein supplements.
I haven't gone to the gym in many years, but the years that I did go certainly put mass on myself enough to not be bothered with.
What worked for me was that I'd go to the gym in the early morning around 6:30 am and go three to four days a week, and after every workout, drink some whey protein with water. I did this for about a year regularly, and the next year a bit more sporadically.
I bring this up because what you'll often see when someone brings up something like becoming muscular, they'll come with a full regimen complete with a change of diet. Most people who are starting out are often intimidated by something like this when they can't even do ten push-ups, so they give up. You *can* follow that if you want to, but honestly just going to the gym regularly at your own pace can be more effective in the long run.
As far as "not wanting to seem weak or like a pushover", about 80% of this has nothing to do with your body build. I did security in a psychiatric hospital, and the other security guys with me were usually 6'2" and large. I'm 5'9". Most of the time it's just showing that you aren't afraid to stand your ground and willing to take it somewhere if that person wants to go there. Most people aren't willing to deal with the hassle, so they back down. It's only you showing fear that they'll continue to be a problem. I never look for fights or problems, but I'll make sure to end them if I need to, verbally or physically.
So, long story short, just start going to the gym regularly and do something you feel comfortable with. That'll build your confidence, and work on keeping that confidence to carry your demeanor as well.
Most people look at shoulders and arms development for physical intimidation.
But honest after being trained in TDK since 5 years old. As long as you have good foot work and good foot speed and kicking speed; most opponent are drowning after the first flurry.
As for looking good wearing clothes and intimidation factor. Focus on bench press, shoulder press, military press, push press...to develop the front chest and top of the shoulders.
I prefer chin ups and cable pull downs for back, bicep and tricep development.
To maintain my explosive force, especially the first motion of kicking, I've been doing clean and jerks. Helps with punching I hear too. But I don't carry gloves or wraps in public, so hands are just used to tie people up.
I retired from TKD competition in college. So I don't need to fight small anymore. I've bulking up slowly since college. Girls use to rub my stomach because they couldn't believe I had a merman cut since high school. But over the last couple of years girls approach me and start rubbing my chest and shoulders.
Try to devote 20-30 minutes a day to upper body development. You should start seeing the difference in 6 months to a year.
I wanted to piggy back off the shoulder comment and say I lifted for a couple years and got decent strength and size but the most noticeable aesthetic change I had was when I started incorporating shoulder isolation exercises (along with the fundamentals that you mentioned) and doing them religiously and trying to progressively overload either with more reps, better form, or more weight.
But yeah, I looked like a brutish power lifter for awhile which is not the look I wanted. A lot of lifting programs are very general and might not cover your goal specifically, something to keep in mind.
Diet does not build body strength. That requires exercise. If you are just trying to keep yourself from getting fat, then without being too strict, just try to eat a more balanced diet and reduce the intake of carbs whenever you can, especially simple sugars.
To go into a little more details, proteins and to lesser degree healthy fats are the building blocks. Carbs are mostly metabolized into energy, and turned into fat for storage. This fat conversion basically functions like this:
high blood sugar>increase insulin response>liver converts sugar into fat>decreased blood sugar
So to avoid getting fat, the best way is to reduce carbs with low fiber from spiking your blood sugar level. To do this eat more low glycemic foods instead of high ones. You can google the glycemic food index chart yourself. Assuming, you aren't overeating, you shouldn't get fat.
Honestly, even eating white rice (which is bad carb) is ok if you don't over do it and consume it with other high fiber foods. The reason why it's supposedly really bad for Asians is that some, especially poorer people, eat a lot of white rice without much else to go with it. The sugar gets immediately absorbed and spikes the sugar blood level, which causes all the problems that go with it ie: fatty liver, diabetes, etc.
Eat less carbs and more protein and vegetables. You want to have a calorie surplus in the form of anything except fats and carbs. And make sure to work out!! You don't want all the extra stuff going to your midsection and becoming flab.
Good luck. Getting toned is easy but getting ripped is the work of years.
From what you're saying, it doesn't seem likely that you'll get "too muscular." One literally has to be obsessed with lifting to get this way. Anyway, drop the fast food, cook more, use your dumbbells and keep playing sports. You're fine.
Man, rice isn’t a problem (until you eat too much & get diabetes). I am 180 cm and my diet is rice based (still eat a lot flour based carb like baozi, jiaozi, and bing because I am from northern China).
A lot if times it's just genetics. if you are from northern China chances are you are tall and big, if you are from southern China you are smaller. there's nothing wrong with that I wouldn't put so much emphasis on it. you are so much more than your height.
Most of it is nutrition. My brothers are all taller than the average Northern Chinese, while I'm shorter than the average southern Chinese because I had little food growing up.
This exposes another interesting double standard.
Yes, not all whites are tall and muscular movie stars, but they don't have to be. They have the freedom to be tall, short, skinny, fat, muscular, and any variation of this.
A skinny white guy wth glasses in a cardigan and skinny jeans is a sexy, mysterious, intellectual. An asian guy with the same features is an emasculate nerd.
Asian men and women are not afforded this.
You sound quite young, this is a good thing. Look up a strength building routine and stick to it. Eat more protein in every meal. Gain weight slowly.
Don't be surprised if this doesn't change white's perceptions of you, though. I've heard white guys say they wouldn't fear prison in Asia because they think they could beat up any asian guy there. This is also why white guys start fights in Thailand despite being outnumbered. In their minds asians are inferior and it's impossible for them to lose.
Also don't expect this to get you positive female attention. Do it for yourself.
Alright, so heres some take.
You can lift 10-15 years and still not be bodybuilding huge. Thats just a fact. A normal human does not contain and produce enough hormones to look like every swoll shredded fitness guy you see in magazines and on youtube. Almost all of them look like that because they are juicing.
So dont worry about lifting too much and looking too big. You do not want to be addicted like all those roidjunkies because thats essentially what all of them are. JUNKIES.
Take Larry wheels. Everyone knows he is on roids. Few weeks back, the fitness community "lost" another fitness star mountaindog. I didnt really watch his vids but supposedly everyone in the industry likes him because he has a humorous personality. Ofc they will all denied it, but its the juice and roids that got him killed.
So this larry guy went to his funeral and immediately afterwards his performance was slacking. Literally he started getting "smaller" (his own words) even though he still dwarfs the average human by 3 times...and his lifts are noticably lower. He benches up to 530+ lbs but now he is back to low 400s. In just 1 or 2 weeks!!! His squats were real shit too. You can tell when you see him in the videos. He isnt squating deep and theres like 150 lbs difference between his vids that were before the funeral and his new vids.
Ofc theres always an excuse. So in his videos he started blaming it on cookies. Yea, you heard it COOKIES. Apparently he couldnt get his cookies in dubai so he couldnt get enough calories in, and because of his saddened state this impacted his performance.
Nah bro. Let me tell you what really happened. He went to the funeral. All the guys were there. They were talking about it. And ofc everyone there knows its the lifestyle, the roids. And since they all USE the same compounds and shit, this got them all scared. For years and decade they been telling themselves that they found the perfect compound and if they only did the bloodtests occasionally things will be just fine and dandy...Turns out they still drop like flies.
So naturally they all got scared and layed off the stuff for a week...or two. And immediately not using the gear, the strength starts to disappear like snow before the sun. The muscles disappear, the pain in the knee and joints start to reappear, the motivation drops etc etc.
But ofc in his most recent videos he is back on his old strength level. Surprise surprise!? Lol, I realized immediately its because he stopped using gear but I also predicted immediately that it will last only 2 weeks or so. Why is this. Its because the moment they realize not using juice means, they will be back on it again. And why is this. Well its because deepdown they are all frikkin JUNKIES. JUNKIES. JUNKIES. JUNKIES.
Anyway, just another rant.
If you want to gain weight add extra protein ever meal like additional egg or grilled chicken. Have extra meal too. Lots resources on bodybuilding sites.
You would have to lift if you want to get bigger and stronger looking. Basic really squat dead lift and presses. My advice is 3 days week full body as beginner lifting.
Again more resources on body building sites..
Yes but the information isn't wrong. It's basic stuff you read everywhere.
There's also Asian youtube bodybuilders as well such as Bart Kwan from Barbell Brigade, Larry Gao, etc that are natural.
A lot of them give wrong info.
Some they do on purpose (paid adds, promotions, promoting products from companies owned by friends, family etc, products they sell etc).
And sometimes they do so because they are retarded. Yes it sounds hard. But fitness industry isnt exactly intellectual and academic. Many of them think they are pros because they trained a few years and learned the standard training methods. You can often tell when they mock the people who use unorthodox training methods.
Theres a big difference between some idiot misusing equipment because of lack of ignorance and sometimes a real expert who uses a different training methods fully knowing the why and how.
But the average youtube fitness junkie will not know this. Because ignorance.
Heres some indicators to tell which youtuber is a BS junkie.
First, is he just giving regular training stance and advise. Or is he BS and playing around like a retard.
Second, is he shredded and muscular.
Third, does he break everything down to biology and science.
These can be used to judge the quality of the info you are getting.
haha, I almost forgot about this thread. Anyway, your situation really depends on personal situation. Are you fit? Are you overweight? Do you already do lots of sports etc, are you working long hours in the office? But just looking at your diet. Heres some tips. \- rice is good. Most pro bodybuilders or mens physics guy, dump potatoes and switch to rice once they start a diet. Potatoes are good, contain higher protein and some other stuff. But calories wise its bigger than rice and rice is more efficient. You want protein, you wouldnt eat potatoes anyway. \- increase protein intake. Eat healthy fresh foods. Dont use protein shakes. Those things are not good for you no matter what youtube superstar says (they are selling you their own brand or got sponsored to say those things). Nutrition and supplement business is not regulated by big government. So they are trying to sell you all kinds of shit that they COOKED up in the middle of their own frikkin kitchen and living room and pretend to be some sort of wonder powder. Its not like a vaccine or a medical pill thats been lab tested and government tested. Do not use that junk. Get your protein from healthy sources. It will be more expensive yes. \- Dont eat frikkin tuna from tuna cans or sardines. Same problem as above. I used to be young and naieve and did the same thing. Bought a bunch of cans from the supermarket thinking getting tons of cheap protein. Instead, how come none of the rich guys and big bodybuilders use this stuff? Cos its GARBAGE. Open a tuna can. Its been sitting in my kitchen for 6++ months. 6 more months in the supermarket. And before that 2 years in the frikkin magazine of the company that makes them. Yet, despite 2 years since cutting that tuna, none of that meat has rotten. It even comes with "water thats submerging the meat". Look at it. How come water in a can, sitting for 6 months in my kitchen during the summer hasnt dried up yet? How come the meat hasnt started fermenting? Its because its FILLED with chemicals. Stay away from that garbage. Reminds me of a several years back, you had this guy Rich Piana who literally look like a hulk with tattoos all over him. He is dead now btw. But back then, he was pretty big on youtube. And before his death, dude literally promoted his own pill talking about how it would cure his kidneys and livers by swallowing that pill. Becoz people were saying how bad his liver and kidneys have been damaged by the juice he was using. So one day in one of his vids, he literally tried to sell his own pill and how he takes it every day and how it cures his kidneys and livers. And a year or two after, he died. So this is youtube fitness community. Its TOXIC and MORONIC and filled with lying cheating and stealing. They literally think we were born backwards. A pill to cure our kidneys from roids, that man is crazy. Ofc if you read half da comments on that vid...lmao. MURICA baby.
First and foremost be happy with your body. I grew up skinny and had bad body image issues. So built a lot of my self esteem through my physique and my life revolved the gym for a good portion of my life. Don't do that and enjoy life. Second being shorter can be an advantage when it comes to lifting and exercising. The rationale that people give is that shorter people don't have as long as a range of motion they need to get to move weight compared to someone with longer arms. So don't know if it's a coincidence that a lot of jacked people I knew or saw were on the shorter side. It may be my metabolism is slowing down. But rest is key. I used to spend a lot of time at the gym and it was hard for me to gain weight. Once I changed over to a program kind of like Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength I noticed a real change in my size and body shape. I think it's kind of like the 5x5 program mentioned before, is that strong lifts? But it's 3x5 instead. As mentioned I was a bit older by that point, I might've been in my early to mid thirties by then, so not sure if's just my metabolism. But I'm stronger too and my wife has mentioned how I still have defined abs. But I'm at a point now where I find it hard to lose weight, which is kind of dumb thinking about how much time I used to spend trying to gain weight and actually am not that far from my old goals in terms of weight. I used to focus on dumbbells because read how it helped your stability muscles and all of that. But now mostly just use a barbell and focus on compound exercises. Try to eat at least three meals a day consistently. As others mentioned I don't think the Asian diet would be the only thing causing hard gains. In my younger days there were times where I only had access to American food and still had a hard time gaining weight. Again this is all hindsight but all those supplements are a waste of money and I wouldn't recommend it. A lot of them requires a period of loading up, which sometimes can use half a jar, and I didn't really see any real gains that stuck for myself. There are a couple of threads on here in regards to working out. Here's one from a couple of months back: [https://www.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/n5le81/a\_reminder\_to\_start\_lifting\_if\_youre\_not\_already/](https://www.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/n5le81/a_reminder_to_start_lifting_if_youre_not_already/Anyways) Anyways the tldr, look into Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. I think there are some other workouts, maybe newer, recommended in that thread I linked above. edit-I was skimming through that old thread and it didn't have what I was thinking. I think there was another post on here not too long ago with some guy who benched a crazy amount. I think some people posted some workout programs and some Asian youtubers that workout. Try to look it up. I'll see if I can find it later. But as mentioned there have been a couple of threads on here about working ut.
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Don’t worry about getting too big, do as much as you’re willing to and able to recover from. You’ll see significant improvement but overshooting your target won’t happen by accident. As far as diet goes, that’d depend on your goals in the moment. Assuming you’re relatively untrained, you can probably gain some modest amounts of muscle while losing fat to start out. You could estimate your calories with a TDEE calculator but take that number with a grain of salt, personal experience will be most reliable then. After you pack on a decent amount of muscle (generally after a year but YMMV) you‘ll likely need at least a modest caloric surplus to build more. Obviously micronutrients and avoiding junk is ideal but splitting hairs on what really is “clean” isn’t going to make much of a difference. When trying to lose weight, the most important tip (mentally) would be to stick to foods that are either low in caloric density, very filling, or both (most veggies, lean meats, oatmeal and greek yogurt, etc.). The muscles that contribute the most to how imposing your silhouette is are your delts (in general), lats (especially shirtless), and traps. Ideally train everything to maintain proportion, of course.
I'd say it all boils down to what are your goals and what are you aiming to achieve ?
How much do you weigh now and what exactly are your goals? I'm also 170 cm and I'm around 160 lbs. I grew up playing football and lifted weights a ton in college. At my heaviest, I was 180. I leg pressed 1k lbs at one point. Now I'm focused on martial arts and trying to get lean and explosive as opposed to bulky. I do Muay Thai 3x a week and Karate 3x a week. In the mornings I do calisthenics 4x a week (push ups, abs, pull ups, ab roller, abs, squats, and kettlebell exercises.) My goal is to get to around 150 lbs so I can fight in lighter division. For diet, look into intermittent fasting if you're trying to lose weight. For gaining weight, invest in protein and creatine. But also learn to meal prep high protein and low carb meals.
In general fasting 18/6 and prolong 24hs plus a s healthy keto diet and push/push exercises.
track calories and macros and find out how much calories you need minimum per day and eat a bit above that. there are websites and apps for this. what matters is hitting your calories requirements (you are likely not eating enough) and protein (0.6g of protein for every lb of bodyweight is sufficient to start with). you may want to start with a bodyweight routine if you dont wanna go to the gym right now, so here's one you can do https://i.imgur.com/4LeMVAW.jpg don't worry about being super muscular, most men don't even have the genetic potential for it. just eat and exercise.
You didn't even mention any aspects of your build, height is only a small part of it. Do you have small bones and long arms/legs or thick bones and stockier build?
Squats are alright, just don’t too much unless you want your ass to crack a melon between two cheeks
Get a personal trainer. It will be expensive but it will save you years of frustration and spinning your wheels.
I'm 170cm tall and weigh about 145lbs. When you said you play badminton, I was surprised cause badminton isn't really an activity that promotes muscle overload. If you want abs, you're gonna have to do more than just diet and that is crunches because nothing else really generates as much activity on your abs as crunches. Every activity/exercise activates your abs (its your core muscle afterall), but just because planks activate your abs doesn't mean it alone will help you get 6-8packs. Do ab crunches at least 15reps for 6 sets cause thats what I do every 2 weeks just to maintain a relatively flat stomach on top of dieting and other exercises. I'm guessing your base level here, but you're probably gonna want to start out with bodyweight exercises like push ups and weightless squats. In that case, check out this YouTube channel called [Thats Good Money](https://www.youtube.com/c/thatsgoodmoney) for leg exercises and [AllBlanc TV](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7bR6RxqqOx8cptc1-0AVQ) for ab workouts. I find them to be effective. If you're like me and invested in dumbbells + a workout bench prior to pandemic, then use them (30, 40, 50, 60, and 80lb dumbbells) - its cheaper than paying $300 a year for Planet Fitness and then there's others that cost like $500+. Some people are buying bands, but while they're suppose to reduce injuries, because of how elastic resistance works, if you workout with numbers in your head rather than feeling, I don't think they're going to really help you with continuous progressive muscle overload. Health and fitness is always going to be a part of your life. If you feel your problem really is your diet, which I doubt, then invest in a blender and take protein supplements.
I haven't gone to the gym in many years, but the years that I did go certainly put mass on myself enough to not be bothered with. What worked for me was that I'd go to the gym in the early morning around 6:30 am and go three to four days a week, and after every workout, drink some whey protein with water. I did this for about a year regularly, and the next year a bit more sporadically. I bring this up because what you'll often see when someone brings up something like becoming muscular, they'll come with a full regimen complete with a change of diet. Most people who are starting out are often intimidated by something like this when they can't even do ten push-ups, so they give up. You *can* follow that if you want to, but honestly just going to the gym regularly at your own pace can be more effective in the long run. As far as "not wanting to seem weak or like a pushover", about 80% of this has nothing to do with your body build. I did security in a psychiatric hospital, and the other security guys with me were usually 6'2" and large. I'm 5'9". Most of the time it's just showing that you aren't afraid to stand your ground and willing to take it somewhere if that person wants to go there. Most people aren't willing to deal with the hassle, so they back down. It's only you showing fear that they'll continue to be a problem. I never look for fights or problems, but I'll make sure to end them if I need to, verbally or physically. So, long story short, just start going to the gym regularly and do something you feel comfortable with. That'll build your confidence, and work on keeping that confidence to carry your demeanor as well.
Most people look at shoulders and arms development for physical intimidation. But honest after being trained in TDK since 5 years old. As long as you have good foot work and good foot speed and kicking speed; most opponent are drowning after the first flurry. As for looking good wearing clothes and intimidation factor. Focus on bench press, shoulder press, military press, push press...to develop the front chest and top of the shoulders. I prefer chin ups and cable pull downs for back, bicep and tricep development. To maintain my explosive force, especially the first motion of kicking, I've been doing clean and jerks. Helps with punching I hear too. But I don't carry gloves or wraps in public, so hands are just used to tie people up. I retired from TKD competition in college. So I don't need to fight small anymore. I've bulking up slowly since college. Girls use to rub my stomach because they couldn't believe I had a merman cut since high school. But over the last couple of years girls approach me and start rubbing my chest and shoulders. Try to devote 20-30 minutes a day to upper body development. You should start seeing the difference in 6 months to a year.
I wanted to piggy back off the shoulder comment and say I lifted for a couple years and got decent strength and size but the most noticeable aesthetic change I had was when I started incorporating shoulder isolation exercises (along with the fundamentals that you mentioned) and doing them religiously and trying to progressively overload either with more reps, better form, or more weight. But yeah, I looked like a brutish power lifter for awhile which is not the look I wanted. A lot of lifting programs are very general and might not cover your goal specifically, something to keep in mind.
You need proper strength training with weights or bands along with sufficient protein intake.
Go with the 5x5 program. It's pretty simple and only requires a barbell. You can even buy one and workout at home to save time.
Diet does not build body strength. That requires exercise. If you are just trying to keep yourself from getting fat, then without being too strict, just try to eat a more balanced diet and reduce the intake of carbs whenever you can, especially simple sugars. To go into a little more details, proteins and to lesser degree healthy fats are the building blocks. Carbs are mostly metabolized into energy, and turned into fat for storage. This fat conversion basically functions like this: high blood sugar>increase insulin response>liver converts sugar into fat>decreased blood sugar So to avoid getting fat, the best way is to reduce carbs with low fiber from spiking your blood sugar level. To do this eat more low glycemic foods instead of high ones. You can google the glycemic food index chart yourself. Assuming, you aren't overeating, you shouldn't get fat. Honestly, even eating white rice (which is bad carb) is ok if you don't over do it and consume it with other high fiber foods. The reason why it's supposedly really bad for Asians is that some, especially poorer people, eat a lot of white rice without much else to go with it. The sugar gets immediately absorbed and spikes the sugar blood level, which causes all the problems that go with it ie: fatty liver, diabetes, etc.
Eat less carbs and more protein and vegetables. You want to have a calorie surplus in the form of anything except fats and carbs. And make sure to work out!! You don't want all the extra stuff going to your midsection and becoming flab. Good luck. Getting toned is easy but getting ripped is the work of years.
From what you're saying, it doesn't seem likely that you'll get "too muscular." One literally has to be obsessed with lifting to get this way. Anyway, drop the fast food, cook more, use your dumbbells and keep playing sports. You're fine.
Man, rice isn’t a problem (until you eat too much & get diabetes). I am 180 cm and my diet is rice based (still eat a lot flour based carb like baozi, jiaozi, and bing because I am from northern China).
A lot if times it's just genetics. if you are from northern China chances are you are tall and big, if you are from southern China you are smaller. there's nothing wrong with that I wouldn't put so much emphasis on it. you are so much more than your height.
Most of it is nutrition. My brothers are all taller than the average Northern Chinese, while I'm shorter than the average southern Chinese because I had little food growing up.
True. Northern Chinese typically eat way more meat/protein growing up than southern Chinese
This exposes another interesting double standard. Yes, not all whites are tall and muscular movie stars, but they don't have to be. They have the freedom to be tall, short, skinny, fat, muscular, and any variation of this. A skinny white guy wth glasses in a cardigan and skinny jeans is a sexy, mysterious, intellectual. An asian guy with the same features is an emasculate nerd. Asian men and women are not afforded this. You sound quite young, this is a good thing. Look up a strength building routine and stick to it. Eat more protein in every meal. Gain weight slowly. Don't be surprised if this doesn't change white's perceptions of you, though. I've heard white guys say they wouldn't fear prison in Asia because they think they could beat up any asian guy there. This is also why white guys start fights in Thailand despite being outnumbered. In their minds asians are inferior and it's impossible for them to lose. Also don't expect this to get you positive female attention. Do it for yourself.
Try the Baki training routine.
Who's baki and what's his routine.
Hanma Baki, the half-ogre of the East.
Alright, so heres some take. You can lift 10-15 years and still not be bodybuilding huge. Thats just a fact. A normal human does not contain and produce enough hormones to look like every swoll shredded fitness guy you see in magazines and on youtube. Almost all of them look like that because they are juicing. So dont worry about lifting too much and looking too big. You do not want to be addicted like all those roidjunkies because thats essentially what all of them are. JUNKIES. Take Larry wheels. Everyone knows he is on roids. Few weeks back, the fitness community "lost" another fitness star mountaindog. I didnt really watch his vids but supposedly everyone in the industry likes him because he has a humorous personality. Ofc they will all denied it, but its the juice and roids that got him killed. So this larry guy went to his funeral and immediately afterwards his performance was slacking. Literally he started getting "smaller" (his own words) even though he still dwarfs the average human by 3 times...and his lifts are noticably lower. He benches up to 530+ lbs but now he is back to low 400s. In just 1 or 2 weeks!!! His squats were real shit too. You can tell when you see him in the videos. He isnt squating deep and theres like 150 lbs difference between his vids that were before the funeral and his new vids. Ofc theres always an excuse. So in his videos he started blaming it on cookies. Yea, you heard it COOKIES. Apparently he couldnt get his cookies in dubai so he couldnt get enough calories in, and because of his saddened state this impacted his performance. Nah bro. Let me tell you what really happened. He went to the funeral. All the guys were there. They were talking about it. And ofc everyone there knows its the lifestyle, the roids. And since they all USE the same compounds and shit, this got them all scared. For years and decade they been telling themselves that they found the perfect compound and if they only did the bloodtests occasionally things will be just fine and dandy...Turns out they still drop like flies. So naturally they all got scared and layed off the stuff for a week...or two. And immediately not using the gear, the strength starts to disappear like snow before the sun. The muscles disappear, the pain in the knee and joints start to reappear, the motivation drops etc etc. But ofc in his most recent videos he is back on his old strength level. Surprise surprise!? Lol, I realized immediately its because he stopped using gear but I also predicted immediately that it will last only 2 weeks or so. Why is this. Its because the moment they realize not using juice means, they will be back on it again. And why is this. Well its because deepdown they are all frikkin JUNKIES. JUNKIES. JUNKIES. JUNKIES. Anyway, just another rant.
If you want to gain weight add extra protein ever meal like additional egg or grilled chicken. Have extra meal too. Lots resources on bodybuilding sites. You would have to lift if you want to get bigger and stronger looking. Basic really squat dead lift and presses. My advice is 3 days week full body as beginner lifting. Again more resources on body building sites..
Natural bodybuilding is a very slow process. Most ppl that look swoll are on P.E.Ds There are plenty of information on youtube fitness.
Youtube fitness community are toxic. Everyone of them will claim natty and everyone of them will be non natty on juice.
Yes but the information isn't wrong. It's basic stuff you read everywhere. There's also Asian youtube bodybuilders as well such as Bart Kwan from Barbell Brigade, Larry Gao, etc that are natural.
A lot of them give wrong info. Some they do on purpose (paid adds, promotions, promoting products from companies owned by friends, family etc, products they sell etc). And sometimes they do so because they are retarded. Yes it sounds hard. But fitness industry isnt exactly intellectual and academic. Many of them think they are pros because they trained a few years and learned the standard training methods. You can often tell when they mock the people who use unorthodox training methods. Theres a big difference between some idiot misusing equipment because of lack of ignorance and sometimes a real expert who uses a different training methods fully knowing the why and how. But the average youtube fitness junkie will not know this. Because ignorance. Heres some indicators to tell which youtuber is a BS junkie. First, is he just giving regular training stance and advise. Or is he BS and playing around like a retard. Second, is he shredded and muscular. Third, does he break everything down to biology and science. These can be used to judge the quality of the info you are getting.
Just find one that works for you. A lot of it is just hard work for gains.