I work out 5 days/week in the mornings. I've always been the short/stocky type (5'6", 175 lbs.), and merely want to appear as attractive/athletic as possible. I have a very slow metabolism.

Running didn't do much for me in my early 20s. Now I have bad knees and an injured ACL in one that prevents me from doing most running/jumping sports. Biking is OK.

When my knees started giving me trouble I started building more. In the last year I cranked up the intensity a lot, started using Creatine, and beefed up the protein intake after my workouts. I'm currently doing 3 sets of 5-10 incline benches with 200 lbs (started at about 170). But this seems to have platued.

Workout routine during the week is MWF lifting (upper body only) and TTh doing 40 minutes of faux-spinning (1 minute of standing biking every 6 minutes) which usually gets my pulse cranking up to 182 (according to the tell-tale monitor on the bike).

I have pretty good dicipline as far as eating, but on the weekends I generally slug more than my share of beer.

My goal is simply to look more attractive/athletic (OK, get laid more). I have a small spare tire going but have managed to keep my waist size to 32/33. I'd love to see this reduced. Any suggestions on doing this? Anything blatently wrong with the work that I'm doing? What do you think is the #1 thing I could do?

The only thing that will get you more ripped/burn fat is cardio, at least 20 minutes a day, whether it's on a bike, eliptical or low impact cardio class, you'll love the way you feel/look after a few weeks.  Plus there are alot of ladies in the cardio classes.

Go swimming?

What a great idea for a new forum!

Here's mine:

Monday: Chest and Back
   
Bench- 3 sets
Pulldowns-3 sets
Incline Bench- 2 sets
Bent over Rows(barbell)- 2 sets
Decline press- 2 sets
cable rows- 2 sets
Dumbell chest flys- 2 sets


Tues: Cardio- 30min, ABS- crunches-3x25, reverse crunches-2x25, incline situps-2x30, leg raises-2xfailure

Wed: Legs

squat- 3sets
standing calve raises-3 sets
stiff leg deadlift-3 sets
leg press/hack squat-2 sets
leg curl-2 sets
seated calve ext.-3 sets
lower back extensions- 2 sets to failure

Thurs: Shoulders and Arms

Military press(front)- 3 sets
Barbell bicep curls-3 sets
Shrugs-3 sets
lying tricep extensions- 3 sets
lateral Dumbell raises-3 sets
preacher curls- 2 sets
cable tricep pressdown-2 sets
forearm curl/extension- 2 sets/each

Friday- Cardio- 30min, ABS again
Saturday- off
Sunday- Cardio- 30min

I lift in 3 week cycles changing either repition # or exercises every three weeks.  For example:

8-10 reps - 3 weeks
6-8 reps- 3 weeks
4-6 reps- 3 weeks
10-12 reps using dumbells/machines/cables-2 weeks
START OVER


Go up in weight as you can.  Stick mostly w/ the basic barbell movements.  Eat right, drink lots of H20 w/ the creatine.

Good luck, feel free to ask questions.

-Ken, 6'0", 210, 10%BF, 18" arms[:D]

Heavily armed,

    I think you already know the answer to your question.

Being only 5'6" with low metabolism, you are going to have to cut your caloric intake in order to get a low body fat percentage.

Unfortunately beer is very calorie compact, even light beer is around 200 calories a can. If you multiply 200 X 6 beers = 1200 calories!!! Most people need to be under 2500 calories a day, that leaves you only 1300 calories of food for the whole day.

If you want to get lean, my advice is figure out your daily caloric intake needs(there are formulas all over the net) And then stay at or under it. Also, if you have not already,drop the potato chips, cheeseburgers, and ice cream in exchange for baked chips, chicken breast, and frozen yogurt.

I would wager that you would lose the desired body fat if you would just drop the beer on the weekends. Or, you can cut your caloric intake during the week and splurge a little on the weekends.

Also, without being able to work out your legs it is going to be very hard to keep a good balance.

As far as hitting "The Plateau", just vary your routine, go from say bench press with a barbell to benchpressing with dumbbells, basically change your method of working out your muscle groups.

And remember creatine is notorious for dehydrating you, drink at least a gallon of water a day while your taking creatine.

Yes, I hate to admit it, but beer is my major vice. God I love it!!!! Will have to try laying off.

Thanks for the suggestions.