I went from size 34/35 to a size 29 in pants in 5 months with only losing 5 pounds of wieght. I went from a BMI (body mass index) of 22 to 8 and now I have a six pack (not the best defined but I am still working on it)
I did all of this with no cardio and almost no wight lifting. Just buy my specially produced fat burner and muscle builder pills for $29.95.
Just kidding, it was a lot of work.
I did not do much cardio though. I only worked out every other day and when I did work out, it was only for 30 minutes.
During this entire time, I never went to the gym. I started with two different dumbell weights and a bench.
My only cardio is jumping jacks. I do this before I start working out. I started at 100 but now I do 200 (I can 200 now in the same time as 100 when I started) These are full range jumping jacks in which I make sure my arms bend when I do them.
I focus on two different muscle groupings, chest and arms. Because the weights are free, I have to use muscles to stabablize them as I lift which works other areas at the same time (Sholders, forearms, back)
Typical workout session for me:
Arms:
Seated Arm Curls, Overhead Extentions, Standing Curls
Chest: Bench Dumbbell Press, Dumbell Flies, Military Press
In between each set rest period, I would do crunches.
Because the dumb bells were light in wieght, I would do many reps (started at 10, went to 15, then 20, finally got to 25 for three sets. At this point I went to four sets). These sets were not slow. I pounded them out as quickly as I could control them. Change your exercises every six weeks.
I always work out in the morning before I go to work. I start it before I really wake up. It is harder to not do them everyday. I do not have a chance to think of excuses. I do this every other day.
Sun: Arms
Tuesday: Chest
Thursday: Arms
Take the weekend off
Sun: Chest
Tuesday: Arms
Thursday: Chest
So the lifting is only half of the equation. Diet and how you eat is equally important.
Forget about things like 'don't eat carbs, or dont eat fat' All of this is nonsense.
This is what matters; calories in, calories out. If you consume more calories than you burn, it will turn into fat no matter where they come from.
Here is a break down of calories per gram of food.
4 cal/gram protein
4 cal/gram carbs
8 cal/gram fat
Now here is one that most people do not take into consideration and when they do, they are not thinking of it in the right way.
Alcohol has colories. Now, I am not talking about the carbs in a beer or soda in a mixed drink. Alcohol itself has calories. Almost as much as fat.
7 cal/gram alcohol.
Taking all of that into consideration, how much should you eat?
Here is a simple URL that will give you a guideline.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5138_calculate-total-daily.html
Take that total calorie content and divide the number of hours a day you are awake by two. (Make sure you include the activity from working out)
You should eat this quanity of calories every two hours each time. I am at around 3600 a day and I eat around 250 calories per meal. (give or take a little, I am not strictly regimented). Do not skip breakfast.
I do not take pills or other supplements besides protein shakes. You should consume about 200 grams of protien a day. It can be hard at times to reach this without the help of a shake or two. I even drink a protein shake before I go to bed on a workout day.
I am not big. It was never my goal. I am getting to the point that I am fairly ripped and have no problem taking off my shirt when appropiate. I look like more of an athelet than a body builder. My goal was to loose weight (the belly that I had) but instead of using cardio to burn it off, I went the muscle route. Muscle is metobolically active. Meaning that it burns calories even when you are not working out. This allows me a little bit more leeway.
One final note. I will say this, no pain, no gain. This just does not mean the pain that you feel when working out. This also applies inbetween days. I have had a sore part of my body at all times since I started. Just a good feedback indicator that I doing well.
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Recommended reading list.
Double Your Dating by DD
(This will work on your inner game)
http://www.freewebs.com/xfman/
(This will work on your outer game)