I have terrible genetics bodywise. I have to do an hour of cardio every day just so that I don't become obese.

I did weight training for 2 years and all I gained was fat.

Right now, I look fine with clothes on. My arms are skin and bone and I'm pretty flabby if I took my shirt off but honestly I look healthy in clothing.

I have to put so much work in to not get fat, and muscle is not an option. Is this going to hurt me with the ladies? Is there a big difference in success between people in healthy shape and people who are strong/ripped?

Does having a small build put a limit on your pick up?

No, but it helps.

You are probably doing everything wrong in this area especially as you haven't progressed in two years. Most people are also clueless about their health etc.

First of all genetics count BUT almost everyone can get a decent body, it counts in the sense that you are not going to be a pro bodybuilder, not that you are deemed to be fat (no fat tribesmen).

Stop the cardio, it is shit. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/chronic- ... z2Pam0J5WE
It will cause you to be weak and fat contrary to popular belief, not lean and strong. If you do an hour a day you will just eat more calories to compensant, it wrench your joints long term, stresses your body out (cortisol), heart benefits overstated, you are sending the singal to your body to look like an endurance athlete.

Pursue strength training, I know you said you did it for 2 years and got fat, this does not make sense, you were probably doing it wrong tbh.

Beyond Brawn, it a great book to help you.

I will lay out a little plan for you

-2 short intense workouts a week (30min)
- example Workout one: legs - squats, RDL, Workout two: upper body - bench press, pull up, barbell row (warm up sets, then one all out set)
-focus on big compound exercises, LESS IS MORE, fuck isolations for a while, more weight or reps each time (if you don't improve each workout, what was the point in your last workout, it didn't work)
- SLOW controlled reps, full range of motion, no cheating, push to failure
-you do not need to do lots of exercises, just make sure you put effort in your few sets, most people overtrain, you need longer recovery if you are not progressing

Also diet very extremely important, paleo is a good starting place (but be sure to eat enough carbs 150g per day or more if you what).
diet basics, eat lots of protein (fish, chicken, meat), low gi carbs (sweet potatoes, rice), good fats (olives, avocados, butter, coconut oil), lots of veg, and some fruit.

Please please don't give up in this area, it is important to your overall success as a person.

P.S. sorry for the lecture/ insults

Did you ever try cutting wheat out of your diet. It's really a big fad right now, but I'm already pretty thin and I cut wheat out and within a few days my 6 pack started showing.

And to answer your question: yes and no. Some girls will be turned off, but these things aren't so important. If it bothers you and makes you insecure that is what girls will notice.

Only Hard-work can out-do genetics!!

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They call me the cat whisperer, cause I know exactly what the pussy needs.

xzerox is spot on.

All humans including women are capable of muscle gain.

Focus on specifically strength compound exercising and increasing the weight over time then gains shall be made.
If you were gaining fat you were probably eating too much, you are probably like me in that we have slow metabolisms.

Eat 2.5K calories per day and lift properly. you should be golden.

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"Once you learn to feel the fear and do it anyway, the outcomes will come."- 60yoc

My journal of adventures and escalation: time-to-go-for-the-kills-escalation-blo ... highlight=

Muscle is very important! Stop making excuses and get some. There are many reasons why, but I'll state the main one.

IT CHANGES AND INCREASES AND DECREASES CERTAIN (REAL, PHYSICAL) CHEMICALS THAT RUN THROUGH YOUR BRAIN. YOUR MUSCLES ARE LINKED TO YOUR BRAIN AS IS THE REST OF YOU - CHAINLINK EFFECT.

Basically brute-forcing your mind into a 'higher level' of confidence/alpha male/natural game/sexual energy!

i don't know if the last post counts as advice, but my advice would be to ignore it. What an absurd claim.

can you please link the paper so i can have a look

For a nice shape body you need: Physical exercise + Correct Diet...

If you skip one of those you'll never be there...

Cardio to me is great since I started running 12 years ago:
I've never had 1 night with trouble to fall asleep.
I've forgot what it means to be depressed or anxious.
I do not get tired in day to day activities at all.
I'm much more helpful to everybody, simply because I've the energy to do the things.
Going to the gym to do strength is a piece of cake, yes there are weights that I can't carry but I simply do not get tired by lifting weights.
I recover much faster between series.

What I would recommend is not to just do 1 hour cardio, because I've seen people in the gym that they spend 1 hour in the cardio machines without ever pushing themselves a little. I mean 15 minutes of a quality workout help more than 2 hours of what they do.

An absurd claim - are you joking?!

It's a well-known and proven fact that exercise and building muscle, having more muscle increases certain hormones and chemicals in your body giving you more natural sexual energy etc - THIS IS A PROVEN FACT.

How can you say that it is 'an absurd claim' - are you mentally ill?!

i don't think simply carrying more muscle results in hormonal changes. It probably would be correct to suggest that hormonalchanges can produce muscle gains, not the other way around.

anyway link some papers i would like to have a dig around

I think the fact he was "shouting" probably made him look like a bit of a maniac. I'm sure the evidence is there somewhere if you look for it.

But just a couple of basics - get back on the weights. Weight-lifting is shown to increase metabolism, meaning you should become leaner without the need for cardio. Were you taking supplements like protein at the time? If you were/still are, you may want to look at proteins for lean muscle growth, with higher protein percentages and lower carbs/fat. You may also want to take these as a meal replacement (I usually have one every morning as I don't have time to get a proper breakfast) or maybe even one that is designed to quell your appetite.

But most of all, whenever you're bored, do something fitness related. You eat most when you have nothing to do. Snacking on the wrong foods can damage a lot of the good work you put in at the gym.

Having muscle is important if it's important to you. For me, working out gives me confidence and makes me feel good about myself; if your confidence hangs on being in shape too, then yes it's important.

About the actual exercise, I wouldn't recommend cutting out cardio. Do weights and high intensity interval training (HIIT). This burns fat 9x faster than steady cardio, less cortisol released, and increases your lung capacity (VO2 max) and therefore fitness.

And keep a log of your diet. Studies have shown (sorry I don't have the link but Google it) that people who write down what they ate at the end of a day often miss out lots of snacking. So keep track of what you eat throughout the day and keep your calorie intake in check.

And one last thing, I would suggest cutting before bulking up. To bulk up properly you will put some fat on as a by-product, and from your original post it seems as though losing fat would be more important to you.

Good luck friend, stick at it.

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You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Ok guys after reading all of this posts I thought I'll jump in (I am a personal trainer as well as a nutritionist, who knows a few things about nurobiology and hormonal changes and stuff like that, I also specilise in fat burn training so when it comes to this sort of jazz, I'm pretty switched on)

Right so lets get dows to a few myth busting, what is important is HIIT training which will burn fat, I personally like do TABATTA and periferal heart action, its a very powerful combination, I know there long words I know, but 20 mins+ is fine, however if you go for over an hour your cortasol (a breaking down hormone) and testostorone rise too much which is COUNTER-ACTIVE to muscle gains. I did write a post on how to do this sorta stuff, see below:

the-secreats-to-weight-loss-and-getting ... 54174.html

So to burn fat we need to:
a) Build lean muscle tissue
b) Drain the sugars out of our bodies (Doing HIIT training will help you do this)

So a really easy way, 1 hour work out is by mixing your hit training in with weights after, so in order to get bigger we need to first off start in the endurance phase of training, see here:

http://puatonyking.com/your-new-fitness-guru/

Next part, Nutrition:

If your going to undertake HIIT training, then your going to need carbs otherwise your burn out, if you really dont believe me then try do all protein and fat, then add in carbs and watch how much your gains increase instantly.

Anyway, so back into nutrition, broccoli is known as a superfood at is has all your major food groups in it, through studying on myself (putting on bodyfat to take it off, bulking ect ect) And I put my clients though it alot too.

So the best meal that I have found is a mixture of intermittent fasting and 6 meals a day, with rice, salmon and brocolli. If you dont like salmon either learn to like it or switch it with something like Tuna.

Percentage wise its really down to your body type and genetic coding, it all depends on you so without any more info I cant really help you on that.

Now in regaurds to hormoans and muscle being triggard ect ect, yes it does but your missing some vital info, exercise will relese seritonin and dopemine (the feel good hormones which also get relesed when we have sex, eat chocolate and all the other good stuff)

Anyway I hope this helps and good luck with your fitness goals, if you need any more help gimmie a shout.

Tom

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The Male Insider | Where men come to talk about women, pickup, dating, sex, fitness, lifestyle and relationships!

http://themaleinsider.com/

Yep, sounds pretty much like diet is the problem to me. Anyone can get reasonable muscle gains just by starting to lift weights, but if you want to lose fat and/or really put on muscle more effectively then the majority of it is about your diet.

If all you want to do is lose weight, then simply eating less calories will lose weight. 2500 a day is very arbitrary and is an "average" - so it takes into account extremely obese people who need a higher maintenance level than those who aren't obese. Check out online what you need as a maintenance level - try a few out online as a lot of them use different formulations. I did about 6 and worked out the average and, when I started, needed about 1400 calories for maintenance if I literally sat around doing nothing all day long. Then factor in how energetic you are etc. and adjust your calorie intake accordingly. In order to just stay at the same weight, you probably need a lot fewer calories than you may well think.

As for building muscle, you need more calories both to take into account the calories you are expending whilst working out, but also to help your muscles repair. It is hard to get really big muscle gains reasonably quick without putting some fat on too. It is possible, but usually the easiest way is to "cut" first so that you're just under the body fat percentage you want to be at, and then when you build muscle (and probably put a bit of fat on) you're only getting up to the body fat percentage you want to be at. But anyway, what's really important is to make sure you're getting the most out of your calories. 2500 calories from fat isn't the same as 2500 calories from fruit, veg, nuts and organic meat. Get good calories which give you the right nutrients.

As for "is muscle important"? I don't think it is. Being fit is important. Muscle can help, not least because big arms are easier to show off in a t-shirt than is a slim body. However, as long as you're not overweight, and you are fit, then it doesn't matter all that much. But obviously if you can add a great body to your arsenal then it is only going to help you with the ladies.

Not much, if at all. I know guys like that who have great results. However, it helps tremendously because you don't have to put in too much effort.
Not a problem. We all have good and bad genetic traits. There are four possible reasons. First, your diet might have been off or you did not get enough sleep or your training was inadequate (too much/not enough/done wrong).
The last possible reason is a bit complicated and it refers to your hormones going nuts (low test, high estro). Sometimes this is the reason guys see no results even if their diet/nutrition/recovery/lifestyle is in check. If nothing works, you might want to check this with your doctor, especially if ALL you gained was fat and very little strength and muscle mass.
Also, make sure you drink enough water (coke, milk or whatever does not count). Many people think they drink enough water yet their breath stinks and their tongue is white.
Good luck.