Hi
I've been viewing this site for a while and have never really known what to contribute as I don't consider myself all that knowledgeable in this game. I am very enthusiastic about weight training though, been doing it for about 4 months, and absolutely love it...really look forward to each workout.
I'm middle aged, and my goal when I started was to lose weight and turn some flab into muscle. It's working well so far, slowly but surely seeing some changes, but still got some of the spare tire visible. Very hard to lose that bugger.
Some of the cardio work I did early days was affecting my early muscle gains which was annoying. Lately I've been doing 20 mins high-speed sessions on the exercise bike which seem to work well in terms of burning calories, dropping kilos, but not eliminating muscle. I do these around 3-5 times a week, fast pace but no more than 20 mins.
I lift 4 days a week, at home in my garage gym which I love (power rack, Olympic bar, dumbbells, rubber mats etc). I do chest & triceps on Sat, back & biceps Sun, shoulders & abs on Tues, and legs & calves on Thurs.
My goal is not to bulk up, as many on this forum aim for, but to get more of that chiseled look. Reasonably muscular, but nowhere near competition level. My wife reckons those pro bodybuilders look ugly so she's not keen on me looking anything remotely like that. I couldn't even if I wanted to, so I've got more realistic goals.
Anyway, all the best and happy training!
DKD.