Hey! I am 20 years old and I would like to say I am some what active, but I would like to take it to the next step. I have been working out off and on for almost a year. I do a little cardio mostly running with some swimming. My biggest problem is my eating habits I just don’t know what I should eat, how much to eat, and how much water or calories I should take in a day. Plus should I be taking anything to help protein shakes, creatine, or anything at all. More than that I really don’t know what muscles I should work out on what days or what a good work out would be for each muscle. When I start working out or become more active with it I can feel my muscle very tight after each work out, but the longer I go on the less I feel this. Is that because I am slacking or that I need to step it up on the weights. I don’t want to look like the world strongest man; I would like to have muscle tone to me. Can anyone help thanks?

P.s I am a male who is 5’8 and I weight 151 lbs

Eat as healthy as you can. Cut out junk foods and prepackaged foods and fast foods.
Eat more fruits and vegetables.

Work out muscles alternating at least every other day giving the ones you worked out the day before at least 24 hours to rest.

Eat at least three meals a day. Some people do better eating small healthy snacks throughout the day.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by big bird

Hey! I am 20 years old and I would like to say I am some what active, but i would like to take it to the next step. I have been working out off and on for almost a year. I do a little cardio mostly running with some swimming. My biggest problem is my eating habits I just don’t know what I should eat, how much to eat, and how much water or calories I should take in a day. Plus should I be taking anything to help protein shakes, creatine, or anything at all. More than that I really don’t know what muscles I should work out on what days or what a good work out would be for each muscle. When I start working out or become more active with it I can feel my muscle very tight after each work out, but the longer I go on the less I feel this. Is that because I am slacking or that I need to step it up on the weights. I don’t want to look like the world strongest man; I would like to have muscle tone to me. Can anyone help thanks?

P.s I am a male who is 5’8 and I weight 151 lbs

---

I will address the questions you asked in order.

- If you're trying to gain weight, eat more than 2,000 calories(I am trying to gain weight so I take in around 3000-3500) a day. Lose weight, less than 2,000.
- Water intake is essential, 64 ounces of water a day is recommended. I take in 128 due to being on creatine.

My routine for working out is work tricep and chest, back and biceps together. Legs on another day. I also just started tossing in forearms, abs and calves in together.

I work out 5 days a week, anywhere from an hr and a half to 2 hours. I first started with 3 sets of 8 reps but have progressed to 3 sets of 10 with a slightly higher weight. If you can do 3 sets of 8 with no problem, increase the weight by 5 to 10 lbs.