Sup guys so far I bought a power rack, the barbell with a good amount of weights, a bench, a heavy bag, and a speed bag.

I'm 5'10" 235lb with I'm gonna guess about 20%+ bf. So I'm trying to cut and tone out.

I know all the basics with diet and how it's the most important aspect of lifting.

Right now I'm turning to you guys who know what they're talking about to give me a good starting point.

Btw I don't have the dumbbell tree yet but I will soon.

Do you guys think with the equipment I have now I should have a good starting point?

Thanks all

Ok thanks for the reply. The bench is incline and I'm going to look for a cheap DB set on Craigslist.

For the diet it's pretty obvious right? Eat 5-6 portioned meals. Foods like skinless Chicken breast, tuna, fruit like Apples, nuts, vegetables etc and just mix and match. Any suggestions on a good nutritional bar?

Also on the routine you think a solid full body workout 3x a week and keep the weight heavy. And throw HIIT cardio on off days/non-recovery days?

Iracki said:

Ok thanks for the reply. The bench is incline and I'm going to look for a cheap DB set on Craigslist.

For the diet it's pretty obvious right? Eat 5-6 portioned meals. Foods like skinless Chicken breast, tuna, fruit like Apples, nuts, vegetables etc and just mix and match. Any suggestions on a good nutritional bar?

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I would definitely NOT eat 5-6 times a day, as you likely are already insulin resistant. If you have that level of bodyfat, you do not handle blood sugar well(insulin resistant), have a poor testosterone:estrogen(estradiol) ratio and potential cortisol issues(stress hormone that cayses weight gain in excess). The worst thing you could do would be to keep the body in a constantly fed state,which means a constant state of having insulin floating around, since you cannot burn fat with insulin present(its the most anabolic hormone there is but in a non differentiating way...it will build both fat and muscle). It would be the equivalent of saying I want to stay dry and then jumping in the pool every few hours. Doesn't make much sense.

You likely are an endomorphic body type(like me), so watch your carb intake as you are sensitive to carbs(see insulin). You can eat protein and fat together, protein and carbs together, but don't eat carbs snd fat together unless you want it to end up on your waistline.

I would recommend you eating 3 times a day and following some form of intermittent fasting to help burn fat and resensitize your body to insulin.

I agree with marmel75, intermitten fasting sounds like a better solution than doing the 5 - 6 portioned meals. As for your set up, it will be a great starting point once you add the dumbbells.

Espi said:

There's lots of debate right now on SS about 5-6 meals. I can only speak for myself. I have never fasted. I've been eating 5-6 meals per day for the past 6years and have arrived at some pretty good results.

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Same here. I find eating regularly stops me from craving junk food and keeps me satisfied. Personally I needed to cut my carbs right down to less than 20g per day before I started losing fat.

Give your current diet a try, but if you're not seeing results I'd drop the apples. They're high in sugar.

Also when you say vegetables, do not include potatoes. Stick to green vegetables and carrots only.

Thanks for all the replies I just gotta stay consistent and not get lazy.

I agree with eating 5-6 meals a day. Now 3 out of the 6 meals will be the main course; breakfest,lunch and dinner. The other 2-3 meals are more like small healthy snacks in
between or you could have your protein drink.

In the early days of human evolution people often grazed during the day-that is, they ate periodically whenever they they found the appropriate plants or fruit, or happened upon an opportunity to get some animal protein. Your body handles a lot of small meals better than a few big ones Three meals a day is good, 4 meals a day is better.

To the OP, if your generally a endomorph-I'd recommend:

1. A higher proportion of high-set, high-repetition training (no lower than the 10-12 rep range), with very short rest period so as to burn off as much fat as possible. Doing a few extra sets of a few extra exercises while you are trying to get lean is a good idea.

2. Additional aerobic exercise such as bicycle riding, running or some other caloric-consuming activity.

3. A low-calorie diet that contains the necessary nutritional balance. Not zero anything, but the minimum amount of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, with vitamin and mineral supplements to be certain the body is not deprived of any essential nutrients.