18years old, 6'0'', 168lbs. and in need of advice.

Cool. Thanks. I was looking up stuff on the search bar last night. Found it there and it helped out.

Correct me if i'm wrong.
The idea in getting bigger is to bring in a lot of protiens for muscle, carbs for energy, H2O ect... and food in general.
Lift weights untill you reach the size you desire.
And burn the excess fat off with cardio as needed.
And eventually starting over every few months or whatever.

The general concept of bodybuilding begins by goal setting. Take out a pen and paper and write down your objective, a realistic timeline, and a daily journal entry.

As bodybuilders, it is easy to lose focus and stray off the path to achievement.

Now, the idea of putting on mass is a science of its own. It requires you to achieve a caloric level that is slightly above maintenance with a proper PCF ratio. When you engage in a cardiovascular exercise, you begin to burn off calories (energy). The more you take part in such exercise, the more you hinder mass gains in the process.

How much effect does cardio and running hinder the bulking efforts of the weightlifting? And is there a way to include cardio in a workout routine to help keep the overall body fat to a minimum without affecting the efforts of the lifting. I was told to stay completly off the hardcore 6-10 miles a day cardio once.

Depending on the degree, but it is safe to say greatly - the dependant is your daily nutritional intake. To promote a healthy lifestyle, it isn't appropriate to recommend a cardio boycott. Ten to fifteen minutes, 3-4 times a week while on a bulk is fine. The more you anti the minutes and distance, the more you sacrifice gains.

Right now my BMI (body mass index) is 23.4. Just to give you an idea of where i'm at. With a hight of 5 foot and 11 and half inches amd 168 lbs. I think I'm at the point where i should work on the lifting aspects and not so much the cardio. I'm looking to bulking up but still trying to keep the body fat as needed and to a minimum

Remember, you can't do two things at once - bulk than cut, or vice versa. To keep body fat to a minimal during a bulk requires you to eat smart. Putting on body fat is rather inevitable during the stage.

I'm assuming height effects how easily i can bulk up. I have rather longer limbs than most. I have extremely wide shoulders. How does this all effect my goals. I notice smaller stockier men tend to be able to bulk up rather quickly.

We can do a genetic rant, but we won't. Focus on your goals, and only yours.

Train smart, eat smart, and you'll be just fine.

You're young, you probably get all the cardio in the Phys. Ed. programs at school. Additional cardiovascular exercise from there on is a preference choice.

doing cardio 3-4 times a week in the morning on an empty stomach is great for many reasons. the main important reason is that when you do aerobic exercise (any exercise that requires constant oxygen like cardio) your liver will release hdl cholesterol. hdl means high density lipoprotein. this is your good cholesterol. when you do cardio, you exercise your heart. also, when you do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach, you will keep your bodyfat down. i would recommend for you and others to do around 20-30 minutes per session. if you want to lose more weight, you can do 30-40 minutes. doing too much cardio can be bad. it will work against you. your body will become very catabolic. this is where you will start burning muscle and going into atrophy. also, if you do too much cardio (45 minutes or more constantly everyday on and on) your body will release a stress hormone called cortisol. this is very bad. some stress is good because it releases hormones and adrenaline, but too much stress is bad. too much is excess. when you have excess stress and cortisol, it becomes very hard to lose weight and pack on muscle.

by the way...since you're trying to grow...at least eight hours of sleep a night is highly recommended. more sleep = more growth. your body recooperates and recovers physically and mentally.

proper diet + enough sleep + working out correctly = growth

Isnt cortisol the shit you use for rashes,

nope...you're thinking of cortizone. that is totally different. cortisol is the hormone.

haha I was only kidding.

K&P

haha...oops...i didn't see that. my bad.

Thanks everyone. I'm starting to understand more. Starting to make sense now.

Now i know why i wasn't getting very far when i did long distance running at school. I was burning the muscle i was getting i the gym.

Thanks again.

when i started lifting i was 6'3 160 now 3 years latter im nearly 200lbs just train hard eat a shit load and get lots of rest!!! good luck man and remember just stick with it.