Skinny Newbie Caveman from UK page

[Boneidle24seven]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to all this so please forgive me if i seem a little dumb. I am really keen to adopt the PB diet but the thing is I am not overweight. In fact most people would probably say I am underweight. But although I am slim, being middle aged I have developed the trademark belly bulge. It's not a good look to be slim but still have a belly. I am fairly active and do body weight workouts 3 times a week as well as road cycling and mountain biking. What I want is to lose the fat but build up muscle. The area of my body that most concerns me is my shoulders, I am quite narrow across the top and want to build up my shoulder muscle to improve my appearance. Can I do it on the PB diet and exercise?

[SoccerGrok]

Welcome...By all means you can do it by going Primal. Start by downloading the efitness book, and have a look at the WOW archives! What kind of bodyweight exercises do you do/how often do you ride, and how much?. How is your diet/H2O intake. I ride too, but not to train(anymore). Being Primal has allowed me to see a more relaxed side to my bike:-) Good Luck, and Grok On!

[Hedonist]

Welcome. Start sprinting. Google images for marathoner vs sprinter. You can do bike sprints. Thirty seconds so fast you get out of breath. Ninety second slow recovery. Repeat for a total of eight reps. Once or twice a week. If you can do it more than twice, you are not doing it hard enough.

For biking, keep it under 75% maximum heart rate.

Good luck on primal.

[jfreaksho]

Yes, you can. That belly that you have is often referred to as "beer belly" or "wheat belly". You will likely experience things you didn't know were wrong suddenly fixing themselves.

With the workouts, make sure that your hard workouts are short and really intensely hard, and that your easy workouts are really really easy. No more moderately hard pace for hours each week.

[Boneidle24seven]

My bodyweight routine usually consists of chin-ups/pull-ups, press-ups (with variations), squats, reverse crunches, plank, dips & inverted rows. I mix them up a bit and always try to increase the amount of reps per set. I only cycle once or twice per week, rarely more than 18 miles, which normally includes a sprint or two. I like to try and sprint up hills. I eat a fairly healthy diet by conventional standards, avoiding processed foods & sugar. What I really want to achieve is improved upper body strength and appearance. I'm working on hand stand press-ups (not easy) which I believe are good for developing shoulder muscle. I'll check out the WOW archives. Thanks for the reply.