Questions regarding muscle

darreneatschicken

I'm 19 years old, 5 ft 9, and 138 lbs.

Question 1: how do you measure your muscle?

Question 2: how do you measure your body fat? And what is a healthy amount of body fat for someone with my stats?

Question 3: should i worry about measuring my body fat and muscle? Or should i just keep tracking my macros, eating a lot, and making sure i am gaining .5 lbs every week i step on the scale. Some people just tell me that i shouldn't even track my macros, that i should just eat and eat and eat. But i know that if i don't track my macros, theres no way i'll know i've eaten enough. I'm not really worried about gaining fat since i am fairly active: it is only wednesday and ive already played hockey two times a week and worked out once. Gonna go for a brisk walk tomorrow and then workout, which leads to my fourth question...

Question 4: is exercising too much detrimental to muscle gain? I mean, if you are eating enough, does it matter how much you exercise? And by exercise i mean both cardio and weight lifting. the reason i ask is because i enjoy an active lifestyle, and even though i know only weight lifting and sitting on the sofa all day eating would be better for someone as small as me, i could never do that. I know working out seven days a week is bad for you, so what if i worked out three times a week (stronglifts) and did brisk walking and/or hockey two to three times a week. Is that too much stress on my legs? Excercising 5-6 days a week and having
one or two days where i'm not moving much? I know sometimes i'll even workout, and then go straight to hockey, drinking a protein
shake in my car, lol. Is this crazy? On days like that, i'll stay up till like 4am to make sure i've eaten my macros.

Question 5: what's more important, food or sleep? Say for example, you had to eat 300 more calories. Should you sacrifice an hour of sleep, and only get seven, instead of eight hours of sleep to get that 300 cals in, or just hit the sack, and have a good night's sleep?

OverDoIt

For an active young adult like yourself, with your stats IMHO carbs will be beneficial to maintain energy levels and reduce fatigue. Protein is important, and so are carbs for an athlete like yourself. Rest is very important, 6-7 hours should be ok for most younger people. The best way to measure your bodyparts, is to go to a craft and fabric store and get a floppy tape (Dritz) is a good one. Bodybuilding.com should be a very valuable resource to answer all of your questions. I wish you the best of luck and do not ever give up on your dreams.

Chadomaniac

1: With a tape measure

2: Callipers ... BF% is all relative to goals , eg: im bulking , im at 18% bf and im still healthy .

3.Calories and macro nutrients are extremely important . Make sure u atleast hitting minimum proteins and fats for optimal functioning

4. Food and sleep are both primary basic needs to survive . Both are as important

Food timing is irrelevant when it comes to body composition . Doesn't matter when you eat . So get in 8-9hours sleep if you can