I'm not a personal trainer but I'll tell you what my routine is. It's helped me cut some fat and build a good upper body.
My metabolism slowed at around your age too, and also coming to the US from Australia exposed me to too much fast food and excesive eating.
First things first, you've got to watch your diet. You can't eat what you want and be fit, regardless of what people tell you. That doesn't mean you can eat anything "tasy" anymore, you just have to eat the bad stuff in moderation.
I was one of those guys that said "Man, all the diet and lite stuff is gross and flavourless", but if you can cook and don't go all out crazy you can still eat good stuff and maintain a healthy bodyfat level.
For example I now only drink 2% milk and eat 2% cheese. Also I try and eat chicken or steak that is low in fat (i.e. cut the fat off before cooking and remove the skin). I also have toned down on my carbohydrate intake, i.e. bread, pasta, rice and sugars.
One of my favourite drinks now is Diet V8 Tropical Blend. It actually taste better than the regular one and also uses Splend as a sweetener which is sugar based so it tastes like sugar and won't put holes in you brain like sacharin.
Moving on to excercise, you'll want to do as many free weights as possible and you MUST do some sort of cardio, there's no way around that. I do 20 minutes of cardio at the end of each workout (which I do 3 times a week). I like the orbitals as running hurts my knees.
My wieght program is this:
Incline Dumbell - 3 sets; 10, 10 and 8 reps (increase wieght with each set)
Dumbell Tricep Extensions - 3 sets; 10, 10 and 10 reps (increase wieght with each set)
Decline Dumbell - 3 sets; 10, 10 and 8 reps (increase wieght with each set)
Situps - 3 sets; 40, 30 and 20 reps, the last set I do with my legs in the air
Dumbell Curls - 3 sets; 10 reps per arm
Frontside Dumbell Lifts - 3 sets; 10 reps per arm
Lateral Dumbell Lifts - 3 sets; 10 reps per arm
Cable Fliers (crossovers) - 3 sets; increase weight with each set
Dips - 3 sets; 15, 15 and 15 reps
Dumbell shoulder press - 3 sets; increase weight with each set
Squats - 3 sets; 10 reps (be careful not to go overboard here) but you need to do them to promote the most testosterone release and also they're you biggest muscles so they burn the most energy.
The only thing you need is shorts a t-shirt and some good supportive running shoes, my preference Nike Air Max.
As for supplemenets I take creatine, a multivitamin, and whey protein. If you want more info then PM me and I'll try as much as I can. Some people will disagree with my routine and my ideas, but it's working for me.
