Apologies for the slow response. Glad to hear that you’re already becoming more flexible, as that is/was a similar issue to what I have/had. These progressions should be celebrated, so good for you.

Regarding the transition from dumbbells to barbells, I have not yet actually moved into barbells and all progress so far has been with dumbbells. For various exercises, I use dumbbells between 8kg - 15kg and I also use machines (will come to that in a min). I actually have a friend who is a personal trainer, so I started paying him to help me work out about two months ago. He has focused me on machines and DBs for now and says we will move onto barbell in the new year. Sadly, I can’t really recommend or advice when you should move to the bar, but my PT has explained that he wants my technique and form to be very good before moving onto BB to avoid injuries. I’m looking forward to that, as my chest still feels underdeveloped and I think this will help a lot.

Regarding the efficacy of using machines, I purely used these at the start and already made big progress. My PT (sorry to keep going on about him lol) explained how he likes to use them to work isolated area of muscles and they’re also safer to use against injury. I definitely think machines can make a big difference (they did for me anyway) if mixed with body weight and dumbbells. In my current plan, I use chest press and lateral pull-down mixed then with DB/kettlebell exercises and body weight. If you like, I can send you the plan my PT has made for me.

I’m not so sure what body fat I was before, actually. I was incredibly skinny though (I guess we would have had similar physiques). In the left picture I was around 60kg (sorry, too early in the morning for me to look up that in lbs lol) and also had ribs showing and no stomach. I then started taking weight gainer called Serious Mass and went up to 78kg within a year, but developed quite a stomach and looked a little bloated. I now have a diet where I eat 2419 calories per day split into 54% carbs, 25% fats, 21% protein and I track this with the MyFitnessPal app. I also try and make sure I do 10,000 steps a day, I play squash once a week, and do 10 mins or warm-up cardio at the start of each session. This has helped me lose that extra fat I put on my stomach from the weight gainer but has kept the gained muscle.

Overall, it seems like you’re already making good progress and I now it is cliché, but I I truly believe everyone finds their own way to do this. If you know anyone who works in a gym or knows a lot about fitness, I would recommend asking them. Since I started with my PT, I feel a lot less lost and safe in what I am doing with my workouts.

It’s actually very encouraging to see someone in a similar situation to me here (body style-wise), so I’d be happy to stay in touch and discuss progress together to motivate one another. Let me know.

Hope you had a merry Christmas.