This is the De Facto skinny-fat workout and diet guide to help you lose body fat and build muscle. This guide distills all of the training knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years to go from skinny fat to fit as quickly and safely as possible. As you can see from my transformation photo below, the results are striking.
I’m no one special. Many people have gone from skinny fat to fit with this guide. This it the revised Skinny-Fat Workout and Diet Plan for 2023 that shows you how to fix skinny fat as quickly as possible.
This plan worked for me, it worked for others, so why wouldn’t it work for you?
Just ask my friend Jaden here:
Jaden went from skinny-fat to ‘steal your girl’ with the help of this plan and some good ol’ fashion American work ethic.
He’s one of many former skinny-fat guys now living their best life with women swooning for their movie star physique.
Skinny Fat Success Stories
Check out Dany and David’s amazing body transformations below.
Both are former skinny-fat guys who transformed their body from skinny-fat to fit with the help of this guide.
I could add more body transformation photos but I think you get the point. As you can see, we’ve got fixing skinny-fat down to a science here at Iron and Grit. So, let’s get down to business.
The Ultimate Skinny Fat Guide Overview
This article gives you the knowledge you need to build muscle, burn fat, and get fit. It contains the KEY ingredients you need to go from skinny-fat to fit.
Here you will find:
- A diet plan designed especially for skinny-fat guys.
- A workout plan that detonates belly fat and packs on muscle mass.
- Tips, tricks, and techniques to turbo boost your metabolism.
- Supplements to accelerate your progress.
You’ll get tons of tips, tricks, and hacks to get strong, lean, and fit that you won’t find anywhere else.
A note from the author, to you Dear Reader –
Be sure to bookmark this page and come back to it often as a reference.
Enjoy the guide, my friend. And be sure to reach out to me on Instagram if you need a helping hand.
- Skinny Fat Success Stories
- The Ultimate Skinny Fat Guide Overview
- What is 'Skinny Fat' Exactly?
- The Skinny Fat Body Type
- How to tell if you're skinny fat?
- My Skinny-Fat Transformation Story
- Skinny Fat People Face Unique Challenges
- Motivation for Skinny-Fat Guys
- How long does it take to go from skinny fat to fit?
- Skinny-Fat to Fit: Is It Worth It?
- Going from Skinny Fat to Fit has Extraordinary Benefits
- What Causes Skinny-Fat?
- How to Go from Skinny-Fat to Fit
- Best Workout for Skinny Fat Guys to Build Muscle Mass
- Best Exercises to Fix Skinny Fat
- A Basic Bodyweight Workout Routine for Skinny Fat Beginners
- The Skinny-Fat Guy Workout Routine (Full Plan)
- Skinny-Fat Bodyweight Workout You Can Do at Home
- Skinny-Fat Workout Tips
- The Skinny-Fat Diet to Reduce Body Fat Percentage and Visceral Fat
- The Skinny-Fat Genetics Myth
- The Skinny-Fat Solution: Workout and Diet Tips (Video)
- The Skinny-Fat Solution is here!
- Skinny Fat Frequently Asked Questions
What is ‘Skinny Fat’ Exactly?
“Skinny fat” is the term used to describe someone who appears to be a healthy weight but they have a high body fat percentage compared to their lean body mass.
Skinny fat guys are somewhere around 18 – 28% body fat and always have very little muscle mass. Skinny fat women are typically in the 20 – 30% body fat range.
Skinny fat people appear to be both skinny and fat at the same time (go figure.) Skinny fat folks have very little muscle mass while having a high level of body fat for their weight.
Also called “Normal Weight Obesity”, the skinny-fat body type has some serious health consequences. Despite the inherent danger, being skinny fat is extremely common.
Walk down the street of your town and 4 out of 10 guys you see will be skinny-fat.
Skinny fat is so common now they created new terms for it. The skinny fat condition is now referred to as the following:
- Normal Weight Obesity
- Metabolic obesity
- Metabolically unhealthy non-obese
- Metabolically obese normal weight
- and, my personal favorite: “Thin Fat”
Call it what you want but it all means the same thing: An unhealthy body composition with a high body fat percentage and critically low skeletal muscle mass.
To make matters worst, the traditional body mass index shows these guys in the healthy range in terms of body composition. So they appear to be health even though they clearly are not. Many skinny fat people are unknowingly carrying around latent health risks, making this condition even more insidious.
Other than a high body fat percentage, skinny fat people typically have the following physical features…
The Skinny Fat Body Type
This above average level of body fat typically clings to their butt, thighs, belly and waist. It can even hang on to the neck, chin, jowls, and face.
Typical features of the skinny-fat body type are:
- Narrow shoulders
- Skinny arms
- Small calves
- A ‘boney’, soft, or weak looking upper body
- Wide, feminine-looking hips
- Fat thighs and chunky butt
- Love handles
- Flat chest and back with ribs showing sometimes
- Belly fat
- Spare tire or muffin top (excess body fat around the midsection that hangs over your pants.)
- Little or no muscle definition
- Man Boobs (Gynecomastia)
If you have any or all of these skinny-fat symptoms, you’re not alone. Skinny-fat guys are everywhere. It’s a very common affliction.
If it’s still unclear if you’re skinny fat there’s an easy way to tell…
How to tell if you’re skinny fat?
If you’re still wondering “Am I skinny fat?” A simple way to see if you are skinny-fat is if you look skinny while wearing a T-Shirt but fat or chubby with your shirt off.
If you’re part of the skinny-fat demographic, don’t worry because there’s hope for you yet.
Even if you’ve tried everything without results, don’t lose faith. You’re a lot closer to your goals than you think.
My Skinny-Fat Transformation Story
I used to be a skinny-fat guy.
I had all the traits of a skinny fat physique: Love handles, belly fat, man boobs, chicken legs, and skinny arms like spaghetti.
But that was a long time ago. Now I’m lean and muscular.
If you saw me today you would never guess that I used to be skinny-fat.
I’m proud to say that I transformed my doughy dad-bod into an athletic physique.
I exchanged my beer belly for six-pack abs, and transformed my man boobs into a masculine chest.
Even my face got lean. It went from round and chubby to defined and handsome. My pudgy cheeks hardened into a chiseled jawline.
I gotta admit that transforming my physique wasn’t an easy feat. I had to overcome the same challenges that all skinny-fat men face.
But I’m living proof that with the right formula you have a fighting chance to go from skinny-fat to fit. And you can do it in record time if you stick to the script laid out for you in this text.
Without the knowledge below you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell. (I’m serious, the odds are stacked against you.)
So read it all from top to bottom and let it sink in. This is likely the most comprehensive and actionable article about how to beat skinny-fat on the planet.
My Skinny-Fat before and after photos
When I started lifting weights things got a little better. Weight lifting made me bigger and stronger, but I still wasn’t even close to being ripped.
After weight training for what seemed like forever, I went from skinny-fat to just kind of… fat:
I didn’t get it. I worked out all the time but my body looked like poo.
Months of training turned into years of training, yet I still wasn’t getting the chiseled physique I wanted. I began to get discouraged. Maybe even a little depressed.
Since I didn’t know what else to do I just kept going, even though it took every ounce of my willpower to drag myself to the gym.
I was determined to get jacked. I knew a breakthrough must come eventually if I kept pursuing my goal.
Finally, after years of trying every exercise I could find, I finally found the key to unlock my physical potential.
Shorty after making this discovery, I looked like this:
I had the breakthrough I was looking for.
Once I understood the main reasons I was skinny-fat in the first place, I knew exactly how to fix it.
Skinny Fat People Face Unique Challenges
I realized that skinny-fat guys have unique challenges to overcome.
They can’t train like a regular guy and expect to get jacked. They need a special plan that is tailored to their body type.
I completely revamped my training routine by incorporating this new knowledge and the results were drastic.
This special plan is the answer to the problems skinny-fat guys face. This skinny-fat solution will make perfect sense once you know why you’re skinny fat in the first place.
That’s because you will believe in the solution, trust the process, and succeed at getting ripped.
We’ll get to the physical training in a moment. But first, We need to address an even bigger item – The mindset you need to transform your physique.
Motivation for Skinny-Fat Guys
Gut Check: How Bad Do You Want It?
Desire.
Desire is everything, fella.
With desire you can achieve anything. Without desire you will probably fail miserably.
I’m not going to sugar coat it – It’s not an easy road ahead. There will be ups and downs.
You have to want it bad enough to keep going when things get tough.
That being said, you can beat skinny-fat. It’s hard, but if you want it bad enough YOU WILL make it happen.
How long does it take to go from skinny fat to fit?
A body transformation won’t happen overnight. It will take time, therefore it’s best to plan for the long haul.
Being straight with you here – My skinny fat transformation took a while. BUT, it took me much longer than it could have because I had no idea how to build muscle and lose fat. More specifically, I didn’t know how to train and eat for effect.
It takes a lot more than a workout routine and calorie counting if you want to make a serious change. There’s a lot more than meets the eye. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to your face.
Hence why I wrote this guide. To set the record straight and show you how it’s really done.
Now then…
I learned how to build muscle and burn fat the hard way through trial and error. (Lots and lots of trial and error…)
I hit the gym faithfully day after day after day after day after day for years and years and years.
I tried new exercises, new workout routines, new training equipment, trendy bodybuilding diets and all kinds of supplements.
I was looking for the secret formula or magic pill that would give me what I wanted. Sadly, there is no magic pill (but there is a secret formula which will be revealed to you in this article).
My journey was full of ups and downs, with plenty of set-backs and frustration. At times I felt completely de-moralized. I wanted to quit.
There were weeks at a time where I trained faithfully without any change in my physical appearance.
It was a constant challenge. But looking back the struggle was worth it. My relentless pursuit allowed me to discover what works and what doesn’t. And I EARNED something money can’t buy – A strong, athletic physique complete with all the confidence and wellbeing that comes with it.
Sure, my skinny-fat transformation took longer than it should have, but fortunately for you, my pain is your benefit. You can get a great physique in less than half the time it took me by following the blueprint.
Skinny-Fat to Fit: Is It Worth It?
If I haven’t scared you off yet, you might be wondering:
Is it worth the time, effort, sacrifice, sweat, tears, pain, planning and hard work?
Absolutely.
100% without a doubt, building a strong, healthy, good looking physique is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing.
The benefits of building a great body are incredible and need to be experienced in order to be fully understood and appreciated. You’ll see what I mean when you start to see results.
For starters, you will look better and you will feel better. You’ll get compliments from strangers and people will stare at you. This really does wonders for your confidence.
Yes, it takes a lot of time, energy and sweat. It’s painful at times. It’s a grind but remember:
Anything worth building takes time
But commit to the process and make a promise to yourself that you will never give up.
Then all you have to do is keep making progress each day.
You are literally shaping organic matter through sheer will, building yourself from in the inside out. Give yourself a break because it takes time.
Although it was a grueling journey at times, the rewards are well worth it.
Once you start seeing results it becomes fun. You begin to crave the process and look for new ways to improve. That’s when you know you’re onto something.
You will notice a difference and others will notice, too.
Everything you want is on the other side of hard work. So, when you feel like you need a boost just remember why you started and everything you get to look forward to.
Going from Skinny Fat to Fit has Extraordinary Benefits
Once you go from skinny-fat to fit, you will enjoy:
- Better health
- More energy
- Improved mood
- Supreme confidence
- Better sex
- More sex
- Personal pride
- Increased productivity
- Higher self-esteem
- Sense of accomplishment
- Feelings of wellbeing
- Increased Testosterone
- Chiseled features
- Better posture
…and that’s just to name a few.
If that sounds like something you’re interested in, then you’ve come to the right place.
It’s much easier to build the body you want if you know what you are doing.
Unfortunately, most people don’t have a clue what to do, and they end up spinning their wheels. This article will cue you in and set you on the right track so you don’t waste valuable time.
It took me a long time to perfect my training routine and diet, but once I did, my muscle mass exploded and my belly fat vanished for good.
This article shows you exactly how to stop being skinny-fat and get ripped as fast as possible.
But first we need to understand the enemy before with can defeat it.
What Causes Skinny-Fat?
The three reasons guys are skinny fat are:
- Poor Diet
- Lack of Exercise
- Low Testosterone
Nutrition, exercise, and testosterone are like a three legged stool:
All three legs of the stool work together to hold up a healthy, athletic physique.
Remove any one leg and the stool falls to the floor – BOOM! You can sit your skinny-fat butt on the ground now.
Let’s dive into each of the skinny-fat causes.
Skinny Fat Cause #1 : Bad Diet
Your diet will make you or break you. The right food gives you energy, strength, focus, and vitality.
The wrong food results in misery, malaise, and a skinny-fat body. 🙁
My skinny-fat diet strategy is simple:
Eat enough of the right foods and avoid the wrong foods.
It’s impossible to have an athletic physique if you are malnourished. The modern diet is trash. It’s killing you slowly and makes you feel terrible in the process.
The best way to kick a poor diet is to learn about nutrition. (If you only knew what you are eating you would never eat it again.)
Everything You Eat Either Helps You or Hurts You
Once you understand that everything you eat either helps you or hurts you, you’ll start eating the right stuff.
The average skinny-fat guy’s diet is awful, and can be summed up thusly:
TOO MANY CARBOHYDRATES AND NOT ENOUGH PROTEIN.
Carbohydrates are filler calories that make you fat. Protein builds muscle and keeps you lean.
Unless you’re an athlete, you don’t need carbs. Human beings are meant to eat meat.
Skinny-fat guys suffer from self-induced metabolic damage. The foods they eat are abominations full of fake ingredients that destroy health and are void of nutrients.
Foods that Cause Skinny-Fat
Processed foods, refined carbohydrates, seed oils and artificial ingredients are nuking your metabolism and making you sick, weak, and skinny fat as a result.
These ingredients are in everything making them hard to avoid or even detect. Some people will even tell you these horrible foods are good for you. Disgusting on so many levels.
Refined Carbohydrates are Public Enemy #1
Refined carbohydrates are especially bad for your health. Processed carbs with filler ingredients are the worst thing you can eat.
Sadly, skinny-fat guys fill up on refined carbohydrates, like sugar, corn syrup, and processed grains, wheat and rice.
These ‘foods’ stick to your gut like glue.
They contain empty calories that do nothing good for you.
Empty calories never make you feel full. They don’t provide enough nutrition to make your body signal it’s had enough.
That’s why you can just eat and eat and eat snack foods nonstop. All these extra calories become stored as fat.
Avoid Empty Calories at All Cost
Empty calorie foods wreck your body. They are full of sugar, fat, and fake ingredients.
These things make you skinny-fat, and if you eat too much you’re bound to get fat-fat, sick, and suffer from chronic fatigue and illness.
When you’re fat, sick, and tired all the time you will find it harder and harder to workout. This creates a dangerous downward spiral where your muscles waste away while your belly gets bigger.
Avoid fake foods and artificial ingredients because they DESTROY your metabolism and motivation.
Natural Foods Fix Skinny-Fat
On the other hand, natural foods provide the nutrients your body craves. Fresh meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds are excellent sources of wholesome nutrition.
You need protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals for health, energy, and wellbeing. You’ll need even more nutrition to maximize muscle growth and inhibit belly fat. Getting vital nutrients is key to fixing skinny-fat.
Proteins are the Building Blocks of Life
Animal protein is best, because it bring animal fat with it. Animal fat is essential for proper digestion, vitamins and minerals, and healthy cells.
Best Protein Sources for skinny fat guys
Steak, chicken, turkey, ribs, fish, eggs, and my personal favorite – thick cut cherrywood bacon, are excellent sources of protein.
Grass-fed, free-range, fresh caught, and organic varieties of meat are the best option.
However, any type of these protein foods is better for you than any type of carbohydrate.
The only good carb is one that comes from a green vegetable.
Eat Well to Be Well
Remember this point about nutrition:
You can build a strong body with whole, natural foods, but you will destroy your body with sugar, unnatural fat and fake ingredients.
Food is fuel. Don’t fill up your tank with premium fuel then park in the garage. Put it to work and take it for a ride.
Put Your Food to Work
It matters what you demand from the food you eat. For example, if you eat a sirloin steak and watch Netflix all day then the steak will be stored as fat.
But it you eat a steak and crush weights in the gym, then the steak will turn into muscle. All because of demand.
Your body doesn’t care if it has muscles or not. It’s up to you. It will only grow if you demand it to.
Eat Twinkies instead of steak and you’re screwed either way.
Get your eating in order, then learn how to train for muscle gains…
Skinny-fat causes #2: Lack of Exercise
Unless you do things that are physically hard you will become physically soft. The right training routine is essential to transform your physique.
Weight lifting is the best way to reshape your body. There’s no better way to build muscle, and you need muscle mass to fix a skinny-fat physique.
You want to go from a pear-shape skinny-fat body to a ‘V-shape’ athletic body, and that means putting muscle in the right spots.
The only way to build quality muscle is with a quality training routine.
Weight Training for Skinny-Fat Guys
I’ve noticed that most skinny-fat guys do not workout. The few that do workout do not know how to workout correctly.
I see these poor guys spinning their wheels in the gym going nowhere fast. Many get discouraged and quit.
“What’s the use?”, they say.
If they only knew:
The ‘secret’ to transforming your skinny-fat physique is to BUILD YOUR BODY WITH THE BASICS.
The Best Exercises For Skinny-Fat Guys
The basics lifts – Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Chin ups, Pushups, Dips and Rows – are the best exercises for skinny fat guys to build muscle.
All athletes, actors, action heroes, fitness models and military personnel reached the apex of physical fitness with these basic exercises.
If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for you.
Training Intensity Matters
Once you get comfortable with the basic exercises, crank up the intensity. Lift until it feels like your arms are going to fall off.
The magic happens in the last few reps. Those critical last few reps that feel like your muscle is going to explode is what makes them grow.
You don’t have to go out there and kill yourself the first day in the gym, but you must push yourself. Each workout should be progressively more challenging than your last. And if you’re not sweating, panting, and grunting then you aren’t working hard enough.
Cardio is Secondary to Weight Lifting
Don’t waste your time running.
If you’re a runner, 20-30 minutes a day, after your weight training workout, is plenty. Running will not help a skinny-fat guy get in shape.
Jog on the treadmill all you want. It won’t transform your physique in a notable way. You might lose a few pounds, but you won’t keep it off. You will inevitably end up skinny-fat again when you stop running.
You might even end up skinny-fatter because you didn’t see real results anyway, so why try?
Run just enough to break a sweat and keep your heart healthy. Just enough to improve your endurance to elevate your training capabilities overall.
Build ‘Critical Mass’
Muscle turns your body into a fat burning machine.
Muscle burns calories 24/7. The more muscle you have, the more fat you burn. Once you build a base layer of muscle mass it’s easy to maintain. Seriously, once you are ripped it is very easy to stay that way.
You need to pack on that quality muscle mass with weight training and clean eating. Pay your dues, build equity in yourself, and it will pay dividends for a lifetime.
But before we get into all that, we need to talk about the power of sex hormones. Specifically testosterone, and how to raise your testosterone levels naturally.
Skinny fat training mistakes
Common training mistakes I see skinny-fat guys make are poor exercise choice, bad technique, inconsistent effort, and lack of intensity.
Skinny Fat Cause #3: Low Testosterone
Testosterone is what separates the men from the boys. Literally.
Testosterone is the male hormone and is responsible for masculine traits such as muscle development, a deep voice, and a chiseled jawline.
Low testosterone will limit your ability to build muscle mass, and increases fat retention.
However, raising your testosterone levels will increase muscle mass and burn body fat.
Several factors influence testosterone levels, such as genetics, diet, and your environment.
You can increase testosterone naturally with weight training, proper diet, and avoiding xeno-estrogens that kill testosterone.
There is a direct correlation between how low testosterone and being skinny fat. When I was skinny fat my testosterone level was around 600. Now that I’m lean and muscular my T-levels are close to 900.
Weight Lifting Increases Testosterone Naturally
Weight training is the best thing a man can do for physical and mental health.
The body yearns to be used. When you use your body it gets stronger. When you don’t use your body it rots.
Lifting weights triggers your body to produce testosterone. This is an adaptation response so we can meet the demands of our environment.
It’s a survival mechanism. Your body must rise to meet the demand placed upon it or die.
We are biologically wired to survive and, by Grand Design, were born to thrive.
If you place demand on your body to get stronger, it will.
In order to get stronger, it will produce testosterone to support the muscle mass necessary to meet the demands of your environment.
Getting ‘fired up’ also boosts testosterone. You need to get fired up in the weight room to lift heavy weight. Focus is a trait of high testosterone.
Muscle and strength is a natural adaptation response that has kept our species alive for hundreds of thousands of years.
Your body produces testosterone naturally when your lifestyle demands it.
Elevated testosterone levels are your body’s response to the environmental stress. Stress (lifting weights) force you to grow in order to handle that heavy weight next time.
Combine weight training with a good diet and you have the recipe to boost your testosterone levels naturally. (I know because I’ve done it.)
Increase Testosterone with Diet
To increase testosterone you need to eat the right foods.
Coincidentally, natural testosterone production requires natural foods.
I raised my testosterone by over 200 points without drugs or supplements. My body looks drastically better now.
Humanely raised animals provide the protein, healthy fats and cholesterol needed to produce testosterone naturally.
Whole eggs are another great food that builds testosterone.
Fat and cholesterol are building blocks of hormones that keep you healthy. Any advice demonizing cholesterol is meant to turn you into a girly man.
Make sure your body has the ingredients necessary to build the testosterone it desperately needs.
You won’t find those ingredients in a box lunch or frozen dinner. But, you will find them in a juicy steak and scrambled eggs.
(Related: The #1 diet to boost testosterone naturally is the Steak and Eggs diet. Try it for two weeks to bring you testosterone production back on track.)
How to Go from Skinny-Fat to Fit
Now we’ve reached the turning point. This will outline what skinny fat people need to do to completely transform.
Now we will introduce strength training to build more muscle mass and gain weight in a healthy manner. The more skeletal muscle mass you have the healthier you will be typically. Building muscle will increase your lean body mass which is important to change your body composition and increasing your metabolism.
What’s the right amount of muscle? You need enough muscle mass to at least deadlift and squat your body weight. The more muscle mass you have compared to body fat means you will become less skinny fat. Your overall health will improve. And the higher body fat percentage means a higher likelihood to become skinny fat.
Weight loss can occur, as long as the weight loss causes you to lose fat mass and not lose muscle. This will happen if you don’t consume enough calories.
Best Workout for Skinny Fat Guys to Build Muscle Mass
The best workouts for skinny-fat guys achieve the following goals:
- Build total body muscle
- Burn calories
- Create a V-Taper
First and foremost, you need to build a solid foundation of muscle. This requires a balanced training routine that targets every muscle group.
You MUST build muscle to banish skinny-fat forever.
Without muscle any fat you lose can come back easily. So, building muscle is key.
When building a muscular foundation emphasis is placed on the legs and back. Your legs and back are the largest muscle groups. Therefore training them builds the most muscle and burns the most calories.
Extra attention is also given to the upper back and shoulders to create a wide upper body.
Skinny-fat guys have narrow shoulders, a small back and chest and big waist and hips. Secondly, you need to build muscle in the right spots.
We need to reverse all of that. You want broad shoulders, a wide back, a strong chest and a tight waist.
The Golden Ratio is the Key to an Aesthetic Body
What makes somebody’s body look great?
The answer is aesthetics.
And in order to have an aesthetic physique you need to train with that goal in mind.
There’s something called ‘The Golden Ratio’ that makes things look pleasing to the human eye. The Golden Ratio is found in nature and people with the Golden Ratio have beautiful physiques.
The Golden Ratio is 1 to 1.61. In this case it means that your upper body, shoulder to shoulder, is 60% wider than your waist. (Measure to the widest part from shoulder to shoulder. Then compare to the distance from each side of the waist at belly button level.)
This is the optimal waist-to-shoulder ratio that you should strive for. For the reasons above I’ve selected the exercises I think are best for skinny-fat guys to perform.
Best Exercises to Fix Skinny Fat
The best exercises for transforming a skinny-fat person are compound exercises.
- Compound exercises require 2+ joints to perform the movement. (Ex: A push up and the bench press require movement at the shoulder and elbow joints, therefore they are compound exercises.)
- Compound exercises can be bodyweight exercises or use weights for resistance.
- Compound lifts can be performed with either the barbells or dumbbells.
- Compound exercises are the best for skinny-fat guys because they engage the most muscle fibers, thus stimulating the most muscle growth.
Top 10 Exercises Skinny-Fat Guys Should Do
These exercises are needed to reshape your body by melting fat and putting muscle in the right spots. Don’t overlook these if you want to fix skinny fat!
Deadlifts
Deadlifts add thickness and width to your back. Not only that, deadlifts strengthen every muscle in your body from the ground up. That’s right, your legs, glutes, abs, arms and shoulders all get stronger from deadlifts.
Deadlifts are required to build muscle mass quickly throughout your entire body. Deadlifts also improve your posture, breathing, coordination, and overall strength, making you more athletic.
Pull ups and Chin ups
Pull ups and chin ups (also called ‘chins’ by old school bodybuilders) are great for building wide lats (the ‘V’ shape muscle of your back), shoulders and arms.
Wide lats are especially important for skinny-fat guys because they make your waist appear slim by making your upper body wider. Pull ups and chin ups are the perfect tool to achieve the ‘Golden Ratio’ mentioned earlier.
Pull ups are performed with a supplanted grip (palms facing you) and chin ups are performed with your palms facing away.
Both exercises work your back, shoulders and arm muscle differently. But together, they work all those muscles completely. So do them both!
Be sure to perform chin ups with a wide grip and take each rep through the entire range of motion. Pull ups should be done with a medium grip to start.
Full range of motion means a full hang at the bottom of each rep and pulling your chest to the bar. Lean back slightly and look up at the ceiling as this engages the back muscles more fully.
Full stretch to full contraction = fully effective workout. Do your pull ups and chin ups religiously and you’ll have a V-shaped torso in no time.
If you aren’t strong enough to do bodyweight pull ups, you have two options:
You can use the assisted pull up machine, or use the lat pull down machine. Both are encouraged to build upper body strength.
Barbell Rows
Barbell rows primarily add thickness to your back and shoulders, especially your rear delts.
Rows also pull the lats forward so they can be seen from the front. To get the most out of barbell rows, let the weight stretch your lats at the bottom of the movement to fully engage the lat muscle.
The trick is to feel your lower lats working. If you can’t feel your lower lats working, you need to make some adjustments. You should also feel your muscles around your shoulder blades working.
Lats are a large muscles spanning across the back. Rowing with full extension creates wider lats and lowers the appearance of the muscle insertion point. Making the ‘V-Taper’ start at a lower point of your torso. This is a good thing.
Barbell rows also work your shoulders, arms, and core as a nice bonus.
Squats
Squats are the supreme ruler of exercises. They strengthen your legs, abs, lower back, upper back, glutes and abs. You need strong legs and back to hold a few hundred pounds across your shoulders.
Squats are a total body exercise in disguise. My shoulders are usually sore after a I squat because I brace my entire body to push the weight. Plus, squats target your largest muscle group – your thighs.
Big legs burn calories. NEVER SKIP LEG DAY.
Squats, being the heaviest, most taxing exercise, cause your body to release a flood of natural growth hormone that will help every muscle build anabolicly.
When squatting, you want to squat as low as you possibly can. No half-reps or 3/4 rep crap (unless you’re doing burn-sets).
Go ‘ass to the grass’, every rep. If you have trouble doing this begin stretching immediately to increase flexibility. Practice keeping the weight on your heels. Your glutes and hamstrings should move most of the load. Squatting low engages your muscles in a special way that makes you stronger and transforms your physique.
Military Press
Military press, or shoulder press, is simply pressing a barbell from your collar bone up over your head until arms are straight. Perform military press while standing to strengthen your body as a unit.
Overhead presses like the military press build your shoulders which make your upper body wider. Military press also strengthens your chest, back and arms because they are used to brace/push the weight.
Incline Bench Press
The incline bench press is the ultimate exercise to build your upper chest and banish man-boobs forever.
Incline press gives you the appearance of a wide chest. It trains the entire muscular plane from your shoulders across your upper chest.
Lunges
With back-loaded barbell for core activation.
Sit ups and leg lifts galore
Science proved you can spot reduce. But it take a LOT of reps over a long time to make a difference. Might as well get started now.
Push Ups
Last but not least, the faithful push up rounds out our list of best exercises. These exercise should be part of every skinny fat man’s workout repertoire.
Now we come to the main event. Let’s put all this training knowledge together shall we?
A Basic Bodyweight Workout Routine for Skinny Fat Beginners
Do not start lifting weights until you can do 10 pushups in a row, 20 sit ups in a row, and 20 bodyweight squats in a row.
You should be able to perform basic bodyweight exercises before touching a weight. This is your rite of passage. These bodyweight exercises get you ready for the weights.
This step is important – you need a baseline of muscle and body control to lift correctly. Performing the 10-20+ repetitions in a row of bodyweight exercises ensures you have the minimum requirements.
Now back to business…
The Skinny-Fat Guy Workout Routine (Full Plan)
Like I said, looking good is all about having the right body proportions. You don’t have to be the biggest guy to have the best looking physique. Looking good is about balance, symmetry, and proper proportions.
This workout brings it all together to help skinny fat guys get a ripped physique. This skinny-fat workout routine has three phases. Each phase is designed to maximize muscle gain and blast fat for fast results.
You’ll see that I recommend weight lifting in this program. However, if you can’t get into a gym, there’s also a bodyweight training workout you can do at home or anywhere else you see fit.
About the Skinny-Fat Workout Routine
Phase One is a simple and straight forward strength training / powerlifting workout routine. You need to get stronger with the basics first. It’s the best way to conquer skinny-fatness, so that’s where we concentrate. The goal of phase one is to introduce you to the main exercises and build up your strength.
Phase Two introduces new exercises to challenge your muscles, after you’re familiar with the basics. Phase Two increases total workout volume to build more muscle and burn more fat.
Phase Three we turn up the intensity with supersets. Supersets are your secret weapon to get a chiseled physique. For supersets to be effective however, you need to know what you’re doing.
Warm-up exercises for all Phases:
Do two sets of 20-25 reps as a warm up before each exercise. This will ‘wake up’ your muscles and help you build mind-muscle connection to enhance the workout.
If you feel compelled, you can do cardio three times a week for up to 30 minutes to burn extra fat and keep your heart and lungs strong. But prioritize resistance training.
The Skinny-Fat Workout Plan: Phase One – Strength Building
The goal of this phase is to build strength and confidence in the gym. It might feel awkward at first. That’s normal! Just stick with it and it will become natural.
In Phase One you’ll get used to the simple barbell movements. You build muscle with heavy, compound barbell exercises using strict form and controlled reps.
Don’t be intimidated by the term ‘heavy’ weight. Heavy is a relative term. What’s heavy to me may not be heavy to you. The point is you need to push yourself to the limit, train as heavy as you can safely handle for each set. If the set calls for 10 reps, pick a weight you could only do for 10-11 reps.
You will workout 4 times a week with this routine, alternating between workouts:
- Monday (Workout A)
- Tuesday (Workout B)
- Thursday (Workout A)
- Friday (Workout B)
Skinny Fat Workout A
- Back or Front Squats 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
- Pull Ups or Pull downs. 3 sets of 10 reps (if you can’t do a pull up, don’t worry. Just to the body weight section to below to learn how to improve pull up strength)
- Military Press 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
- Leg Lifts 3 sets of 10+ reps (Do as many reps as possible for each set)
Skinny Fat Workout B
- Deadlift 5 sets of 5 reps
- Bent-Over Barbell Rows 5 sets of 10, 8, 8, 6, 6
- Incline Bench Press 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
- Leg Lifts 3 sets of 10+ reps (Do as many reps as possible for each set)
Pick a weight that you can barely do the prescribed number of reps for each set. The last 2-3 reps should be very hard to finish. This is the muscle building threshold.
Do this workout for 4 weeks straight. Increase the weight used each workout to continuously challenge your muscles to grow. Take a few days off to recover before starting Phase Two.
Skinny-Fat Workout: Phase Two
Each workout in this phase targets either the upper body or lower body.
The workout days are the same as previous phase:
- Monday (Workout A)
- Tuesday (Workout B)
- Thursday (Workout A)
- Friday (Workout B)
This phase introduces a new exercise each workout. Walking Lunges for legs and Lateral Raises for big, round shoulders.
Workout A (Lower Body Split)
- Squat 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
- Walking Lunges 3 sets of 10 reps
- Straight Leg Deadlift 4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8 reps
- Leg Press 4 sets of 15, 15, 10, 10 reps
- Leg Lifts 3 sets of 10+ reps (Do as many reps as possible for each set)
Workout B (Upper Body)
- Bench Press 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4
- Pull ups 20 in as few sets as possible
- Barbell Row 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4
- Military Press 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 4
- Lateral raises 3 sets of 12 reps
- Leg Lifts 3 sets of 10+ reps (Do as many reps as possible for each set)
Do this routine for four weeks in a row.
Skinny-Fat Workout: Phase Three
Phase Three cranks up the intensity by introducing supersets and/or more volume each workout.
Supersets are an advanced technique where you do two or more exercises, back-to-back, without rest between them. They allow you to tax the muscle to it’s maximum and burn fat while improving your cardiovascular health.
Supersets burn fat extremely well. They keep you moving. You will increase your heart rate, breathe heavy and sweat hard when doing supersets correctly.
Train four days a week alternating workouts:
- Monday (Workout A)
- Tuesday (Workout B)
- Thursday (Workout C)
- Friday (Workout D)
Workout A
- Incline Bench Press / Pull Up 4 supersets 12, 10, 8, 6 reps *For example, you complete a set of incline bench press, then immediately do a set of pull ups – then rest. That’s a superset.
- Military Press / Bent Over Row 4 supersets of 10, 8, 6, 4 reps
- Lateral raises 4 sets of 12 reps
- Bodyweight Dips 4 sets AMRAP (As Many Reps as Possible)
Workout B
- Back Squat 4 sets of 10, 8 ,6, 4 superset with Leg Curl – 4 sets of 10
- Romanian Deadlift 4 sets of 10, 8 ,6, 4 superset with Leg Extension – 4 sets of 10
- Leg Press/ Calf Raises 4 sets of 20, 20, 15, 10 reps for both exercises
- Leg Lifts – 3 sets of as many reps as possible
Workout C
- Flat Bench Press 5 sets of 5 reps
- Barbell Row (Underhand Grip) 5 sets of 10 reps
- Dumbbell Flyes (Flat Bench) 4 sets of 12 reps
- Lateral Raises 4 sets of 12 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Press 4 sets of 8 reps
Workout D
- Back Squat 5 sets of 5 reps make sure you go FULL depth every rep
- Deadlift 4 sets of 3 reps
- Lunges 3 sets of 10 reps (10 strides per set. Holding dumbbells)
- Leg Press / Calf Raises 5 sets of 20 reps for both exercises in superset fashion
- Leg Lifts 4 sets of as many reps as possible – keep back completely flat on ground or bench. Crunch abs hard.
Continue this workout for four consecutive weeks. After Phase Three you should see a significant improvement in your body, strength and overall wellbeing.
Skinny-Fat Bodyweight Workout You Can Do at Home
If you don’t have a gym membership you need to get one eventually. In the meantime though you can get started with your skinny-fat transformation at home with these four exercise.
Push ups – Build your chest, shoulders, back, arms and abs with pushups. Start with 10 pushups and add more each and every day until you do 50 total.
Bodyweight squats – You need strong legs to have a strong body, and strong bodies are not skinny fat. Do 50-100 bodyweight squats every single day to strengthen your legs and core, and to burn fat.
Pull Ups – Pull ups build your back and shoulders to create a V-Shape torso: The Hallmark of a muscular physique. Do as many pull ups as you can each day and work your way up to 50 pull ups a day. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t do many pull-ups. Pull ups are a challenging lift that takes time to master.
(See ‘How to Do Your First Pull-Up‘ for step-by-step instructions to unlock the pull-up.)
If you’ve never done pull ups before it might be slow at first but you will get there if you work at it! If you can’t do a pull up, you can do pull-downs on the machine to build strength.
Another way to pull yourself up to the top position (chin over the bar) and hold yourself there. Use a chair to step up is needed. Hold yourself up there as long as you can. This will build your ‘pull up strength’.
When you start to get tired and can’t hold yourself up anymore, fight gravity as long as you can and drop down as slow as possible. These are called negative reps and will build muscle and definition.
You don’t need a gym to do pull ups you can buy a portable pull up bar for less than $30 or install a more stable wall-mounted pull up rig in your garage or basement. Or build your own home gym.
Lying Leg Lifts – My personal favorite bodyweight exercise for trimming the abs and core. To perform the lying leg lift, lay down on the ground with your back flat on the floor. While keeping your butt, back and head in full contact with the floor, slowly raise your legs into the air by contracting (flexing) you abs.
Keep your legs straight and lift your feet toward the ceiling. Hold for a second or two in the top position. Really feel your abs working. Then very slowly lower your legs back down.
The four exercises I mentioned above are perfect to build muscle in the right places, strengthen your entire body, and burn off the extra fat. Get aquatinted with them.
Skinny-Fat Workout Tips
I want to share a few tips that I think might help you on your skinny-fat transformation journey.
Do Pushups Every Day – If you want to supercharge you progress do pushups every day. Start by doing 10 push ups today, then 15 pushups tomorrow, and then 20 the next day. Work your way up to 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100+ pushups a day.
Do push ups every day for a month and watch your body transform. You can do push ups in as many sets as it takes but try to push yourself to get them done as fast as possible. (This keeps up the intensity!)
Train Your Legs! – This may seems counter-intuitive, but training legs is a must. Many beginners and ‘advanced’ trainers neglect their legs. This is a huge mistake.
Your legs are the biggest muscles in your body.
Training legs burns a ton of calories and releases a flood of growth hormone when trained.
Leg training has the added benefit of strengthening your core and improving posture as well due to the nature of the workouts.
How to Strengthen Your Legs
Start out doing bodyweight squats everyday. 50-100 each day should do it. When that gets easy, start doing each rep slowly and holding yourself in the down position. This will further strengthen your legs and build more muscle by increasing the tension on the muscle.
Keep a Training Journal to Track your progress – Keeping a detailed training journal will ensure you keep making progress. Without it, it’s too easy to loaf and lose track. Keep good records of your workouts. You need to know EXACTLY what you did last workout so you can build upon it next workout.
Keep a Food Journal – Same goes for your food as it does you training. Track everything you eat. You don’t have to measure your food, or count macros, but you do need to know exactly what you’re eating on a daily basis. Don’t trust your memory. Keep notes ensures you stay accountable.
When the Going Gets Tough (and it will)…
When it feels like you have grinded to a halt, remember why you started.
Your vision is your salvation.
Hold you’re vision in mind.
Do you want to look good naked?
Do you want to be healthy?
Or, maybe you want to look good in your vacation pics on instagram.
Perhaps you want that cute blonde you’ve had your eye on to drool at the sight of you with your shirt off.
That’s cool. There are no wrong answers. Whatever your reason is, it has to mean something to you. It must fuel you.
The Skinny-Fat Diet to Reduce Body Fat Percentage and Visceral Fat
Diet is number one when it comes to burning fat and building muscle. These are the principles for an aesthetic diet plan.
Building muscle will reshape your body, but reducing fat makes you looked ripped. You get ripped with the right diet.
When you’re skinny fat the environment in your body makes it hard to gain muscle, maintain muscle, and reduce body fat. That’s because the metabolic damage and hormonal imbalances up regulate body fat storage. Overall it becomes harder to lose weight and get rid of fat mass, especially the visceral fat around your midsection.
While at the same time making fat gain easier. Which is why those who are ‘metabolically obese normal weight’ have low muscle mass and too much body fat. This trend continues and causes muscle loss while making building muscle more challenging.
This is why eating healthy is critical. Eating a healthy diet is hard because what’s we’re told is healthy isn’t always healthy. And it’s best to course correct quickly because being skinny fat leads to a lot of health problems including heart disease, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and high blood pressure.
Progress can be made to build muscle and lose fat with a balanced diet. Eat a little of something from each of the four major food groups to cover all your bases and get the vitamins, minerals and nutrients you need. But avoid the fake foods otherwise it won’t much matter.
The absolute best diet for skinny-fat men is a low carb, high protein diet.
The Low-Carb Fat Loss Diet for Skinny-Fat Guys
This is the simplest diet in the world. Cut out carbs. Keep them under 75-50 grams a day.
Fill up on all natural meat, eggs, and vegetables. Beans, quinoa, nuts and seeds are acceptable.
No wheat, flour or sugar is allowed.
NONE!
No need to count calories. The nature of this diet ensures you get all the right stuff you need and avoid the wrong stuff.
Eat only steak, chicken, turkey, whole eggs, fatty fish, white fish, and green vegetables. Eat as much as you want, as often as you want.
But eat nothing that’s not one of the foods above.
Drink only water and black coffee.
If you need something sweet, make a peanut butter protein shake before bed as a reward for a productive day.
Eat like this and follow the workout plan and it will be impossible to not fix skinny-fat.
Sustainable Dieting for Skinny-Fat Guys
Realistically, the diet above is hard to follow for any extended period of time.
After you’ve done the low carb diet mentioned above for 4-8 weeks, then you can begin to reintroduce carbs into your diet.
At this point, you need to learn how to calculate your macronutrients (macros).
Macros contain a calorie value. Calories are a measure of potential heat energy within the food you eat. Calories store as fat if aren’t burned.
For reference, one pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. That means you must burn 3500 calories to lose one pound of fat.
If you want to burn fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit. Being in a calorie deficit means you burn more calories than you consume.
How do you know how many calories you burn each day?
The easiest way is the get a ‘smart’ scale that tells you your resting metabolic rate.
It will also tell you other metrics related to your body composition like body fat percentage, muscle mass and water weight.
Anyway, your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories you burn just to live and maintain your current body. A good workout will burn 500+ calories, so add that into your daily calorie intake.
So if your resting/basal metabolic rate is 1500 calories, and you workout everyday, then you’ll need 2000 calories a day to maintain your current weight. If you’re putting a good effort in the gym then you can make progress by losing fat and building muscle at the same time.
Macros
Now, we need to determine your macros. If you remember, macros, or macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates and fats.
Each macronutrient contains a certain number of calories – a gram of protein has 4 calories, a carb has 4, and fat has 9.
Take your daily calorie allowance( basal metabolic rate + calories burned during a workout), and calculate grams of each macronutrient you’re allowed if 30% calories are fat 40% are protein and 30% are carbs.
Let’s your diet calls for 2,200 calories.
At 40% protein, 30% carb and 30% fat, your grams look like this:
880 calories from protein, 660 calories from carbs and 660 calories from fat.
A CALORIE IS NOT JUST A CALORIE
What’s in a calorie matters. So, make sure your macros are on point and coming from wholesome sources. It makes all the difference.
After a week, weigh yourself. If you aren’t losing weight fast enough, reduce your calorie intake further. Add more calories if you are tired or too sore – recalculate your TDEE based on your new activity level and try again.
If you don’t want to calculate macros – follow the super simple skinny-fat diet plan I listed above.
Skinny Fat Diet Tips to Get lean Fast
Eliminate Sugar and Go Low Carb
Eliminate refined sugar and reduce carb intake – Cut out soda-pop and snack foods like Twinkies and chips. If you eat carbs, the best sources are sweet potatoes, quinoa, and oatmeal.
Increase Your Protein Intake
Don’t just start slamming protein shakes. Make sure you’re getting 80% of your protein from natural food sources.
Fatty beef and whole eggs at the best protein sources. Get a quality protein powder if you need a little something extra. Make sure you get a gram of protein per body weight.
Also, I wrote about the best supplements for skinny-fat guys you can check out here.
Try Intermittent Fasting to Bio-Hack Fat Loss
Intermittent fasting boosts growth hormone, burns fat, and serves as a natural detox. I.F. resets your body by clearing out all the toxic buildup that accumulated over the years.
You will run on stored energy (fat) while fasting 16 hours a day. Intermittent fasting is an effective way to lose body fat quickly.
Drink One Gallon of Water each Day
I typically drink over two gallons of fresh filtered/distilled water daily. Don’t drink anything other than water and black coffee. Drinking calories is the worst thing you can do if you want to be in shape.
Don’t drink calories other than protein shakes.
Learn How to Cook
If you’re constantly eating boxed meals, you’re in trouble. You’re even worse off if you eat restaurant food. The food you buy from a restaurant or grocery store is 99% garbage. It’s completely baron of nutrients.
Anything you make in a microwave is no bueno. All the nutrition is stripped from processed food and replaced with toxic waste.
If you want to be healthy and lean, learn how to cook. If you want your family to be healthy and fit, learn how to cook. Cooking fresh, natural foods seals in all nature’s goodness.
There’s no way around cooking meals if you are serious about getting ripped. Eating fresh food puts you on the right track. The rule of thumb for eating right is this – If you cook it yourself it’s probably good for you.
PRO TIP: Try meal prep. It’s crucial to stay on track. That way you always have healthy meals ready to eat.
Meal Prep every Week
Try meal prep to get good meals in without spending a fortune. Always have meals ready to eat. If you’r scrabbling to figure out what’s for dinner, you already lost. You’ll give into cravings and make poor decisions.
Get ahead of it. I always have beef and vegetables cooked to perfection waiting for me in my refrigerator.
Learn to Read Food Labels
Make it a habit to read food labels. A little knowledge goes a long way in the kitchen. First, look for the three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fat.
Protein, carbs and fats contain calories (energy). Protein builds muscle, carbs are quick burning energy, and fats are slow burning energy. Fat is burned after carbs are used up.
Make sure your foods have high protein-to-carb ratio or a high protein-to-fat ratio. Eat too many carbs and/or fat and you will get fat. Don’t eat enough protein and you won’t build muscle. If there are too many fat and/or carbs, discard the item and find something else to eat.
Next, look at the ingredients printed on the package. Ingredients are written in order of prominence. If there’s any ingredient that isn’t an animal or plant, do not eat it.
Avoid Frankenfoods (Processed Foods)
Remember Frankenstein’s monster?
The re-animated abomination made of patched together body parts?
He was a being made of dead human parts way past their expiration date, and kept ‘alive’ artificially. This made him a lurching monster hellbent on destruction.
Foods with artificial ingredients are a lot like Frankenstein – They use fake ingredients to give foods unnaturally long shelf-life. Eat these fake ingredients and they stay an unnaturally long time in your system.
Guess what they do while they’re in there?
It’s so bad that I wouldn’t feed my dog artificial ingredients. That would be inhumane. Most of our food is loaded with artificial ingredients, preservatives, synthetic hormones and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Our Food has Been Bastardized
Big Food Company created Frankenfoods to profit at your expense. It works like this:
Big Food Company’s goal is to produce the highest volume of food possible, as cheaply as possible. Cheap production leads to diluted product. Natural nutrition is striped away and replaced with chemical fillers.
On top of all that, these foods are engineered to be addicting. Making you crave them again and again and again. Resulting in your hard earned cash being shelled out in order to get your fix.
You buy their food, you get fatter, and they get richer.
What a concept.
How does it feel to be their bitch?
How does it feel knowing you’re eating filth and thanking them for it?
“But it’s expensive to eat healthy!”
Fine. Eat cheap.
Use the money you saved for insulin needles and blood pressure medication. Hopefully you socked away some dough while paying inflated insurance premiums. (Hmm maybe this is all connected?)
Humans were not designed to eat fake foods. This stuff clogs your pipes, plugs you organs, clings fat on your belly and wears you down fast.
What are YOU Going to Do About It?
Wake up before it’s too late and take responsibility for your health.
Don’t buy the bad stuff. Keeps your eyes on the label.
The only reason this shit is on the grocery store shelf is because people keep buying it. Stop buying it and it goes away. It’s a simple as that.
Food that comes in a can, box, or wrapper is usually loaded with salt and sugar. All the scientific studies link excess salt and sugar to health issues. Avoid processed foods with refined carbohydrates, artificial flavors, and other additives.
If you can’t pronounce an ingredient on the package, or wouldn’t use the word in normal conversation, don’t eat the contents.
The first thing you notice when you start eating better is an increase in energy and mental alertness. Then the fat starts to drop and you look good and feel great.
You’ll kick yourself for not doing it sooner. It’s amazing how good you feel. Your new normal will completely change your world.
Try eating all natural for 30 days and you will notice a HUGE improvement in your body and mind!!
The Skinny-Fat Genetics Myth
Genetics does not cause a skinny fat physique. Skinny fat was not a body type mere decades ago. It’s a new phenomenon. Look at a picture of a crowd of people taken before the 1950.
How many skinny-fat people do you see?
Zero?
That’s right. You are a decedent of people from this era. You carry their genes.
How can you say you’re skinny fat because of genetics? It would take many, many generations to see a noticeable genetic change.
Our ancestors ate natural foods, did manual labor and walked everywhere. As a result, none of them were skinny fat. In fact they were lean, healthy and strong. Genetics is an excuse. Blame genetics and you give away all your power.
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, friend. Skinny-fat is NOT a permanent condition. It’s a result of doing the wrong thing for too long.
It’s time to set it right.
Get after it.
The Skinny-Fat Solution: Workout and Diet Tips (Video)
If you prefer video content, this video provides a good overview of skinny-fat and how to fix it. It answers the questions:
- What causes skinny-fat?
- How to fix skinny-fat?
- What are the best diet tips for skinny fat guys?
- Skinny fat exercises tips
And then it provides a basic workout and nutrition guidelines you should know in order to fix skinny-fat.
The Skinny-Fat Solution is here!
Important Announcement: ‘The Skinny-Fat Solution‘ is available now.
I’ve taken everything I learned in over a decade of training skinny-fat guys and boiled it down for you into a step-by-step process.
Over 65 pages of fitness knowledge that shows you how to fix skinny-fat forever.
Learn exactly how to train and eat to burn fat, build muscle and boost testosterone! It take out all the guess work and make it super simple to follow and get results.
In the book I’ve include a FULL 12-week workout plan and complete nutrition guide. It also includes 5 of my favorite recipes to get you started.
It give you every detail and all the tools and tips you need to go from skinny-fat to fit as fast as possible.
Follow me on instagram – I post often and show you that I practice what I preach and that my methods are sustainable.
Skinny Fat Frequently Asked Questions
Being skinny fat can lead to a bunch of health problems including heart disease, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and high blood pressure. You can decide for yourself if this is something you are OK with.
I thought you weren’t supposed to do the same exercises every day. You say to do pull ups, push ups, and squats every day? What about recovery time?
Hi Zach,
You can train with bodyweight exercises everyday as long as you recover properly. This means get enough food and sleep. People make great progress with a daily routine of push ups, pull ups and body squats.
If you’re doing 1 set to failure or only 20-50 reps today, you’ll be able to recover by tomorrow. And if you haven’t recovered, you should try to eat more and sleep more before your next workout.
For beginners it’s important to build mind-muscle connection with bodyweight workouts. Bodyweight training is also necessary to build strength before training with weights. Bodyweight training everyday is absolutely doable. Thanks for your question!
Will the workout routine work if I do it 3 days a week instead of 4. I am more fat than skinny with massive love handles and massive fat thighs. Will I still see good results in 8 weeks.
Hi Harry,
Yes you can perform this workout 3 days a week and see results. Just alternate the workouts A, B, A, B, etc. and be sure to workout hard 3 days a week. Train hard and eat right and you be more muscle than fat or skinny!
I store a lot of my fat in my thighs and love handles. So should I continue use to be in a calorie deficit whilst doing your workout?
How long have you been doing this workout in a calorie deficit and what have your results been like so far?
Typically, I would suggest you stay at a maintenance amount of calories for now. You want enough energy to train hard, build muscle, and get through your day without abnormal fatigue.
Doing this will naturally burn more calories as you build muscle mass. When you notice that you are building muscle mass at a good rate that you’re happy with, then begin to reduce the calories below maintenance and into a deficit. You’ll notice that you’ll keep your muscles but the fat will begin to disappear. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I’m not seeing any results with this workout. I still have alot of body fate especially on my thighs. Do you think is it do the stronglifts 5×5 will help. Even tho I have a lot of fat on my love handles and massive fat thighs.
If I should do the 5×5 workout, where should I add the pull ups
Hi Harry,
I have a few questions for you. Please answer them so I can assess what you need to do to get results.
Q1. Are you getting stronger and increasing the weight used each workout?
Q2. What do you consume on a daily basis? Please tell me everything you ate or drank in the last 72 hours. I need to know if you are getting the right nutrition to build muscle and burn fat.
Q3. Are you using a weight that is challenging enough? What I mean by this is, are you (safely) reaching muscle failure on your last set of each exercise?
Q4. How tall are you and how much do you weigh?
In my opinion (and the opinion of many others), 5×5 does not have enough volume to create results at the speed you’re looking for. You’re unlikely to lose fat with just the workout alone without dieting.
Thank you for your feedback! Let me know answers to the four questions above so I can help you get the results you are looking for!
Hey Jordan I was curious how in those before and after photos of Jaden he has less tattoos on his left arm in his after pic than he did in his before pic?
Hey Scott, that’s because the ‘before’ photo was taken in front of a mirror. He’s holding the phone in his right hand. Look at the tattoos again – His left arm tattoo is filled in in the ‘after’ photo.
Hi there,
A few questions:
1. Should i do the push ups, squats, and pull ups along with the workout?
2. Would chin ups work as good as pull ups?
3. My wrists are like twigs as well as my calves, what workouts would help make them bigger?
Advice very much appreciated!
Hi Jan,
Answers to your questions below:
1. Squats and pull ups are already a part of this workout. You can add push ups if you want!
2. Chin ups or Pull ups can be done with similar results.
3. The exercises I mentioned in the workout will make your calves and wrists bigger. Deadlifts and pull/chin ups will make your hands and arms stronger plus make you wrists bigger.
Calves will grow with squats and deadlifts. In addition to this workout you should do 4 sets of 20 reps of both Calve raises and reverse barbell curls. You will see results if you eat right and train this way. Let me know how it goes!
Hello,
I was super skinny a year ago and hence i followed a bulking diet because of which i got bellyfat
I dont have access to weights but i have a pull up bar at my place…
Ill follow the bodyweight workout. Can you please help me with the variations in the same workout for more progression?
Thank you
Yes, I will help you Anvay.
How many push ups and pull ups can you do in a row?
Apart from following the workout plan A And B, you are also saying do push ups everyday and train your legs?
Is that covered in the A&B or should I add additional leg exercise and push ups as add to A&B?
Hi Mesam,
Great question. You can do additional bodyweight leg exercises and pushups while doing workouts A&B. The extra exercise will burn fat and give you muscle definition.
Hi,
I have a winged scapula due to poor posture but I’m working on fixing it. In the mean time, my left shoulder is noticeably weaker than my right. To fix this, can I use dumbbells instead of a barbell?
Hi Zach,
Good to hear you’re fixing your winged scapula.
Make sure you are training you back as often (or more often) as chest.
Doing rows with perfect form will strengthen your lats, traps and rhomboids and fix winged scapula caused by bad posture.
Dumbbells will help even out your shoulders if you use strict form. Good Luck!!
Awesome! Thank you
Anytime! Check in with me in a few weeks. Let me know how you’re doing and if you have any questions.
What percentage of our diet should be fat and carbs and around how many calories should I be eating a day? I’m 27, 6 feet tall, and 190lbs at about 18% body fat.
What body fat % do you want to be? Or, what weight do you want to be, or, what do you want to look like?
If you want a 6 pack, you’ll want to get to about 12% body fat or less.
I would eat 200-250 grams of protein, 50-100grams of carbs and 75-100 grams of fat. Try it for a week and if you’re not getting lean like you want, reduce carbs and fat by 10 grams each. Repeat this if necessary.
Is this going to help me gain muscle as well? I have very little muscle so if I get lean, there isn’t much that’ll be there when I get to my ideal bf%
I want to look like you did in the picture above after you lost your skinny fat routine. I’m just sick of having skinny shoulders, flabby arms and chest, and weight around my gut. I’m thinking 12-15 % body fat with a lot more muscle
Yes, as long as you workout intensely, you WILL build muscle.
Keep working hard in the gym each time you’re there. Be sure you are pushing yourself and seeing strength improvements each week.
Really focus on feeling your muscle working while lifting. This takes practice but once you get it, your physique will change rapidly!
Good luck, man! If you’re not making progress, let me know.
Hey man, quick follow up question: when doing the pull ups, I’m only getting to about 10 reps before my left lat just cross out. I can barely get 1 full rep. I’ve been going to 20 reps but the last 10-8 are pretty bad. What do you recommend?
Hey Zach,
Partial reps are OK. As muscle fatigue, they lose range of motion. Continue doing what you are doing, and really focus on feeling your lats work during each rep.
Other than that, you can try doing Barbell Rows and Deadlifts to strengthen your back. Or, once your left lat gets too tired, use the pull down machine and really concentrate on engaging your lats. This will make them stronger.
Hi,
whats the diet plan for skinny fat guy( Breakfast,lunch,dinner) ?
and can a skinny fat guy eat oats?
Hi IZ,
Just split your daily food into three meals and stick to your macros.
A bowl of oats every once in a while is fine.
Why cant i just do flat bench press? Why always “inclined”bench press?
Hi Nabam,
Great question!
I recommend incline bench press because it makes your chest and shoulders wider. You can do flat bench press too, but I would prioritize Incline.
Hi Jordan,
Great article, thanks for the insight! I just wanted to ask a couple of questions and I would be delighted if you could offer me some advice. I am 23 years old, 167cm tall (5′ 5”) and weigh around 144 pounds. I have almost no muscle and much belly fat and my upper back and shoulders are sooo small. My primary goal is to lose my belly fat and get strong, but I also want to build stamina to start hiking. I feel like I have a lot of energy to travel and do outdoor activities, but my body just wouldn’t handle any of this.
I don’t have access to a gym and I would like to workout at home. What should I do? I took up running in order to build some stamina and feel a bit healthier, but I really want to lose my belly fat. Should I stop running entirely or go jogging for like 3x30min (or less? or more?) per week? At home should I focus on push-ups, squats and pull-ups/chin-ups only? I can do almost 3 sets of 10 push-ups right now (which is bad, I am just giving you context), with other exercises in between (like crunches or squats).
My diet has always been balanced I think, I cook myself and only using fresh products. I never eat refrigerated food, I hate chips, sodas etc, and abstain from anything with sugar (just some dark chocolate every now and then). However, I’ve been eating much pasta and rice. Apart from cutting off these and eating more protein, what else would you recommend? I’ve been used to eating once or twice a day (huge workload as a graduate student, not much time to cook), so I think I can handle intermittent fasting for a couple of weeks. Should I give it a try?
Any advice would be extremely helpful! I’ve been to many gyms over the past few years, but I’ve never seen actual change in my body. I need to do it right this time.
Thanks!
Hi John,
Here’s what I would do –
Make in a goal to do 50 push ups every day, or every other day if you’re muscles are sore and need rest. Try to finish the 50 push ups in as few sets as possible.
Write down how many push ups you do after every set until the total is 50. Eventually you will get 50 push ups in fewer and fewer sets. When this happens we know you are building stamina. You are also building muscle with transforms the shape of your body and burns calories while at rest. So the muscle mass will help reduce belly fat. Do this same thing with sit ups, squats and chin/pull ups.
Also, keep running 2-3 times a week (or more if you feel like it) and workout 4-6 times a week with bodyweight exercises.
Keep this up for a few weeks and you will see results. Also, A rule of thumb for working out, if you’re not a little sore 24 hours after a workout you need to do more.
As far as diet goes – that’s great you cook fresh foods! you’re ahead of the game. Make sure you get 120+ grams of protein everyday and enough carbs and healthy fats to stay energized.
If you can handle intermittent fasting go for it! It’s worth a try. It’s a great way to lose belly fat. I’ve done it myself! Good luck with your studies and training! Let me know if you have any other questions and keep me updated on your progress.
Great Workout plan Can i do incline dumbell instead of incline benchpress or would it have a different response ?
Yes, You can use dumbbell instead of barbell. In fact, you could alternate between the two each workout.
So, chest workout #1 you do incline dumbbell bench and chest workout #2 you do incline barbell bench.
It will have a different response. But it will be a good response! Let me know how it goes!
Hey! I’m 5’8” and 155lbs and ~20% body fat. I’m using a food tracker app and on average I consume 175-200g carbs, 60-70g fat, 120-150g protein. I workout 3-4 days a week, do my sets to 1 rep of failure and do 10min HIIT with each. I seem to be seeing results but I would really appreciate it if you could critique my diet. I’m a vegetarian so its very easy for me to fall into a high-carb/low-protein diet. Thanks!
Hey man! Thanks for joining the conversation, finally! I did some quick math based on the numbers you provided and estimated you should lose about 2 pounds every 3 weeks if you eat 200/70/150 grams carbs/fat/protein.
I think your diet is pretty good for a slow cut. It should be relatively easy to maintain and stay energized while conserving muscle mass.
It would help if you shared more details about your workouts – what exercises and how many sets and reps do you do?
What about the bicep and tricep?
Hi Akshay,
You will get bicep and tricep training by performing this workout. If you want to train biceps/triceps directly please see my awesome arm workout.
Or, just do an arm exercise or two at the end of each skinny-fat workout.
Jordan I have completed phase 1 and now would be starting phase 2. But Tbh I don’t see any difference as far. I have cut all the packed food, sugar, salts from my diet. I am much concerned about my love handles and chest. Can I add some more chest excercise in your plan? Of possible can you do it for me? Thanks
Hi Akshay,
Proceed to Phase 2 as planned. You can add bench press and push- ups every workout to speed up your chest development.
Do 4 sets of bench press in addition to all other listed exercises for the particular workout. Do 4 sets of 8 repetitions as heavy as you can. Use a spotter and be safe. The last rep should be very hard to do.
You can also do push-ups every workout in addition to bench press. End your workout with 30-50 pushups. Complete the push-ups as quickly as possible.
Make sure you are pushing yourself each workout. You can eat salt. Salt is important (2000mg is good daily intake).
Also, three questions for you:
Have you gotten stronger?
Has your weight changed since you started Phase 1?
What do you eat each day?
Let me know the answers to those questions and I can help you further!
Hi, what should I do if I can only do 3 pull ups? Is there an alternative exercise I should be doing instead?
Hi Tom,
There’s a few things you could do:
#1 – Do a pull up but hold yourself up as long as you can with your chin over the bar. Lower your body as slow as possible. Do a few of these each day.
#2 – Do pull downs using a machine. Both wide and close grip. 4 sets of 8-10 reps as heavy as you can.
#3 – Barbell rows. These will build back muscles and will help increase your pull ups over time.
#4 – Do pull ups on an assisted machine
This should help! Let me know how it goes or if you have any other questions!
Hey Jordan, your article is great. I was a high school athlete, but those times are long gone. I was also never really “jacked” always kind of shorter and stubby. I’m currently a 24 yo M, 5ft10′ and approximately 190lbs. The majority of my fat is in my stomach. Drinking craft beers throughout college definitely gave me some love handles, but I’m determined to transform. My goal is to lose all belly fat (hopefully gain a V-shape) and gain muscle.
Questions are as follows:
-Considering my age weight and height, would you still advise this workout routine?
-Naturally, I am already on a 16/8 Intermittent fasting schedule. Should I continue this?
-Is powder protein necessary? I would like to avoid supplements, if possible, but obviously if they will provide significant results I would consider.
Thanks, Chase!
You’re still in your prime, man. You can definitely benefit from this workout.
You want to build shoulder width and slim your waist. Do your dips, pull ups and lateral dumbbell raises faithfully.
Continue intermittent fasting. Just make sure you’re eating 80%+ whole foods. And cut back on carbs if you want to lose the belly fat.
Protein powder isn’t necessary but it can help a bit. I make tasty shakes when I’m dieting because it’s a way to get extra lean protein and have something sweet.
If you’re working out on this plan, try a 1500 calorie diet for a few weeks: 170g protein, 80g carbs and 80g fat. At your age, height, weight and activity level, you should see results in a few weeks.
Drink all the craft beer you want, just keep it under 80g carbs total each day!
Hey Jordan. Great article, exactly what I needed as a skinny fat guy. I have never been in great physical shape; I’ve always been average. I go to the gym 3-5 times a week, but I’m not getting the results I want. I’m currently 19 years old, 5 ft 10 in, and around 165 lbs. I have a few questions and was hoping you could answer them.
-I would like to follow the workout plan as listed, but I don’t have access to barbells. However, I have dumbbells and a lat pulldown machine. Are there exercises that I can do to replace the ones involving a barbell, while still being able to follow the ABAB workout plan without sacrificing results? I can try the bodyweight training but I’d rather use dumbbells and machines at the gym.
-I have been taught to never skip a day of cardio or abs. I hate both of those, as they are tedious and time consuming. Are you saying that I can develop abs and lose fat without both of those every day? If not, how much should I do? (I use an elliptical and do basic ab routines)
-Regarding calories, what percentage of my calories should I allocate to protein, carbs and fat? I believe I am around 15% body fat (rough estimate). I was reading the comments and you said 12% body fat or less would yield a 6 pack.
-If I plan on doing 16/8 intermittent fasting as I start your workout plan, should I still cut my maintenance calories by 5-10% like you said in this article, and then calculate the protein/carb/fat daily ratio? Or should I stay at the maintenance calorie level that the TDEE calculator calculated?
Hi Jon,
You can use dumbbells instead of barbells. You should get results regardless. I would incorporate pull-ups into your routine if possible! Pull-downs are great, too. Perform them with a wide grip. You can also perform pull-downs with a close grip. Pull the handle all the way to your chest and hold it there for a second or two. Then slowly let the weight stretch your arms up.
Yes, I’m saying you can develop abs and lose fat WITHOUT cardio or direct ab work. The secret is to train hard. Squats and deadlifts will build abs as long as you are getting stronger. As you build more muscle, you will burn more calories since muscle is metabolic. Muscle will essentially ‘consume’ your body fat. Thats’ when the real results start to show. I would 100% focus on your weight training. If you have extra time, you can do abs and cardio. But for now I would focus all your energy on lifting. 20-30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week is plenty. BUT it only works to burn fat if you’re sweating.
At 12% body fat you should be able to see your abs as long as you have ab muscles. 10% will get you an undeniable six-pack.
If you’re not getting results now, then yes, I would still cut your maintenance calories. I would eat somewhere between 2200-2500 calories a day if I were you. 2200 on days you don’t workout. 2500 on days you do workout.
Try it out and let me know how it goes or if you have any other questions!
Thanks for sharing such an informative article. I have a question regarding workout routine if I do this workout for 2 days a week. Can we get the results in 8 weeks or it takes more time.
I’m in the process of bulking. I did a dirty bulk for a week because i have trouble gaining weight, but now I’m going to switch back to a clean bulk. I like to work out 6 days a week (it’s therapeutic for me) I was just wondering if you could give me some pointers cause I feel like I’ve hit a plateau, I’m 5’11 170lbs how often should I eat? And when should I start cutting I’m looking for an extremely cut physique
Eat 4-6 big, clean meals a day. Plus, drink two big protein shakes with two scoops of protein, a big scoop of peanut butter, and milk.
To answer you’re question about cutting, I need more information about you – What is your body fat percentage? Can you see abs? Do you have muscle definition? Let me know and I can help you out! I am cutting right now for a bodybuilding show, so I can definitely help you get extremely cut!
I’m currently bulking. Switched from a dirty bulk to a clean bulk. However, I’m wondering how to cut. I want to look shredded obviously but how? I heard your supposed to do higher reps and do cardio is this true? So for example, I would do my current workout plan (Push, Pull, Legs) just do higher reps, do cardio, and eat at a deficit?
Jordan, it’s a great article.
For myself i’m fatter than a skinny-fat. however i started the work-out routine you suggested and really having fun while lifting weights. also i can see the progress week-by-week .
but i want to ask you some questions.
I’m 30y 186cm and 91kgs 25% fat.
1) I count my calories and try to not to breach 2000 kcal a day (30%carb, 40% fat&protein. whether i fail in distrubition, i always try to stay around 2k.), where my TDEE says my maintanence kcal is 2800 a day with 3-5 days of workout a week (i go to gym and lift weights as u said in phase 1 in every 2 days.). so theoretically i have a 800 kcal of deficit but i believe it’s “too good to be true”. however i feel a bit exhausted to recover after training. what do you suggest me to do to lose weight in this structure, or am I doing something wrong? need your comment.
2) I just don’t do cardio, just 15 mins before workout (cross-trainer & row). do you suggest me to do cardio in offdays? please admit it that i have high cortisol level due to my job, which is highly stressfull. btw i really enjoy rowing in moderate effort.
3) I will go on with phase 2, but do you advise us to workout at maximum weights in phase 2 too?
4) and yeah i can’t do even a single pull up, but still on it. aiming to do a clean one in 2 months.
cheers.
Hi Yeto!
I’m very happy you are seeing progress! Please see my answers to your questions below:
1) If you’re making progress, you are doing it right. 800 kcal is very reasonable. I’ve cut at an 800 per day calorie deficit before. At this rate, you should lose about 2 pounds of week. The tired feeling can be caused by the calorie deficit. First, make sure you are hydrated. Drink one gallon of water minimum everyday. Also make sure your food is high quality. Poor quality will bog you down.
If you are too exhausted and it’s interfering with your job, life, etc., you can have a healthy snack like non-fat greek yogurt with all natural honey for a pick me up. Or, add 300 more calories into your diet. You’ll still be in a calorie deficit and should expect to lose 1-1.5 pounds a week at -500. This could make the whole process a little more tolerable and help you avoid burnout.
2) You can do cardio on off days. Or light lifting on muscles you really want to grow. This will accelerate fat loss. If you enjoy rowing, then continue doing that! The activity might help burn off some of the stress and tension from your job (I know it does for me).
3) Yes. You want to keep getting stronger. ALWAYS use perfect form but give your best effort. You should be sore 1-2 days after a good workout. If you’re not sore, you need to adjust. (Let me know and I will help you.)
4) You have a goal, that’s great! You will get a pull-up! Make sure your rows and pull-downs get stronger. Then, I want you to pull yourself up on the pull up bar all the way with your chin over the bar and HOLD yourself there as long as you can. When you start to drop, FIGHT gravity as long as you can. Do this three times after every workout.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Keep me posted on your progress!
Hi Jordan! Thank you for your article!
I’m a skinny more than fat guy. I have thin arms and small shoulder but I have a round belly.
Can I ask if I need to do cardio excercise? If I need, Can I ask what kind of cardio excercise will you recommend? Do I need to do those kind of high intensive training program(HIT)? If I do, will it cut down my muscle?
Hey Peter,
You can do cardio to help get rid of extra fat. I recommend cardio on days you don’t lift weights, if you have the time and energy. Cardio will not reduce your muscle mass if you have body fat to lose.
HIIT or steady state cardio are both effective fat burners. I typically do cardio on a stationary bike or treadmill on an incline.
Hey Jordan I am new to this website seeking for skinny fat advice.before I start I am 20 years old 160ibs 178 cm tall guy.i have lower belly fat.and overall frame is flabby and thin.please give me tips on insomnia and pull ups for beginners.
Welcome, Parminder!
I want you to eat 165 grams of protein, 80 grams of fat and 175 grams of carbs daily. Follow the skinny-fat workout on this page.
If you workout hard, insomnia will no longer be a problem. You will be so relaxed after training you will sleep like a baby.
Hi Jordan,
First of all, thank you so much for putting this together. I have been reading multiple posts on how to get from skinny fat to fit. Honestly, I am confused about what routine to follow with regards to both nutrition and workouts. I have a typical Asian build – Wt: 134 lbs; Ht: 170 cms; Body Fat: 13.5% and have a moderately active lifestyle. I have been working out on and off for a year or more but still have quite some fat accumulation in my tummy and love handles. Could you please help me out with the workout routine I must adopt and let me know the time period I should stick with it for? Some help with the diet (macro numbers) would also benefit me greatly. Lastly, do I have to work on my abs and obliques separately, besides the compound exercises?
Infinite thanks for your time and help and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Hi Bhargav,
Here is what you need to do:
Train HARD 4-5+ days a week using the workout program in this article.
I want you to eat eggs, fish, chicken, beef, green vegetables, and 1/2 cup of rice or potato a day and 1 protein shake with a serving of peanut butter. Every 4th day eat 1-1.5 cups of rice/potato to ‘re-carb’.
Macros should be around 180 grams protein, 80 grams fat, and 50-100 grams carbs.
Eat nothing else but these food items for two weeks. You will see an improvement if you give 100%. We can adjust diet after we assess results if needed.
If you want more direct guidance, add me on instagram @ironandgrit and send me a DM.
With this program and diet you will burn fat and build muscle. You can work your abs and obliques separately if you have time. Train abs with leg lifts. be sure to lift legs slowly and engage abs the whole time. Focus on quality reps over quantity. For obliques, you can do twisting crunches or side-crunches from the ground using a cable machine. Perform PERFECT and SLOW reps until failure each set (3-4 sets)
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi Jordan,
Thank you so much for getting back so quickly. I forgot to mention that I am a vegetarian in my previous post. So meat and eggs are ruled out. I get most of my protein from whey/plant protein shakes to hit the requirements. I would also like to bulk up a bit (maybe gain another 10-15 lbs). Would these macro numbers still hold? Isn’t the amount of fat a bit much? Based on some online posts and the fact that I have a pretty fast metabolism, I have been trying to hit about 145 g of protein, about 40 g of fat and about 425 g of carbs. Could you please let me know which one I should adapt? Appreciate your feedback and once again thank you for everything.
Add beans, peas, and lentils into your diet. They also make protein enriched pasta and pancakes, which you could eat too. Use peanut butter powder for extra delicious protein without the fat.
The macros I shared will help you recomposition your body. That is, burn fat and build muscle. Mostly it will lean you up. If you want to bulk. Increase the macros I gave you by 800-1000 calories a day. Half of those additional calories coming from protein.
AS is, your carb intake is very high. I would exchange 125 grams of carbs for natural fats and protein. Natural fats will help you create natural, muscle building hormones.
What do you eat in a normal day? This will give me a good starting point to help you.
Hey, I plan to do this because I need a better body, but I need it quicker, I only have a few weeks left in my gym membership and have no access to weights or anything at home. What can I do to get at least a six pack in around 2-3 weeks? I am so sick of being fat. I really need this.
Hi Jaden,
Go on a zero-carb diet starting right now. Only eat whole foods like steak, eggs, fish, chicken, and green leafy salads.
There’s no guarantee you’ll get a six-pack in 2-3 weeks unless you have a muscular core, but you will lose fat eating no carbs.
Also, you don’t need a gym membership to stay fit. Do 100 pushups, 100 situps and 100 bodyweight squats daily to build muscle and burn fat. Jog or do sprints every other day to build strong legs and burn more fat.
Just do this everyday and eventually you will be lean, strong and ripped! Let me know if I can help you further.
Awesome thank you, I will start today, thank you I will let you know how it goes.
You are very welcome! Keep me posted on your progress and let me know if you have any more questions!
How long should I sprint/jog for?
5 sprints max speed for as far as you can go. Or, jog for 20-30 minutes.
Hey Jordan,
I’ve been working out for a year consistently but I am classic skinny fat. 5’8” 155. I want to gain muscle and lose the fat around my stomach. Skinny wrists and calves with no traps.
Starting to use my fitness pal and tracking macros.
I’m starting phase 1 in an hour and would love some tips if you have any!
I work on my own schedule and I’m struggling figuring out the best time (energy wise) to work out heavy compound workouts like this.
Hi Jeevs, First off, Kudos to you for working out for a year consistently! Many people don’t stick to it that long.
The way I find the best time to workout is by trying different times to workout. I have worked out in the early morning, mid-afternoon, and late afternoon/evening.
My favorite time to workout is in the morning. It wakes me up and sets a positive tone for my entire day. I’m always more accomplished when I workout first thing in the morning.
That being said, if you pick your schedule, you may want to use your ‘golden hours’ (the time after waking up when your refreshed and most productive) to work. When your focus and mental energy begin to decline, then go workout. It will give you a mental break and boost your energy. Plus it’s a great way to relieve stress that builds up at work.
Bottom line is: Try working out at different times during the day. Pick a time you can commit to everyday. This will get you in a routine and help manage your energy levels.
Thanks Jordan I’ve never felt this soar in my life after Your skinny fat workout. Amazing I feel like I haven’t been working out a day in my life. Needed 2 rest days after workout A and B but my body is getting used to it after a week. Always trying to go up 5 pounds per workout. Already feeling and seeing noticeable results. Thanks I shot you an insta follow
Yes! Keep up the good work. The body you want is on the other side of that pain.
Like you mentioned, your body will adjust and the soreness will be less severe as time goes on.
Keep up the intensity and keep challenging yourself! If you have any questions at all about workouts/diet/exercises/form anything, just let me know, man!
I followed you back on Instagram – I appreciate the follow!
Hi Jordan,
I found your article very helpful and interesting,but i have some questions for you.
i’m 16 years old,tall about 5’10 and with a body fat percentage of about 20%.
I’ve already decided to take your workout plan as my workout routine but i don’t really know what and how to eat in order to get a 6 pack.
Again i really love this page and if you can help me i would be very thankful!
Hi Angelo,
It is great that you are taking the initiative to get started! Make sure you workout with an adult who knows what they are doing. I have to say that because you are under 18.
Now, as far as eating goes – If you want a six-pack, you need to eat whole foods. Eat meats like steak, beef, chicken and turkey. And eat a lot of vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, salad, and spinach. Eat Eggs every day for at least one meal.
Cut out sugar from your diet. Sugar is very, very easy to eat in large amounts, and it is very hard to burn off all the extra calories from eating too much sugar.
Keep carbs under 200 gram per day until you get lean and you can see your abs.
Make sure you’re getting at least 120-150 grams of protein every single day. Continue working out following the Skinny-Fat program.
Take pictures before you start your workout program, and every week to track your progress. Also, weight yourself everyday and write down your weight. This is data you need in order to make adjustments. Since you are new at this, keeping track of everything will be valuable data that you can use to get a six-pack faster.
Hey,
Nice blog man. If I’m not mistaken, you’re using the Magazine Pro theme right?
It’s a beautiful theme, I need to get used to it. Try to post more.
Kind regards,
Jamo
Thanks, Jamo.
You are correct. Good eye.
I plan to post more… I have a lot of articles started and even more ideas to write about, just need to find the time to write!
Hi Jordan,
I just finished the 1st day of Phase 1, however my lower pack hurts alot. I was diagnosed with lumbar degenerative decease a year ago and as I researched weightlifting, sit-ups and squats which excercises you recommended the most, are bad for my back. I am really depressed because I really want to get rid of my belly fat and have a nice body.
Is there another way for me to do this ? I really appreciated your help. Thank you
I mean “Lumbar Degenerative Disk Disease”
Hi Lee,
Talk to your doctor before starting an exercise program. I have to say that for liability reasons.
For now, skip the squats and sit-ups and other exercises that put your back at risk. Instead, try doing lunges. Put your hands on your hips and take a long step forward. Then bring your back foot to your front foot. Lunges will strengthen your legs, back, core and burn calories, with low risk of hurting your back. These may feel awkward at first. Be careful to keep your balance and don’t bust your knee cap on a hard surface while lungeing! Try on a carpeted floor or grassy field. Start with 20 lunges a day and add 5 more each day until you get to 100 total in one day. Once you can do 100, hold a weight in each hand, arms straight down your sides, and start back at 20 lunges and work your way up again, adding 5 more lunges each day while holding weight.
You could also try a low carb diet to reduce belly fat. Reduce your carb intake to 100 grams a day. Eat a lot of protein and fresh vegetables. Fill up on whole foods and don’t leave room for snacks or dessert.
Keep my posted on your progress!
Hi Jordan
Thank you very much for your answer. It’s very helpful to me
1) However, is there anyway you can build the workout routine for me please ? This will be very helpful because I really want to make progress and it’ll be the best if I know what I am doing to keep consistent for training.
2) Should I use whey protein and what kind should I use ? Currently I’m using Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100%, 1 scoop after workout
3) I’m 68 kg and 170cm, my body fat is about 14.7%. Should I bulk more or keep it like that. Is steak and egg diet working good for skinny fat ?
Once again, Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciated it
Hi Lee, I am happy to help!
Talk to your doctor and make sure he approves this workout routine and diet for you.
I would recommend the following workout routine. it consists of two workouts, workout ‘A’ and workout ‘B’. Do workout ‘A’ then do workout ‘B’ two days later. Repeat this pattern and that is your routine.
Workout ‘A’:
Bodyweight Lunges – 50 steps total
Leg Press – 3×10
Pull Downs – 3×10
Seated Rows – 3×10
Standing Dumbbell shoulder press 3×10
Workout ‘B’
Bodyweight squats – 50 reps (hands behind head. squat down as low as you can)
Machine Chest Press – 3×10 (recommending machine because barbell bench could aggravate your back)
Pull Downs – 3×10
Tricep Overhead Press – 3×10
Planks – 3 minutes total
When lifting, perform each repetition slowly and deliberately. Take 2 seconds to lift the weight and 2 seconds to lower the weight.
Take one or two rest days between workouts. Workout 3-4 times per week if able.
If anything at all hurts your back, stop and talk to your doctor. We will adjust exercises as needed.
DIET: The steak and eggs diet will definitely get you lean. You can try it if you’d like. The main thing is to eat as naturally as possible. Cut out processed foods. Anything frozen or fried is off limits. Eat lots of lean meats and fresh vegetables. Limit bread, pasta and sweets to special occasions like eating out with friends. Sample meal plan – Breakfast: 4 whole eggs and turkey bacon. Lunch: Chicken breast, steamed broccoli, rice. Dinner: Beef roast or steak with baked potato and salad. Snacks: Fresh fruit, greek yogurt, or Protein shake (protein powder-Optimum Nutrition is good, natural peanut butter, and milk/water). Drink a gallon of water a day. No liquid calories. Only water, black coffee and calorie-free drinks.
This diet should provide all the nutrients needed to build healthy muscle and reduce body fat.
Hi Jordan,
Thank you very much for your help. You’ve made my day.
I just have some questions to ask, hope you will help me to clear it out
1) How long should I take this workout routine ? Will there any update later ?
2) My doctor told me I can do bench press. So how many sets and reps for bench press should I do? And also I saw you recommended the inclined bench press over flat bench press because it help my chest wider, but I didn’t see it in my workout routine
3) As you suggest to do 50 squats everyday,does it means in Day Workout B I will do 100 squats total ?
4) As many people told me to not eating too full in a meal. So which one is better ? 3 big meal or 5 small meals ?
5) I try to find a good warm-up and stretch exercises but they take too long for about 15 mins or more. Can you suggest me some please ?
6) I’m 68 kg and 170cm, My body fat is about 14.7%. I want to get lean fast , should I take carbs anymore ?
Once I feel depressed when I think I can’t do anything to have a nice body but your advises saved me. Thank a lot !!!
I am happy to help you, Lee. I’m glad you are taking control of your fitness and will support any way I can.
1) 8 weeks
2) 4 sets of 8 reps. Switch between flat bench and incline bench. (lift flat bench today, and the next chest workout lift incline bench. This will target the chest muscles at new angles) Lift with a spotter or in a rack with safety bars if it makes you feel safer with your back.
3) Just 50 squats a day for not. No need to double up during workout B.
4) It doesn’t matter if you eat 3 or 5 meals. Eat whenever you want and how often you want. The important thing is total amount of food consumed each day and the nutrition profile of that food. Eat high protein, medium fat and low carbs. I’ll send you a meal plan if needed. Let me know.
5) 5 minute light jog or 2-3 warm up sets using very light weight, very slow reps and high amount of reps (15-30 reps per warmup set). that should get the blood pumping. Where long sleeves and pants to warm up faster and stay warm if needed.
6) No more bread, pasta or sugar. You can eat some rice or sweet potato each day if needed for energy. Make sure you are eating lots of meat and eggs and veggies every day!
You will have a nice body if you put in the work – You got this! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi, I am 37 years old male, weight: 64 kgs, height: 171 cms, body fat %: unsure, but I think I am a skinny-fat type with belly. My goal is to have lean muscular body (perhaps body fat % of 10% – 12%).
I am able to do push-up: 2 sets of 10 (as an indicator of my current physical strength)
I have started doing squats with dumbell at the gym: 3 sets of 10,8 and 5 reps
I have no problem doing the weight exercises hard, but I always struggle with the diet part. I am not sure what food to eat. I know I should be getting a lot of protein, therefore, is 10 eggs per day sufficient? what else? what about beef? is it ok to eat white rice? I found that whenever I cut down on white rice, I feel fatique throughout the day. Please help.
Thank you
Rio
Hi Rio,
10 eggs a day is great. Eating beef and rice is good too. Chicken, fish, and turkey are also good options. White rice is fine. Eat as much as you need to keep your energy level high enough to train hard and be productive. If you cut something out, cut out sugar and all liquid calories. Start there and see how it impacts you. Keep working out and getting stronger. Keeping protein high and eating ‘clean’ will build muscle and make you lean and muscular in time.
Keep up the good work!
Hi Jordan, this is Patrick. I’m also skinny fat with man boobs small love handles and some belly fat like a muffin top lol but my question would be if I ate in a caloric deficit and weight lifted or did body weight exercises, wouldn’t I look more thinner like too too skinny? Because I thought you had to bulk like be in a surplus when your skinny fat.
And in your opinion, weight lifting is more better than body weight right? I’m just trying to do it right and not mess up. Please help when you have the chance thank you!
Hi Patrick. These are good questions. The trick is to eat in a caloric deficit by cutting out refined carbs (like bread, pasta, and sugar). Replace those calories with protein and healthy fats. Combine that with resistance training (like weight lifting or bodyweight training) and you will burn fat and build muscle.
It’s important to do both bodyweight training and weight lifting. You need to be able to do 10 pushups in a row, 10 sit-ups in a row, 20 bodyweight squats in a row and 1- pull up before lifting weights. Doing the bodyweight exercises first ‘wakes up’ your nerves and muscles to prepare you for weight lifting. After you can do the basics for the listed amount of reps, you can start training with weights. And Yes, you will see muscles gains with weight lifting once you start getting stronger.
Hey Jordan it’s Patrick again Thank you for your answer. So when you say take out refined carbs and replace with protein and fats, do you mean take out all carbs together? Or eat healthy carbs like brown rice sweet potatoes etc? Or be in a low carb diet? lol sorry just want make sure.
I calculated my calories in deficit and maintenance 2600 but cutting would be 2100 and there’s a moderate carb then low carb and high carb and low carb looks interesting since I would have to eat a lot of protein if that makes sense. So low carb right?Hope to hear from you again!
Hi Patrick,
I’m happy to see you took the initiative and calculated your calorie needs.
Eat 50-100 grams of carbs a day for now. Carbs should come from rice, sweet potatoes and oatmeal. Eat a lot of protein and healthy fats. Fresh meat and whole eggs are best. Eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of your bodyweight. The rest of your calories can come from fat.
Keep me posted on your progress and let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi Jordan !
It’s Lee again. It has been 8 weeks and my body changes a lot. Can I ask you some questions please ?
1) I’m on week 8 of training, Can you help me with new work-out routine please ?
2) My workout routine is 4 workout days per week, plus 1 HIIT sprinting per week, and 100 push-ups every single day. I get a lot stronger and my shoulder, arms, legs starting get ripped ; however I didn’t see much changes on my belly and my chin. Is that something wrong ?
3) As your suggestions for meal plan, I can eat bacon for breakfast, some say that eating too much bacon is not good for gain, so how much should I eat it ? Also how much carbs should I eat in order to get rid of my belly fat fast and still grow muscle ?
4) I want to ask more about resting between sets and exercises, Currently I have been resting 1 mins between sets and 2 mins between exercises. Is it alright ?
5) I don’t have much time to prepare and eat for breakfast, is there any meal that can help me save time ?
Once again, thank a lot for your helps, I can see my body and strength changing significantly, I feel very positive about my results and my goals,
Hi Lee, welcome back!
1) Do the same weight lifting exercises, except do 6 sets of 6 reps.
2) Keep up the 4 days a week workouts, plus HIIT and pushups. Email me your before and after photos so I can see where/how you carry body fat. That way I will be able to help you target it to get rid of it.
3) 4-5 strips of bacon each morning is fine. You can eat turkey bacon instead, which is leaner. Keep carbs low and cycle them: 150 carbs during your 4 workout days, and 75 carbs the other days.
4) This amount of rest is fine but you could reduce to 45 seconds between sets this next 8 weeks. It will make workouts more intense. 2 minutes between exercises is alright.
5) You can bake eggs ahead of time. It’s like an omelet or quiche – Check out my high-protein breakfast meal prep. Store in fridge and micro a piece in the morning. Takes just a few minutes to heat and eat.
Glad to hear you’re making progress! Keep up the great work!
Hi Jordan !
Thank you for your reply. Can I ask some questions please?
1) It might sound silly but when you said weight lifting exercises, do you mean every exercises in my workout routine except lunge, squat and plank ?
2) My fat stays mainly on my belly and I also have a double chin and love handle, And I don’s see much change in these spots
3) How long should I sleep to recover my body after work-out ? 7-8 hours per day ?
Hope to hear from you again !
No problem. Great questions.
1) Yes. Continue to perform the exercises you were before. They are working for you so stick with them. Just do 6 sets of 6 reps.
2) Cover up from head to toe in sweats when you workout. Wear layers of clothing. Sweat a lot and this will burn more fat.
3) Sleep varies from person to person, but 7-8 hours of sleep a day is good for recovery.
Hi Jordan !
Can I ask you some questions please ?
1) I started to add more weights in my leg press workout. However, my lower back got more pressure and feel numb. Do you have any substitute for that ?
2) I increased my HIIT to twice per week, do you think it’s still ok to gain muscle ?
3) Can I ask how much maximum fat intake per day I should take ? Because I ate a lot of beef and it got a lot of fat too.
Thank you very much for your advises
Hey Lee! Of Course!
1) Replace leg press will Lying Leg Curls and Leg Extensions
2) HIIT twice a week is OK. You will still gain muscle.
3) As long as you eat your minimum protein requirement, and stay under your maximum calories, you can eat as much fat as you want. Natural animal fat that is, as natural animal fat helps build important hormones.
His Jordan. First of all I just want to say I appreciate that you’re taking the time to reply to pretty much every comment! It’s great to see.
I’ve been following this routine for about 5 weeks and have lost about 5lbs. I am currently 166lbs and 178cm. My idea was that I would lose around a stone of body fat by Christmas (while maintaining/gaining muscle with your 12 week plan) and then bulk after Christmas and attempt to put on more muscle while limiting fat gain.
For these past 5 weeks I have been aiming to eat 1700 calories. I am doing HIIT twice a week to boost my cardio and am adjusting my food intake on those days to meet the 1700 calorie criteria. Besides that I’m not doing any other exercise besides walking 20 mins to and from work each day and I have a sedentary job.
I haven’t seen huge progression in how much I can lift after each session. I’m finding that some exercises are improving slightly but even then maybe after a couple sessions. Do you think my calorie intake is too low or do you think this is about right? Am I literally supposed to increase the weight and successfully do the required sets after every single session? Also if you would be able to tell me how much protein you think I should be eating based on my height and weight that would also be hugely helpful.
I know this is a lot and I appreciate in advance!
Hi Dan, Thanks for reading and I’m glad you left a comment!
First of all, it sounds like you are on track to reach your goal to lose one stone by Christmas. So, good work there!
If you’re not getting stronger each workout it could be due to low recovery. This makes sense because you are training a lot and in a calorie deficit. Adding weight every workout is a principle that ensures constant progress. I recommend you try a weight you’ve never tried before. Even if you only get 5 reps instead of 8. Just be safe and smart about it.
The idea is to keep intensity high. So, lift with 80%-95% maximum effort every workout and you will always improve. Since you want to lose fat, you are doing the right thing. Your calories at first glance seem low but the rate of fat loss tells me that the amount is right for you.
If I were you, I would use the following macros ratio:
Protein 180 grams
Carbs 60 grams
Fat 85 grams
That’s just about 1700 calories per day.
A few questions for you that will help me help you better:
What are your current macros?
What is your current body fat percentage?
Hi Jordan,
It’s a great article and thank you for sharing with the world and wish I found this earlier.
I started my fat loss journey 3 months ago (age 25, height 188 cm and weight 94 kg) and now I am 80 kg. I did compound exercises every other day and followed macros balanced diet with a 500 deficit. workout plan as follows
1. Walking lunges (8 * 4)
2. Barbell Full Squat (8 * 4)
3. Deadlift (8 * 4)
4. Barbell Bench Press (8 * 4)
5. Incline Bench Press (8 * 4)
6. Military Press (8 * 4)
7. Lat Pulldown (8 * 4)
8. Seated Cable Rows (8 * 4)
9. HIIT (10 mins)
I had a lot of fat in my belly, love handles and chest(unpleasant jiggly fat). a lot of fat of those areas relatively went away but still has a lot of fat and skin. Actually now I have thin arms, legs, shoulders, relatively fat belly and love handlers(Typical skinny fat). I guess my body type is Endomorph. I am very week and I cannot lift heavy weights also.
I am kind of lost now and thinking what to do. It would be great if you can guide me!
Thanks in advance
Hi Jan,
Great work so far! You have the initiative and discipline need to succeed.
You need to build muscle. That will tighten your skin, build bigger arms, and get rid of current fat.
How many grams of protein, carbs, and fat are you eating each day? You may need an adjustment to build muscle.
Keep doing your workout. Slow down your reps (take 2-3 seconds to lift and lower weight), and add one BURN SET at the end of exercises 2,4,5,6,7, and 8. Example of a burn set for bench press is this:
Put a weight on the bar you can lift about 10 times and do as many reps as possible. Then IMMEDIATELY lower the weight by 10-30 pounds and do as many reps as possible. Do this two more times, lowering weight and doing as many reps as possible. You should find it very hard to lift even tiny weight by the end of the burn sets.
This technique will create muscle growth if you do it right.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Thanks Jordan for reply.
I was following a low carb diet. Now I am eating around maintenance (I don’t know whether this is the right approach.). I am eating around 2500 calories per day. (176 lbs, 188 cm) . I guess I need to cycle between deficit and maintenance.
My macros –
protein – 150
fat – 95
carbs – 270 (no added sugar. all low GI foods such as quinoa, banana, apple, whole grain bread…etc).
I guess testestorne also playing a vital role here. I am trying to naturally increase that also.
It would be great if you can tell me my approach is right or wrong!.
Thank you.
My pleasure!
You can build muscle on maintenance calories.
Do the burn sets I mentioned in my last comment. This will help you build muscle and burn fat. Burn sets help you train beyond failure to stimulate muscle growth.
I would also switch macros to:
Protein – 180 grams
Fat – 95 grams
Carbs – 240 grams
The extra protein will help with muscle growth.
What are your protein and fat sources? I need to know to see if it’s helping you increase testosterone.
Thanks Jordan for the reply, Do I need to cycle between maintenance and deficit in order to loose fat (because still I have 20-25% fat I guess)? I’ll switch to macros as you recommended.
My macros sources
Protein – Whey, Chicken, steak, Tuna, mackerel, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt
Fat – Avocado, Almonds
Carbs – Sweet potato, quinoa, broccoli, apple, banana, canned corn and black eye beans
You can cycle between maintenance and deficit to lose fat faster.
I would eat 2500 calories on training days, and 2200 calories on ‘off’ days. On 2200 calories days, reduce carbs only. Keep Protein and fat macros the same everyday.
Hey Jordan,
I am looking into starting this program. I would also like to try the intermittent fasting approach as well. The only issue is that I work evening shifts (3pm-11:30pm) so working out in the evening isn’t really an option for me. Ideally, I would like to work out in the morning but not sure how IF on an empty stomach will work out. Could you help me set up a sample daily routine as to when to workout and how long to wait to break the fast? I currently wake up at 8am and try to be in bed around 12:30am.
Thanks!
Hi Cade,
I’d do a fasted workout around 10AM and eat my first meal after that workout. I’d eat my last meal for the day around 7-8PM.
I like intermittent fasting and have never had a problem working out on an empty stomach. If you have low energy or are unbearably hungry, then we will adjust the plan.
Let me know how that goes!
Hey Jordan,
This training method seems interesting. I’ve been gyming for about 3 months now and I’m seeing minimal results. I don’t train legs because I already have large glues, huge thighs and wide hips. And the typical skinny fat look of narrow shoulders and back….Should I just give into leg days?
Hi Griffin,
Absolutely train legs, and give it everything you got on leg day!
I’m guessing your large glutes, huge thighs, and wide hips are not muscular. Training legs will make your glutes, thighs, and hips muscular, and make them look like an athlete’s.
Legs and glutes are your largest muscle groups. Build muscle there and you will burn a lot of calories all day, everyday.
Training legs also gives you bigger shoulders and back. (You’ll need a strong back and shoulders to squat with a heavy bar across your back)
So, yes – train your legs at least twice a week!
Hey Jordan,
I have been doing your program since May and despite getting into shape, I’m happy for what I’m doing. Your plan is simple, easy to do and fun. However I’m in need of a further program above Phase 3.
I really like to do compound movements, and would like to continue on them on a different work-out routine. Can you please recommend a Phase 5 for your loyal followers?
Hi Yeto,
I’m glad to hear you’ve made progress with this workout!
I’m releasing a book soon that contains powerful workout routines.
In the meantime, check out this Push, Pull, Legs routine. Let me know if you have any questions about it!
Hi Jordan,
Long time no see. It’s me Lee, I just finished my 8 weeks workout with 6 reps of 6 sets. My back looks much better, however I didn’t see my chest grow much. Can you help me with new routine please ?
Beside that, I tried to switch my leg press with Bulgarian split squat because my knees are quite painful when I am doing leg extension and also my low back when i’m doing lying leg curl. Can you suggest other leg workout please ?
Thank you very much
Hi Lee! How have you been man? I was wondering if you were ever going to comment again!
I’m happy to hear your back looks better. For chest, do two sets of 30 reps of dumbbell press for a warm up. Use light weight. You should feel a nice pump in your chest muscles. Concentrate on that pump feeling when lifting. This will help activate your chest muscles while lifting and make them grow. Another thing you can do is stretch your chest between sets. Stretching improves blood flow and the stretching sensation in the muscle helps you feel the chest muscles (building mind-muscle connection).
Bulgarian Split Squat is a great leg exercise. I recommend lunges while holding dumbbells for legs as well.
Here’s your new workout. Perfrom New Workout A, then New Workout B in alternating fashion. Rest one day in between. You can do HIIT or active recovery on ‘rest’ days. Do program for 8 weeks. Increase weight when you can complete all reps without too much struggle.
New Workout ‘A’
Lunges – 50 septs total holding dumbbells
Bulgarian Split Squat – 4×8 for each leg
Close Grip Pull Down 4×12 (Touch grip to sternum, stretch lats at top of motion)
Bent Over Barbell Row – 4×12 (Go very light, slow and under control. Stretch lats on way down. If form compromises stop. Want to make sure to keep back safe. If this exercise doesn’t work, I have an alternative.)
Alternating Dumbbell Curls – 3×10 each arm (strict form. No momentum or body swing)
Prone Leg lifts – 3×10 (For abs/core. Do these as long as they don’t hurt your back)
New Workout ‘B’
Incline Dumbbell Press 4×12,10,8,6(Slight incline ~ 30 degrees. Increase weight each set)
Flat Bench Press 4×12,10,8,6 (Increase weight each set)
Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4×8
Tricep Overhead Press 3×10
Lateral Raises 3×15
Plank variations – 3 minutes total
Use challenging weight, but make sure you keep good form throughout each set. I increased volume to challenge muscles to grow. If you have any questions or concerns please just let me know!
Also, how have you been progressing in terms of strength, weight, and muscularity?
Great to hear from you! Keep up the great work.
Hi Jordan ! How are you these days ?
I just finished 8 weeks of training. My chest and my arms starting grow a bit. Can you help me with new routine please ? Besides that, I have some concerns:
1) When I do the flat bench press, my triceps get strained and I can only push 4 reps instead of 6
2) When I do a Close grip pull-down, my forearm get strained very fast and I have to do much lighter weight than before. It also make me hard to retract my scapula.
3) The Bent-over barbell row exercise hurt my back so I changed it to Chest-supported row with less back pressure. Is that ok ?
4) I am so scared that my leg will be too skinny compared to my upper body. Are these above exercise enough for me to gain ?
5) Should I still do 100 push-up everyday, because I try to do progressive overload every week, I’m scared of being injured.
6) I tried to rest more up to 1,5 mins between the heavy sets such as bench press, inclined bench press ,,, Is that OK ?
Thank you very much for your help. I get better every day thank for your advises. I am trying to lower my total weight by 0.2 kg per week.
Hello Friend! Welcome back!
I’ll answer your questions the best I can right now. I also have some questions for you:
1) We will strengthen your triceps over the next 8 weeks.
2) Are you using an attachment that allows parallel (palms facing each other) grip?
3) Yes, chest-supported rows are perfectly fine. They are great for isolating back muscles.
4) Have your legs gotten bigger and/or stronger since you started lifting weights?
5) We might reduce pushups with your new plan.
6) 1.5 minute rest between heavy sets is OK.
Let me know the answers to my questions and I’ll gladly put another training program together for you to keep building muscle and lose fat.
Also, what is your current weight?
How much strength have you gained so far?
Great to hear from you again Lee!
Keep up the great work.
Hi Jordan !
Sorry for late response. I was ill and couldn’t go to gym for nearly 2 weeks.
1) I’m using the normal pull-down bar, shall I change to close grip one ?
2) I feel like my legs gotten stronger than before
3) My weight is staying the same, I’m trying to lose 0.1kg per week
4) I am much stronger than before, I can do heavier sets which I never did before
Thank you for your help
Hi Lee,
No worries man, I hope you are feeling better.
1) Yes, change to close grip one.
2) Good! Let’s keep going.
3) What are you eating every day? Tell me the foods and amounts please. I can provide nutrition plan.
4) Great! Let’s keep going.
Here’s your new workout. Two workouts, ‘A’ and ‘B’. Two days in the gym followed by one day rest/HIIT/light cardio/stretching.
Workout ‘A’ Chest and Arms
Pushups – 2 sets of as many reps as possible for a warm up.
Incline Dumbbell Bench – 5×10,8,6,6,4 / Pushups between each set.
Flat Bench Press 4×12,10,8,6 / Dumbbell flies between each set. 10-12 light reps.
Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4×8 / Lateral Raises between sets 3×15
Tricep Overhead Press 3×10 / Dumbbell Hammer curls between sets 3×10
Plank variations – 3-4 minutes total
Workout ‘B’ Lower Body and Back
2 sets of pull-ups as a warmup.
Close Grip Pull Down 4×12 (Touch grip to sternum, stretch lats at top of motion) / pull-ups between sets.
Chest Supported Row 5×8-10 (Get stronger in this rep range.)
Prone Leg Curls – 3×12
Front Squat – 3×8 – (Go Light. Make sure this doesn’t aggravate your back. We can find alternative if needed.)
Lunges – 50 septs total holding dumbbells
Prone Leg lifts – 3×12-15+ (For abs/core. Do these as long as they don’t hurt your back)
This workout will grow your legs (thighs).
Perform the lighter sets with little rest in between them.
Keep increasing weight on lower rep sets.
Perform this routine for 8 weeks.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Hi Jordan,
I’m 36 years old and am starting your program. I’m an experienced weight lifter and love exercise. Problem has been that I don’t look great even when in great shape. I’ve made great strength gains doing 5 3 1 and other low rep programs. But i didn’t look the part. Planning on jumping to phase 3, eating only vegetables for carbs, going to put in some cardio. Hopeful that I will get on track with your advice.
2 questions:
How much rest between supersets (1 minute? )
Any difference in technique when lifting for looks vs performance. ( better looking chest vs just being able to lift more weight)
Hi Aaron,
1 minute rest between supersets is fine. Take less rest if you can.
To answer you second question is yes. Different techniques can be used to enhance looks. The main thing is you want to feel your muscle working the entire set. The rep ranges in this workout will allow you to improve the looks of you muscle and physique overall. Especially since you already have a base layer of muscle and strength.
Hey Jordan. This is such an inspiring article. I am 15 and have started this plan. I also looked into your body recomposition article. Are the workouts the same, in the sense of building muscle and losing fat at the same time? I am planning on doing these sets of workouts and then doing the body recomp workouts following these 12-15 weeks. Thanks man!
Hi Rit,
Thank you for your comment! I’m happy you found my article inspiring – that’s why I do this!
Both workouts from this article and the Body Recomposition article will work to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
The key is finding the right blend of workout and nutrition. Make sure you’re eating right for best results.
If you have any questions along the way, let me know!
-Jordan
Hey Jordan,
Thanks for your reply. I wanted to know what you would recommend as an example of a diet I should follow. I am a vegetarian but also don’t eat eggs. So, protein is hard for me. I drink 2 protein shakes and eat a lot of tempeh, brown rice, and vegetables. I am 120 lbs and around 15% body fat.
Thanks
Hey Rit,
No problem man. Here’s what you could eat to get protein on a vegetarian diet:
Lentils, chia seeds, almonds, yogurt, peas, and peanut butter.
Focus on getting stronger and learning the exercises. Feel your muscles working. Eat a lot. Get 175+ grams of protein a day and train often. Eat a total of 2800-3000 calories a day.
You’ll gain some good muscular weight and maybe a little fat. But it will pay off when you recomp because you will have maximized your muscle gains.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi!
This is such an amazing article. It taught me so much about workout, nutrition, etc. Would like to ask what I will do after I finish Phase 3 of the recommended workout?
Thanks!
Hi Mark, thank you!
I’m launching a book this year that will be a perfect follow up of Phase 3.
In the meantime, I’m happy to help you out.
Email me at ironandgrit1@gmail.com or DM me https://www.instagram.com/ironandgrit/
Hope to hear from you soon!
This blog about Skinny Fat Solution: The Skinny Fat Guy
Workout and Diet has helped me a lot, is very well written.
I used this fat burner product: [link removed by admin] and I
reached the ideal weight. Kiss you All!
Such a great article! I’m going to start with the Egg & Steak meal and the home workout routine.
Thanks Aishik!
That’s great. Let me know how it works for you and reach out to me if you have questions.
Bro i’m 170 cm and 70 kg and i’m going to do ur workout plans but i dont know how t split the diet beetween proteins , fat and carbs
Hey Jordan. I’m 15 and have been working out consistently for the past 5 months. While I do look more toned when I first started, I am still skinny fat, and I think the main reason is my diet, I only eat healthy foods, but my macros and calorie intake might not fit. Would you recommend your diet to someone my age?
Also, should I do intermittent fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a great way to burn fat.
Hi Kenneth, I would need to know exactly what you eat and how you train in order to make a meaningful recommendation for you.
Skinny fat can do 50 normal push ups and 300 skipping daily
hi Kenneth im skinny fat and height 169 cm weight 77 kg . i wanna ask you about bodyweight exercise can i add chest dips with chin ups, decline push ups and bodyweight squat everyday what do you suggest thank you
Hi Abraham,
Yes, you can add chest dips with chin ups. You can also add decline push ups and bodyweight squats everyday.
Hi Jordan I want to ask you to decline push ups ,diamond push ups with body weight squats can fix skinny fat to fit and lean muscular
Hi Jordan
Im 25 years old and my overall shape is skinny but a massive belly. Im going to follow your programme. I want to increase the intensity so faster results. Please can you change the programme slightly to include arms as well. I have absolutely 0 definition in my arms i want the cut.
Also im 5’8 and weight 65kg can you let me know how many calories i should eat and what my macros should be if you can include details like what should have for breakfast, lunch and dinner please. I dont like vegetables so please dont include them
Thanks you so much
Hey Zak,
Just add bicep curls and hammer curls to the workout. 4 sets of each 2x per week, in addition to the program as written.
1600-2000 calories a day is a good starting point but you need to test and experiment. Cut out all processed food and replace it with whole, all-natural foods.
I recommend you get a copy of my book ‘The Skinny-Fat Solution‘, it’s only 9.99 and it gives you everything you’re looking for, plus makes training and diet way easier by simplifying everything.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks for the response.
What about triceps? Also because i can’t cook and i plan to cut out all carbs is it ok to buy peri chicken or full grilled from takeaway? Or go to restaurants to have steak?
I have a mass gainer protein shake that has a lot of calories. Do i stop taking that?
No problem, Zak.
Do French Press and Tricep Push downs. Baked/grilled chicken and steak from restaurants is fine. I suggest you learn how to cook. The only way to know what you are eating is if you cook the food yourself
Get rid of the mass gainer. No point in using it if you want to lose fat.
I only want to lose fat on my stomach. My forearm and legs and shoulders are all skinny. Do i not nees it to put on muscle mass?
What protein shake do i need?
You don’t need protein shakes, you need to eat real foods like steak, chicken and eggs. Those foods provide the protein needed to put on muscle mass.
If you want a protein shake in addition to your meals then get this protein powder.
Could you change the diet to high protein , low fat and zero carbs , whilst still doing these excercises and see the same results? What about intermittent fasting/snake diet whilst doing this workout routine to cut even more, would you again see similar results?
No, eat moderate or high fat. You need fat to help digest all the protein. Plus fat provides vitamins/minerals and nutrients needed for healthy hormone levels. (We are talking about real animal fat here. Not fake fat from fake foods.)
You can do intermittent fasting or the Snake Diet (a.k.a. One meal a day) and still get great results.
Good questions. Let me know if you have any others.
I’m skinny-fat with 67 kg weight
Can I do hindu push ups for daily just like dive bomber push ups with reps first day 5 tomorrow 10 third day 15 till hundred
You mention eating meat, eggs, nuts, and green veg. All sensible. What is your take on eating fruit – completely off the table?
Great question. Fruit is fine under some conditions: 1) Eat it on an empty stomach 2) Eat it 1 hour before working out.
Otherwise I would avoid it until you’ve got a good handle on your diet and your physique has noticeably changed.
I’m skinny fat can I do push ups, squats and hindu push ups daily or alternate day
Hi Jordan! Thank you so much for making this article, it’s honestly the best one I’ve seen tailored to skinny-fat guys like me. I just had a question I wanted to get your take on.
For context, I’m 21, 5’9”, and weigh 150 lbs. In your article, you talk about losing weight for this process, but I’ve been trying to gain weight (muscle) while losing fat (I guess this is a caloric deficit). Using MyFitnessPal at the moment, and it’s telling me to eat about 2600 calories each day based on my TDEE, so that’s what I’ve been doing the past month (that’s how long I’ve been on my routine, but am considering adopting your’s in some variation). Even though I think 150 lbs is a healthy weight for someone my age, I expected to get up to 160-165 for more muscle mass. Does that make sense or am I thinking incorrectly? I’ve seen progress like finally getting bigger arms and a chest, but I’m still feeling like I’m not losing belly fat even tho I do ab work frequently.
So my question is: Am I doing the right thing and it just takes longer than I expected? Or do you suggest eating a less amount of calories? Ngl, the whole concept of a calorie deficit still kinda confuses me haha.
Hey Zach great question – If you want to add muscle mass I would eat a slight calorie surplus of 300-500 calories per day. BUT the foods you eat must be unprocessed. Give your body time to speed up your metabolism. Once this happens your belly fat will start to go away. Based off your height/weight I think this is a good approach as long as you are training 4-5x per week.
That will put you on track to gain ~10 pounds of lean muscle in the next year. Building muscle takes time. But you should start to see a difference in a month or so if you’re doing it right. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hey Jordan, I was wondering if you could give me a bit of guidance on this workout and diet plan. Looking at the diet plan, you suggested the low-carb plan before transitioning to the sustainable plan. I know you said to not calorie count for the low-carb plan, but what would be a good ratio between protein fat and carbs for me? I’m a male, 18 years old, 6’2, and around 180 pounds. I’m not looking to become huge, but a more athletic physique is my goal. I have a bit of lower belly fat, but I’m still skinny fat since you can somewhat see definition of my upper abs and I have skinny arms. So like six pack and bigger arms would be ideal. I want to follow the workout plan, but I don’t have access to a pullup bar or machines, what are some substitutes that you would recommend for a beginner? Thanks!
Do you recommend any specific time of day or have any tips fro scheduling? I alternate between an evening job and night shift on top of being a student so I find it hard to set a regular workout routine.
Try to plan ahead as much as you can. Schedule your workouts for the week. You should know what the upcoming week looks like by Sunday right?
Anytime during the day is fine to train. Just find the time that works for your schedule. Need to adapt!
Hey jordan I was just going through all the questions and your replies to each and every person which is so kind that you replied to everyone not living a single person in doubt.
i just started following your skinny fat program 2 weeks in phase 1 with basic progressive overload as you said in this program. I have been going to the gym for the last 2 years consistently 6 days a week with 1 day of HIIT and 5k jog and i eat 5 to 6 clean vegetarian meals but i am still skinny fat I tried everything and I eat in a calorie deficit I am 5’4 and my weight is 61kg with a huge belly and i look so small even after going to the gym for past 2 years my parents and friends make fun of me that i go to gym workout everyday and i am still like this
Hey there, Jordan! I appreciate the fact that you are taking pains to reply to each and every comment. I would like to describe my journey so far. I am a 16 year old boy from India. 7 months ago, I used to be fat. Then I decided to work on myself and get in shape. Throughout this entire span of 7 months, I rummaged through every article on the internet relating to fitness, workout plans, diets and the like. Needless to say, these 7 months have been the toughest in my life. For the first few months, I ate about 1500 calories, which was about half the daily recommended caloric intake prescribed by medical institutions, derived from clean and fresh vegetables and lentil soups and rice and bread. Due to this, my height stopped growing. I am a vegetarian and I have absolutely stopped eating any oily, sugary, and fatty rubbish since the start of my transformation journey. I consumed a balanced diet. From 1 May to 1 July, I exercised early in the morning on an empty stomach. I consumed about 1600 calories around this time. My workouts varied from 1 hr to 2 hrs. I drank 4 to 5 litres of water daily. Overall, I managed to lose 10 kilos of weight in 3 months. This was my cutting period. I tried Pilates, Yoga and HIIT and LISS for weight loss. During those months, I ate 2 times a day. leading to poor metabolism. This was also a time when I faced emotional issues. Body dysmorphia wreaked a massive havoc on me. During this period, my parents told me not to exercise and to eat more. They told me that instead of developing a masculine body, I ended up looking like a weak, frail, shrunk boy. My mother helped me a lot because she cooks only healthy and balanced food for our family. However, due to me looking too skinny to my parents and not following their instructions repeatedly, they were not only severely disappointed with me but also were fed up with me. They told me that my behavior was really rude and that they were genuinely concerned for me. I myself right now regret that I acted so self- centered, arrogant, inconsiderate, dogmatic, inflexible, unpredictable ,disobedient and pessimistic. Putting myself in their shoes, I feel that they were concerned about me developing a negative attitude towards life. But it has been 1 month after the weight shredding period, I have started weightlifting from early July after coming across your skinny fat solution and now I am in Phase 2 of your Skinny Fat Workout. Now I am acquainted with the basic weightlifting movements. Now I have started to eat more calories because I need more energy for my growth, but I make sure that I eat clean. I eat beans, lentils and soya chunks and roasted Bengal gram everyday, and try my best to fulfill the macros. Currently, my parents have invested in a Home Gym Kit and I have continued to progressively overload my workouts. I ensure that I have at least 8 hours of sound sleep. My parents think that I am working out too hard and that the workouts that I am following are not suitable for me. So they tell me to stop it altogether. And it’s quite true that not a lot of information about teenage body transformation is out there on the internet. And there’s also a lot of fake information which could potentially end up ruining one’s body. I have not invested in a whey protein supplement currently(I have multivitamin and Calcium supplements every alternate day though) but still I have built some decent muscle in my quads, back, biceps and triceps though with a bit of fat. However, the only problem is that I tend to bloat after LITERALLY ANY meal. I take cold showers, eat 5 small meals a day to keep metabolism boosted but there’s not a lot of difference in the belly and midsection and chest. I also tried listening to subliminals, but that too didn’t work. No matter how much effort I put in, I can never get those abs. I have tried different Ab workouts and tried massages to relieve bloating but nothing really helped. Sometimes even after intense ab workouts, I get the top 2 abs but the lower belly and love handles still stick out. I have literally done everything for the abs over the past 3 months but I get really frustrated when I still have fat over my belly and hips. I also keep myself physically active throughout the day. After consuming any meal, I walk 5 to 10 minutes in order to facilitate digestion of food, and drink water an hour after the meal. NOTHING worked for me. Please help me to overcome this problem. Just imagine, after so much work, you get nothing, how much dejected do you feel. And although I have tried reduce my body fat to 15- 20 percent range, I do not seem to go any further. My current height is 172 cm and weight is 66 kg. My workout includes the Skinny Fat Program, Igor Voitenko’s Ultimate Summer Physique and then a 15 minute HIIT workout to finish it all. Then I do some cool down exercises and stretches and this all takes about 1 hr to 1 hr 40 min. I have no cheat days. Now, I request you to answer these questions.
Is this all suitable for me? Is it safe to lift weights in my teenage years because it is known to stunt height growth? Is it safe to workout for more than 1 hr 30 mins for me? And most importantly, how much more time will it take me to achieve that dream physique and reach a 6 ft height? Pls give me your suggestions and I will definitely work on it. My basic goal is body recomposition.
Moreover, I try to strike a balance between studies and exercising. But this journey has moulded me into a better person, both emotionally and physically.
Thanking you, in anticipation of a swift response.
Anonymous Teen
Hi Jordan! I apologize if this is too much to ask (or to clarify things) for just one comment.
I’m 15 and it’s a shame you have to be 18 or older to go to the gym (specifically in my country)
1.) About the bodyweight exercises that you mentioned if you were to not have gym access or a gym at home. Is this really a good alternative way to build muscle?
2.) I do not plan to buy a pull-up bar I just wanna be working out equipment-free, table pull-up is a good substitute, right?
3.) So basically I just have to do push-ups, pull-ups, bodyweight squats, leg lifts, and then increase the repetitions everyday?
4.) Are cheat meals okay? They say every once in a while you need to plan your cheat meal as a reward and I kind of disagree.
5.) Isn’t there a pre-workout plan first and a post-workout too? Like I have a pre-workout plan I used when I did cardio (and of course I had a feeling cardio wasn’t for me) and its basically 4 exercises that are simple to do, and for the post-workout its just basically stretching your muscles.
So. Correct me if I’m wrong but all I need to do is to be in a carefully planned LOW CARB, HIGH PROTEIN diet and do the BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES that I just mentioned on question 3 EVERYDAY with only less than a day to rest, and lastly, DONT DO CARDIO.
I don’t expect a swift response but either way, thank you so much for this blog! It’s really informative and I am again RESTARTING a new journey this Monday. Wish me luck!
Hello Professor,
1) Yes, you can build muscle with bodyweight training. Just keep increasing the reps and difficulty of the exercises.
2) Table pull up / Inverted Row will help train your back. Not as good as Pull Ups but it will work.
3) Yes, that’s right. Add variations of those exercises over time.
4) Yes, cheat meals are fine. Eat as many or as few as you want as long as it is in line with your Goal.
5) Warm up your muscles. You can jog in place and/or do very slow reps to start. You can start your training with situps and that can be your warm up.
I would add that you need to eat all natural Whole Foods. You must clean up your diet and cut out processed foods to fix your metabolism and in turn your body composition. So, yes, low carb, high protein, whole foods. Plus bodyweight exercises will give you results. You can do some cardio. Just don’t replace resistance training with cardio.
I hope this help. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!
Hi. I’m really interested to try this program as I’m one of the skinny-fats guys out there. But, firstly I want to ask few things. I’m already hitting the gym for a month. Basically my question is, since I have a flat chest. I want to know if I can incorporate a CHEST day as an additional for A and B days. So, it will be C for me. But on the other hand, I will removed the incline bench press from B and changed it to a bi/tricep workout. Also I’ll throw more abs workout for each day. I just want to ask for your opinion about it. Thanks,
It’s only been a month I would stick to the program and maybe add extra sets for chest on days that call for chest exercises. However, you are thinking creativity and trying to find a way that works for you so that’s good. You can try it your way, but I would give what you’re currently doing some time first.
Hi i am 18 years old and i am 57 kg. I am a skinny fat guy, I lack muscle but have only fat in my lower abs area and around Hips. I know i have to do few cardios but i really like playing soccer so what should i do to get fit as soon as possible.
Hope you can help me
Thanks
Do lots of pushups, pull ups and squats every day.
Do lots of pushups, pull ups and squats every day.
Hey Jordan, really appreciate what you are doing and I found this really helpful.
I am a 22-year-old Indian, my height is 167cm (5’6), my weight is 57kgs, and have ~18% body fat. I am confused about the protein intake that you mentioned, whether it is 1 gram per kilogram or pound of body weight. I am a complete beginner and will be hitting the gym starting today.
Thanks.
Please take 2gm per kg of your body weight.
as your weight is 57Kg then take around 110-115gm protein.
Thanks a lot for sharing such a great piece of article! I found it a good helpful write-up with a good sound and explanation. Here I have seen some valuable ideas that are definitely helpful for every fitness enthusiast. Please keep sharing more updates!
I used to be skinny-fat myself, took me good 2 year to put on some muscle, and the transformation was miraculous, suddenly everyone is treating me differently, girls are flirting with me, I feel so much better overall… was worth every hour in the gym.
Nice work tomtom! Loved reading your comment. Way to stick to it for 2 years. The results are well worth the effort. That’s what it’s all about – Look good, feel good, and do good.
Hi Jordan!
I’m 36 and I’ve been skinny fat my entire life. I tried going to the gym for years, doing cardio, swimming, even had an expensive coach 2 times per week. After following your training program for about 10 months i can finally say I’m not skinny fat any more!! I’m still quite skinny (something i like to be honest), but I look more muscular now, my belly has gone down a lot and my personal confidence has gone up like crazy! I honestly can’t thank you enough!!
I feel like I’m ready for another program which includes more biceps and arm exercises, but I’m not sure where to start and i would definitely like to use another one of your programs as this has been amazing. Is there one you would recommend for someone who can usually train 4 times a week?
Thank you again!!
Hey Sebastian!
I’m so happy for you man! Nice work.
A well-rounded Push-Pull-Legs routine (PPL) or Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower routine (PHUL) would be good programs to look at. I wrote about them here.
Push Pull Legs Routine
PHUL Routine
Modify the routine according to your particular goals and objectives. These routine can be modified to fit a 4-day per week workout split. Feel free to ask any questions.
I just wanted to know if your skinny fat workout would benefit a fat guy like me. I’m 6’1 hovering between 250-260 right now at 29% bodyfat. Do you think your skinny fat workout would be effective for me to get down to 200?
Hello Jordan,
I am a 36 year old Indian, 169.5 lbs, 35″ waist and body fat: 21.8%. I am skinny fat, you mentioned “No wheat, flour or sugar is allowed.” Should I assume Kellog’s Raisin Bran and Indian roti/chapati (they are made of wheat flour and the product I use is frozen and processed) should be avoided? How about rice, even a serving has 45 gms. of carbohydrates?
Since I’m a strict Indian vegetarian, protein sources are very less. I will have black beans and paneer occasionally, but assuming I want to gain muscle, should I straight away go to 165 gms protein every day? and reduce to around 80 gms. of carbohydrates?