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Home » The Top 5 Exercises for Skinny-Fat Guys

The Top 5 Exercises for Skinny-Fat Guys

By Jordan 1 Comment | Last updated on May 27, 2023

best exercises for skinny fat guys before and after
best exercises for skinny fat guys before and after

Skinny-fat guys are built different. There’s no question about it. That means a skinny-fat man need to eat and train differently. Otherwise you will waste precious time. (Not good.)

The issue with skinny-fat is two primary factors:

  • Too much body fat – Due to diet and lifestyle
  • Too little muscle mass – Also due to diet and lifestyle

High body fat percentage and low muscle mass leads to low testosterone and a slow metabolism.

Low testosterone and a slow metabolism make it hard to build muscle and lose fat.

Skinny-fat guys have wide hips and a narrow waist. These exercises help reverse that so skinny-fat guys can get wide shoulders and a narrow waist. 

We’ll get to the exercises in a minute, but before we do know that it’s imperative to clean up your diet.

Eating clean helps reverse the metabolic damage done by the modern western diet. A healthy diet also provides energy to train hard and build muscle. Which will help raise testosterone levels.

Increasing your metabolism and testosterone levels with GREATLY improve the rate at which you see results.

Now let’s get to the good stuff:

Skinny-fat body proportions

To put it bluntly, skinny-fat guys need to tighten their waist and build muscle throughout their back and shoulders.

A tight waist and broad shoulder creates a V-Taper torso. V-Taper torso makes your physique look healthy and athletic.

How to get a tight waist

Gotta lose the belly fat. That’s the only way. As you progress with training and diet 

You will create a powerful physique in the process of your skinny-fat transformation and experience the energy and vitality that comes with a healthy body and mind.

How to get broad shoulders

In order to acquire broad shoulders it is best to build a solid foundation of muscle. (I’ll tell you about the core workout to build a healthy muscular foundation in a minute.) As far as training shoulders, Rows and rear belt raises for the rear deltoids, side lateral raises for the middle deltoid, and shoulder preset for the front deltoid.

How to build a foundation of muscle

I could write all day about this but to put it briefly – Perform a balanced workout routine that targets each muscle group equally. Train your legs and back exceptionally hard. I wish I train my legs and back more when I first started out. I left a LOT of gains on the table because I wasn’t training my biggest muscle groups. Don’t make the same mistake.

Do deadlifts, squats, barbell rows, and bench press. Unlock the pull up and perform those often. Pull ups are your secret weapon to fix skinny-fat.

and strength throughout your entire body. That means building muscles in your legs and core as well.sol and a wide back, you first need a 

A holistic approach to training is best. The following exercises were selected because they are the best in terms of total muscles worked. Meaning they have the greatest impact on metabolic rate, fat burning, muscle building and hormone regulation. (The goal being to increase testosterone and decrease estrogen.)

The Best Exercises for Skinny-Fat Guys

Squats for Skinny-fat guys

Squats training the biggest muscles group in your body. Which means more potential to build maximum muscle mass. And the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn, the more fat loss.

I slept on squats for a long time. Keep the form pure, do the reps and the results will follow suite.

There is no way around squats if you want a healthy body that lasts for life.

High rep squats at a moderate weight work wonders for a skinny-fat physique.

Back squats, front squats, goblet squats, and other squat variations are the #1 requirements for going from skinny-fat to fit.

(It’s impossible to be skinny-fat and squat your bodyweight for 10 reps.)

Pull-ups and chin-ups

Achieving a pull up should be a primary goal for your fitness pursuit.

From the time you do your first pull up you will notice your back, arms and shoulders getting bigger, stronger and more defined.

Unlocking the pull up takes your body transformation ability to the next level. Pull-ups are one of the most effective exercises for skinny fat guys to build muscle mass throughout their shoulders, arms and back.

Pull ups aren’t easy but you will work up to them as you gain strength.

(See post titled “How to Do Your First Pull Up” for step-by-step instructions.)

Deadlifts

Conventional, Sumo and Straight-Leg Deadlifts are all part of a skinny fat guys training routine. No need to rush and try to learn them all at once.

Pick one type of deadlift and get really, really good at it. Then learn the others once you can deadlift your bodyweight for 5 reps.

Start with conventional deadlift if you don’t know where to begin. Move on to the other deadlift variations like sumo and elevated as you gain experience.

Rows

Rows train your back, shoulders, and all the muscles of your poster chain. Rows add depth to your back muscle and thickness to your frame. Certain variations also build the lower latissimus muscle were it ties into you waist giving you a nice V-shaped back.

Bend over barbell rows with an overhand grip are the way to go in the beginning. Free weight compound movements train your body as a unit because you use all your muscles to stabilize your body while lifting.

Incline Bench Press – Incline presses work wonders for building a wide chest and shoulders. They also give you thick arms to push and pull heavier weight. Remember, chest presses are a total upper body exercise. It should be performed in a manner that engages your entire torso (and body). It’s a complex movement that recruits quite literally your entire body to move the weight. But once you get it right, man, is it sweet.

You will notice there are a lot of back exercises in the list. That is because your back is 70% of your torso. Your body is designed to use your back for pulling and carrying things. In fact, most of the muscles in your body are designed to perform a pulling motion. So, the best way to train is to perform exercises in a manner the body was meant to move. This is how you make progress the quickest.

fin.

P.s.

If you want an all-killer-no-filler plan to teach you how to train and exactly what to eat in order to get as fit as you can as quickly as possible, then you need The Skinny-Fat Solution.

The program is made especially for skinny fat guys to teach you how to transform your physique the most efficient way possible.

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Filed Under: Fitness, Training

About Jordan

Creator of Iron & Grit. Find me at the gym. How can I help you? Follow me on Instagram for fitness tips and meal ideas @ironandgrit

Comments

  1. Damián says

    June 22, 2021 at 12:05 am

    Before I was a skinny-fat man. And these exercises helped me.

    Good articles.

    Damián.

    Reply

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