Author Archives: Joe

About Joe

Joe is the creator of this site and main contributor to date. He has been interested in the fitness sphere for many years and is a keen trainer. His other interests are sports, reading and cooking and he loves researching emerging thoughts on how to train more effectively. You can also connect with him at: Google+

Home Dumbbell Workout for Skinny Fat Sufferers

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Don’t believe the hype! You don’t need a gym membership or lots of fancy home fitness equipment to change your body from skinny and flabby to toned and aesthetically pleasing. Both men and women can make serious improvements to their physique which just a few simple pieces of home exercise equipment and the right home workout guide.

You can start making positive changes with just one dumbbell. If you are unhappy with your current shape and size, doing anything is better than nothing. If you haven’t yet got your hands on a dumbbell, have a look at our recent guide to the best affordable dumbbells on the market. For those of you with access to a dumbbell or two, let the workout commence!

Starting From Scratch

This workout is ideal for anyone who is both skinny and fat, and wants to start putting things right. If you are starting from scratch and are new to exercising with weights, you can probably get away with using just one dumbbell, but over time it will be necessary to upgrade to a bigger range of weights or invest in a good set of adjustable dumbbells. To keep on seeing results you need to increase the weight, and as we want to get from zero to hero, we will need to increase the weights once you start noticing things getting too easy!

Home Dumbbell Full Body Workout

As we are just starting out we will do a full body workout, i.e. work the whole body each time we exercise, as opposed to breaking the workout up into different body parts. Complete this home dumbbell workout every fourth day (two days rest in-between each home dumbbell workout). If you want to exercise more often than that, do something else on those days such as home cardio which could be skipping, circuit training or running. Just try not to do any heavy lifting on those days.

Dumbbell Floor Press: Chest and Shoulder Muscles

This exercise is like the bench press but can be done without a bench or any home gym equipment.

Lie on your back on the floor.
Take the dumbbell in one hand and bend your arm at the elbow with your upper arm flat on the floor and your forearm standing vertically.
Push the weight up towards the ceiling, keeping your back and head flat on the floor. Use your chest and shoulder muscles to lift the weight. Lift the weight until your arm is straight and the weight is as close the ceiling as you can get it while still keeping your back flat on the floor.
Slowly lower the weight to the starting position to complete the exercise.

Complete 8 reps of this exercise then change arms. Take a short rest (60 seconds), and then start again.

You should do 6 sets of 8 reps for each arm for the dumbbell floor press.

Overhead Dumbbell Press: Shoulder and Tricep Muscles

This is a great exercise for developing your shoulder muscles and firming and toning the underside of the upper arms, where bingo wings can be a problem.

Stand up and place your feet on the floor, shoulder width apart.
Take the dumbbell in one hand and hold it by your side.
Bend your arm at the elbow and bring the weight up.
Hold the dumbbell with your palm facing outwards in front of you.
Now push upwards with the weight and lift it up above your head, straight up towards the ceiling.
Lower the weight slowly until your elbow is back by your side and the weight is in line with your shoulders to complete the rep.

Complete 8 reps of the overhead dumbbell should press before changing sides.

Do 3 sets of 8 reps with each arm to complete the exercise.

Dumbbell Tricep Extensions: Tricep Muscles

This will continue the work on the triceps we did in the last exercise in order to ensure these upper arm muscles get a thorough going over.

Stand up and place your feet on the floor, shoulder width apart.
Holding the weight in one hand, lift it as high as it will go, until your arm is straight up.
Bend your arm at the elbow and lower the weight down, behind your head, keep your elbow as high as you can.
Now raise the weight, bending your arm at the elbow, until your arm is pointing straight up and the weight is as high as you can get it.

Complete 8 reps with each arm and aim for 3 sets of 8 reps for each arm.

Dumbbell Bent Over Rows: Back and Bicep Muscles

Now it’s time to start working the back and bicep muscles with some pulling movements. As you can see, a one dumbbell home workout routine like this can help you start improving your body without the need for an expensive gym membership or home gym.

Stand up, feet shoulder width apart and bend your knees slightly.
Keeping your back straight and not bent, bend forward at the waist.
Keep your head up and look forward, straight ahead of you.
Holding the weight in one hand, let your arm hang loose.
Now pull the weight up to your shoulder, bending your arm at the elbow, in a rowing motion.
Lower the weight to complete the rep.

Do 8 reps before changing arms. Try to complete 3 sets of 8 reps for each arm before moving on.

Dumbbell Bicep Curls: Bicep Muscles

The last exercise hit the bicep muscles, in conjunction with the back muscles, but now we are going to hit them again.

Stand up, feet shoulder width apart with arms by your side and the weight in one hand.
With your palm facing forwards, bend your arm at the elbow and lift the weight through 180 degrees.
Lower the weight slowly to return to the starting position.

Aim for 8 reps before changing arms then repeat the whole process 3 times.

Dumbbell Squats: Leg Muscles

Now that the upper body is done, it’s time to go down south and hit the legs and rear lower body muscles. Doing squats at home with a dumbbell is a great way to get your legs in great shape and tighten things up down there.

Stand up, with your feet shoulder width apart and your toes pointing forwards.
Hold the weight in both hands, close to your chest, in front of you.
Bend at the knees, keeping your back straight, lowering your body into a squatting position. Avoid leaning too far forward over your toes. Think of the movement as sitting down on a seat or squatting down on the floor.
Go down slowly, as low as you can and then push up quickly through your feet and hips, back to the starting position.

Aim for 3 sets of 8 reps and increase up to a maximum of 4 sets of 12 reps. If you have two dumbbells, hold one in each hand by your side, instead of holding them in front of you as you would if you had just one weight.

Squats are a great exercise that can help combat skinny fatness and many other problems that people have with their body shape. Even if you do a lot of running or cycling you will benefit greatly from performing this home squatting exercise or any other variation thereof.

Dumbbell Lunges: Leg Muscles

As the lower body and leg muscles are so important, let’s hit them again!

Get in the now familiar starting position of standing with legs shoulder width apart.
Hold the weight in front of you with both hands, close to your chest. Alternatively, if you have two dumbbells, hold one in each hand by your side.
Take a big step or stride forward with one leg, keeping the other foot in place. Ensure your front knee does not extend beyond the toe of the front foot.
Push off with your front leg to return to the starting position to complete the exercise.

You can either do 8 reps with the same leg going forward or alternate them for a total of 16 reps.

Once you have done the 16 reps, take a breather then do 2 more sets.

Weight Ab Crunches: Abdominal Muscles

You most likely won’t be in a position to see your abdominal muscles for a while but that doesn’t mean they should be neglected. Like all muscles, the abs need to be exercised with a weight. You wouldn’t do bicep curls without holding a weight or something heavy, so why do it for your abs? Weighted ab crunches are a great way to perform a skinny fat ab workout that should pay off sometime in the near future.

Lie on your back on the floor.
Plant the soles of your feet flat on the floor and bend your legs at the knee.
Hold the dumbbell in both hands a few inches above your chest.
Sit up, bending at the waist, keeping your chin off your chest, and keeping the weight a few inches above your chest.
Keep your back straight as you sit up until you are up as far as you can.
Lower your upper body slowly until your back is flat on the floor again to finish the rep.

You can perform up to 15 reps of this exercise for a maximum of 4 reps. To introduce some variation, try twisting at the hips as you sit up to target the different abdominal muscles.

And We’re Done!

Those eight exercises should take you about 30 minutes to perform. Once you’ve gone through it once, take two days off, to allow your body to recover and your muscles to repair and grow. Like I said earlier, if you want to exercise again in the two days after this workout, try something different like a cardio session of running, swimming or walking.

When to Upgrade your Weights

If you are starting out, you should be able to do all of the above with one weight. Once the exercises become easy to complete try the following:

Increase the reps from 8 to 12
Increase the sets from 3 to 4
Change the order you do the exercises in.

Don’t go above 12 reps and 4 sets. This will take you outside the range for developing muscle and will just waste your time. At this point you will have to upgrade your weights and invest in some new dumbbells. Changing the exercises that make up your home dumbbell workout, and the order you do them in can have a good effect as it keeps your muscles unsure of what is coming next, forcing them to adapt and grow on a regular basis. A change can be as good as a rest when it comes to working out.

What to Do if You are Skinny Fat

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Coming to the realisation that you are skinny and fat can be quite a shock. For me I didn’t realise at all until someone pointed it out to me that I was no longer a thin skinny guy, but had started to get fat! You can read about how I got like this in my five stages of getting in shape article. Being skinny isn’t anything to be proud of, but when you’ve been thin for years you get used to it and accept that is how you are. Waking up one day and discovering you are now fat can come as quite a shock!

What Not to Do if You are Skinny Fat

When this was pointed out to me I pretty much joined the gym the next day and started doing what other people were doing in the gym which was mainly running on the treadmill for hours a week. Looking back now, this is not what to do if you are skinny fat and want to become something else.

Why not do endless cardio to stop being (skinny) fat? Next time you are at the gym, take a look at the people who regularly slog away on the cardio machines. Are they in the good shape? Do you want to look like them? When you see them there, months later, still pounding away, chances are they will look the same. Cardio is great for increasing your fitness levels but isn’t so great at changing your body composition, which is what you need to do if you don’t want to be skinny fat anymore.

The Skinny Fat Solution

So now we know what not to do, it’s time to look at what works and what needs to be done. If you are skinny fat I’ll wager you have little to no muscle mass and aren’t toned at all. You aren’t too fat, as otherwise you’d just be fat. What we need to do is bring some muscle to the table and change the equation from skinny + fat to muscle.

Why Muscle Makes You Look Better

A bit of muscle in the right places can improve your posture giving you a confident appearance and help diminish the visual prominence of any pockets of fat you might have. By developing muscle on and around your problem areas, where the fat is more prevalent, can help you look less flabby in those trouble spots. Lift up your arm right now and give your upper under arm a little poke. Does it wobble around like a jelly on a plate? Tense your muscles in that area and notice whether it makes a difference to the wobble factor. By simply developing some tricep muscle tone you won’t be losing fat in that area but you will be making it less visible and wobbly. This is just one place where adding muscle, for men and women, can make you look so much better. Your body is full of areas like that where some muscle tone can tighten things up and stop the wobble. Your belly, your chest, your legs, your butt and even your back are just some of the areas where a little muscle can go a long way to making you look a whole lot better.

Overtime, through exercise and good diet, the fat stores will shrink, but by adding some muscle tone you can start the process to stopping skinny fat at both ends and get toned and lose fat as the end result.

Diet and Muscle Growth to Stop Skinny Fatness

You need to clean up your diet to beat skinny fatness. Despite being skinny, you are also fat and eating better can help with this. Despite being fat, you are also skinny and weight training to grow muscle can help with this. By taking this two pronged approach you can make real changes to your body composition over time.

Think about how you’d like to look this time next year and for the rest of your days. It can most likely be achieved with an increase in lean muscle tone and a drop in fat. Neither of these things can be accomplished overnight but wouldn’t you rather stick to a simple training schedule and moderate diet on a long term basis than multiple punishing fad diets that leave you back where you started once you finish them?

Maybe you are not ready to take up this long term skinny fat solution and still have some more 30 day fruit juice diets or 21 day fasts and extreme colon cleanses to try out before you hit rock bottom and realise a change in lifestyle is needed. A change that will leave you looking better, becoming healthier, getting stronger and having increased energy on a daily basis.

If that appeals to you, it’s time to start the skinny fat solution and join the revolution.

The Best Home Gym Equipment to Give Skinny Fat the Smackdown

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If you’re skinny fat I don’t blame you for not wanting to join a gym. When I was skinny fat, the last place I wanted to step foot in was a gym, that I thought would be teeming with people in great shape who knew what they were doing. Turns out most gyms are full of people who aren’t in the best shape of their lives, or at least the best shape they could be in. But before you join a gym you aren’t aware of this. This makes joining one a hard task for some people. That was one of the main reasons why I started this site: to help people workout at home and get in great shape without the need for a gym membership.

So, if for whatever reason, you aren’t ready to join a gym, there is no reason why you still can’t get in great shape and get toned, lean, athletic looking and as aesthetic as you desire, all from the comfort of your own home. Most people don’t have the space, spare cash, the need or the inclination to replicate their local gym in their spare room. Buying a full power rack and extensive set of weights and plates is overkill for most people. Sure it would be nice, but so would a home cinema or a games room. For most people, something like this is just not needed.

The Best Fitness Equipment to Shape up at Home

There are loads of pieces of fitness equipment that you can buy in order to start losing weight, building muscle and getting in great shape at home. We’re going to take a look at some of the different types available, weigh up their pros and cons, and see which goals you might have that they will best enable you to reach.

Home Kettlebells

I love kettlebells. Just one piece of fitness equipment gives you access to so many different exercises and ways to work out and can help you do so many things. With just a couple of these weights, you can perform a powerful home resistance training workout that will help develop your muscles. You can also perform a high intensity circuit training session workout to mimic the type of cardio exercise you would need expensive fitness equipment like a treadmill or exercise bike to do. Kettlebell workouts for women and men can help you achieve most fitness goals and when you consider their relatively low cost, there aren’t many reasons why you should overlook this piece of Russian weight training equipment.

Pros and Cons of Home Kettlebell Training:

Can perform a large number of exercises with just one kettlebell.
Works nearly all the main muscle groups.
Can undertake cardio, hypertrophy and strength training exercises.
Relatively inexpensive when compared to other home fitness equipment.
Might end up having to buy multiple kettlebells once past the beginner stage.
Requires quite a bit of space to perform some exercises.
Could damage walls or furniture if not used correctly.

If you just want to buy one small piece of home workout equipment then you can’t get much better than the kettlebell in terms of the amount of options it provides. Whatever your goals, it is likely you can achieve them with the right kettlebell and a good routine. Check out our ultimate guide to the best kettlebells for a guide to workouts and equipment.

Set of Dumbbells

If you are serious about no longer being skinny fat then you need to be lifting those weights. Both men and women need some muscle tone in order to get firm and eliminate the flabby parts. Dumbbells are relatively small in size and allow you to perform a large number of exercises. Combine them with an inexpensive weights bench and you can really ramp up the number of muscles you can work and exercises you can perform.

Pros and Cons of Using Dumbbells at Home:

Are great at building muscle which can put a stop to being skinny and fat.
Cost less than most other home fitness equipment.
Take up little space around the house.
Will require a good selection of weights in order to train to your potential.
Can damage the flooring if not used sensibly.

Used on their own, dumbbells aren’t as versatile as kettlebells, but if used alongside a weights bench, you can see some excellent results. As your strength improves, you will need to increase the weight you are lifting to continue seeing results. This means buying more dumbbells which can get expensive. Alternatively you could invest in some adjustable dumbbells as these will last you a lot longer. Read our guide to the best adjustable dumbbells available to buy online.

Resistance Band Home Fitness Equipment

Resistance bands might not look like much when compared to kettlebells and free weights but these cheap and cheerful sets of rubber and plastic handles can deliver some surprising results. If you don’t mind the bright colours and lightweight looking design, resistance bands are a great way to get rid of your skinny fat status. The best thing about resistance bands however, is how portable they are. I always take a set on holiday with me. The ability to do a few exercises in your hotel room, without having to visit the sub-standard hotel gym, is worth its weight in gold, in my opinion. Considering these sets can cost less than $30 they really are worth having. They make a perfect backup for those days when you can make it to the gym. The fact that they take up so little space means that no home should be without a set.

Pros and Cons of Home Resistance Band Workouts:

Probably the lowest priced, best value piece of home fitness equipment.
Can be used anywhere: both home and away.
Able to train multiple muscle groups and body parts.
Perfect for travelling and days when the gym is out of reach.
Won’t last you forever when your strength starts to ramp up.
Can look a bit silly sometimes.

There are lots of resistance tubes on the market but its best to go for one of the big sets that contains lots of different types of tubes, bands and handles. This gives you more options and will ensure the set lasts you longer. Lots of people wonder whether it is possible to build muscle with resistance tubes and the answer is yes.

Suspension Trainers

Suspension straps or trainers give resistance bands a run for their money when it comes to the portability rating. Out ot all the different types of fitness equipment that can help you beat skinny fat syndrome, and are easy to take on your travels, resistance bands vs. suspension trainers is a hotly contested battle. While suspension trainers are easier to use in some ways, they rely on your bodyweight to perform most exercises. Resistance bands on the other hand, require you to stretch the bands to get the workout. This is where they differ most, apart from the price, for which you pay more for suspension trainers. These straps are more popular than the bands, but you really should try the straps out before buying them, to see if they are for you. I do like using them at the gym but don’t think I could do a whole suspension trainer workout, although many people do.

There are two main options when shopping for a suspension trainer. At the end of the day, the decision usually comes down to the TRX Suspension Trainer vs. the Jungle Gym XT. Although the Rip 60 suspension straps are a good option for home trainers too.

Pros and Cons of Suspension Trainers:

Great for travel and taking on the road.
Can exercise all muscle groups with a bit of imagination.
Take up very little space when not in use.
Probably the most single most expensive piece of home workout equipment.
Often require a doorway to get the most out of these suspension trainers.

If you don’t mind the cost and want something that takes up hardly any space when not in use, something like the TRX suspension trainer can help you get in a fat burning, muscle building workout out at home or when on the road. They aren’t for everybody though, so try before you buy!

What about Home Cardio Machines?

As I’ve covered before, cardio isn’t the best way to put a stop to being skinny fat. If you only follow one approach to getting in shape at home it should be to build muscle in order to change your body type. This advice applies to women as much as men. If you don’t want any wobbly bits, you need to firm those areas up with some muscle tone and you can’t do that with cardio training. Not that there aren’t some great pieces of home cardio equipment on the market. But if you only want one or two bits of kit, it’s probably not the best use of your time or money.

Are Resistance Bands Enough to Get in Great Shape at Home?

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If you’ve been reading the Home Workout Ideas site for a while, you will know I am a keen believer in resistance bands and resistance band training in general. I recently wrote a few guides to getting started with this type of home fitness equipment so go check it out if you are not familiar with this type of kit.

Now I know resistance tubes and bands aren’t the best pieces of fitness equipment on the market, but for the price, small amount of space they take up and the portability factor, they should not be overlooked by anyone who wants to get in shape at home or bust out of the skinny fat zone without joining a gym. They don’t really compare with free weights but that is not what they were designed to do.

The Gym isn’t for Everyone

When I realised I was skinny fat I pretty much ran down to my local gym and signed on the dotted line. Prior to that I’d also been a bit of a weed and not the sporty type at all, so it was pretty intimidating joining the gym, even though it was a pretty friendly place. It took me months to pluck up the courage to enter the free weights room and graduate from the running machines and resistance machines.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to claim I’m a brave guy for joining the gym despite the fact I was more than a little nervous about taking those first few steps over the threshold. I can totally empathise with anyone reading this that is out of shape, whether that means they are overweight, underweight or skinny fat, and just can’t find the confidence to join a gym. Gyms can be intimidating places for sure. Even if 99% of the gyms I’ve been to in my time have been friendly places, when you take those first steps into a new gym, you are never quite sure what you are going to find!

Resistance Tubes: An Alternative to the Gym

If you just can’t face the prospect of going to a gym on a regular basis, you can still stop being skinny fat by working out at home with resistance bands. Sure, a set of kettlebells or a multi-gym might help you achieve your goals a bit faster, but for the price, ease of use and portability, you just can’t beat a good set of resistance tubes or bands to get you started.

If you look on amazon.com you can most likely pick up the best-selling set of resistance bands, like the Black Mountain Resistance Band Set, for about $30. This is probably less than a couple of month’s gym membership. Once the bands arrive, you can begin working out at home and get on the way to saying goodbye to skinny fatness forever.

After a few weeks or months working out at home with resistance bands, you might find you are ready to join a gym. A little bit of experience and strength goes a long way and once you’ve built a good foundation with your new bands, you will most likely feel a lot more confident in the gym.

Can Resistance Bands Stop You Being Skinny Fat?

Look Good in a Pair of Zyzz Shorts So when it comes to the question of ‘can resistance bands help you stop being skinny fat?’, the short answer from me is an emphatic yes. While the long answer is more along the lines of, they are a great place to start and can really help you get some momentum going, but if you want to get a toned, athletic physique then they probably aren’t enough in the long term. If you want to look good in a pair of Zyzz shorts, then at some point you are going to upgrade your gear to a something more challenging or bite the bullet and join the gym!

What Causes Skinny Fat in Men and Women

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When it comes to the causes of skinny fat, they are a couple of usual suspects. The main thing that nearly everyone who is skinny fat has in common is that they have very little or no muscles. If you don’t have any muscles, then any fat you do have will look like much more than it really is. Without any significant muscle tone to keep you firm and toned, any fat on your body will be much more prominent as it wobbles around and is generally more visible.

Both men and women can really benefit, not just from a health perspective, but also when it comes to their appearance but developing some muscle tone. They say a well-tailored suit can hide a multitude of sins but you could also say a little bit of muscle tone can hide a fair amount of body fat.

Why Having No Muscle Tone Can Cause Skinny Fat Syndrome

Although you need to have some body fat in order to become skinny fat, a small amount of body fat doesn’t atomically mean you will become skinny fat. By having some muscle tone you can get away with holding some fat before starting to look skinny fat or just plain old fashioned overweight. Both men and women can benefit from having more muscle tone in many ways:

Having muscle means having a toned and firm appearance. More muscle = less wobble.
Muscles use more of the calories you eat. This prevents those calories from being turned into fat.
Muscle tone improves your posture. Poor posture can make you look more saggy and flabby as well as run down and old. With a good posture your shoulders will be back and your back will be straight with your head held high. This will give you the appearance of being slim, toned and not fat.
If you stop exercising the muscle will turn into fat. Muscle cannot turn into fat. If you stop exercising the muscle will slowly shrink or atrophy until it is back to how it was before you started.
Women will look too bulky if they exercise with weights. For women to become bulky and visibly muscular they need to train extremely hard for many years. Even then it is very difficult. A women trainer who exercises with weights a few times a week for years will eventually become toned and in great shape but won’t develop muscle in the way a man does. If after a year or so you feel you have too much muscle tone, then simply stop training for a while and let the muscles atrophy. Beware: they will shrink quicker than you think!

Gaining muscle isn’t easy, especially for those who are skinny fat. But it can be done, and you can read about the best ways to do it in this article on muscle gaining for skinny fat people.

Other Reasons People Become Skinny Fat

Although having a regular amount of body fat but having no muscle tone is the main cause of being skinny fat it isn’t the only one. If you are in the top percentile for height and have long limbs and a small frame, this can be a factor in giving you the appearance of being skinny fat. You might have good muscle tone but as your arms and body are longer it won’t necessarily show as much and could leave you with a soft and flabby body in certain areas. If this body type applies to you there isn’t much you can do apart from work harder in the gym! But on the bright side, at least you are tall and can benefit in all the ways being taller than your peers can bring, such as a higher salary and greater dating prospects.

If you are wondering how you became skinny fat, it was probably the same way I did all those years ago: eating too much and not exercising or having any muscle tone. Now you know why it happened you can start on the road to recovery. Start working out with weights at home or in the gym to improve your levels of muscle tone and then work on cleaning up your diet and your skinny fat days will be behind you. For some home workout ideas, head to our home weight training article index for some top tips.

If you have any questions please leave a comment below of get in touch via Facebook.

Is Skinny is the New Fat?

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Previously, being fat was the biggest crime you could commit when it came to the pursuit of happiness and wellness. That is, at least in the eyes of the multi-billion pound health, fitness and self-improvement industries. Now that the movement to ‘encourage’ fat people to do something about their condition by cajoling, belittling and humiliating them has reached saturation point, is it now the turn of skinny people to be ‘motivated’ into doing something about their shortcomings?

The Rise of Skinny Fat Syndrome

As the rise in popularity of the term ‘skinny fat’ has exploded in recent times, and the number of people searching for skinny fat solutions on the internet has increased exponentially, it seems it is now the turn of people who are underweight, or at least, not obese to feel bad about themselves.

As the use of models with aesthetically pleasing bodies remains the norm and the requirements for those entering the limelight, whether it be actors, musicians or media personalities, include physical perfection as much as ever, with exceptions only serving to prove the rule, it seems it’s time for those at the skinny end of the scale to feel the pain the overweight have known all their lives.

The Turn of Skinny Fats to Feel the Pinch

While skinny people aren’t fully in the sights of the fitness and wellness industries, their cousins, the skinny fats, are taking over from the fat people or at least being given their share of the pie when it comes to being pushed into doing something about their body shape.

Being skinny can allow you to hide from the body shape prejudices and judgements that abound in modern society. When I was skinny I wasn’t particularly pleased about it, but it wasn’t until I become skinny fat that I decided to do something about my body type. I could tolerate being skinny, it seemed, but being fat was out of the question!

Imagine what is will be like for the skinny people amongst us when the spotlight is turned on them, and they are held up as something to be fixed and cured much in the way fat people have been for decades. Some might say it is only fair they get their turn, others might ask where will the hiding place remain for those who want to stay out of the sights of those promoting and marketing the body improvement industry?

Skinny Fat is the New Fat

Skinny fat is becoming the new fat in terms of something people need to be made aware of as being unacceptable, at least in the eyes of the self-improvement industries. Whether ‘regular skinny’ will become the new fat remains to be seen though. Especially since the number of skinny people is dwindling on a daily basis, will it even be worth going after this market when the fat segment is so large?

What do you think? Is Skinny Fat the new Fat? Leave a comment below or join the discussion on Facebook now.

How to Lose Belly Fat for Skinny People

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If you are skinny and still have fat around your belly to lose then you might be what is known as ‘skinny fat’. This term applies to people who are generally skinny but still have ample amount of fat at certain parts of their belly. People like this tend to be skinny and fat at the same time . This type of fat can be the hardest to lose as you have to work harder to force your body to give up these fat stores.

Why it is Harder to Lose That Last Bit of Fat

If you’ve ever been heavy before, thanks to too much fat, and are now skinny, you will know that the excess fat you have at the start is easier to lose. This is mainly because at a heavier weight, your daily recommended calories intake, to maintain your weight is high. If you are overweight, you might have a daily calorie allowance of 4,000 calories or more. It is fairly easy to reduce that number by 500 calories a day as you can still eat 3,500 calories a day and lose weight. Once you’ve lost a lot of weight and your daily calorific intake is down to about 2,000 calories a day, finding places to trim off a few hundred calories a day is a lot harder.

This means that in order to lose those last fat stores on your body you need to work a lot harder. You need a two pronged approach which includes cleaning up and refining your diet as well as starting an effective workout regimen. This will help you transform your body from being skinny fat to lean and toned.

How Weight Training Can Help You Lose Belly Fat

To lose belly fat, or any other stubborn stores of fat you might have left on your body, you will need to help your body become an efficient calorie burning machine. By weight training with the goal of adding muscle to your body, you will increase your body’s resting metabolic rate which means that it will burn more calories on a daily basis. As muscle eats a lot more calories than other body parts, just adding a few pounds of lean muscle can help speed your body’s metabolism up and ensure less calories are left over to be turned into fat. You don’t have to go over the top and bulk up to achieve this increase in fat burning abilities. Although most people don’t do this, women in particular, it is one of the best ways to go from skinny fat to toned.

By adding simple weight training exercises to your gym or home workout routine you can begin to start shifting those stubborn areas of fat from your belly and other area. Such home weight training exercises can include:

Squats
Lunges
Chest Presses
Shoulder Presses
Rows
Pull ups
Bicep Curls
Tricep Extensions

Cardio exercises like running, waking or cycling is good for increasing your fitness levels and burning calories but it won’t speed up your metabolism like weight training can and it won’t change your body type from soft and skinny to toned and athletic. Muscle is needed for that and the best way to develop lean gains if by exercising at home or the gym with weights.

If you want to know more about losing fat even if you are already half skinny, visit the skinny fat home workout guide today.

Some Personal Advice on How to Fix Skinny Fat

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Fixing skinny fat isn’t easy but the approach is fairly simple. If you are skinny fat it is more than likely you have low levels of lean mass or muscle tone and medium to high body fat levels. Without a high enough level of muscle, any fat you have will look many times worse as there will be nothing to balance it out. With some well-placed muscle tone, it is far easier to project a look of fitness and athleticism, despite carrying a few more pounds of fat then you’d like. Strip away the muscle and that bit of fat that wasn’t really a problem before is now wobbly, flabby and saggy and highly visible.

So What Can You Do To Fix Skinny Fatness?

In a nutshell, all you need to do to stop being skinny fat is lose the fat and gain some muscle. Sounds easy right? In reality for most people, it isn’t that easy at all. If you’ve become skinny fat then you’ve probably developed some bad habits over the years, such as I did, which included a poor diet and lack of exercise and no history of going to the gym or weight training.

This left me with a skinny body that had a few problem areas where fat had slowly gathered over the years. For me these fatty areas were in my chest and belly but for you they could be anywhere. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you’ve had enough and don’t want to be skinny fat anymore. So what can you do to fix this problem?

If you are serious and want to change how you look, then you need to be prepared to put in some work. It’s not complicated work like building a house, or designing an engine but it does take time and dedication. If you’ve decided enough is enough then keep reading, however, if you are still not sure being in good physical condition with a great body is worth the hassle then see you later!

Step one is to clean up your diet. Cut out all the processed junk that is easy to get hold of and even easier to consume. If it comes in a packet and contains ingredients you’ve never heard of and can’t pronounce then it might be worth avoiding for a while. No matter how much exercise you do, it is almost impossible to out train a bad diet (click here to Tweet this). Eating a packet of biscuits with the intention of burning off those extra calories tomorrow is a recipe for disaster. To make your life much easier and your journey to a great body shorter, remove bad food choices from the equation by not buying them or having them around the house.

Step two is to start exercising with weights. Thisapplies to both men and women and is the most important part of how to fix being skinny fat. Without muscle tone, no matter how much fat you lose you will still be wobbly and floppy. If you are ok with that, cut out the calories and do no exercise or just do cardio. But if you want a firm and athletic looking body then you need to start exercising with weights in order to change your body from what you have had in the past. I’m not talking about bulking up and get all ‘hench’ and ‘swole’, I simply mean adding classic weight training exercises to your fitness routine such as squatting, pressing and curling exercises. By doing simple exercises at home with kettlebells or dumbbells a few times a week, you can make a great start on firming up and toning your body.

Adding cardio to your exercise routine is always a good idea as it is a great way to increase your cardio vascular health. Whether you choose to run outside or work on the treadmill at home is up to you. Even skipping at home is a great cost effective and convenient way to start getting the blood pumping. But remember simply doing cardio isn’t enough to fix skinny fat for either men or women.

Gaining Muscle for Skinny Fat People

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If you are skinny fat one great way to fix that particular problem is to start working out in order to gain muscle. This is what I did when I woke up one morning to discover I had become skinny fat without realising it over a period of months. If your main goal is to gain muscle and you don’t mind remaining skinny fat for a while as you begin working out, training hard with weights while eating a muscle building diet is the best approach. As your main goal here is to build muscle you won’t be losing fat. However, as your body becomes more toned you will have the appearance of carrying less fat than you were before, despite not losing any. This is because the percentage of your body that was fat has decreased as the amount of muscle has increased.

However, if you would rather become skinny first and then slowly add muscle to your frame without becoming fat again, you will need to lose the fat first or cut, as it is known, to become skinny.

I went straight down the muscle building route once I’d realised cardio wasn’t taking me where I wanted to go. You might be different and have the patience to reduce your calories and workout with the aim of losing fat rather than adding muscle. But for me I found it easier to concentrate on weight training and letting the skinny fat problem take care of its self once my new muscles had had time to do their work and speed up my metabolism and improve the shape of my body.

The Best Way to Stop Being Skinny Fat

Developing muscle mass is one of the best ways to go from skinny fat to toned , and is really the only way as far as I am concerned. If you are already skinny fat then it means you don’t have much in the way of muscle tone already. Losing the fat isn’t going to make you toned unless you have muscle tone already. As weight training is the best way to develop muscle tone you can see how important it is.

How to Gain Muscle if you are Skinny Fat

To gain muscle you need to eat more calories than you need each day and also lift weights. This is the simplified version and it applies to anyone, whether they are skinny fat or not. Of the three body types, skinny fat people tend to be ectomorphs, which means they find it harder than other people to put on weight, whether it be muscle of fat. This means you will find it harder than your friends, who are not ectomorphs, to put on muscle. This can be hard to take but if you look on the bright side, it also goes some way to explaining why you are skinny fat instead of just fat fat.

Can Ectomorphs Gain Muscle?

Being an ectomorph doesn’t mean you can’t gain muscle, it just means it might take you longer. A good example of someone who was skinny and then gained lots of muscle was the self-proclaimed King of Aesthetics, Zyzz. Although in his later years he turned to the dark side to build more muscle. He made very impressive gains before he made this decision and there is no reason why you can’t too, if you have the desire to do so.

Workout for Skinny Fat People Who Want to Gain Muscle

If you want to gain muscle and are starting from scratch you might want to spend some time building up a basic level of strength in the gym by using the resistance machines. If you are working out at home then start out with some simple body weight exercises like those I cover in this article on working out at home without any equipment. After a few weeks or months you should be ready to jump into the free weights section and start gaining some quality muscle.

When I first started working out with weights I did it in the gym but you can do a home workout, and provided you have the necessary equipment, can make just as good progress. This site has lots of great home workout ideas so head over to the home weight training category for the index of articles on this topic.

The routine I started out with was called the Ca$hman’s 5×5 Beginners Routine and it comprised of three days a week, with each exercise consisting of five sets of five reps, hence the 5×5. Low reps (1-3) are for building strength and higher reps (8-12) are for building muscle. By using a medium amount of reps (5) one can work on both increasing strength and gains at the same time which is ideal for beginners who have neither. The workout looked something like this and did me very well at the start of my lifting days:

Day One: Push Day:

Barbell Bench Press
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Flat Dumbbell Flies
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Tricep Extensions

Day Two: Pull Day:

Deadlifts
Bent Over Barbell Rows
Pull Ups
Bicep Curls

Day Three: Legs:

Squats
Stiff Legged Deadlifts
Calf Raises
Weighted Crunches

There are many variations on this workout but by splitting the body into three groups, pushing muscles, pulling muscles and leg muscles, and taking at least one rest day between each workout you give your body enough time to recover and the muscles to grow between repeating the day again, you can see great results. Rest days are vital! Don’t make the same mistake I did when starting out and train every day. You will soon regret it.

How Long Before Seeing Results From Weight Training

If you follow this routine for 12 weeks and eat a lot of protein (about 1g of protein per lb. of body weight) you will see results by the end of the 12 weeks. After that you can either stick with this routine and change some of the exercises around or change to a higher rep routine like 3 sets of 12 reps, or something different altogether. Just make sure it’s a tried and tested weight training routine.

If you are serious about no longer being skinny fat and gaining muscle, come back in 12 weeks and let us know how you got on with this muscle gaining workout routine for skinny fat men and women.

Fat Stomach but Everything Else is Skinny

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Do you have a fat stomach but skinny body? If you have a fat stomach but everything else is skinny then there is a good chance you might be in the body classification group that is known as ‘skinny fat’. When people have this body type it means that they have an average body fat percentage but little to no muscle tone. This means they don’t carry the small to average amount of fat they have well, and can look in pretty bad shape. Although when fully clothed and wrapped up, a skinny fat person can pass for someone in regular shape, when it comes to wearing more revealing clothing such as in the summer or when at the beach, another story is told!

If you have noticed that you have a fat stomach but the rest of your body is fairly skinny, it means that you have more fat cells around your stomach area. Fat cells hold fat and it depends on our genetics as to where we have the most fat cells. In the case of people with the majority of our fat cells around their stomachs, this will be the first area to get fat when putting on weight and the last area to get thin when losing weight.

How to Go from Skinny Fat to Just Being Normal

If you are sick of being skinny fat and having some parts of your body being skinny, while others are fat, there are a few options open to you to get in great shape. One option is to attempt to lose the fat and become a regular skinny person. The other option is to try and build some muscle so your body becomes more efficient at burning calories and you developed a toned, athletic looking body. Both options are suitable for men and women and in both cases I would recommend the second approach. However it is up to you to decide, as whatever approach you decide upon you will need to stick to it for at least a few months to get real results. Chopping and changing between the two won’t help anyone, least of all you.

How to Decide Whether to Lose Fat or Gain Muscle

In an ideal world you would lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, giving you a toned and athletic physique with little body fat. Unfortunately this isn’t possible as in order to lose fat or weight you need to eat fewer calories than you need each day, but in order to gain muscle or weight you need to eat more calories than you need each day so that you can grow and tone those muscles. You can’t eat more and less calories than you need at the same time so you have to choose one approach and stick to it for at least three months and often longer.

How to Choose Which Approach to Take

If you feel you are too fat in your fatty areas and you just can’t live with the wobbly bits anymore then it will be easier for you to stick to an approach where your number one priority is to lose the fat and become regular skinny instead of skinny fat. From then you can go on to developing some muscle and getting a toned athletic physique. If you can’t face being skinny fat anymore then taking the other option of adding lean muscle mass while you are still holding some fat isn’t going to be something you can easily stick to as it will take you a lot longer to lose the fat.

If you can tolerate the fatty areas and don’t mind having them around for a while longer in order to reach your goal of getting that toned and athletic body you always wanted, then I would recommend starting work on gaining muscle in order to transform your body. You can make this transformation at home by following a home workout routine with some basic weigh training equipment, or you can join a gym. It is up to you.

When taking this second approach of working to develop muscle tone, your body will become better at burning calories throughout the day. This is because muscle burns more calories and increases your body’s metabolism. As muscles ‘eat’ more calories, as you become more muscular, your body will be burning more calories each day, even when you don’t workout on a particular day, instead of turning those calories into fat as your body is doing now.

Overtime, as your body develops more muscles and your metabolism speeds up, you will start to notice that the proportions and composition of your body starts to change. Instead of the fatty and flabby areas being the most prominent, they will start to diminish and your natural muscle tone will develop giving you a leaner, toned and firmer appearance.

For both approaches you should start working out at home or at the gym with weights, but for the first approach, your main goal will be to lose the fat, rather than develop any muscle. The weight training will help with the calorie burning which is needed to burn the fat already on your body (along with a good diet).

What You Shouldn’t Do to Get Over Skinny Fat Syndrome

The above two approaches are fairly simple to follow but take time and dedication. By sticking with the workouts you can change your body composition for the better. However, you have to stick with it. If you get distracted and inpatient you could end up switching one of the quick fixes that never really works, at least not in the long term, and you will be back to square one. Some things you shouldn’t do to beat skinny fatness include:

Going on a crash or fat diet. In order to lose fat you need to eat, but it can’t be any old rubbish. Going on a crash diet and drastically cutting calories will slow down your metabolism and make it even more difficult to lose weight.
Doing nothing but cardio in the gym. Cardio is great for improving your fitness but when it comes to losing fat and becoming more toned and athletic looking, weight training is more effective. This applies to women as much as men. Cardio training might help you lose weight but it won’t tone you up and you will still be left with wobbly bits rather than a firm and toned body.
Not doing weight training. You can buy a couple of kettlebells or some cheap home dumbbells and start working out at home just as easily as joining a gym. But whichever approach you choose, weight training should be at the heart of your strategy for getting in great shape.
Not staying for the long haul. It probably took you a long time to get out of shape or get to where you are now. So it stands to reason than it will take a while to shape up. Stick with it and the rewards will be plentiful. Quit too soon and you will be back to where you started from, only older and more negative. Keeping going!

So as you now know, there are two main approaches that I recommend for sacking off being skinny fat and getting in great shape. If you can hang in there for a while longer, both men and women should start working out to build lean muscle tone and eating just a little more calories than they need, in order to build muscle. If you’ve had enough of being skinny fat, then focus on losing the fat by doing weight training and cardio but also eating a little less than you need each day.

Whatever approach you take, stick with it and you will reap the rewards. Don’t give up too early, remember, the darkest night is just before dawn.