Tag Archives: Skinny Fat

Gaining Muscle for Skinny Fat People

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

Leave a reply

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.

How to Go From Skinny Fat to Toned

Leave a reply

If you are currently in the body type demographic known as ‘skinny fat’ then you probably want to know how you can transform your body into a more toned and athletic shape. When I was skinny fat, a few years ago, my first reaction to sort the problem out was to hit the treadmill and try and lose fat the way I saw other people trying to do so in the gym. Although this helped me improve my fitness levels, which at the time were severely lacking, it didn’t do much to cure my skinny fat situation.

How I Went from Skinny Fat to Toned

What worked for me was starting to lift weights in the gym. As I was pretty weak when I first started going to the gym I was intimidated by the free weights and the guys that used them. In the first few weeks and months I stuck to the cardio area and spent my time in the gym pounding away on the running machine. Things didn’t really help in terms of changing my body type but I kept on regardless, I didn’t have any other options.

Eventually I moved onto the resistance machines which didn’t look quite as scary as the free weights. After a few months of using these machines I started to notice a little muscle tone developing where before there was none. It wasn’t long before I found myself maxing out the weights on these resistance machines.

It appeared I was becoming strong for the first time in my life!

It was at this point that I started to realise that the only way to get toned and no longer be skinny fat was to lift weights in order to make my muscles grow. Those first few months doing just cardio were great for my fitness levels and introducing me to the gym but they didn’t do much to improve my physique. Yeah I lost a few pounds but my overall body shape didn’t change. I still had fatty areas around my upper body that gave me that classic skinny fat look I hated.

How Weight Training Stopped Skinny Fat in its Tracks

Using the resistance machines helped a little, as it gave me my first bursts of muscle and strength but these machines can only take you so far. It was time to do something different. Equipped with my new found strength, although still technically a weakling, I plucked up the courage to move onto the free weights. At first I was a typical bicep boy and only concentrated on my chest and bicep muscles. However, once these muscles started to develop I soon realised a balanced physique was important. Not only would it help keep my body balanced but it would help improve my posture.

With this in mind, I began also training my back, shoulders and lower body muscles and as I did so I noticed my shape changing for the better. The love handles and muffin top were receding and where once I had the early stages of moobs (or man boobs) I was developing pectoral muscles. But it wasn’t just me who noticed these changes taking places, co-workers who I hadn’t told I’d started using the gym began noticing and making positive comments. I had reached stage three in the five stages of getting in great shape. There was no turning back. The genie was out of the bottle.

How You Can Go From Skinny Fat to Toned

If I could go back in time I would go straight to the free weights section of the gym and start building some muscle and get toned to stop being skinny fat. Even women should take this approach when trying to put a stop to being skinny an fat. Cardio is great for fitness levels but if you want to make that body composition change then you need to introduce something new to your body to change its shape and how it is held together. Increased muscle tone is the way to do this and that can only be down by lifting heavy weights. If you want to make the change to a toned and more athletic looking body, whether you are male or female, learn from my mistakes and start training those muscles to come to live and give you the healthy, toned look you desire.

Workout at Home to Get Toned

The good news is you don’t even have to set foot in a gym to sort your body out. Now with the easy availability of all types of home fitness equipment and the number of home workout routines available on the web, you can start your road to aesthetics from the comfort of your own home. A few dumbbells or kettlebells are all you need to start performing all the necessary workouts to make the switch from skinny fat to toned and athletic. You don’t need to wait for months like I did to pluck up the courage and start using the free weights at the gym. You can take your first steps on the road to recovery from where you are sitting now, reading this. What are you waiting for?

If you are unsure where to start head over to our guide to kettlebell training for men and women which covers the best weights to buy and the routines to follow in order to meet your goals.

If you are tired of not looking how you want to, it’s time to shape up at home!

Can You Be Skinny and Fat at the Same Time?

Leave a reply

Being skinny and fat at the same time would seem like a paradox, right? How can you be two things that are opposite of one another at the same time? Well unfortunately, in the case of being skinny and being fat, you can be both at the same time! When this happens the term ‘skinny fat’ is used to describe someone with this condition. When skinny fat has set in, a person will have relatively low body fat levels hence the term skinny, but will also have little to no muscle tone, giving them a fat, flabby, wobbly look. If you are unsure of whether this applies to you, read our article on how to find out if you are skinny fat or not.

This means that a person can look in average shape while fully clothed, but can actually be hiding a multitude of sins! On the scales their weight might not ring any alarm bells, but someone who is skinny and fat will have both the negative characteristics of someone who is skinny and fat. In order to put a stop to skinny fat syndrome, let’s start by taking a look at how someone could end up with this problem.

How Do You Become Skinny and Fat?

There two most common ways someone becomes skinny fat are as follows:

Was previously overweight and lost a lot of fat
Was previously skinny and then started gaining fat

When I was skinny fat, you can read about how I beat this condition it here, it happened because I was previously skinny and thin, and then slowly started putting on weight. I did no exercise or weight training so I didn’t have any muscle tone to help burn off the extra calories I was slowly starting to consume. Having been naturally skinny for years, my diet was pretty poor, which was ok in the past as I never put on fat, but as I got older and out of my teens, my metabolism started to slow down. I still looked in relatively good shape with my clothes on but I was starting to develop pockets of fat around my lower stomach and chest areas. Skinny fat syndrome had crept up on me with my noticing!

My story is not unique and as a lot of naturally thin people get older their metabolism begins to slow down and they can no longer eat the type of foods they once did without paying the consequences. At this point, it is either time to clean up your diet or start regular exercise, preferably both!

The second common way that people end up being skinny fat is if they were once overweight and then dieted or did lots of cardio exercise to lose the fat. For this group of people, becoming skinny fat can be a real kick in teeth as they did all that hard work of cleaning up their diet and exercising but still didn’t end up looking how they wanted to. By taking this approach to get in shape (diet and cardio) the weight can be dropped but it often ends up with the person being a smaller version of themselves, with all the flabby and wobbly areas resolutely intact.

Why is there still fat on my belly? The reason why certain people hold fat in certain areas is down to genetics. We have fat cells all over our bodies. As we consume fat, the fat cells fill up. Where you have the most fat cells is where you will get fat first and lose fat last. Some people have lots of fat cells on their chest, belly or upper arms, others on their thighs and lower back, it could be anywhere. Skinny fat people tend to have a lot of fat cells around their waist giving them the love handle muffin top look. This means the last place they will lose fat is around these areas, making it very hard for them to get a flat stomach and visible abs.

How to Avoid Becoming Skinny and Fat

If you are going from skinny to skinny fat or from fat to skinny fat, one of the best ways to avoid this happening is to include weight training or resistance training as it is also known, into your exercise routine. By building muscle you will develop a toned and firm body. This applies to men and women. Women often avoid weight training as they are afraid of bulking up and developing too much muscle. This is not the case! As women don’t have as much of the muscle building male hormone, testosterone, as men in their bodies, their propensity to building muscle is much, much lower than men.

By weight training, women will develop a toned, athletic looking physique that will help them eliminate the common areas they have complaint with such as bingo wings, flabby stomachs and saggy upper legs. By weight training, these areas can become firm, toned and uplifted. Without it, the opposite is the case.

For men, weight training with the aim of building muscle can result in better posture, a more athletic looking physique and less wobbly bits. For both men and women, one of the biggest benefits of weight training is the amount of calories it burns as well as the fact that is speeds up your metabolism, causing your body to burn more calories on a daily basis. For more information on this, read out article covering why toned is the new skinny.

How to Stop Being Skinny and Fat

If you have already fallen victim to skinny fat syndrome, do not despair! It can be beaten. By starting to do weight training exercises you help turn your body around. There are many benefits to weight training that apply to both men and women:

Burns more calories than cardio exercise
Increases your metabolism
Tones and firms your body
Increased your strength

Some people worry about becoming bulky or too big from weight training but this is rarely the case. For women, muscle growth is very difficult and takes many years if it happens at all. For men it is easier but still requires a specific diet and dedicated training. If you start to notice you are becoming too muscular, when that is not your intention, simply change your diet and stop training as hard. People with a lot of muscle work hard for years to get in that kind of shape so that chances of it happening to you by accident are very low!

Although weight training might be something new to you, it can be started at home with only a couple of pieces of equipment such as a kettlebell or some dumbbells. You don’t need to rush out and join a gym, by following a simple home kettlebell workout routine, both men and women can start toning up and becoming more athletic looking at home and say goodbye to being skinny fat forever!

How to Know If You are Skinny Fat

Leave a reply

Skinny Fat Syndrome Strikes Skinny fat is a relatively new term that is quickly gaining popularity. It was coined to describe people who appeared to be skinny when wearing clothes but in reality are carrying quite a bit of body fat in certain areas. Common areas for fat to be stored on people who are skinny fat would be the upper arms, chest and stomach, though it can strike anywhere!

While being skinny fat is easier to live with than being just fat, for most people it can still result in low-confidence levels and poor self-esteem, not to mention the latent health issues that go hand in hand with being overweight. For people who are skinny fat, they can often live their lives giving off the appearance of being either skinny or of average weight. But under their often baggy clothes, they are hiding a problem which can slowly dent their self-confidence.

Should an occasion arise when it’s time to disrobe such as swimming, a trip to the beach or spending time with a new partner, then anxiety can start to set in. While fat people can’t really hide their body fat levels, a skinny fat person can do a good job of keeping things under wraps, which can in fact make things worse, as none of their friends or family might have any idea they have problem areas.

So How Can You Determine if You Are Skinny Fat?

A Sign of Skinny Fatness There is no one size fits all definition of being skinny fat. It is up to you to decide whether this label applies to you or not. If you decide that it does, then you can move forward and start taking steps to remedy the issue. Admitting you aren’t happy with your current situation is one of the first steps in the road to getting in great shape. Only then can you really set things in motion to attain the look or body you want.

Typically a skinny fat person will have little to no muscle tone. Tensing their upper arms will result in hardly any visible different to when that area is untested or relaxed. Fat stores around the tricep or underarm area will be pronounced and there is likely to be some wobble should you shake or prod the area. This wobbly area is known as bingo wings, in reference to its prominence on older women who are often keen bingo players. While having wings might be a good thing, in this case it most certainly is not. Remember, you can’t fly with bingo wings! Click to Tweet this.

The Muffin Top Another area that both men and women who suffer from skinny fat syndrome have trouble with is the stomach or abdomen area. While there is a chance you might have some abdominal muscles or abs down there, but you won’t ever be able to see them while you remain in skinny fat zone. If you are in the advanced stages of skinny fat syndrome then it is likely you will have a pronounced muffin top going on. This name refers to the extra bulge of fat that hangs or pops out over your waist band. While more common in women, the number of men who have this feature is growing all the time. People say you are what you eat and when it comes to muffins and muffin tops, never a truer word has been spoken!

For men, the appearance of moobs or man boobs, fatty deposits around the chest area, can signal the sign that you are well and truly skinny fat. This tell-tale sign is one sure way of how to know if you are skinny fat or not.

How to Beat Skinny Fat Syndrome?

If anyone of the above applies to you then it is highly likely you are in the skinny fat club. My commiserations go out to you! I was skinny fat once. It’s not a nice place to be, I know that. But it could be worse; you could be just fat-fat. At least getting into good shape is more attainable for you than someone who is fully overweight and carrying fat all over their body.

The good news is fixing this mess isn’t overly complicated but it does require hard work and dedication. Did I scare you off then? Most people will press the back button on the browser at the mention of ’hard work and dedication’ but for those of you that keep reading you are over the first hurdle.

There is a two pronged approach required in order to stop being skinny fat. Part one is to start doing some exercise. Not just slogging away for hours on the treadmill, which is probably what helped most people become skinny fat in the first place, but doing resistance training which involves lifting weights. This applies to men and women and is an essential part of the road to recovery for skinny and fat people out there.

Don’t worry if you are a gym-o-phobe and hate the idea of joining the gym. This website is dedicated to training at home and can help you get in shape from the comfort of your own living room.

Part two involves sorting your diet out. It’s time to cut the crap, in terms of what you eat. We’re not talking about jumping on a fad diet and going cold turkey. Just eating sensibly, in a way that you can maintain, is enough to start improving your health and your physical appearance.

Stop Being Skinny Fat Today

Toned Not Skinny Couple By following these two approaches you can join the road to recovery and put a stop to being skinny fat today. It could take a few months or it could take longer. It depends how far down the skinny fat slope you’ve fallen and how much work you want to put in.

But you can get back to normality, and should you wish, go beyond averageness and develop your body into something to be proud of. It all depends on you…

How Effective are Kettlebell Workouts?

Leave a reply

Effective Kettlebell Workouts When it comes to working out at home, getting your hands on a kettlebell can be one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to get started. Most people would love a home gym, but they cost a lot and take up valuable space. With a set of kettlebells you can perform a multitude of exercises and different routines to suit most fitness goals and levels of experience. However, some people are still questioning how effective kettlebells workouts are to meet certain goals so this article will attempt to clear up any misunderstanding and remove any doubts you might have as to whether kettlebell training is for you.

Can You Get the Lean Hollywood Look with a Kettlebell Workout?

Get the Lean Hollywood Look with Kettlebells In the past muscle bound action stars where all the rage in Hollywood. Megastars like Arnie, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme were top billing in movies like Commando, Rocky and Bloodsport and commanded the highest salaries.

Now things have changed and the more athletic and functional physiques are now most popular amongst actors and those working out with the goal of getting in great physical shape. This term was coined the Lean Hollywood Look by fitness blogger Rusty Moore and is best personified by actors like Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond, Ryan Reynolds in films like Blade and Highlander and Matthew McConaughey in every film he’s been in. In this condition you can still wear great fitting clothes without your muscles limiting your choices, but when you hit the beach you’re always the guy in the best shape.

Can you get the Lean Hollywood Look by working out at home with kettlebells? You sure can. This kind of toned, athletic physique is built on functional strength and by following dynamic exercise routines. These types of exercises and routines can be easily performed with a kettlebell or two. By doing a high intensity kettlebell routine you can keep your metabolism working at top speed, allowing you to burn more calories per day keeping your fat levels down and your lean muscle visible.

A key part of the Lean Hollywood look is having visible abs. To achieve this part of the look you need to have well developed abdominal muscles but most importantly also have low body fat levels. Read this article on the best home kettlebell exercises for a six pack to make sure you are on the right track.

Are Kettlebell Workouts Effective at Avoiding Skinny Fat Syndrome?

Beat Skinny Fat Syndrome with Kettlebells If you are already skinny fat then I know you feel. I was there once and it’s not a fun place to be! I managed to beat skinny fat syndrome and the good news is you can too. There are two types of skinny fat: truly skinny with a bit of fat around the midsection. The other type is someone with an average build but with pockets of fat around your chest, belly and other parts of your body.

This applies to men and women and a good kettlebell workout can be very effective at ending your skinny fat status.

If you are the first type and are truly skinny but with fat in certain areas, giving you that wobbly, soft look then your best course of action is to start weight training with kettlebells or other free weights (both men and women) and eating a high protein diet. The aim here is to build some muscle which will get you toned and firm you up.

If you are the second type and are in pretty average shape but have dodgy pockets of fat that prevent you from wearing the clothes you want or having fun at the beach then you need to take a different approach. You should try and lose the fat first to get to an average shape and then focus on building some muscles to get toned and firm. This applies to both men and women who are skinny fat and in this category. Women need to weight train as much as men to get toned. If you just do cardio you will become even skinnier and softer with no muscle tone. You don’t want that do you?

As kettlebell workouts are great at building muscle and zapping calories, you can do all of the above with just a kettlebell or two. Make sure you read this article on how to pick the right kettlebell for your goals and then get started ASAP. Every day you wait to start makes you another day further away from your goals.

Are Kettlebell Workouts Suitable for Women?

Can Women Train with Kettlebells Kettlebell training is perfect for people who want to do one or more of the following:

Lose weight
Get toned
Look athletic
Get fitter
Improve their strength
Get rid of the wobbly bits
Build muscle

If one or more of those goals interests you and you are a women then yes: kettlebell training is suitable for women.

A lot of women (and some men) avoid weight training as they assume they will bulk up after a few sessions and lose their feminine shape. This is not the case. As women have much less of the male hormone testosterone than men, they have a much harder time building muscle. Men find it hard enough to build muscle so women have no chance of putting on muscle if they aren’t training and eating specifically for that goal. It can be done but it won’t happen by accident after a few months of working out.

Why is weight training good for women? Because it can help them achieve their goals of being toned, looking athletic and having a firm but feminine body. If you are still not convinced read this guide covering whether kettlebell training is suitable for women or not. Cardio can help you lose fat, but if there is no muscle tone underneath, you won’t look your best.

So yes, kettlebell training is suitable for women and is one of the easiest and most cost effective ways of doing resistance training at home. If you are unsure of which one to get, read our guide on how to pick the right kettlebell for your goals.

Can you do Cardio with a Kettlebell?

You can indeed perform a cardio workout with a kettlebell. There are a few different types of cardio workouts that are done with different goals in mind:

Long, slow and steady cardio for fat loss
Fast, intense cardio to improve fitness levels
Short high intensity interval training (HIIT) for fat loss and improved fitness levels

All of the above can be done with a kettlebell. You just need to follow the right routine. Doing cardio at home can be quite tricky if you don’t have the right equipment to hand. We’ve already looked at how to do cardio at home without a cardio machine but one easy and cost effective way is to follow a circuit training routine with your new kettlebell.

Circuit training involves performing a number of exercises, or a circuit, using a weight or doing body weight exercises like push ups. These exercises are done in fast succession, without long rests in between each one. This gest you out of breath and your heart rate up which improves your fitness levels and burns calories like a cardio workout. It also has the added advantage of building muscle which helps to get you toned and in great athletic shape.

Are Kettlebell Workouts Effective?

So to answer the question of how effective are kettlebell workouts, you need to look at your goals and see if they can be achieved with resistance training and cardio training. If you want to run a 10k or become a bodybuilder than kettlebell training isn’t the best option for you. But if you want to be fit, healthy, strong and in great shape then kettlebell training is a great way to start working out at home without splashing out on a home gym.

To find out which kettlebells are right for you and your goals, read our ultimate guide to kettlebells today.

How I Beat Skinny Fat Syndrome

Leave a reply

The Nes didn’t make me fat

When I was a kid I was always pretty skinny. I never overate and we had a healthy lifestyle with a fair amount of exercise and outdoor activities. I never thought about my weight and just took it for granted that I wasn’t the fat kid in class who everyone mocked and teased. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t grow up on a farm where days would be spent roaming the fields, climbing trees and foraging for apples. In fact it was quite the opposite, I grew up in a big city but thanks to the era I was born in it was still considered pretty safe for kids to play outside and we’d spend most afternoons and evenings roaming around our neighbourhood on our bikes, skateboards and scooters. At home most kids from my neighbourhood had their own TVs, VCRs (like an old fashioned Blu-Ray player) and a NES (think Xbox without the fancy graphics and only two buttons on the controller) or a Master System but that wasn’t the only way we got our entertainment. At home we ate healthily but when we were out we were allowed sweets, chips and burgers in moderation.

So what all that in mind it’s no surprise that I grew up on the medium to thin end of the scale.

Skinny Fat isn’t Pretty

Fast forward 10 years to when I’d just finished college after several years of hard partying and no time at all spent cycling, skating or having a kick about and things had begun to change. I was still relatively lean for the most part but was starting to develop a bit of a substantial gut and my chest was starting to get a bit bigger and that growth had nothing to do with press-ups or bench presses and lot more to do with a sedentary lifestyle and an increased consumption of ‘bad’ calories such as takeaways and beers.

It took me a while to see for myself but there was no doubt about it: I was a skinny fat man!

Being skinny fat is no great position to find oneself in. You might look ok-ish when fully clothed but in front of the mirror at night or when undressed at the beach you don’t look a pretty sight at all! Truly fat people might scoff at the complaints of the skinny fat guys and girls as at least they don’t get abuse in the street and they can hide their body composition but when you have skinny fat syndrome you feel just as bad let me tell you.

So How Did I Stop Being Skinny Fat?

Previously I talked about the five stages of getting in shape and once I’d moved out of stage one (denial) I was moving in the right direction in terms of getting over my skinny fatness. My main approach was to join a local gym and start pounding the treadmill and although this was better than nothing it wasn’t long before I realised I was getting fitter and faster at running but the weight wasn’t really coming off and I still looked like the proverbial sack in the mirror.

Cardio isn’t the Answer

Daniel Craig at the Beach

While doing running or any other form of cardio is a great way to get fit it isn’t the best or most effective way to exercise in order to shape up and change the way you look. When it comes to making changes to your body type and shape that are pleasing to the eye the best way to do it is to start lifting those weights!

It wasn’t until I started doing resistance training using the weights machines in the gym and then the free weights once I’d built up a bit of foundation strength and confidence that I noticed the changes taking place.

I began to lose a bit of weight on the scales but more importantly I was building muscle which helped change the way I looked. I was no longer flabby and weak and I had started to become firm and toned. I never became a mass monster but I looked a lot better with my top off and those days out at the swimming pool or beach were now a lot less stressful and nights in under the covers a lot less daunting!

If you are serious about beating skinny fat syndrome then I recommend you either join a gym or start working at home. Working out at home is a lot easier and cheaper than you might imagine and this piece on why a kettlebell is all you need to get in shape at home can give you some great advice on getting started without breaking the bank.

Did you get over being skinny fat? If so leave a comment bellow or connect with us on Facebook.

If you want a guide to help you get in shape fast then check out the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle ebook now.

How to Avoid Skinny Fat Syndrome

Leave a reply

Skinny Fat Man and Woman A lot of people start going to the gym and exercising with fat loss as their main goal. Joining a gym or starting a home fitness program is one of the best steps you can take in your quest to lose fat and get in great shape but if you follow conventional wisdom when it comes to choosing and applying a workout regime then you could end up heading down the wrong path which might either make it a lot longer before you achieve your goals or take you to an entirely different, unwanted destination instead. That destination is the Skinny Fat Syndrome and it isn’t a place you want to go!

What is Skinny Fat Syndrome?

If, when fully clothed you appear to be relatively skinny and thin looking but in actual fact you have areas of fat such as your belly, chest and upper arms then there is a good chance you are skinny fat. This is the exact opposite of the athletic and toned look most people desire and affects men and women in equal numbers.

How Do People Get Skinny Fat?

Now, we understand that if you are reading this you specifically do not want to get skinny fat or are already there and want to know how to change your body composition to something healthier and more aesthetically pleasing. But it is worth pointing out the various ways people can end up suffering from Skinny Fat Syndrome to help explain this condition fully.

Starting Out Skinny with Gradual Fat Increases

This is the most common route to ending up being skinny and fat at the same time and happens to lots of people. Perhaps you were skinny or thin in your teens and early twenties and could eat what you wanted and didn’t have to do any physical activities to maintain your weight. As you started to get a bit older and as each year your body’s metabolism slowed down bit by bit you continued to eat the same amount of food but your body began to store more of this food as fat around your body. It might have been a gradual process of only a few extra pounds a year but after a few years this added up and you soon found yourself with a significant deposit of fat around your belly. Initially you could hide this new extra weight gain but when not wearing the right clothes or at the beach it was visible for all to see.

Following the Wrong Exercise Program when Trying to Lose Weight

This is the other main way people end up being skinny fat and is perhaps even more frustrating for the people to whom it applies. If you were overweight and had a body some people might have considered as being fat and you took the commendable steps to do something about it you might have initially started to lose weight and seen a striking transformation in your body composition as the fat started to melt away slowly but surely. But as you got down to a reasonable weight you found that although some parts of your body were thin and skinny other parts such as your belly, chest and thighs were still carrying unwanted weight and fatty deposits. Although you were now no longer overweight you still had areas of fat and for all the weight you had lost you still didn’t have the body you wanted.

The chances are you were using cardiovascular exercises such as running as your main or only method for burning off those extra calories and although this worked well initially it soon become a contributor to your status of being skinny fat.

How to Lose Weight without Becoming Skinny Fat

Stop Being Skinny Fat So now that we have covered ‘what is skinny fat’ and how it can happen we are getting to the crux of this article and that is how to lose weight without becoming a skinny fat person.

If we take a look the typical profile of a skinny fat person which applies to both men and women, we can see what needs to be done to avoid this situation:

Mainly skinny but with unwanted areas of fat such as the belly, upper arms and chest
Low levels of muscle tone
Legacy of being able to eat what they want which was mainly unhealthy food
Doesn’t exercise often and if does, only cardio exercises such as running, cycling or cross training
Drinks too much alcohol
Slower metabolism due to increasing age and/or lack of the right kind of exercise

So as you can see there are a number of contributing factors that could apply to someone in order to render them skinny fat. Some or all of those might apply to you and the more of them you can fix then the quicker you will be able to change your body to healthy and toned or whatever your goal might be.

The Best Thing You Can Do to Beat Skinny Fat Syndrome

Weight Training to Avoid Being Skinny Fat If you look at the list above three of the key factors (low muscle tone, no regular exercise & slow metabolism) can be grouped together and remedied at the same time and that is with regular weight training. This applies to both men and women and we recommend that both genders should workout in the same way if they want to get in great shape, obtain a toned, healthy looking athletic physique to ensure they look good naked or at the beach.

Why Weight Training?

In a previous article we talked about why weight training is the best way to lose weight so for a more detailed answer you should look there but to sum it up weight training is the best way to no longer be skinny fat because:

Weight training workouts burn more calories than cardio exercises over the course of a day
More muscle tone means a faster metabolism which means your body burns more calories when resting
Adding muscle to your body gives you an athletic toned look with no flabby or wobbly bits

Weight training workouts can be done a few times a week and we recommend you only train for 30 minutes at a time. After half an hour shouldn’t have enough energy left to continue and if you have then you got the energy then you haven’t been doing it properly. Three 30 minute workouts a week should be sufficient.

You can start an effective weight training workout with hardly any fitness equipment at all or even without any equipment by doing body weight exercises. This means you can easily train at home without the expense of setting up a home gym or buying costly cardio equipment. For some ideas on weight training at home on a budget read this article to get started.

Why Cardio Isn’t the Answer

Why Cardio isnt the Answer While cardio exercises such as running or cycling are great ways to increase your fitness levels they aren’t the best means to avoiding becoming skinny fat and having a toned figure. As you lose some of your fat by doing cardio training you unfortunately won’t be replacing that fat with lean body mass or muscle so your body won’t develop that toned, fit look.

Cardio training burns calories while you are training but as soon as you stop the exercise the calorie burning stops too. With weight training you get around an extra hour of increased calorie burn after you’ve finished working out making a weight training exercise much more effective in terms of calorie usage.

As your body doesn’t develop much if any muscle from your cardio workouts your body’s metabolism won’t improve like it does when you increase your levels of muscle. This means you don’t get the very important benefit of having a body that burns more calories in a day which you get from weight training and increasing your muscle mass.

Cardio training can even burn muscle instead of fat if you don’t do it correctly or fuel your workouts in the correct way. Muscle loss due to badly planned cardio workouts is more common than you think and can be a real problem and a big cause of becoming skinny fat. If your body is using muscle instead of fat for energy while you are running or cycling for example you won’t lose fat and will even lose muscle instead which might make your progress on the scales seem like it is heading in the right way but in terms of looking good in the mirror won’t help at all. Losing muscle will slow down your metabolism, make you look less toned and lead to a loss in strength and energy that might prevent you from being able to exercise in the future.

But I don’t want to Get Muscle Bound

This is a common concern from both men and women when they are recommend a weight training program in order to lose fat and get in shape but it isn’t something that should concern you. In order to get the benefits having more muscle gives you such as a faster metabolism and a more toned athletic look you only need to add a few pounds of lean mass. Adding significant amounts of muscle where you start to look bulky and out of proportion doesn’t happen overnight and takes years of dedicated heavy weight training alongside the user of supplements and special diets. We are not advocating that approach at all so this will not happen to you!

The average trainer will put on a few pounds of lean muscle relatively quickly and then the body will reach its natural limit of muscle mass. To get past that point you have to take your training to the next level which is something that is not needed to get in great shape and look good naked or at the beach. Do not fear weight training; excessive muscle gain isn’t easy!

Saying Goodbye to Skinny Fat

If you are serious about losing fat and getting in great shape I hope I have convinced you that weight training is the single most effective way of doing so without ending up somewhere you don’t want to be such as Skinnyfatsville.

Of course diet plays a big part and reducing the amount of alcohol you drink and cutting down on the number of unhealthy treats you have will definitely help but for the amount of effort vs. benefit weigh training can’t be beaten as it: