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Table of Contents
Introduction: The Skinny-Fat Body-Type
5
My Transformation
7
The 2 Bodyweight Exercises That Got Me Ripped
9
The High Testosterone Diet
18
High Testosterone Diet Foods
26
The Vicious Cycle of Being Skinny-Fat
40
Distinguishing Between the Two Types of Skinny-Fat Guys: skinny-FAT vs.
SKINNY-fat
43
Daily Caloric Expenditure and Macronutrient Split
45
How to Put Together Your Meal Plan
53
How this type of meal plan works in practice and listening to your
BioFeedback
61
Weekly Refeed Meals for Fat Loss Dieting
69
Alcohol Will Ruin Your Fat Loss Progress
70
10 Things to Watch Out For When Implementing A Meal Plan
72
Phase 1 Bodyweight Training Program For Skinny-Fat Guys
77
5 Common Training Mistakes I See Clients Make
92
30 Minutes of Daily Cardio (Optional)
97
How to Create the Right Training Environment For Maximum Results101
The First 14 Days of Training Done Right
104
Progressive Overload Builds Strength and Muscle Mass
108
Progressions On Each Exercise
110
Proven Techniques to Break Through Training Plateaus
115
Sleep, Leptin, Stress and Hunger Levels
120
The Importance of Having a Clearly Defined Goal Physique
126
How to Track Body-Composition Progress
131
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Realistic Expectations
139
How Lean Can You Get?
141
How Fast Can You Gain Muscle Mass?
143
Factors That Affect Your Progression Rate
147
Should You Set Goals?
151
Summing Up The Actionable Advice
153
Testimonials By Coaching Clients
164
Frequently Asked Questions
177
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Before we get started you need to know that I’ll dedicate the
first 76 pages to explain:
1. Why bodyweight training works so well for skinny-fat guys.
2. Diet strategy to ensure you get the most out of your training.
Please be sure to read every word in this diet section, because without
a proper diet, you will not get results.
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Introduction: The Skinny-Fat Body-Type
When you go into any fitness or bodybuilding forum, you will see that people
often discuss three common body-types: 1) skinny guys, 2) fat guys and 3)
the naturally athletic guys with wide shoulders and defined abs.
The small and weak guys want to get bigger. They are advised to get strong
on the big compound exercises and eat a lot to gain muscle mass.
The big and fat guys want to trim down and get lean. They are advised to eat
clean and do cardio daily.
The naturally athletic guys… I really don’t know if they ever thought about
browsing a fitness forum — I can’t even imagine how it is to be like them.
Most of us wish to have it that easy.
These are the 3 “boxes” that people will place beginners into and that’s of
course wrong.
During the last 4 decades, as mens’ natural testosterone productions have
been dropping, more guys are becoming skinny-fat.
Being skinny-fat essentially means that you’re under muscled while carrying
a lot of body-fat.
In clothes, a skinny-fat guy looks like a regular guy, but once the clothes
come off all the flab and softness is revealed.
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Skinny-fat guys find it difficult to gain even small amounts of muscle tone and
we gain fat “just by looking at food”.
Most of us find it difficult to gain muscle mass on our shoulders, upper chest
and arms.
It’s not uncommon that skinny-fat guys start off their training career thinking
they’re a regular fat guy and following the same fat loss strategies as a
regular fat guy.
Or to try and bulk up like a skinny guy only to find out that they’ve gained 20
pounds of fat and minimal amounts of muscle mass.
Because of that, it’s not uncommon for skinny-fat guys train for YEARS or
even DECADES without any results.
Prior to starting my own transformation and blog in 2010-2013 there wasn’t
much awareness about skinny-fat people, yet there was a huge demand for
a skinny-fat resource.
I know, because I was part of that demand. I wanted someone experienced
to tell me the exact steps I have to take but the problem was that I couldn’t
find someone who started out with a terrible skinny-fat physique, and then
transformed it.
Almost everyday, I browsed bodybuilding forums and looked for products
specifically created for skinny-fat guys like me, but to my surprise, I couldn't
find anything of value.
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As a result, I wasted 2 years following a high protein diet, doing cardio and
lifting heavy weights without having anything to show for it. I still looked like I
had never been to the gym. In fact, I looked worse compared to when I
started.
That was, until I discovered bodyweight training.
My Transformation
When I started training in February 2010, I couldn’t do a single push up and
my DREAM was to one day be able to do a set of 10 chin ups.
I had never seen my abs and when I flexed my biceps in the mirror nothing
happened.
I had puffy nipples, wide hips, narrow shoulders and I was 6’2” tall with
lanky arms and skinny wrists.
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Compared to my friends, it seemed like my body just didn’t respond to
training and I had a VERY weak foundation of strength.
Unlike other people who get into fitness to get ripped 6-pack abs, my goals
were more humble.
I just wanted to build a “normal” and masculine looking body so I can feel
comfortable in my own skin (and perhaps get my first girlfriend).
I would never have imagined that years later I would have people tell me that
“I’m getting too muscular” or that I would lose 60 pounds of fat and get
visible abs for the first time in my life.
So I can relate to those of you who start at the bottom with below average
genetics.
I know exactly what it’s like to train for 2 years without anything to show for it.
Here’s a photo for proof:
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I was close to giving up many times, but I’m glad I didn’t.
Regardless of how long time it takes to transform your physique, it will
be worth it because feeling comfortable in your own skin is priceless.
And the truth is that YOU can make a dramatic change to your current bodycomposition, as long as you train and eat the right way.
The 2 Bodyweight Exercises That Got
Me Ripped
The big change in my physique came when I discovered the chin up and
diamond push up.
These are the two exercises which I consider to be the most essential
exercises for the skinny-fat guy.
When I started working on these exercises, I noticed that not only was I able
to gain a lot of muscle mass, but I was gaining muscle mass in all the
right places.
I added muscle mass on my shoulders, arms, lats and upper chest.
And for the first time in my life I got visible abs.
These were stubborn body-parts which I always found difficult to bring up.
These are also the body-parts that every skinny-fat guy needs to develop
because they enable you to build the V-taper.
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So why do bodyweight exercises work so well for skinny-fat guys?
The reason is that getting strong on bodyweight exercises represents the
exact opposite of being skinny-fat.
The skinny-fat guy is soft, weak and under-muscled, however to master
bodyweight exercises you have to become the exact opposite: strong, lean
and muscular.
Just imagine the changes your body will go through when you progress from
0 to 30 diamond push ups.
There’s just no way you will remain skinny-fat when you can knock out 30
diamond push ups with perfect form.
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Here’s an example of my client Harshit Godha who mastered the basic
bodyweight exercises in less than 1 year of training:
(You can view my full article about Harshit Godha by clicking here)
In the progression photo you can see that just like me, Harshit’s proportions
changed from skinny-fat to athletic as he became better at chin ups and
diamond push ups.
Chin Ups To Create the Illusion of Wide
Shoulders
The chin up is in my experience, the most effective exercise when it comes
to add width to your shoulders because they train the wing muscles under
your arm-pits (also called the lats).
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When you build wide lats, you create the illusion of having wide shoulders
and that’s great for everyone who trains for aesthetics, but especially those
of you who have naturally wide hips or waists, since wide shoulders will
make you more proportionate by giving you that V-tapered upper body.
Here’s a photo showing how my back transformed with chin up training:
The first photo was taken after 1 year of heavy weight training where I trained
my back several times a week, so it’s not like I’m blessed with a naturally
wide back. It’s something I had to work for VERY hard to achieve.
When I built a wide back, I didn’t only look wider from the back.
Even though the lats are placed on the back, when they get to a certain
size they also become visible from the front.
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Here’s my progression photo showing my lat growth from the front:
I want to point out that even though it looks like I’m flexing in the after photo,
I’m not.
This is how my lats looked when I was relaxed. I’ve since reduced the size of
my lats a bit because they got too big, but the photo above shows just how
powerful chin ups are for building a wide upper body.
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Building up the lats is incredibly important for those of you who have
naturally wide hips or waist bones, because they add a lot of size to your
shoulder width, thereby making your hips and waist look smaller.
In the photo above my hips are 40 inches which is a lot wider than all my
friends who are over 6 feet tall because my bone structure around the hips is
very big, and I carry all my fat around the hips and lower waist.
I also have naturally narrow shoulders and they don’t respond well to training
so at one point, about 2 years into my training I thought I would never get the
V-tapered upper body I dreamt about.
Being skinny-fat and additionally having wide hips and narrow shoulders is
the worst starting point you can have because not only do you have a hard
time making just small changes to your body-composition, but you also have
terrible starting proportions.
It took me several years just to build a body with masculine proportions and
I’ve seen many guys with similar starting points who have been training for 2,
5 or even 10 years without anything to show for it.
The key to overcome my proportions was to get really good at chin up
because they built my back so thick and wide.
My point is that regardless of how bad your starting proportions are, you can
make massive improvements to them by building a wide back.
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And if you’re skinny-fat with decent starting proportions, doing chin ups will
work even better for you.
In addition, chin ups are one of the best exercises to add size to your
biceps, since you’re essentially pulling a big portion of your bodyweight with
your biceps.
I personally added 1 inch to my arms within just a few months of starting
chin ups and diamond push ups and it was around that time that other
people finally started noticing that I train my arms. (In the 2 years prior to
that, I had not gotten a single compliment for my arm size).
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Diamond Push Ups To Sculpt Your Chest and
Triceps
The diamond push up is very different from the regular push up, because
putting your hands close together in a diamond shape gives a much more
powerful contraction and squeeze for the upper chest, inner chest and
triceps.
This is also why diamond push ups are a lot harder than regular push ups
and why we use knee push ups and regular push ups to build enough
strength to do them.
Prior to doing diamond push ups, I had zero definition on my triceps, upper
chest and front shoulders but that all changed within just a few weeks.
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After a few weeks of doing diamond push ups I noticed that my triceps,
upper chest and front shoulders started getting defined for the first time in
my life.
They worked so well for my chest that my puffy nipples became invisible to
anyone but myself. (And I know many of you reading this come from my
viral blog post about puffy nipples so you probably know how much I love
diamond push ups already).
Furthermore, they’re known as an incredible exercise for building up the
triceps, and contrary to popular belief of arms being all about biceps, the
triceps actually make up 2/3 of your arm size.
So when you master diamond push ups you don’t only see a massive
improvement in your chest, but also your triceps.
Together, the diamond push up and chin up are a powerful combination for
building a muscular upper body.
However, before we get to the bodyweight training program, you need to
understand how to speed up your recovery and natural testosterone
production with diet.
Diet is crucial because it provides the building blocks that enable you to
build strength and muscle mass and regulates important hormones such as
testosterone and cortisol and these hormones largely shape your bodycomposition.
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The High Testosterone Diet
You’ve probably heard the saying that your muscles grow when you sleep
and it’s true.
When you do diamond push ups and chin ups, you stimulate the muscles
and place stress on your body.
However, to capitalise on the training stimulus, your muscles need to recover
before you go into your next training session.
If you don’t recover properly, your body will spend all it’s time in a state of
playing catch up, rather than building more muscle size.
That’s why recovery is equally important to training.
Poor recovery = No gains.
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And recovery is one of the biggest challenges for us skinny-fat guys.
Most of us have a thin bone-structure with skinny wrists and a low natural
production of the main muscle building hormone in your body,
testosterone.
A thin bone structure and a low natural testosterone production means that
your body doesn’t handle training stress well.
Therefore, in order to get your best results, we need to make recovery a big
priority.
The most important thing to speed up recovery is to follow a proper nutrition
plan which provides your body with a lot of:
• Omega-3 fatty acids, extra virgin olive oil and nuts for an optimal
hormonal balance (optimal hormones are required to change your bodycomposition).
• Energy from high quality starches such as potatoes and rice.
• Vitamins and minerals from a variety of fruits and vegetables.
• Protein from lean protein sources so you can build and repair your
muscles.
Your diet provides the building blocks for changing your body, so it’s a
requirement that you educate yourself and follow a proper diet plan to get
the most out of your training.
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In addition to speeding up training recovery, your diet will also help boost
your natural testosterone production and now I’ll explain why this is crucial.
In this article I cover a 1996 study which shows that guys who inject
testosterone gain 2 times as much muscle mass without doing any kind of
training, compared to guys who train three times per week without injecting
testosterone.
You read that right: A guy who injects testosterone but doesn’t workout,
gains two times as much muscle mass as a guy who does regular workouts
without injecting testosterone.
Testosterone is the male hormone of vitality and it’s responsible for functions
such as your ability to build strength and muscle mass, your sex drive and
aggression levels.
It’s the hormone which increases during puberty and gives guys broader
shoulders, body-hair and more muscular physiques.
Higher testosterone levels enable you to train harder, recover faster between
training sessions and of course to build more muscle mass.
I personally also had a low natural testosterone production when I started
training and after looking at dozens of lab tests from my clients, I found that
most skinny-fat guys have low testosterone levels.
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The biggest sign of having a low natural testosterone production is if you
aren’t waking up with an erection nearly everyday (or something like 5-6
days a week).
Other signs are puffy nipples, under-muscled upper body, narrow shoulders,
low energy levels, low motivation and difficulty maintaining hard erections.
(If you live in the United States, you can get a full hormonal panel done
through PrivateMD Labs)
If you train with low testosterone levels, you won’t get much out of it because
you don’t have the hormonal balance to support body-composition changes.
Most guys find it incredibly hard to build a ripped physique so imagine how
hard it is when you have the testosterone production of your grandfather and
you follow a crappy diet that doesn’t support a higher testosterone
production.
You guessed right… It’s nearly impossible.
Therefore I hope you understand by now that in order to benefit from my
training program you need to follow a proper diet plan, which I will cover
in the next section.
Clean Up Your Diet to Boost Testosterone
I’ve spent years studying natural testosterone optimisation and I’ve boosted
my own natural testosterone production with over 150%.
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The key to boost your testosterone levels is to first and foremost get on a
sustainable diet plan that enables you to lose body-fat because excess
body-fat is estrogenic and estrogen, the female hormone, binds to
testosterone.
Excess Body-Fat -> High Estrogen -> Estrogen Binds To
Testosterone -> Lower Testosterone Production
I emphasise sustainable because I want you to follow a diet plan that you
can follow for the next 10 or 20 years.
If you can’t imagine yourself following a diet plan for the next decade or two,
it’s not going to work long-term.
This one thing is crucial to understand because transforming your body is
not a sprint — it’s a marathon.
You need TIME to make lasting changes to your body-composition so you
better follow a diet and training strategy that is realistic to stick to.
The first step I take with my clients is to troubleshoot their diet with a
comprehensive Client Assessment Form.
One of the questions in the form is: “Do you often get bloated, gassy or
constipated?”
I include this question because bloating, gassiness, constipation (and acne)
are signs that you are eating foods that you don’t digest well.
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When you eat foods you don’t digest well, you create chronic inflammation
which leads to a higher production of the stress hormone cortisol, and high
cortisol levels reduce your testosterone production.
Eat Foods You Don’t Digest Well -> Bloating, Gassiness and
Constipation -> Chronic Inflammation -> Higher Cortisol Levels
-> Lower Testosterone
It’s a well-known fact that your digestion is a great indicator of your overall
health,
and according to board-certified neurosurgeon Dr. Brett Osborn,
chronic inflammation is the underlying reason behind most modern diseases
such as cancer and Alzheimer's.
So you should never ignore symptoms such as bloating, gassiness and
constipation because they’re signs of a much larger issue than “just” low
testosterone levels.
And even if you don’t have these symptoms, it’s still a great idea to cut out
foods that are known to create inflammation because in most cases, chronic
inflammation is asymptomatic.
Therefore, the diet strategy I follow with most of my skinny-fat clients is that I
initially have them limit their intake of foods and drinks that:
1. Create inflammation.
2. Provide a small amount of satiety per Calorie.
3. Increase the female hormone Estrogen.
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The foods and drinks I’m talking about are wheat, dairy, fried foods, soy,
refined sugars and of course alcohol.
• Wheat: Bread, pasta, pizza, hotdogs, cereal.
• Dairy: Whey protein powder, milk, cheese, milk chocolate, yoghurt.
• Fried foods: McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, fried chicken, chips.
• Soy: Soy milk, soy sauce and foods that contain soy (check food
labels for this).
• Refined sugars: Most juices (unless they’re 100% natural fruit),
candy, gummy bear , a lot of cereals.
• Alcohol: Beer, wine, spirits, cocktails.
Alcohol, wheat, refined sugars, soy and fried foods are obvious choices
because we all know that these foods and drinks are junk that break down
our bodies.
However, some of you may wonder about dairy which is known to provide
your body with calcium and improve your bone health.
“But studies say I need dairy for good bone
health?”
The issue with dairy products is that while they provide high amounts of
calcium, they also increase the female hormone, estrogen.
According to Ganmaa Davaasambuu, a physician and scientist at the
Harvard School of Public Health, dairy products account for 60 to 80
percent of the estrogen consumed in the typical American diet.
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And remember:
• Skinny-fat guys have a naturally high estrogen production,
especially those of you who are soft around the lower waist and
have puffy nipples.
• Estrogen lowers your natural testosterone production so we don’t
want more of it.
So if you’re a guy with a skinny-fat physique or even puffy nipples, dairy
products are not worth it.
You can easily cover most of of your required calcium intake by eating 500
grams of green vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and kale daily.
In contrast to dairy, these foods are also known to reduce estrogen, boost
testosterone and improve your blood flow because of their high nitric oxide
contents so you should be eating a lot of them anyways.
And in the case you don’t get enough calcium from diet, just take a calcium
supplement. It’s both affordable and easy so there’s no reason to believe the
hype that you need dairy for optimal health.
The 4 Day Diet Experiment
I could talk all day long about why the foods listed earlier are bad for you,
however, instead of me convincing you, I suggest you convince yourself.
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Get rid of the wheat, dairy, alcohol, fried foods, refined sugars and soy for
just 4 days and see for yourself how you feel because that’s the ONLY real
way to evaluate how diet changes work for YOU.
See for yourself how your body-composition, skin, digestion and overall wellbeing starts changing.
I’ve had countless readers and clients do the 4 day experiment and here
are some of the benefits they’ve experienced:
• Clearing up acne.
• Correcting digestive issues such as constipation and bloating.
• Feeling lighter and more energised throughout the day.
And some of those who have stuck with it for months, have gotten rid of puffy
nipples and lost over 20 pounds of fat.
So give it a shot for 4 days, take written notes on how you feel and then
evaluate for yourself if you’ve been eating foods that are bad for you.
High Testosterone Diet Foods
Once you’ve cut out the “bad” foods, and experienced the benefits that
come with that, it’s time to replace them with testosterone boosting foods.
The foods I want you to eat are satiating so you minimise the risk of
overeating and they provide you with consistent energy levels so you feel
your best throughout the day.
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I want to point out that the next sections are going to be quite long and
detailed, however in order to change your eating habits, you have to
understand the why behind it. You have to understand why certain foods are
bad for your health and why others provide amazing health benefits.
Once you know about the benefits of the various foods I recommend, you will
be more likely to want to eat more of them, even if you don’t like them that
much at first. (Trust me, I know because I used to eat white bread, butter,
sausages, candy and chocolate while growing up. I barely knew the names
of most vegetables).
Fruits and Vegetables
When I started training in February 2010, I got stuck in the whole “diet is a
numbers game approach”. I believe that as long as I hit my daily calorie,
protein, carb and fat goals, I will transform. This is the wrong way to go about
dieting because it often means that you will neglect fruits and vegetables.
These are very underrated for transforming your body because often when
you feel hungry, you are just lacking in vitamins or minerals. And no, taking a
multivitamin or eating a few bananas and apples a day won’t cut it.
The average adult needs 10-12 servings of fruits and vegetables per day to
achieve peak performance and that’s A LOT. We’re talking about 70-84
servings per week and most people never get close to that number. That’s
too bad because by eating fruits and vegetables you will prevent going on a
big eating binge and messing up all your diet efforts.
Did you know that pineapple contains bromelain which helps you digest
protein and thereby you can utilise more protein for repairing and building
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muscle mass? Introducing pineapple with my breakfast fixed digestive
problems I had my entire life and it has worked wonders for my clients and
readers too.
Did you know that spinach boosts natural testosterone production, increases
blood flow
and clears up acne because of its high vitamin A contents?
(Vitamin A is what they put in the most powerful medicine for acne
“Accutane”, but that medicine has a lot of side-effects and isn’t worth it
considering you can get the same effect from eating a lot of spinach). Eating
a lot of spinach everyday helped me clear up acne and improve my blood
flow (I always suffered from cold hands and feet before).
Fruits and vegetables have countless benefits and understanding the
benefits of them is the key to educate yourself about why you should eat
more of them. I always hated eating fruits and vegetables and no one would
ever have imagined that I would be snacking on a bowl of dry spinach every
morning instead of a bar of chocolate, but I’m doing it because I understand
the benefits that come with it. To get educated, I recommend you google for
the benefits of various fruits and vegetables and take notes on how various
vegetables benefit you. By doing so you will want to eat more fruits and
vegetables and you won’t have to rely on will-power which is limited
anyways. Finally, if you REALLY can’t stomach fruits and vegetables or don’t
have time to prepare them, I recommend that you as a minimum take a high
quality greens supplement.
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Starches: Potatoes and Rice
Potatoes and rice are two great starch sources and they make up the base
of my clients’ lunch and dinners. The reasoning to why they work so well is
first and foremost because they’re relatively easy on your digestion
compared to other carb sources, and that’s important because most skinnyfat guys have poor nutrient partitioning. (I.e. your ability to use food for
muscle gains isn’t all that great). Nutrient partitioning goes hand-in-hand with
your body’s digestive abilities, so having poor nutrient partitioning means
you have below average digestion and consistently eating foods that you
don’t digest foods well. The signs of eating foods that you don’t digest well
are: constipation and bloating after meals. If your stomach looks bloated and
like it’s full of gas after eating a meal, and you have a hard time getting
business done on the toilet, it’s because you eat foods you don’t digest well.
This is important to understand because when you consistently eat foods
that you don’t digest well, you increase inflammation in your body and
chronic inflammation leads to an increase in the hormone, cortisol, the stress
hormone. When cortisol is high, your testosterone levels drop.
Poor nutrient partitioning -> Poor digestion -> Inflammation ->
Higher Cortisol -> Lower Testosterone
In other words, we want to eat foods we digest well to maximise natural
testosterone production. After having problems with starches my entire life, I
found that rice (both brown and white) and potatoes (both sweet and white)
work really well for me. I can eat these foods in very big amounts and digest
them well. The same is the case for most of my clients who had issues
digesting starches most of their life. They do really well with potatoes and
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rice, so I highly recommend that you make these your main carb sources, at
leat initially, and then consider to re-add other starches later on and then see
how your body responds to them.
Now, I know that some of you may wonder about why I include white rice
when brown rice contains more fiber and thereby is more filling. The reasons
for that are outlined below:
1. If you eat enough fruits and vegetables (as you should), then you
will get more than enough fiber from that alone. Adding excessive
fiber
through brown rice will only put more stress on your
digestive system and make you more bloated.
2. For the vast majority of people, white rice is more tasty, therefore it
increases diet adherence to use that as a staple compared to
brown rice.
The only reasons to why I would include brown rice are: 1) If it tastes better
for you or 2) You aren’t eating enough fruits and vegetables to get enough
fiber.
You Don’t Need to Eat That Much Protein To
Support Muscle Gains
If you met me in 2010-2011, you would meet a high school kid who fell for
the fitness industry scam of eating a high protein diet. I believed that I need
to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, otherwise I won’t be able
to build muscle mass. At a bodyweight of 200 pounds, that meant I aimed to
eat 200 grams of protein per day. To give you some perspective, 200 grams
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of protein is the equivalent of eating 1 pound of chicken breast, 6 eggs and
2 protein shakes everyday. Because of that, I spent all my money on buying
tuna, chicken breast, eggs and protein shakes and prepared them each
night in my lunch box so I could bring them for my school lunch in order to
hit my daily protein targets of 200 grams. My class-mates would ask me
about why I was doing all that, and I then lectured them on the minimum
protein requirements to build muscle mass. I even wanted to skip vacations
because I was scared I wouldn’t get enough protein! I was dedicated but
uninformed.
Eating all that protein requires a lot of effort, makes your wallet lighter and
pushes you into buying more protein powder. The only problem is that it’s
very hard to digest all that protein and utilise it for your training. When I was
following my high protein diet, I was always constipated and bloated
because my body couldn’t use all that protein. I felt terrible eating all that
protein and didn’t have much room for my protein-sparing nutrients: which
are the vegetables, fruits and high quality starches such as rice and
potatoes. This is similar to the experience my clients have. The reasoning for
this is that most protein sources are hard to digest and as mentioned earlier,
us skinny-fat guys have poor nutrient partitioning and digestion so there’s no
point in pushing all that protein into our body. Remember, eating foods you
don’t digest well leads to inflammation and chronic inflammation leads to
higher cortisol which results in lower testosterone levels.
I learned all this the hard way, wasting 2 years lifting heavy and wasting a lot
of time, money and headaches on a high protein diet. Then one day, I came
across a book called “How Much Protein”. This book is written by Brad Pilon
who is a natural bodybuilder and previously worked in the protein
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supplement industry. While working in the supplement industry, he
questioned his company’s marketing, asking them why they recommend
such a high protein intake when there are no well-designed studies
supporting it. Reading between the lines, I understood that he was indirectly
told by his superiors that there are no studies supporting very high protein
intakes but that it’s necessary to push this argument to sell more protein
supplements.
In the book he presents a bunch of studies and then advocated a moderate
protein intake of 70-120 grams per day and this resonated a lot of with me at
the time so I gave it a try. To my surprise, I felt a lot better when I replaced a
lot of my proteins with high quality carbs such as potatoes and rice. This is
also about the time where I saw a serious increase in my testosterone levels
because the protein-sparing nutrients are more important for your hormonal
balance. And most importantly, I gained muscle mass. Since increasing the
carbs in my diet, I’ve gained several inches around my chest, arms and
shoulders and I’m bigger than I ever was on a high protein diet. Carbs
energise you to train hard and fill up your muscles with glycogen. Without
enough carbs, you won’t grow.
The outrageous claims of eating 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight
can work for those who are genetically gifted and able to digest all that
protein, but it won’t work for the average skinny-fat guy who has terrible
nutrient partitioning.
Furthermore, it doesn’t really matter when you eat your protein so don’t worry
about post-workout shakes or taking casein before going to bed. It’s all
marketing. When you eat a big steak of chicken it stays in your body for
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many hours, so it won’t matter if you supplement with protein powder after
your training sessions. Now this doesn’t mean you should never supplement
with protein, but you need to understand that as long as you eat a balanced
diet with decent amounts of meat at least two times per day and then focus
the rest of your diet to get enough carbs you’re all set to get jacked. At this
point it’s more about training the right way for your unique body-type and
giving yourself enough time to grow rather than buying the right protein
powder.
On an added note, I personally believe that the quality of your protein source
is more important than the total amount you eat because many protein
sources cause some inflammation in your body. For example grass fed lean
beef is considered to be one of the highest quality protein sources, but it still
causes some level of inflammation (although not that much if you eat it in
moderation), so you should focus your diet on eating just the right amount of
protein for your unique body-type and get the best quality protein you can
get.
Healthy Fats To Support an Optimal Hormonal
Balance
For fats, I used to be an advocate of using a high amount of coconut oil, egg
yolks and animal fat to boost testosterone.
These are all high in saturated fats and saturated fats can boost natural
testosterone production.
The problem is that the boost isn’t that there’s a bigger downside to
consuming a diet that is high in saturated fat. Over time, as you consume a
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lot of saturated fats, your veins get clogged so your blood doesn’t flow
through the body the way it’s supposed to.
And that leads to soft erections, poor focus and eventually a cardiovascular
related event such as stroke and heart attack.
The only way to counter some of this effect is to supplement with high grade
Omega-3 and exercise right after eating a meal high in saturated fat.
But even if you do these things you don’t prevent the side effect of clogged
veins and who can exercise several times a day? It just isn’t realistic.
In other words, it’s not worth it to eat a diet very high in saturated fat,
therefore foods that contain saturated fat should be kept in moderation.
Here’s a list of foods that are high in saturated fat:
๏
Egg yolks.
๏
Fatty meats.
๏
Butter.
๏
Bacon.
๏
Coconut oil.
๏
Palm oil.
๏
Sausages.
๏
High fat milk.
๏
High fat cheese.
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Low Saturated Fat Intake Doesn’t Mean Low Fat
Intake
Reducing saturated fat doesn’t mean that you should keep all fat to a
minimum.
In fact, consuming enough fat is crucial to boost natural testosterone
production.
The key is to eat foods that are high in healthy fats (monounsaturated and
polyunsatured fats).
The foods that are high in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are:
• Omega-3 fatty acids (polyunsaturated).
• Extra virgin olive oil (monounsaturated fats).
• Dark chocolate (monounsaturated fats).
• Hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios (depending on which nuts you
get, they will either be high in monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats).
• Avocados (monounsaturated fats).
Therefore, you should grill most of your meats in extra virgin olive oil, put
extra virgin olive oil on your vegetables, snack on dark chocolate when you
get sugar cravings, supplement with high grade Omega-3 fatty acids daily
(more on that later) and eat a handful of nuts each day (mix these up for the
most benefit). As you can see, it’s not that difficult to cover your daily fat
requirements when you know which foods contain polyunsaturated and
monounsaturated fats.
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Eat Dark Chocolate to Reduce Cravings For
Sugar
When I started my fat loss journey in February 2010, I had a massive
appetite. I could eat a regular dinner consisting of chicken breast and
mashed potatoes and still be hungry for more and binge on an entire jar of
nutella followed by chocolate bars after. Or eat half a loaf of white bread with
butter and deli meats and then be hungry 1 hour later. I was always craving
starches and sugars and that’s very usual in guys who have high body-fat
levels.
When you have excess body-fat, you also likely have a deficiency in the
satiety hormone, leptin. Leptin is the hormone which regulates your appetite
and guys who are skinny-fat or fat have low levels of leptin. This essentially
means that you have a harder time feeling satiated after eating a meal and
you have bigger cravings for food (and especially carbs and sugars). In
other words, being fat or skinny-fat is a vicious cycle. You have low
testosterone levels, high estrogen levels, low leptin levels, a slow metabolism
(and other issues I haven’t covered here).
The only way to correct these hormonal issues long-term is to diet off
your body-fat in a sustainable way.
When I talk bout dieting off the body-fat in a sustainable way, I’m not talking
about going on a fad diet such as the ketogenic diet where you cut out carbs
and replace them with fat. This will work for you, and you will lose fat but
that’s the easy way and the easy way is most often the wrong one. Only a
small minority of the population benefit from low carb diets because most of
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us need carbs to stay energised throughout the day and to feel our best.
Therefore, the best solution isn’t to cut out carbs, but to eat the right kind.
Dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more): At a first glance dark chocolate might
not look like a great choice because it contains about the same amount of
Calories as milk chocolate, however, calories are just a number and are
largely useless. Dark chocolate is great because the taste of it is earthy so
it’s very hard to overeat on dark chocolate. It also contains more fat and less
sugar so you prevent your blood sugar from spiking too much and you
maintain steady energy levels.
Most of my clients will eat 30-60 grams of dark chocolate and then their
cravings for sugar will be gone and they will be satiated. 30-60 grams may
sound like a lot considering the calorie contents of dark chocolate, but you
want to keep in mind that dieting is a long-term game. If you can eat 30-60
grams of dark chocolate now and then prevent binging of 200 grams of milk
chocolate bars and candy later in the day, that’s a WIN for you. When you
make dietary decisions, always think about the satiety level of the food and
how it impacts your energy levels throughout the day rather than just the
calorie count on a label. You want to get away from obsessing about calorie
count because most labels aren’t that accurate and your body doesn’t work
like a machine that only accounts for the calorie count of food.
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High Grade Omega-3 Supplementation For
Higher Testosterone Levels and Faster
Metabolism
Supplementing with Omega-3 is essential for those of you who want to get
the most out of your training and now I’ll explain the scientific research
behind it all.
First and foremost, an optimal Omega-3 Index reduces SHBG (Sex
Hormone-Binding Globulin Hormone) while increasing the hormone LH
(Lutenizing Hormone).
This is very important because:
2. LH triggers testosterone production and an optimal Omega-3 Index
increases LH.
3. SHBG binds to your testosterone and an Optimal Omega-3 Index
reduces SHBG.
In other words, Omega-3 is amazing for increasing your natural testosterone
production and my own blood work proves that my highest testosterone
reading ever was after I corrected my Omega-3 Index.
In addition to boosting your natural testosterone production, a diet high in
Omega-3 speeds up cell repair and helps recover muscle tears 3 times
faster. This means that you will be able to train harder and more often.
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And it doesn’t stop here… An optimal Omega-3 Index also helps lower
insulin resistance and speed up your metabolism.1
Because of that, I recommend HIGH GRADE Omega-3 supplementation to
every skinny-fat guy. There are simply too many benefits not to take it.
I did my own test of countless Omega-3 products and discovered
improvements in my Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio, gains in strength on
compound exercises, more muscle mass on the upper body and an increase
in energy levels only when I used high grade Omega-3 supplements… my
conclusion? Do not buy the first Omega-3 you come across. Instead, go for a
high grade Omega-3 that is highly dosed, contains all Omega-3s (not just
EPA and DHA) and is purified. You can check the best Omega-3 brands on
my recommended supplements page.
Full List of High Testosterone Diet Foods
Below, I will summarise a full list of High Testosterone Diet foods I use as
staples in most of my clients’ diet plans:
• Starches: Sweet potatoes, White potatoes, White Rice, Brown Rice, Quinoa,
Oatmeal.
• Protein: Turkey Breast, Chicken Breast, Lean Cuts of Beef Steak, Lean
Ground Beef, Wild Caught Salmon, Egg Whites.
• Fat: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Avocadoes, Dark
Chocolate, Almonds, Pistachios or Hazelnuts.
1
Jyrki K. Virtanen, Jaakko Mursu, et al. "Serum Omega-3 Polysaturated Fatty Acids and Risk of Incident
Type 2 Diabetes in Men: The Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study." Diabetes care. Volume
37, Number 1, Pages 189-196, doi: 10.2337/dc 13-1504
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• Variety of fruits and vegetables
• Dietary supplements: High Grade Omega-3 fish oil and Athletic Greens
Superfood Cocktail.
These foods are convenient to prepare and keep you full for a long time so
you won’t even feel like you’re on a diet.
For example, a typical lunch could be 300 grams of potatoes and 250 grams
of turkey breast with vegetables on the side and sugar-free ketchup. This
meal has roughly 500-600 calories which is the equivalent of a few chocolate
bars.
That’s a lot of food volume that fills you up, but not that many Calories.
Now consider if you ate a similar amount of food volume with pasta, bread
and more fatty meat choices. Your calories would suddenly double but you
wouldn’t feel twice as satiated.
The point here is that making the right food choices will make your fat loss
diet a whole lot easier to stick to, so make sure you keep that in mind when
you design your diet plan.
The Vicious Cycle of Being Skinny-Fat
The first step you have to take when designing your diet plan is to set up a
healthy goal to aim for.
If you don’t have a great goal to reach for, you won’t be able to develop
the ideal strategy to reach that goal.
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When it comes to creating a diet plan, the two biggest mistakes skinny-fat
guys make are:
1. Trying to gain muscle mass fast by eating way too many Calories.
2. Trying to lose weight fast by eating too few Calories.
This eventually leads to a vicious cycle where the skinny-fat guy bounces
back and forth between gaining body-fat and losing body-fat, while adding
close to no strength and muscle mass.
First he eats a high Calorie bulking diet and gains a combination of fat and
muscle mass. The vast majority of those gains are of course body-fat and not
muscle.
Then he get’s discouraged and tries to lose the body-fat fast on a low Calorie
diet and loses weight fast. As a result, he loses the small amount of muscle
mass he had previously gained and basically goes back to where he started.
This cycle of bulking up and cutting is repeated a few times without any
results and eventually the skinny-fat guy gives up on his fitness goals.
This is essentially similar to what happened to me in my first 2 years of
training where I first bulked up from 200 pounds of bodyweight to 235
pounds, then followed that up with going back to 200 pounds. I looked
exactly the same as when I started and it was discouraging to say the least.
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The right way to transform is to go for slow and gradual changes in
body-composition.
This means that your diet should not be extreme in ANY way.
If you have excess body-fat or you can’t do 15 chin ups yet, the worst
strategy you can follow is to bulk up to try and gain mass.
It’s a waste to “bulk” when you have low strength levels and high body-fat
levels because you won’t be able to capitalise on those Calories and build
muscle mass. Instead, you will gain a lot of body-fat.
The reasons for this are outlined below:
1. Your natural testosterone production is low so your body’s overall
ability to gain muscle mass is limited.
2. When you have excess body-fat, your nutrient partitioning is poor.
This means that your body isn’t good at utilising food for muscle
gains.
3. When you have very low strength levels, you aren’t able to train
with the volume required on a proper muscle building program.
Therefore, the conclusion is that in order to gain a lot of muscle mass, you
need to first build up your strength levels and lose excess body-fat.
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Distinguishing Between the Two Types
of Skinny-Fat Guys: skinny-FAT vs.
SKINNY-fat
After working with over 100 skinny-fat clients in my online coaching program,
I’ve identified two types of skinny-fat guys, each requiring a different diet
strategy:
1. skinny-FAT: You have a lot of body-fat to lose, your body-mass
index is high and you have a pear-shaped body. If that’s you, you
want to be in a small Caloric deficit until you get lean.
2. SKINNY-fat: You have a small amount of body-fat on your lower
waist, lower chest and/or hips, your body-mass index is low and
you have narrow shoulders. If that’s you, you want to either be in a
Caloric maintenance or slight Caloric surplus to build strength and
muscle mass while staying lean.
I’ve avoided to show example pictures of skinny-FAT guys and SKINNY-fat
guys because I know from experience that skinny-fat guys are very bad at
judging their starting body-composition.
I’ve coached guys who are underweight and have close to no body-fat to
lose, yet they believe they’re fat.
I’ve also coached many guys who think they have a small amount of body-fat
to lose, yet when they look at their starting photos, they’re surprised to see
that there’s a lot of body-fat to lose.
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Therefore, the simplest and most convenient way to find out whether you’re
skinny-FAT or SKINNY-fat is to look at your BMI (Body-Mass-Index).
Bodyweight in Kilograms / (Height in Meters x Height in Meters) = BMI
A healthy BMI is between 18.5-24.9. I emphasise healthy, because BMI is an
oversimplified way of evaluating whether you’re overweight or not. It doesn’t
account for body-composition (muscle mass, bones, body-fat), therefore you
can have guys with large bone structures and high levels of muscle mass
who have a BMI over 24.9, yet they aren’t overweight.
For example, I have a BMI of over 25 but that isn’t because I’m fat. It’s
because I have a large amount of muscle mass after 7 years of hard training.
With that said, after going through a lot of my client data, I found that BMI
works well for evaluating whether you’re skinny-FAT or SKINNY-fat.
skinny-FAT guys most often have a BMI over 23 while SKINNY-fat guys have
a BMI below 23 therefore, I suggest that you put your numbers into the BMI
formula above to check where you’re at.
If your BMI is under 23 and you’re SKINNY-fat, I recommend you start with a
Caloric intake where you can maintain your bodyweight. (Maintenance).
If your BMI is over 23 and you’re skinny-FAT, I recommend you aim for a
healthy Caloric deficit so you can lose excess body-fat.
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Keep in mind that these are just great starting points. You can always adjust
your Calories later, based on your BioFeedback and response to diet. (More
about that later).
Daily Caloric Expenditure and
Macronutrient Split
Before I get this section started, I want to point out 4 important things:
1. There will be a lot of boring calculations. These calculations are
important to help you develop your base-line diet plan and teach
you about how much food you can eat on daily basis to get a lean
physique and which foods are very high in Calories.
2. Once you have a diet plan that works well for your unique bodytype, you will have higher energy levels, more mental focus and
you will be able to get lean and stay lean without putting in much
effort.
3. I don’t want you to count Calories and macros for the rest of your
life, unless you personally like to do it that way. The end goal is to
move away from tracking food intake and weight your meals, and
instead implement your base-line diet into your daily lifestyle so it
doesn’t feel like you’re on a diet. I will of course show you
examples of how to do that.
Now, let’s get started…
To figure out how many Calories you should be eating on a daily basis, you
need to use a formula for estimating your “Daily Caloric Expenditure” (DCE).
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I emphasise estimating because regardless of what formula you use, there’s
a good chance it won’t be accurate. (Especially if you use one of the
formulas that doesn’t account for your body-fat levels).
Most DCE formulas do not account for body-fat percentage which makes
them off by 500-1000 Calories for certain individuals who have a bodycomposition that is far from average (i.e. very under muscled or jacked).
It’s important to include an estimate of your body-fat percentage because
the amount of lean mass you carry determines your metabolic rate.
Yes, this means that guys who are jacked burn way more Calories at rest
because their muscles use up a lot of fuel (food).
In addition to body-fat percentage, it’s also crucial to account for your daily
activity levels because guys who train for 2 hours per day and work a
manual labor job, burn way more Calories compared to guys who sit in their
office all day then go home and watch TV all night.
This essentially means that you can have two guys at the exact same
bodyweight, yet one will be burning a lot more Calories each day.
To give you some perspective of how much these two factors make, I
estimated the DCE for two different guys who both weigh the same — 200
pounds.
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The first an athletic and active guy who is 200 pounds at 14% body-fat and
who works a manual labor job. Because of his large amount of lean mass
and high activity levels, he has an estimated DCE of +3900 calories per day.
In contrast, the other guy is 200 pounds at 20% body-fat and does some
light walking each day. Because of his lower amount of lean mass and low
activity levels, he has a DCE of just 3000 calories per day.
These two guys weigh the exact same and may not look THAT different at
first glance. With a shirt on you might not even see a difference, however,
their caloric expenditure differs with almost 1000 and one guy can eat 30%
more Calories than the other.
This example shows why you need to give an honest estimate of your bodyfat percentage and activity levels when estimating your DCE with the 3-step
formula below.
The 3-Step ISSA formula for Estimating Your
Daily Caloric Expenditure
For my clients, I use a 3-step formula from the International Sports Sciences
Association.
This formula is as comprehensive as it can get because it accounts for your
height, bodyweight, body-composition and activity levels.
• Bodyweight.
• Body-fat percentage. (If you’re unsure about this, just estimate).
• Activity levels.
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STEP 1: Bodyweight
For Men: 1 x body weight (kg) x 24 = _________
For Women: .9 x body weight (kg) x 24 = _________
* to convert pounds to kg, divide weight in pounds by 2.2
STEP 2: Body-Fat Percentage
Multiply your result from step 1 by the multiplier that corresponds to your
body-fat percentage.
To estimate your body-fat percentage, I recommend that you:
1) Have someone take a full body photo in natural lighting of you from the
front, side and back.
2) Google “Body-Fat Percentage” and compare your photos to the various
photos with examples of people with different body-fat levels.
3) Estimate your body-fat percentage and keep in mind that most people
underestimate how much body-fat they have.
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STEP 3 - Daily Activity Levels
Multiply your result from step 2 with your Daily Activity Levels.
THE AVERAGE COUCH POTATO RANGE:
1.30 (130%) = Very Light: Sitting, studying, talking, little walking or other
activities through out the day
1.55 (155%) = Light: Typing, teaching, lab/shop work, some walking
throughout the day
THE AVERAGE FITNESS BUFF RANGE:
1.55 (155%) = Light: Typing, teaching, lab/shop work, some walking
throughout the day
1.65 (165%) = Moderate: Walking, jogging, gardening type job with activities
such as cycling, tennis, dancing, skiing or weight training 1-2 hours per day
THE AVERAGE ATHLETE OR HARD DAILY TRAINING RANGE:
1.80 (180%) = Heavy: Heavy manual labor such as digging, tree felling,
climbing, with activities such as football, soccer or body building 2-4 hours
per day
2.00 (200%) = Very Heavy: A combination of moderate and heavy activity 8
or more hours per day, plus 2-4 hours of intense training per day
How Many Calories Should You Eat Per Day
Once you’ve estimated your DCE you’re in a great position to design your
diet plan.
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Below, I will outline how many Calories per day you should aim for,
depending on whether you’re a SKINNY-fat or skinny-FAT guy.
skinny-FAT guy: I recommend that you aim for a healthy Caloric deficit that
enables you to lose 0.5-1.5 CM around your waist or hips per week. (Or 1-3
pounds of fat).
The more fat you have to lose, the more size you can lose, so a guy who has
say 60 pounds of fat to lose can aim for losing 2-3 pounds per week in the
initial stages and later on the fat loss will slow down to roughly 1-2 pounds
per week.
In my experience, a caloric deficit of roughly ~300 calories is a great place
to start so if your DCE is 2500, you start off with 2200 calories and then you
can adjust from there based on your response.
Remember, the job of the DCE formula is to estimate your Daily Caloric
Expenditure.
YOUR job is to stick to your diet, measure your waist and hips each week
and then adjust your Calories based on the measurable progress you see. (I
will show you exactly how to track and evaluate your progress later).
SKINNY-fat guy: You want to stay at your Daily Caloric Expenditure so you
can change your body-composition while maintaining the same weight.
In your case, tracking body-composition progress will be more difficult in
terms of numbers, so you will have to rely on a combination of monthly
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progression photos and your training stats. (If you're getting stronger each
month and your photos show that you’re getting more muscle tone, you’re on
the right track).
The Ideal Protein, Fat and Carb Intake For
Skinny-Fat Guys
Once you know your daily Calories, it’s time to structure your macronutrient
split. The macronutrient split is the amount of protein, fats and carbs in your
diet.
As a beginner, the exact macronutrient split you follow won’t make a huge
difference unless you’re following an extreme approach such as a diet that
has no starches, fruits and vegetables or a diet that is very low in fat or
protein.
With that said, it’s good to have specific numbers to aim for so you know
whether the diet you’re designing is balanced or not.
Here are my recommended macronutrient numbers that I base most of my
diet plans on (I’ve put my comments under each macro):
Protein: 100-160 grams per day.
• Protein is responsible for rebuilding your muscles bigger and stronger
after you break them down with hard training.
• The bigger you are, the more protein you eat.
• Anything above 130 grams is just “preference” and not “need”.
• You don’t need protein supplements to meet your daily protein
requirements.
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Fat: 20-30% of total Calories.
• Fat helps maintain an optimal hormonal balance and boosts your recovery
between training sessions. A fat intake of roughly 20-30% of total Calorie is
optimal for maximising your natural testosterone production and ensuring
proper recovery.
• Remember that fat has 9 calories per gram while protein and carbs have
just 4 grams.
• You want to get most of your fat from polyunsaturated and
monounsaturated fats while keeping saturated fat intake in moderation.
Carbs: Remaining Calories.
• Carbs energise your body and brain, fill up your muscles with glycogen
and ensure an optimal testosterone production. For the vast majority of the
population, they’re essential to maintain high energy levels, train hard and
to build muscle mass.
• Finding the types of carbs you digest well is crucial to maintain high
energy levels and feel your best.
• The remaining calories should come from carbs: mainly starches and
fruits. Vegetables usually have so few calories they aren’t worth counting.
How to Calculate Your Macronutrient Split
Below, I will show you how to calculate your macronutrient split when you’re
a skinny-fat guy who is: 1) Structuring a 2200 Calorie diet plan, 2) Aiming for
a protein intake of 130 grams per day and 3) Aiming for a fat intake of 25%
of total Calories.
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Step 1: Calculate the Amount of Calories You
Get From Protein and Fat.
Protein: 130 grams x 4 Calories = 520 Calories.
Fat: 2200 Calories * 0.25% = 550 Calories.
Step 2: Calculate the Amount of Calories that
Remain for Carbs
Calories Remaining For Carbs: 2200 Total Calories - 520 Calories for
Protein - 550 Calories for Fat = 1130 Calories Remaining For Carbs.
Step 3: Put It All Together
Protein: 520 Calories / 4 = 130.00 grams. (~24% of total Calories).
Fat: 550 Calories / 9 = 61.11 grams. (~25% of total Calories).
Carbs: 1130 Calories/4 = 282.50 grams. (~51% of total Calories).
How to Put Together Your Meal Plan
Once you have your Daily caloric intake and macros, it’s time to put together
your meal plan by using foods from the High Testosterone Food List:
• Starches: Sweet potatoes, White potatoes, White Rice, Brown Rice,
Quinoa, Oatmeal.
• Protein: Turkey Breast, Chicken Breast, Lean Cuts of Beef Steak, Lean
Ground Beef, Wild Caught Salmon, Egg Whites
• Fat: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Avocadoes, Dark
Chocolate, Almonds, Pistachios and Hazelnuts.
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• Variety of fruits and vegetables.
• Dietary supplements: High Grade Omega-3 fish oil and Athletic Greens
Superfood Cocktail.
I want to emphasise that when you put together your diet plan, you don't
want to obsess about getting everything right to the smallest details.
Most food labels are off by up to 30% anyways, so don’t sweat the details too
much and make sure you get the “big picture” right.
I also recommend that you factor in about ~100 Calories for low Calorie
sauces and if you tend to get sugar cravings, factor in ~300 Calories so
you can have a small chocolate bar everyday.
The sauces will add flavour to your meals and the chocolate bar will prevent
big binges.
Remember, dietary adherence is much more important than dietary
perfection!
Sample Meal Plan
Below, I will show you a sample meal plan to give you an idea of how a good
day of eating can look like.
7:30 AM - Breakfast:
• 250 ML egg whites with 50 grams of oatmeal and cinnamon.
• 2 slices pineapple and 2 slices watermelon.
• 2 grams of Omega-3.
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12:30 PM - Lunch:
• 250 grams skinless turkey breast grilled in 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil.
• 100 grams long-grain boiled white rice. (Raw weight before cooking).
• Sugar-free ketchup on the rice and turkey breast to add flavour.
• 30 grams of dark chocolate.
7 PM - Dinner:
• 150 grams lean cut of beef steak grilled in 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil.
• 500 grams boiled white potatoes with skin.
• Salsa sauce to add flavour.
• 2 oranges or a small piece of dark chocolate if you get sugar cravings.
9 PM - Before bed meal:
• 30 grams of walnuts.
• Big bowl of spinach.
I recommend that you set up a similar type of diet plan for yourself and of
course, make sure to include different food options since that will increase
your dietary adherence.
Once you have set up your base-line diet plan, I highly recommend that
you stick to it for at least 30 days.
By doing so, you will achieve the following the benefits:
1. You will get an idea of how much food you can eat to maintain your
weight or to lose body-fat.
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2. You will get an idea of how big your portion sizes should be.
3. You will get a rough idea of how many Calories different types of
meals have so you will be able to look at a meal and estimate how
many Calories it has.
In other words, it’s 100% worth it to invest 30 days into following a structured
diet plan and tracking your food intake so you can establish a base-line food
intake that enables you to maintain or lose bodyweight.
The worst thing you can do as a skinny-fat guy is to just “wing it” and hope
that things work out because you have the odds stacked against you.
Remember, even average guys struggle building a ripped physique, and for
us skinny-fat guys it’s even harder so you can’t afford to skimp on your diet.
Once you have that base-line food intake, you can start developing diet
guidelines that will help you stick to a diet without weighing everything and
spending hours in the kitchen.
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I’ll show you how this can look in the next section.
Diet Guidelines to Follow After You’ve
Followed a Structured Meal Plan For 4 Weeks
No one wants to be on a diet and track progress their whole life because it
takes a lot of enjoyment out of eating.
The good news are that you don’t have to do this forever. I haven’t followed a
structured diet plan for a long time because I’ve already put in the work and I
know exactly what works for my body.
If you follow through with a base-line diet plan for 30 days, track your
BioFeedback and body-measurements and follow through with the diet
advice in this eBook, you will be able to do the same.
Now, I’ll show you how you can implement a structured meal plan into
your lifestyle and make it almost effortless to stick to.
Breakfast is easy. You can have an easy staple to go to like oatmeal with egg
whites and cinnamon and some fruits on the side and of course, Omega-3.
Your meal before bed is easy. You can do something simple like a handful of
nuts and a big bowl of vegetables.
The main challenges for most people are lunch and dinner. It’s the terrible
choices you make for lunch when you’re out and about doing work, studying
or doing meetings for your business.
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And the terrible choices you make when you go home after a long day at
work and you’re too tired or too busy to prepare a healthy dinner.
If that’s you, I’ll do my best to help you out below:
Lunch:
For lunch, you want to have a meal that is as similar as possible to the one I
provided in the sample meal plan.
Again, here’s how the sample meal looked:
• 250 grams skinless turkey breast grilled in 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil.
• 100 grams long-grain boiled white rice. (Raw weight before cooking).
• Sugar-free ketchup on the rice and turkey breast to add flavour.
• 30 grams of dark chocolate.
If you eat in a good restaurant, having this kind of meal is simple: you order
grilled turkey breast or chicken breast (or another lean protein source they
offer) and have boiled rice with it and some fruit on the side.
Because you’ve been weighing and measuring your meals for 30 days, you
will have a good idea of how much meat and rice you can have with your
meal.
If you eat in a college cafeteria, your options may be limited and you may
have to accept that you can’t get lean protein sources such as boiled
chicken breast or turkey breast. In most cases, you will have cheaper and
more fatty meats available such as 20% fat ground beef or pork. If that’s the
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case, you will have to compensate for the increased Calories from fat by
eating just half of the amount you would eat if it was a lean protein source.
(So 125 grams instead of 250 grams). Again, weighing your portions for 4
weeks will help you estimate how much food you can eat and thereby decide
your portions on the go. And for carbs, you will most often find that potatoes,
rice or pasta will be available in nearly every cafeteria. The issue is if there’s
a lot of sauce in the potatoes, rice or pasta — if that’s the case, you use your
own judgement to estimate how many Calories that adds. If it’s a fatty sauce,
cut your starch serving in half. If it’s a lighter sauce such as salsa sauce, just
reduce the carb serving slightly or keep it the same.
Dinner:
For most people, dinner will be eaten at home, either with your family or by
yourself.
If you’re too busy to cook your dinner, the easiest solution is to find a healthy
food delivery option in your city. Most major cities offer healthy food
deliveries where you can get meals based on lean protein, rice or potatoes
and vegetables. These meals are ideal for you, and you can order these to
avoid having to cook food yourself.
And if you aren’t too busy to cook your dinner, I suggest you cook up a lot of
food in advance and store it in your fridge. For example, you can cook up
the amount of chicken breast and potatoes you need for 3 dinners, then
have that for the next 3 dinners. Then the next time you mix it up a bit and
use salmon and brown rice or other foods you like. This will keep your mealpreparation to a minimum, while still allowing you to control your food intake.
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The conclusion so far:
So far, I’ve avoided giving you a specific diet plan that you have to follow
because I know it’s completely unrealistic to expect someone follows a
cookie cutter diet plan you make for them, unless you’ve customised it to
their individual needs.
The key take-away so far is that you want to develop your own structured
base-line diet plan by using the calculations and food list in the diet section
and stick to it for 30 days.
If you create a diet plan yourself, you will be
much more likely to stick to it because it contains the foods you like to eat.
Once those 30 days are over, you want to learn how to make dieting part of
your lifestyle and basically learn how to be able to eat out in restaurants or in
your work-place while still being able to get great results. In the section
above, I did my best to show you some examples of how this can be done,
and now it’s up to you to think about how YOU can apply this to your daily
life.
In addition, even more important than knowing how many Calories you need
to eat daily, you want to learn how to listen to your body so you know how to
adjust both your general food choices but also your food intake on a daily
basis. I will tell you about why this is so important and how to do it in the
section below.
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How this type of meal plan works in
practice and listening to your
BioFeedback
In this section, I’ll explain the difference between those of you who have a
starch vs. fat-based metabolism and then I’ll go on to explain how you
should feel throughout the day while on an effective fat loss diet plan. This
section is by far the most valuable diet advice you will find anywhere, so
make sure you don’t skip it.
Starch vs. fat-based metabolism:
The types of foods to include in your diet plan depend on the kind of
metabolism you have.
This depends largely on your ethnicity and what your father, grandfather and
so on have been eating for the past many generations.
In most cases, I see that my clients metabolise starches better than fats, so
they need starches frequently to ensure that their metabolism and energy
levels stay high.
This enables them to lose body-fat while feeling great.
Because of that, I’ve included frequent servings of starches in the sample
meal plan.
For breakfast, you have oatmeal. For lunch, white rice and for dinner,
potatoes.
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I want to emphasise that it’s important that you use starches that you digest
well and in the right amounts.
For example, I cannot digest oatmeal. When I eat it, I look pregnant after and
I get constipated for days. I get the same issue with pasta, bread and most
other starches.
However, rice and potatoes are no problem and I can eat these in almost
unlimited amounts without any digestive issues. Therefore, these starches
work well for me.
The key is to include the right types of starches that YOU digest well and in
the right amount so you can lose excess body-fat if that’s your goal.
Now, on the other hand, there is a minority of people that respond better to a
higher fat and protein intake and lower starch intake.
If that’s you, you want to get most of your carbs from fruits and vegetables
and include more fatty meats in your diet while reducing the starches.
And then there are people who are somewhere in-between.
Figuring out what type of metabolism you have requires experimentation and
tracking your BioFeedback (i.e. the way your diet makes you feel). In the
next section, I will outline how an effective fat loss diet plan is supposed to
make you feel. This will help you evaluate whether your diet strategy is
working well for you, or if it’s completely off.
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Meal Structure and How You Should Feel on
Your Fat Loss Diet
The meal structure in the sample meal plan is similar to what I would use for
a skinny-FAT fat loss client.
The idea is to start off the day with a light breakfast which contains a
moderate amount of protein, starches and fruits to get your metabolism
going and a small amount of high quality Omega-3 fatty acids to keep you
satiated for a longer time.
This breakfast will energise you for the morning and fill up your muscles with
glycogen after sleeping the whole night and ensure that you keep muscle
loss to a minimum throughout your fat loss diet.
After breakfast, you have about 5 hours where you go without any snacks or
foods and drink a lot of water.
Around 3.5 hours after breakfast, you want to start feeling a slight, but not
unbearable level of hunger.
This level hunger of is good and it means your body is shredding fat. Keep
this going for 1.5 hour, then have your lunch.
Your lunch should be light and contain a lean protein source such as turkey
breast or chicken breast combined with an easy-to-digest starch such as
white rice. You can add flavour to it by using a sauce - e.g. sugar-free
ketchup.
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The key here is to drink a lot of water between meal to stay hydrated and
thereby keep your appetite down. Once you eat, you want to eat slowly and
avoid drinking any water while eating. Once you start getting thirsty, it’s a
sign that you’re full and that you shouldn’t have more food. You can use this
BioFeedback to avoid overeating ann and thereby keep your energy levels
high after lunch to avoid the “lunch slump” and of course, to support fat loss.
Once you start feeling thirsty and you’re done eating your lunch consisting of
lean protein and starch, you will either feel somewhat satiated or have a
small sugar craving.
If you have a small sugar craving, do not fight it. Instead, wait 15-20 minutes
to let the meal digest and then have a few apples or a small 30 gram piece
of dark chocolate. This small portion of fruits or dark chocolate will prevent
you from binging on a big meal later in the afternoon and thereby enable you
to stay on track with your fat loss diet!
After lunch and small desert, you have about 5-6 hours until dinner. Similarly
to the time after breakfast, you will most likely start getting a slight, yet
tolerable level of hunger about 2 hours before your dinner.
And this is fine, because again, it means that you’re losing body-fat. A slight
level of hunger is key to enable you to lose body-fat, but you don’t want to
feel unbearable levels of hunger — it’s all about degree.
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When you start feeling a slight level of hunger, the time will most likely be
around 4 PM and if you work a regular office job, that means you will be off
soon.
As soon as you’re off from work around 4-6 PM, you want to do your strength
training.
The key here is to ensure that you don’t go into your training while low on
blood-sugar. If you feel low on sugar going into your training, have a few
pieces of fruit or a small piece of dark chocolate and drink a lot of water,
then go in and crush your training session.
The fruit or dark chocolate will provide you just enough energy to complete
the short 30 minute bodyweight training session and if you are able to, add
30 minutes of light cardio after the bodyweight training to boost your fat loss.
Going into your strength training session right after work, around 5 PM,
without eating a big dinner before is ideal because:
1. Your strength levels will be the highest in the late afternoon and
early evening because you’ve (hopefully) supplied your muscles
with a large amount of quality nutrition throughout the day.
2. After being sedentary most of the day, your body will crave to
move so do this as soon as possible. Don’t stop your momentum
by having a big dinner that takes a long time to digest.
3. If you eat a big dinner, you will need time to digest it. By the time
you finish eating and digesting the food, it will be late in the
evening and you will feel tired or something will come up and you
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will either have an unproductive training session or skip training
altogether.
4. Going into strength training slightly hungry is ideal for losing bodyfat and staying lean. I’ve personally never had good training
sessions after eating a big meal that makes me feel “slow”.
Again, I want to emphasise that the key to make this work is to ensure that
you have a small serving of fruit or dark chocolate before you go into your
training session. This will prevent low blood-sugar and boost your training
performance a lot!
Once you’re done with your training, it’s time to have a solid dinner.
Your dinner can contain a higher fat protein option such as beef steak or
ground beef and be a bit heavier. Having red meat with dinner right after
training at least a few times per week is ideal because red meat contains
connective tissue and thereby helps you add muscle mass. (Red meat is
also much harder on the digestion and contains saturated fat so having it
just a few times per week and after training is best to get its muscle building
benefits).
Similarly to lunch, use a low Calorie sauce to add flavour and rotate your
protein and starch options to keep your meals interesting.
Finally, at the end of the day, after dinner, you will most likely feel a slight
level of hunger. At this time, you want to have a handful of nuts for their high
quality fats and a big bowl of vegetables.
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This last meal of the day will be very low in Calories and ensure that:
1. The high quality fats from nuts and the vitamins and minerals from
vegetables will improve your blood flow and speed up training
recovery while sleeping.
2. You will be able to sleep on time because you aren’t dealing with
unbearable levels of hunger when going to bed.
3. Since the meal is low in Calories you will still be able to lose bodyfat while sleeping.
To sum it up: When you’re on a fat loss diet, you want to:
1. Start off your day with a starch based breakfast to fill up your
muscles with glycogen and get your metabolism going.
2. Have about 2 hours before lunch and 2 hours before dinner where
you’re feeling slight, yet not unbearable levels of hunger.
3. Go to bed satiated, but not very full.
4. Prevent binge eating by eating regular meals throughout the day
and treating sugar cravings with small amounts of fruits and dark
chocolate.
5. Don’t have just 1 or 2 big meals per day because they slow you
down and if you’ve been skinny-fat while growing up, you have a
lot of fat cells that are ready to be filled up. These fat cells can get
filled up very fast within ONE meal, so make sure to keep the
portions moderate if fat loss is your goal!
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You will have to make adjustments
The sample diet template and advice above are meant to give you an idea of
how a good starting diet plan looks like and how you’re supposed to feel on
an effective fat loss diet plan.
If your goal is to maintain your weight or to gain weight, you simply adjust
your food intake to match that goal. You don’t need a completely different
diet plan when you want to bulk up or do a body-recomp.
You just adjust your food intake to match your goal.
Furthermore, if you find that you don’t do well with a diet based on starches,
you go in and try to raise your fat intake or replace some of the starches with
fruits.
Regardless of what you do, don’t go to extremes because while they
may work short-term, they will not be sustainable over the long-term.
Making adjustments to your diet is about doing the small things better.
E.g. eating a bit more fruit instead of starches because your body responds
better to that.
Don’t go from eating a balanced diet like the one I outlined above to
following a KETOGENIC diet without any carbs because you think you don’t
do well with carbs.
Make small, gradual adjustments and figure out exactly what works for you.
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After a while you will get depleted
After a while of being on an effective fat loss diet, you will find that you’re
feeling depleted and low on energy.
You will also find that your muscles start looking small and flat and you will
most likely start freaking out that you’re losing muscle size.
If that’s you, don’t worry. This is completely normal because you’re after all in
a negative energy balance so your body will eventually show that.
The key here is to act on it when it happens by having a refeed meal which I
will cover in the section below.
Weekly Refeed Meals for Fat Loss
Dieting
When you’re in a Caloric deficit for extended periods of time, your
testosterone levels decrease temporarily.
When this happens, you start losing strength, energy, mental clarity, libido
and eventually, muscle mass.
This is even the case if you follow the healthiest diet with the “perfect caloric
deficit” and calculate everything to the smallest detail.
The solution to that decrease is to have one big meal a week where you
refeed your body.
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This meal will put you in a temporary Caloric surplus and thereby reset your
natural testosterone production and of course improve dietary adherence.
Your weekly refeed meal is the ideal time to have all your favourite foods. Eat
all the foods you crave in whatever quantities you want and make it a weekly
treat that you look forward to.
This will help you adhere to your diet long-term and ensure that your natural
testosterone production doesn’t decrease.
I want to emphasise that you shouldn’t implement any refeed meals in your
first 7-14 days of training and dieting.
Your body needs time to get into a state where it’s depleted and actually
needs a refeed meal. You want to get to the point where you feel hungry,
your muscles are depleted and you’re thinking about having a big unhealthy
meal.
If you diet for 3 days then do a refeed, you ruin the entire purpose of being a
Caloric deficit.
Alcohol Will Ruin Your Fat Loss
Progress
If there’s one thing you can do to mess up your fat loss progress, it’s to drink
alcohol.
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Not only does alcohol have empty Calories, but when you drink alcohol, your
body uses all of its energy to get it out of the system.
So when you drink, your body basically STOPS losing fat during the time it
needs to clean the alcohol out of your system.
Furthermore, if you eat food while drinking, your body is much more likely to
store that food as fat.
And your sleep quality and recovery between training sessions will decrease
and you might lose some of the hard-earned muscle mass you have.
So alcohol is detrimental to your goals, regardless of how you put it.
To give you some perspective, one shot of hard liquor or one beer has over
100 Calories, so 6 shots or 6 beers have over 600 Calories. That’s the
equivalent of an entire meal.
Also, consider that when you drink alcohol you tend to get more hungry after
drinking and make terrible food choices.
Now, I’m not saying you can’t drink alcohol at all, and some people can get
away with more than others, especially if they’re going through a bulking
phase. (Alcohol is worst when you’re trying to lose fat).
I’m just telling you that in the case you can’t lose fat, one of the first things
you should cut out is alcohol. It will make a big difference.
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And if you struggle cutting it out because you’re a student with a lot of social
life revolving around alcohol, at least follow the guidelines below:
• Drink clean spirits without mixers, dry white wine or light beer. These
drinks have the least amount of Calories. If you drink clean spirits, mix
them with water.
• Limit drinking to once per week and have maximum 5-7 units depending
on how big you are. This should give you a decent buzz without too much
of a negative effect.
• Drink a lot of water while drinking alcohol and after you go home, drink a
lot of water before bed.
• Go home at latest 2 AM to at least get some decent sleep and ensure you
recover for your next training. Nothing good happens after 2 AM anyways.
• Don’t eat big meals before or after drinking and eat high protein/low fat/
moderate carb meals when drinking to prevent fat gains.
• Don’t use any mixers (juices and sodas) and avoid cocktails since they
contain a lot of Calories. Also, don’t use diet sodas as mixers since diet
soda contains ingredients that will make you crave more sugar later.
10 Things to Watch Out For When
Implementing A Meal Plan
I have provided you with a lot of information so far about dieting, and unless
you re-read the sections and take notes, it might be easy to forget important
details.
Because of that, I want to tell you about the 10 biggest mistakes I see my
clients make when implementing their diet plan. If you want to ensure you
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get optimal results from your diet or to troubleshoot why you aren’t getting
results, this is the place to start:
1. Carbs: When rice and quinoa, the Calories on the label are usually
provided in raw weight. However, I see many people use cooked
weight instead of raw weight when weighing their rice. This is a big
mistake because rice and quinoa increases a lot in size after cooking.
The cooked weight is about 2.5 times higher compared to raw weight,
so you will end up under-eating if you weigh the food after cooking
and the food label provides the Calories in raw weight.
2. Fat: You want to be very precise about the way you measure your
dietary fat intake. Each table spoon of extra virgin olive oil contains
roughly 120 Calories. For the average American diet of 2000 Calories,
that’s 6% of your Daily Caloric Intake. So having 3 tablespoons instead
of 1 means you will consume 18% of your Daily Calories instead of
6%. That’s a big difference, therefore take my advice and be diligent
about the way you weigh and measure the big fat sources in your diet
(nuts and oils).
3. Protein: Similarly to fat sources, you want to be precise about
selecting your protein sources. For example, a client asked me if he
can replace chicken breast with chicken thighs because it’s more
tasty and the answer was yes, however I instructed him that he will
have to reduce his portion size a lot because there’s a big difference
between eating a lean chicken breast and a more fatty cut of chicken
thigh. Chicken thigh contains more than 500 Calories for each 250
grams while chicken breast contains just 225 Calories for each 100
grams. Eating lean protein vs. more fatty cuts of meat makes a big
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difference in your Daily Caloric Intake, therefore make sure to track
this precisely.
4. Soft Drinks: In your local grocery store you will find a variety of juices,
sodas, teas and energy drinks. Before you buy any of these, check
the label on the back and see how many Calories are inside the whole
bottle. Most of these drinks will contain a lot of sugar, even the ones
that are branded as “healthy”. I highly recommend you stay far away
from these during the initial stages of your diet because drinks provide
a very small amount of satiety for the amount of Calories in them. Most
of them will have 150-200 Calories, and provide close to no satiety.
You can have a piece of chicken breast and a small serving of
potatoes instead of drinking that 200 Calorie drink!
5. Diet sodas: It might be tempting to have diet sodas because they
don't contain Calories, however the issue is that the ingredients inside
diet drinks are known to increase your appetite. So you might have a 0
Calorie drink, but then end up binging on more food later in the day. In
addition, the ingredients are very dangerous for your health, so my
advice is to stay far away from diet sodas and just factor in the
Calories you need to have a “non-diet soft-drink” if you really crave it.
6. Taking a multivitamin instead of eating fruits and vegetables: If
you followed the guidelines in this eBook yet you still feel hungry or
low energy on your diet, it’s most often because you are neglecting
your fruit and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are essential to
control your appetite and energy levels in a Caloric deficit because
they provide a variety of vitamins and minerals. When you’re deficient,
your energy levels will decrease and you will get hungry. And no, a
multivitamin cannot replace real fruits and vegetables. If you don’t
believe me, try having a week with a high fruit and vegetable intake
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and a week where you just have multivitamins. The difference in
energy levels and satiety is tremendous.
7. Neglecting sleep: Another issue I see is a lack of sleep. Most people
today are going to bed late and waking up tired. Being in a sleep
deficit week after week is as bad for your health as smoking one pack
of cigarettes everyday. When you sleep, your body regulates nearly all
functions in your body, including your appetite, therefore those of you
who go to sleep late and wake up tired, will crave sugar and junk food
a lot more on a daily basis. (More about sleep later).
8. Eating less Calories to speed up results: Another mistake I see
people make quite often is to have the “more is better” mentality. They
will start off their fat loss and lose fat every week while feeling satiated
and energised. Then they get greedy and reduce Calories to speed
up fat loss. Initially, they lose more body-fat, however after a few
weeks they get very hungry and end up losing binging on junk food
and candy. Then they lose half of their progress and suddenly their fat
loss stops because their metabolism slows down and they hit a
plateau. Don’t make this mistake and stick to a plan that enables you
to get results while feeling great in the process. The best advice I can
give you is to “not get greedy”. If you’re losing size without starving
yourself, you’re in an ideal position. Don’t try to mess with your diet so
you can lose 1.5 pounds a week instead of 0.8 pounds. It’s much
better to lose the size slowly while eating a nutritious diet, having good
workouts, being energised and feeling good about yourself, rather
than starving yourself, being weak and depressed just so you can lose
the weight a bit faster. 90% of the people who take the second route
(starving to lose weight fast), regain all their lost weight within 2 years!
Does that mean you should eat more just because you lost 10 pounds
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in 3 weeks? That depends on how YOU feel. If you were starving
yourself, consider eating a bit more (adjust your diet up), and slowcook the progress… If you weren’t starving and felt great, keep it up.
Starving yourself is never the answer to sustainable fat loss.
9. Taking prescription drugs that affect your appetite and hormones:
Prescription drugs for anxiety, depression and balding are known to
increase appetite and lower your natural testosterone production. If
you’re on any prescription drugs, you should check with your doctor if
they can affect your appetite, hormones and other fitness related sideeffects. It’s very hard to lose body-fat when you’re taking a drug that
makes you twice as hungry as you should be and messes up your
hormones.
10. Continuing with a diet that makes you feel bad: Let’s say you
followed all the instructions so far and got all your bases covered.
Despite that, you still feel like crap on the diet. In that case, it’s time to
play around with your macronutrient split of the protein sparing
nutrients (carbs and fats). So if you’ve been on a diet that has 50% of
Calories from carbs and 25% from fat, try to adjust the diet so you get
50% from fat and 25% from carbs. If this doesn’t work, try to replace
most of your starches with fresh fruits. Keep playing around until you
find the diet strategy that works for your unique body-type.
Remember, no diet is worth sticking to if it makes you feel like crap.
Now, let’s get to the training parts that I know you’ve been
waiting for…
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Phase 1 Bodyweight Training
Program For Skinny-Fat Guys
Monday: Upper Body Training
Tuesday: Lower Body and Abs Training
Wednesday: Upper Body Training
Thursday: Lower Body and Abs Training
Friday: Upper Body Training
Saturday: Lower Body and Abs Training
Sunday: Rest
Phase 1 Training goals: The goals of Phase 1 are to build up your strength
to perform 15 chin ups, 30 diamond push ups and 100 bodyweight squats (all
consecutive reps in one set). The time-frame is not that important since
everyone has different starting points and progresses at different rates. Just
take your time and don’t compare your progress to other people! The most
important thing is that you increase your reps regularly, on a month-to-month
basis.
If you experience any joint pain on an exercise, note it down somewhere and stop
the exercise immediately because it’s a sign an injury is coming. It’s never worth it
to push through pain since a serious injury can put you out of training for years to
come. Instead, try an easier variation, work on your technique and if these fail find a
replacement exercise.
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UPPER BODY TRAINING
Warm-Up
Exercise Name
Sets
Repetitions
Rest
Arm circles
2
15
0
Arm swings
2
15 each side
0
Wrist warm up
2
20 sec.
0
Elbow warm up
2
15
0
Sets
Repetitions
Rest
Chin Ups
3
MAX
3 min.
Diamond Push Ups
3
MAX
3 min.
Sets
Stretch time
Rest
Standing hamstring stretch
1
1 min. each leg
0
Arm over head shoulder stretch
1
30 sec. each arm.
0
Open lizard hip stretch
1
1 min. each leg.
0
Standing up chest stretch
1
30 sec. each arm.
0
UPPER BODY TRAINING
Exercise Name
Stretching
Exercise Name
Click on each exercise to see videos or photos.
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LOWER BODY AND ABS TRAINING
Warm-Up
Exercise Name
Sets
Repetitions
Rest
Front to Back Leg Swings
2
15
0
Hip and Knee Circles
2
15
0
Side leg swings
2
15
0
LOWER BODY AND ABS TRAINING
Exercise Name
Sets
Repetitions
Rest
Bodyweight Squats
3
MAX
3 min.
Plank
3
MAX
3 min.
Sets
Stretch time
Rest
Modified Hurdler Stretch
1
30 sec. each leg
0
Standing Hamstring Stretch
1
30 sec. each leg
0
Standing Quad Stretch
1
1 min. each leg
0
Open Lizard Hip Stretch
1
1 min. each leg
0
Stretching
Exercise Name
Click on each exercise to see videos or photos.
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Exercise Instructions
Below, I will give my own written instructions on how to do each of the
exercises in your training program.
I want to point out three things before you get started:
1. It’s best if you use those as a supplement to the videos and photos linked
above.
2. I have on purpose not included photos under the instructions below
because I want you to watch the videos so you can see how the entire
movement is done, then make your own videos and compare them so you
can perfect your form.
3. The instructions below apply to all variations of each exercise. For
example, the majority of the instructions for the diamond push up would
also work for the knee push up (e.g. keep your elbows close to your
sides).
Chin Up Instructions
The chin up is by far the most important exercise for skinny-fat men because
it builds up your lats and thereby gives you that V-taper look which all of us
train to get. In addition, chin ups are great for biceps development.
The chin up (underhand grip) uses more biceps compared to the pull up
(overhand grip), therefore most of us can do about 10-20% more reps on
chin ups.
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EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Grip the bar with an underhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width
apart then pull up yourself until your chin is at the level of the bar.
- Slowly, lower yourself until your arms and elbows are about 95% locked
out. (Don't lock your elbows in the bottom and rest because this takes the
tension off your muscles and places it on the joints).
- Once you reach the bottom and your elbows are almost locked out,
immediately pull yourself up again. (You want each rep to burn into the
other without any break in-between reps.2)
EXERCISE CUE TO MAXIMISE MUSCULAR ENGAGEMENT:
- Imagine that you're pulling the bar down to your body rather than thinking
about pulling yourself up.
“I CAN’T DO A SINGLE CHIN UP?”
- If you find chin ups difficult, work on negative pull ups to strengthen your
back and biceps muscles. Progressions will be covered in the “Exercise
Progression” section.
Diamond Push Up Instructions
The diamond push up can be done anywhere at any time and it's great for
developing your upper chest, inner chest, triceps and front shoulders. It's by
far one the top exercises for skinny-fat guys who want to create an aesthetic
upper body.
EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS:
2
Thanks to Amir Siddiqui, owner of Symmetry Gym in Dubai for this quote.
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- From the starting position, your entire body must look like a straight line
when viewed from the side.
- Place your hands directly under your chest and make sure that your
thumbs touch each other or overlap, and your hands form a triangle
shape.
- Descend slowly all the way to the bottom while keeping elbows close to
your sides.
- As soon as you reach the bottom, push yourself all the way up while
keeping elbows close to the sides and your body straight.
- Go all the way to the top to get a nice stretch on the chest and triceps,
then lower yourself again.
“I CAN’T DO A SINGLE DIAMOND PUSH UP?”
- Before attempting this exercise, make sure that you can do 20 push ups
with perfect form (all the way up and down on each rep, 3 seconds on the
way down and 2 seconds on the way up). Progressions will be covered in
the “Exercise Progression” section.
“I GET WRIST PAIN ON DIAMOND PUSH UPS?”
- In the case that you experience any kind of wrist pain, try doing the
exercise with wrist wraps until you build sufficient wrist strength for doing it
without.
- If you still get wrist pain, go back to practice regular push ups done with
your feet elevated on a bench or chair. This will help you build more wrist
strength and over time you will be able to work on the diamond push ups,
pain free.
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Plank Instructions
If done right, the plank is a phenomenal exercise for developing and
strengthening the abs without making them bigger.
It’s also one of the only exercises that really works the transversus
abdominis, the ab muscle between your lower waist and front hips that
creates that V-line on your abs. It’s also a great exercise for working on your
posture.
GETTING INTO THE PLANK POSITION:
- If you’re a beginner feel free to put your elbows on the ground.
- Keep your body in a straight line. (Do the plank next to a mirror where you
can see your entire body from the side to ensure you’re in the right
position).
WHILE HOLDING THE PLANK POSITION
- Pull your stomach in while tensing your abs at the same time and
breathing. Doing these 3 things at the same time is somewhat difficult
however it will ensure that you develop your abs without growing your midsection too much.
- Squeeze your glutes to help tense your abs more and also teach yourself
how to activate your glutes.
EXERCISE COMMENTS:
- Your abs already get worked a lot with the other bodyweight exercises,
therefore the main purpose of the plank is to teach you how to activate
your abs, not to build maximum strength in the abs.
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Bodyweight Squat Instructions
The bodyweight squat is phenomenal for developing your lower body
strength, conditioning and mobility. We want to work towards achieving 100
consecutive bodyweight squats done to parallel with a neutral spine and
your heels planted on the floor. Even though the squat may seem simple, it’s
actually the most complex movement and for most people it requires a lot of
practice to get right.
Most of you will not be able to do a proper bodyweight squat to get started
with because you’re lacking mobility in the hip flexors, hamstrings and
ankles. (This is what happens when you sit down many hours each day and
never stretch out your lower body).
As a result, you will have a hard time maintaining a neutral spine, keeping
your heel planted on the floor when squatting down and pushing your knees
out to the sides.
Because of that, you want to look at the technique advice as ideals to work
towards. If you keep making videos of yourself regularly from different angles
and do the stretches at the end of your training sessions, you will eventually
be able to do proper squats without any issues at all.
EXERCISE TECHNIQUE:
- Use a shoulder width stance.
- Make sure your feet point slightly out to the side.
- Squat down until your hips are below parallel.
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- From the bottom position, squat up until your legs are about 95% locked
out, then repeat.
EXERCISE CUES WHEN SQUATTING DOWN:
- Hips: When squatting down make sure that you push your hips back,
rather than pushing your knees forward. When you think about pushing
your hips back, similarly to when you sit down in a chair, you will still see
that your knees move slightly forwards, but that movement will be kept to a
minimum and thereby minimise the pressure on your knee joint.
- Knees: You want to think about pushing your knees to the side so that
your knee joints are tracking perfectly along your feet which are pointed
slightly outwards to the sides of your body.
- Heels: Make sure that your heel stay planted on the ground at all times. If
you have trouble with keeping the heel on the ground, practice curling
your toes up or change into shoes with a flat sole such as chuck taylors
which provide more stability during a squat.
- Spine: You want to maintain a neutral spine throughout the entire squat.
SQUATTING UP FROM THE HOLE:
- Follow the exact same guidelines as when you squatted down. Hips back,
heels planted on the floor, knee pushed out to the sides so they track
along with your foot and maintain a neutral spine.
HOW THE OPTIMAL SQUAT POSITION LOOKS FROM THE SIDE:
- Mid-foot and shoulders: The mid-foot and shoulder should always track
in a straight vertical line above each other. This goes for both the top and
bottom position and the negative and positive phase of each rep.
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- Spine and torso: Your torso will always bend forwards when you squat
down. The degree to which this happens, depends a lot on your height
and proportions. Tall guys with a short torso and long femurs will have to
bend over much more compared to short guys with short thighs and a
long torso. The reasoning behind this is that your mid-foot and shoulder
should always be in a vertically straight line when looking at the squat
from the side to keep your body's natural balance, therefore a guy with a
short torso and long thighs will have to bend over more to have his
shoulder joint directly above the mid-foot. I want to emphasise that you still
need to maintain a neutral spine while bending over.
- Knees: It's OK if your knees track in front of your foot as long as your midfeet and shoulders align in a straight vertical line and you’re using your
hips to drive back rather than pushing your knees to the front when
squatting down.
POSTURAL CUES TO MASTER THE SQUAT:
- Chest up at all times (don't let your lower back round).
- Shoulders back.
- Knees always tracking your foot (don't let them go inside).
BREATHING:
- Inhale on the way down while keeping your core tight.
- Exhale on the way up.
EXERCISE COMMENTS:
As mentioned earlier, most of you will struggle to get the squat right from the
get-go. It’s very rare to see someone perfect a properly executed squat to
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parallel with a neutral spine, heels planted on the floor and knees tracking
the foot .
Because of that, it’s not only important but absolutely CRUCIAL to work on
the bodyweight squat and lower body mobility before doing any heavy work
for the legs.
Boost Your Lower Body Mobility With Squats
and Stretches
Stretching is often neglected and that’s too bad because it provides massive
benefits. I neglected stretching during the first 4 years of my training and it
was one of my biggest training mistakes. When you’re “tight” like the
average gym rat, you have a lot of stress inside your body which affects your
inner well-being throughout the day.
Once you “open up” your body and
posture, you will start feeling a lot better, and that is after all why most of us
start training.
The gold standard of lower body mobility is to be able to go into a full
bodyweight squat position with heels planted on the floor, knees pushed out
to the sides and a neutral spine, and to be able to hold this position for a
minute while being comfortable.
This is a natural position that all of us can get effortlessly into when we are
babies and it’s the exact position that humans have been using to get their
business done on the toilet before society got toilets.
Being able to get into this position and hold it for a long time is essential to
maintain a healthy spine, knee and hips. In addition, you will be able to move
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better, get optimal posture and as a result you will improve your overall wellbeing. When you have good posture and your body moves the way it’s
supposed to be, you feel so much better on a daily basis. I would even go as
far as saying, that achieving mobility will give you more well-being and
confidence than any amount of muscle mass because it’s such as basic
thing that your body NEEDS. Furthermore, having a dominant, open posture
is a proven way to instantly boost your natural testosterone production.
There’s a reason to why yoga involves both strength, stretching and
meditation: They are all important to your health and well-being.
If you can’t maintain proper form on a bodyweight squat, it’s a terrible idea to
do heavy barbell squats or leg presses because your lower body mobility,
muscles and movement patterns are underdeveloped. You need to work on
your mobility before you go into hard training for the legs.
For most people, it’s most important to do stretches that target the hip flexors
and hamstrings and now I’ll outline why:
๏ Hamstrings and hip flexors: When you sit down for extended periods of
time, your hamstrings shorten and your hip flexors get tighter. This causes
your hips to tilt forwards and as a result, your spine will start to develop
an S-shape. Over time, this will lead to problems with your posture
(lordosis) and eventually lower back pain. In addition, having tight
hamstrings and hip flexors limits your ability to squat deep, therefore
stretching them out is not only great for your health but also your ability to
squat deep.
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Because of that, I’ve made sure to include stretches for your hip flexors and
hamstrings in your training program. Do not neglect these stretches,
because they aren’t just optional fluff at the end of your training session.
They’re crucial to ensure you can squat and move properly.
When you perform the stretches, only stretch to the point where you
can feel a gentle stretch. You also want to relax as much as possible
and focus on your breathing during each stretch.
Stretching should never be painful.
Over time, as you get better at the stretches for your hamstrings and hip
flexors, you will see that your squats become easier and easier. You will be
able to go deeper while keeping your heels planted on the floor, maintaining
a neutral spine and pushing your knees out to the sides so they track along
with your foot.
Explaining “MAX REPETITIONS”
A question I often get from clients is related to the term “MAX repetitions”
that you see under the prescribed amount of reps on each of the strength
exercises in your program.
MAX repetitions means that you stop your set 1-2 repetition before failure.
In other words, when you know with 100% certainty that you won’t be able
to complete another repetition with good form, STOP the set.
Stopping the set 1-2 reps short of failure has three massive benefits:
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1. You put less stress on the Central Nervous System and thereby
your recovery needs decrease dramatically. This essentially means
that you will be able to train often and progress consistently on the
exercises rather than burning out after a few weeks of hard
training.
2. Your risk of getting injured decreases a lot.
3. You will experience tolerable levels of soreness going into your
training sessions instead of being so sore that you can barely move
your arms and legs.
As a beginner, you want to progress by using the “minimum required
dosage” so you can sustain your progression for a longer time and
minimise your risk of getting a serious injury. Stopping your sets 1-2 reps
short of failure will help with all that.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Another question I get a lot is related to soreness.
The degree of soreness you experience is mostly an indicator of doing a
new movement your body isn’t used to.
For example, if I do handstand push ups and I haven’t done them for a
long time, I will get sore, regardless of how much I push myself.
Pushing myself will make the soreness worse, however the majority of the
soreness will be a result of doing a new movement.
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As a result, soreness is mostly something that you experience in the
beginning of a training program and once you get used to doing the
exercises, you will eventually have a very low amount of soreness or none
at all.
To prevent unbearable levels of soreness, it’s crucial that you set the bar
low when you start training and start off with exercise variations that are
comfortable for you.
It’s no good if you go into your first training session and max out on chin
ups, only to experience such a high degree of soreness that you can’t
move your arms for 10 days.
Furthermore, I want to emphasise that there’s a big difference between
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and pain (the bad kind that
get’s you injured).
Muscular soreness is most often delayed so you will feel it the next day
when you wake up.
Pain on the other hand, happens during an exercise or right after.
If you feel pain in the joints or sharp pain in your joints during an exercise
or right after a set, stop the exercise immediately otherwise you may get
injured.
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5 Common Training Mistakes I See
Clients Make
After training a variety of clients, I’ve noticed 5 common training mistakes
that my clients make.
These are mistakes that will either get you injured or reduce the effectiveness
of your training program.
I’ll quickly cover them below:
1) Skipping warm up.
I’ve trained hard for nearly 7 years and I’m 100% injury free.
This means that for 7 years, I’ve never been out of training for months
because of a nagging shoulder or knee injury and because of that, I’ve been
able to consistently improve my physique year after year.
Preventing injuries is VERY important for your physique transformation,
because each injury is a major set-back that adds to the time it takes to
transform.
I attribute staying injury-free to two things: 1) Warming up every single time I
train and 2) Never pushing through pain.
The big mistake I see is when people are in a rush, they often cut down on
their warm-up and jump right into the strength training exercises. This is a
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huge mistake, because this is the most common way that people get serious
injuries that put them out of training for months.
Neglecting warm up opens up your body to injuries, even when you aren’t
pushing yourself that hard. Therefore, if you’re short on time, complete the
whole warm up and do as much of the strength training as you can.
It’s better to cut down on your strength training sets than your warm-up.
If you don’t have time to warm-up, you don’t have time to train.
2) Pushing through pain.
The second big mistake I see is when people push through pain. When you
start feeling any kind of pain during or after an exercise, it’s a sign that an
injury is building up.
Therefore, stop the exercise immediately and stop doing any other exercises
that cause the pain.
If needed, find a replacement exercise that trains the same body-part
because the exercise that causes the pain might not be ideal for your unique
body-type.
It’s never worth it to do an exercise if you risk getting a serious injury from it.
If you warm-up every single time and stop pushing through bad pain, you
prevent nearly all training injuries!
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3) Doing half-reps on chin ups, push ups and
squats.
When my online coaching clients send over videos of their exercise form,
they’re often surprised to see themselves doing half-reps on chin ups, push
ups and squats.
The issue is that most guys who do half-reps don’t even know they’re doing
it. (This has to do with untrained individuals having an underdeveloped
kinaesthetic sense and thereby you don’t know how your form actually
looks).
The key is to prevent this from the BEGINNING by making videos of yourself
from day one, then look at your videos and compare them to instructional
videos of the exercises.
You might have to cut your reps in half or do easier exercise variations to do
the full range-of-motion and that can hurt the ego a lot.
But remember, it doesn’t matter where you’re right now. It matters where
you’re going and that you have the optimal plan to get there.
Doing half reps is not an optimal way to get strong in the full range-of-motion
since you aren't activating the muscles properly, so keep that in mind when
working on your form.
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4) Not resting enough between sets.
Another issue I see in beginning clients is related to rest time between sets.
For each exercise, I prescribed a certain amount of seconds or minutes I
want you to rest between sets.
For example, on the chin up and push up I prescribed 3 minutes.
The reason for the long rest time between sets is because I want your
muscles to be fresh going into each set.
This will enable you to do more repetitions and thereby make strength gains
faster.
And strength gains are the #1 goal of this training program - not to complete
the training session as fast as possible.
To gain strength, you need to be as fresh as possible for each set and that
requires you rest enough to let your muscles recover.
What should you do in between sets?
I recommend you take the time between sets to:
1. Log the amount of reps you did on the set. (More about logging
training sessions later).
2. Write notes about how the exercise made you feel or technique issues
you need to work on. (BioFeedback).
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3. Do some light stretching for the muscles you worked.
5) Neglecting the Negative Phase of Each Rep
One question I get asked often is: “How fast should I do my reps?”
I used to answer this question with a specific amount of seconds (usually 3
seconds for the negative part of the rep and 2 seconds for the positive).
However, it doesn’t actually matter how fast you do the reps.
It’s OK to do fast reps on an exercise — as long as you are in full control of
the rep.
Being in full control of the rep means that you aren’t just letting your body fall
down from the top of the chin up or to “drop” into the bottom position of the
diamond push up.
The issue with letting your body drop is that you don’t use your muscles to
lower yourself, and that means you are missing out on a lot of the muscle
building benefits of each exercise.
To be specific, your muscles are able to produce the most force during the
eccentric phase of each rep. (E.g. when you lower yourself from a chin up,
lower yourself in a push up or lower yourself in a squat).
When you neglect the eccentric phase and drop yourself into the bottom of
an exercise, the following things happen:
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1. You don’t get the benefit of working your muscles during the negative
phase which is the phase where they do most of the work.
2. When you drop into the bottom, you make the positive phase of the
exercise a lot easier because you “bounce” out of the bottom and then
use that momentum to complete the positive phase.
3. You increase the risk of injury a lot because you’re doing more reps than
your muscles and joints are ready for.
In other words, neglecting the eccentric phase of each rep is a huge mistake
that only boosts your ego.
Therefore, work the negative phase hard from the beginning and you will see
that while your reps drop initially, you will get bigger and stronger in the longterm.
30 Minutes of Daily Cardio (Optional)
“Shouldn’t I add steady-state or high intensity cardio to lose weight?”
The answer is: It depends on factors such as your health and available time
to train.
If you’re extremely busy and have a limited amount of time to train, you’re
best of focusing 100% on strength training (at least until you build a solid
foundation of strength).
The main reasons are outlined below:
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• Strength training strengthens your joints and increases the size of your
muscles.
• Bigger muscles increase your metabolism. This means you will be
burning more fat at rest.
• You can reduce body-fat through diet alone. Many of my clients have lost
20-30 and even 40 pounds of bodyweight through better diet habits. Just
remember, it’s much easier to cut out a 300 Calorie snickers bar from your
diet than it is to run for 20 minutes. Both burn about the same amount of
Calories, but one is much easier than the other.
In other words, strength training is KING while cardio is QUEEN.
The main benefit of doing various types of cardio is not fat loss. It’s health.
Doing 30 minutes of steady-state cardio each day is a great way to improve
your circulation, reduce blood pressure and improve your digestion.
Those of you who have high blood pressure, poor circulation and indigestion
issues should make time to add 30 minutes of daily steady-state cardio.
I personally had very high blood pressure and doing cardio for 30 minutes
per day for 3 weeks corrected it and reduced my systolic blood pressure
with nearly 30 points.
So what type of cardio should you do and how
intense should it be?
Preferably you will do low-impact cardio at a low-moderate intensity.
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With low-impact I mean that the cardio should be low impact on your joints.
This means that running is a bad idea, at least initially, because it puts a lot
of pressure on the knee joint.
Good cardio options for beginner are:
• Walking on an incline treadmill at 3.5-6 KM/hour depending on
your fitness levels.
• Biking.
• Elliptical machine.
If you’re using a heart rate monitor, aim for maintaining 65-75% of your
maximum heart rate for 30 minutes.
To find your maximum heart rate, just put your age into the formula below:
220 - Age = Maximum Heart Rate
If you aren’t using a heart rate monitor, don’t worry about the exact number.
Just aim for an intensity level where you can build up a nice sweat but still be
able to talk to someone at the same time.
When should you do cardio?
Do the cardio whenever it fits into your life-style.
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The most important thing is that you make time for it, especially if you have
high blood pressure, poor circulation or indigestion issues such as
constipation, bloating and gassiness.
I personally prefer to do it as early in the day as possible because it helps
me digest food throughout the day and improves my mood and focus.
How about high intensity interval training (HIIT)?
HIIT is a popular way of doing cardio where you train at a higher intensity but
with shorter bursts.
Similarly to training to complete failure vs. stopping 1 rep short of failure, HIIT
is much harder on the recovery compared to steady state cardio, therefore, I
recommend steady-state cardio over HIIT.
Remember, strength training is KING and cardio is QUEEN.
Should I do cardio when travelling to a hot
country?
When you're travelling to a hot country, you would benefit a lot more from
going on a walk outside because of hyperbolic compensation.
Hyperbolic compensation means that your body cools down to compensate
for the heat that you aren't used to and this leads to fat burning.
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You also get less hungry throughout the day, you sleep better because of
more melatonin production from the sun and your mood improves.
So next time you go on a trip to a hot country, don't waste your time in-doors
on the treadmill.
Instead, go out there and explore the city, go for a walk on the beach or play
a sport outside.
How to Create the Right Training
Environment For Maximum Results
There are essentially 2 training environments when it comes to training your
body: 1) Gym and 2) Home.
The environment you train in is extremely important for your results because
the right environment can enable you to push yourself that extra amount
needed to see muscle gains.
The right environment for you depends on several factors:
• Motivation levels: Lack of motivation to train hard. “I simply can’t get
motivated to train hard and complete my training sessions.”
• Time: Lack of time to hit the gym. “I have so many things to do so
hitting the gym is impossible.”
• Confidence: Being embarrassed of performing exercises in front of
others.
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Confidence: If you’re embarrassed about exercising in front of others, your
best bet is to train at home or in a secluded place because it enables you to
practice by yourself and then you can start going to the gym later once you
feel comfortable in your own skin.
Time: If you lack the time to hit the gym, then your only option is to train at
home or at work.
Motivation: If you lack motivation to train hard when you’re by yourself and
no-one is watching, I suggest the gym, especially a gym that is full of people
that inspire you.
Music Improves Training Performance
Whether you train at home or at the gym doesn’t matter as much as having
some good headphones and music to train to.
I personally never train without music that pumps me up because a training
session with music vs. one without music is like the difference between night
and day!
Music makes me “forget about the pain of exercise” and I can train a lot
harder and longer.
Therefore, I suggest that you make a good music playlist every week for your
workouts and put on your headphones because it will make a massive
difference in your training.
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The Ideal Time of the Day to Do Strength
Training? (Ideal vs. Practical)
For most people, the ideal time to strength train is the late afternoon or early
evening.
The reasoning for this is two-fold:
1. You will have eaten more meals, so you will have more energy to
train hard.
2. You will have moved your body throughout the day so your
muscles will be more awake and ready.
I personally found that I can always do more reps and more weight in the late
afternoon and evening compared to the early morning or early afternoon.
The same goes for my clients who have tested this.
With that said, the ideal time may be different from the most practical time.
If you’ve never stuck to ONE training program for 16 consecutive weeks and
consistency is an issue for you, it’s much better if you get training out of the
way in the morning.
This reduces the risk of you missing training sessions, and in the long-term,
staying consistent will do more for your body-composition goals than
squeezing out a 5% strength advantage in the evenings.
Just imagine if you had been training consistently for the past 10 years.
Even if your training program wasn’t ideal, you would still have
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achieved better results than most guys in the gym, simply because you
stayed consistent.
Therefore, if consistency is an issue for you, here are my suggestions:
1. Get a home chin up bar so you can train at home and thereby reduce
the risk of missing a training session.
2. Prepare your training clothes, water bottle, bag and some fruit for quick
energy in the evening.
3. Wake up, have some fruit, warm-up, and do training first thing in the
morning before anything else. Building the habit is more important than
anything else at this point. I would even sacrifice 30 minutes of sleep
just so you can wake up earlier and get the training in. You can always
work on your sleep habits once the habit of training has been solidified
and you are able to train in the evenings.
4. When you warm-up, do twice as many warm-up sets as prescribed in
the program because your body needs a bit extra in the morning to
wake up.
The First 14 Days of Training Done
Right
To ensure that you can sustain progress and execute the exercises in the
program correctly, follow the steps below in your first 14 days of training:
Step 1 - Find the right exercise variations for you: Before you start
pushing yourself and training hard, experiment with the different exercise
variations to find one that you can comfortably do for at least 5 reps. Some of
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my clients need to do knee push ups before they can move on to regular
push ups and later the diamond push up and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It’s much better if you set the bar too low and start off with an easy variation,
because if you start out too hard, you will have unbearable soreness going
into each training session and you’re setting yourself up for a serious injury
before even getting started. Therefore, drop your ego because you aren’t
competing against anyone but yourself!
Step 2 - Master exercise technique with video: Watch the exercise
technique videos that are linked when you click on each exercise. Once
you’ve studied the technique, it’s time to make a video of yourself doing each
exercise and compare your own technique against the video you just looked
at. This is by far the most effective way to correct your form on all exercises
and it will pay off big time over your training career. Make sure to record
yourself from different angles to get the most out of this.
Step 3 - Take written notes on your technique so you can improve:
Nearly all my coaching
clients find that they have a lot of room for
improvement when they send over their exercise videos. And we aren’t just
talking about advanced exercises such as low cable flies for the upper
chest, but simple basics such as a regular push up! Therefore, when you
compare your exercise videos, take written notes on what you can improve,
and keep working on your form and making regular videos until you nail the
technique! It won’t take that much extra time to do these things but the
videos will pay off big time over the long-term and enable you to progress at
a much faster rate.
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Step 4 - Track your BioFeedback: The way you feel going into each training
session and during the training is critical, especially in the beginning. This is
very important to track in the beginning because doing a training program
and diet plan that doesn’t make you feel great isn’t sustainable long-term.
This is why we want to first come up with a strategy that makes you feel your
best and then later focus on progression.
Here are the things you want to note down before you go into each training
session, during the session and after:
๏ Do you go into your training feeling recovered from the last training
session?
๏ Do you have high energy levels before going into your training session?
๏ Do you feel the target muscles working on each exercise? If not, note
this down during your training session so you can work more on your
technique.
๏ Do any exercises cause sharp pain or discomfort in your joints? If so,
stop the exercise immediately, note it down and check if your technique
is correct.
๏ On a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is each training session for you?
Tracking these things is important because once you reach “the wall” (i.e. a
time in your training where you can’t progress on an exercise), you will be
able to look back at your notes and figure out how to adjust your training to
break through your plateau.
And you can do most of this while taking rest between sets, so it’s not going
to take up any additional time.
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Once you settle in the the training program and achieve good
technique, it’s time to get stronger by following the progression
strategies in the sections coming up.
I want to emphasise that you need to push yourself to get stronger and to
grow your muscles, but you don’t want to do this before you master the
technique of each exercise, otherwise you will “pay” for it later by getting
injured.
Rushing through your transformation never works out the way
you want it to so don’t do it.
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Progressive Overload Builds Strength
and Muscle Mass
I always find new ways to push myself in my training, even when I’m travelling. Here I’m
strengthening my grip by changing up the way I do pull ups.
The key to build a physique with bodyweight training is to force your body
to adapt to more stress.
Just imagine adding 1 rep to your diamond push up for 20 weeks straight.
There’s no way you will look the same when you can do 25 diamond push
ups instead of 5.
Your body has to adapt to the new demands, and it does so by adding
muscle size.
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Therefore, adding more stress as often as you can recover from it, is the
most important part of your training!
If your training sessions are not designed with the aim of achieving more
stress, they are not training sessions.
They are EXERCISE or WORKOUTS (what most people do).
Exercise and workouts are great for your heart and mood.
They will make you sweat and feel good after your training sessions, but they
will not build a great physique.
Building a great physique requires STRATEGIC SWEAT.
Go into each training session with a plan of achieving progressive overload
and you will transform over time!
In this case, we focus on progressing on just 4 exercises: 1) Chin Up, 2)
Diamond Push Up, 3) Bodyweight squat and 4) Plank.
Those are the only 4 things you want to track, because tracking a lot of
exercises will result in a lack of FOCUS.
I will now outline the exact steps you have to take to achieve 15 chin ups 30
diamond push ups and 100 bodyweight squats.
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Progressions On Each Exercise
The way you progress on all exercises is simple: You add reps as often as
possible to your sets (and in particular your first set where you are able to do
the most reps).
For example, if you did 10 diamond push ups on the first set of your Monday
training session, try to achieve 3 diamond push ups when you train again on
Wednesday.
The key to consistent progress is to go into each training session with the
goal of doing at least “one more rep”. Over several months, adding reps
really adds up and you will get a whole lot stronger on all bodyweight
exercises, and as a result, you will become more muscular and achieve a
more aesthetic physique.
With that said, I know that most skinny-fat guys can’t do diamond push ups
or chin up, therefore I will show you the exercise variations that you need to
master to build sufficient strength for them.
Chin Up Progression:
Step 1 Negative Pull Ups: If you can’t do a real chin up yet, practice
negative pull ups while shredding excess body-fat through diet. The amount
of reps you do matters less than the way you do them. The key here is to
work towards doing each rep slowly with full control and through a full range
of motion, which means that you go all the way down on each rep. Doing this
is a proven strategy that I and many of my clients followed to achieve our
first real chin up.
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Step 2 - Chin Ups: Once you can do your first chin up, progress to 15 chin
ups by adding reps as often as possible to your sets (and in particular your
first set where you are fresh). So if you did 8 chin ups during your Monday
training, try to do 9 reps during your next training. In the case you can’t do a
single rep on your 2nd or 3rd set, just do negative chin ups instead. Over
time, you will be able to do 15 chin ups with perfect technique.
Diamond Push Up Progression:
Step 1 - Knee Push Ups: If you can’t do a real push up yet, practice knee
push ups while shredding excess body-fat through your diet. You want to
add reps as often as possible to your sets (and in particular your first set aim
for achieving 20 consecutive reps with perfect technique on you first set
before proceeding to a real push up.
Step 2 - Regular Push Ups: Once you can do 20 consecutive reps on the
knee push up, progress to regular push ups. After you get your first push up,
progress to 20 regular push ups by adding reps to your sets as often as
possible (and in particular your first set where you are fresh). So if you did 15
push ups during your Monday training, try to do 16 reps during your next
training.
Step 3 - Diamond Push Ups: Once you can do 20 push ups, work on
gradually putting your hands closer so you can achieve your first diamond
push up. Then progress to 30 diamond push ups by adding reps to your
sets as often as possible.
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Bodyweight Squat Progression:
Step 1 - Technique: The first step is to focus on achieving depth on your
bodyweight squat rather than getting stronger. To do this, work within a reprange where you feel that your legs are getting a nice pump but stay far
away from muscular failure. Your goal is to try and go lower on each rep
while keeping your spine straight, keeping your feet planted on the floor and
pushing your knees out to the sides so they track your foot on each rep. The
stretching program will help you achieve this goal very fast.
Step 2 - Achieve 100 reps in several sets: Once you can do 10 reps with
perfect form to parallel, you work on increasing your reps on each set until
you can do a total of 100 reps on all 3 sets.
Step 3 - Achieve 100 reps in one set: Once you can do a total of 100 reps
on all 3 sets, work towards doing more reps on the first and second set. You
want to do a total of 100 reps each training session and eventually be able to
do all 100 with perfect form in your first set.
Plank Progression:
For the plank, the progression is simple: You track your time with a timer and
try to beat it each training session.
Try to stay in the plank position with your hands on the floor rather than the
elbows for as long as possible each time. By doing so, you will strengthen
your shoulders and arms a lot in the isometric position which can lead to
faster strength and muscle gains on the chin up and diamond push up.
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How to Track Your Training Progress
During each training session, it’s crucial that you note down in a log book
how many push ups and chin ups you can do on each of your sets.
This motivates you to get better and ensures your progress from training to
training and thereby your long-term results.
Writing down your exercises, sets and reps also creates COMMITMENT to
the training program unlike anything else.
It’s so important that you log your training sessions that I can already say
RIGHT NOW that if you don’t do it, it’s unlikely you will be training
consistently and getting results in 3-6 months.
You want to record both the number you did on each set and the total
amount of reps you did spread across all your sets.
The goal is to do more reps over time, because that is what will get you from
0 to 10 chin ups and 0 to 20 diamond push ups.
…And that’s also EXACTLY what will make you add tone and definition to
your upper body because there’s no way you will look the same when you go
from 0 to 10 chin ups.
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Below, you can find an example of how your weekly progression tracking
can look like.
It doesn’t matter whether you use an old physical notepad, app on your
phone such as SimpleNote or a Google Spreadsheet. The most important
thing is that you get into the habit of tracking your training because this will
pay off BIG TIME over the next 5 years.
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Proven Techniques to Break Through
Training Plateaus
Stalling progress is completely normal in strength training therefore it’s to be
expected.
For a beginner, I personally define stalled progress as not being able to add
a single rep to your exercise(s) for 14 consecutive days, despite using
proper technique, training consistently, sticking to a balanced diet plan and
getting good sleep consistently.
If that’s you, chances are that your progress stalled because of one of the 3
reasons below:
1. Your body needs a short break from training.
2. You need to reduce training frequency so you train to sustain
progress.
3. You need to switch up your training program.
In any case, I recommend that you always start with taking 1 week off from
strength training, since a break will in most cases be all you need to jump
back into your training and make progress again.
However, if you take a week off from training and you return to training and
you still don’t see any progress in the first 7 days upon returning, it’s time to
evaluate your training BioFeedback so you know exactly why your progress
stopped. (BioFeedback is explained in the section about “The First 14 Days
of Training Done Right”. Again, here’s a list of of the BioFeedback questions
related to your training performance:
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• Do you go into your training feeling recovered from the last training
session?
• On a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is each training session for you?
“My muscles feel weak going into each training session and
the training is hard to complete.”
If that’s you, reduce your strength training frequency from 6 days per week to
just 3 days per week, and do 30 minutes of light cardio on the other 3 days.
By doing so, you will give your muscles a longer time to recover between
training sessions and thereby you will be able to sustain your strength
progression.
I want to point out that while reducing training frequency isn’t optimal for
building muscle mass, that doesn’t matter much during the initial stages of
your transformation where the main training goal is to get stronger on the
exercises. (The muscle building training will come later).
“I feel recovered going into each training session, and the training
is 8/10 or less in difficulty.”
If that’s you, take a look at the Q & A below. (The question is from a blog
reader and the answer is by Mike Joplin).
Jim asked:
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“I am stuck at 4 pullups for the last six months. Pls help, I can’t devote more
than twenty minutes to workout every day. Every day I do pullups, at the 4th
rep my body tires out and I am done. the 5th rep seems like an impossible
goal.”
Mike Joplin answered:
“Jim,
Very often it’s our “mind” that prevents us from progressing, and not our
muscles. So here is how to use your mind to break through your four rep
limit.
Do the following routines on alternate days:
Routine 1: Start counting (out-loud) at five (instead of one), and work your
way “down” to one. (5…4…3…2…1 = 5 pull-ups). The fact that you’re doing
less reps each time will give you a psychological boost.
Routine 2: Start counting (out-loud) at five (instead of one), and try to get to
nine. (5…6…7…8…9 = 5 reps) The fact that you’re “saying” higher numbers
will give you a different (but just as affective) psychological boost.”
Doing this will help you push yourself to failure, and that’s OK even though
the training program prescribes that you stop 1-2 reps short of failure.
As mentioned earlier, you want to use the minimum dosage required to
sustain progress, and if you can do that without going to failure, that’s
perfect.
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If you can’t, then you will have to push yourself a bit harder.
“I tried increasing my food intake, working on my exercise
technique, reducing training frequency and I followed Mike
Joplin’s mindset routine but I’m still stuck at the same amount
of reps.”
In some cases, doing all of the above won’t work, you may need a different
type of programming.
The best place to start is to do the opposite of what you’ve been doing so
far.
So far, you’ve been training at a high intensity and with a low amount of sets.
Therefore, the opposite would be to train at a low intensity with more sets.
The ideal programming for this is called “Greasing-the-Groove” which was
developed by Pavel Tsatsouline, who is a former trainer of the Russian
special forces.
Greasing-the-Groove Training
GTG Training is designed to gain strength fast with bodyweight training in a
simple, yet effective way.
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The way it works is simple: You take 50-80% of your max and do it 4-6 times
throughout the day, 4-6 times per week.
So let’s say you can do 10 pull ups and you’ve been stuck for a month.
To break this plateau with GTG Training, you do 4-6 sets of 5-8 pull ups
throughout the day.
So you may do 1 set when you wake up, 1 set before going to work, 1 set
when getting back from work, 1 set after dinner and 1 set before bed. This is
a total of 5 sets spread throughout the day.
The key is that you stop each set before your muscles get very tired and that
you do the sets often throughout the day and 4-6 days per week.
By training so frequently, your Central Nervous System develops and thereby
you will become more skilled at the movement required to do each exercise
so it becomes more natural and smooth. This of course leads to your max
increasing.
I have personally used GTG Training a lot while going from 0 to 15 chin ups
and I found that it helped the most when I was experiencing a plateau.
I’m absolutely confident that with a combination of my base-line training
program, the tweaks above and GTG Training, you will be able to achieve 15
chin ups, 30 diamond push ups and 100 bodyweight squats - all with perfect
form.
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Sleep, Leptin, Stress and Hunger Levels
Assuming that you follow my advice above and clean up your diet, you still
need to know that regardless of how clean your diet is, it’s still possible to
overeat.
I personally have a “never-ending” appetite where I can eat an entire day’s
worth of calories in one single meal.
To give you an example, when I used to be skinny-fat, I would eat a regularsized dinner with steak, potatoes and vegetables and then after that empty
an entire jar of Nutella and eat half a loaf of bread.
Then 2 hours later, I would be hungry again and eat more sandwiches.
My case is extreme, but it’s not far from some of my clients who join my
online coaching program.
From what I’ve seen so far, most skinny-fat guys have a very high natural
appetite and there’s a scientific explanation to this.
When you have high body-fat levels, your body decreases the production of
the satiety hormone, leptin.
When leptin levels are low, it’s harder to feel full so you can eat a big meal,
yet still feel like you need more food to get satiated.
Luckily, there’s one simple thing you can do to improve your leptin levels and
that is to sleep a lot.
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When you sleep, your body regulates your leptin levels so you crave less
food throughout the day.
In addition, high quality sleep is proven to boost your natural testosterone
production.
So when you are thinking about why you aren’t getting much out of your
training, one of the first things you should look into is your sleep.
Are you getting 8-10 hours of sleep daily?3
Are you going to bed at regular times?
Are you waking up refreshed without needing an alarm clock?
If you can’t answer yes to these questions, you have a lot of room for
improvement.
“I don’t have time to sleep 8-10 hours per day.”
For some of you it’s not realistic to get enough sleep.
I’m talking mostly about those of you who have children, run a start-up or
work an extremely demanding career.
If that’s you, all you can do is your best, but you also need to know that every
good thing in life comes with a price.
3
There are some people who can maintain good health and high energy levels with 4-6 hours of sleep per
day, but they are a small minority consisting of those with top genetics.
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If you have other priorities in life that take away from your ability to sleep, you
can’t expect to build a world-class physique like a fitness model or to do a
bodybuilding program for 2 hours daily.
It’s unrealistic to think that you can work 14 hours per day on a start-up, go
home to spend time with your children, hit the gym hard for 2 hours and
sleep for just 4 hours and recover from it all.
So get your priorities and expectations straight.
If you have bad genetics for training and you can’t get good sleep, you need
to know that:
1. You won’t be able to recover from as much training.
2. You won’t get results as fast as you could with more sleep.
This doesn’t mean you can’t get results, but it means that it’s even more
important to follow a well-structured training program and diet plan.
You need a well-structured training program that has the right amount of
intensity and frequency because as mentioned earlier:
Poor Recovery = No Gains.
And to those of you who don’t get enough sleep because you’re bad at timemanagement: It’s time to step up your game and plan your days better if
you want to maximise your gains.
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Meditation Will Help You Sleep Better, Reduce
Stress and Improve Training Recovery
Whether you have difficulty sleeping at night or not, I recommend a daily
minimum of 10 minutes meditation.
Meditation relieves stress, clears your mind, increases feel good hormones
and speeds up recovery between training sessions because training is a
stress imposed on your body so the less stress you have the faster you can
recover.
Now, the optimal way to meditate varies with each person, but a good way to
get started is my simple meditation routine:
1. Put on headphones.
2. Listen to meditation sounds. Click here for a great tune.
3. Lie down in bed and get comfortable. Spread out your legs, arms and
make sure your palms are facing up towards the ceiling and your fingers
are spread out.
4. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Don't move any of your
body-parts.
Just lie there for 10-30 minutes while listening to a meditation sound, and you
should feel GREAT after.
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Reduce Stress to Maximise Free Testosterone
One thing a lot of people forget is that training is a stress and to keep
making gains in your training, your body has to recover from the stress you
placed on it during your last training sessions.
If you keep showing up to your training sessions for months on end without
being recovered, you will either be stuck doing the same amount of volume
and intensity, burn out mentally or get injured.
Now, it’s no issue if you’re an advanced trainee and you put a massive
amount of stress on your body for a few weeks and you keep showing up
under recovered for each training session.
A few weeks of overreaching won’t hurt, as long as you cycle off the hard
training regularly and introduce bodyweight only training weeks or complete
rest weeks right after. (This is typically what happens when I put some of my
Phase 2 clients on a High Intensity Program).
However, whether you do these hard training cycles or you’re still in Phase 1,
it’s essential that you take recovery seriously because proper recovery won’t
only make you feel better on a daily basis, but also enable you to get training
results a lot of faster.
Cortisol, the stress hormone, binds to Testosterone which is the male
hormone of vitality, therefore elevated Cortisol levels will leave you with less
Free Testosterone.
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The best ways to reduce stress and thereby maximise free testosterone and
training recovery are ranked below:
1. Sufficient high quality sleep. (Most people need about 8-9 hours. If you’re
below 25 it’s most likely closest to 9 hours.)
2. Daily meditation of minimum 10 minutes.
3. Physical touch. Human beings have a natural need for physical touch on
a regular basis to feel calm and relaxed. If you don’t have a partner to get
physical touch from, a good replacement is to get a massage regularly.
4. Stretching tight areas of your body. Tension inside your body elevates
cortisol.
5. Eating foods that you digest well (minimum bloating and constipation from
diet). Foods that you digest well make you feel light and energised and
take out tension from your body.
6. Get fresh air and sun as much as possible and spend time in nature.
7. Maximise the amount of time you spend with people who provide positive
value to your life and minimise the time spent with the ones that provide
negative value. Reward the people who make you happy without
expecting much in return by giving them your time. Don’t give your time to
those who argue more than they make you happy or only chat you up for
favours.
If you do these you should start seeing an increase in the feel good
hormones in your body and get into a positive feedback loop where you start
focusing on all the positive things in your life rather than the negative stuff.
On another note, I’ve found that skinny-fat guys I coach tend to get stressed
very easily.
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If you find yourself thinking about “whether you’re going to make it” or “why
you can’t look like your favourite fitness model” it’s time to reduce stress and
start thinking more positive thoughts. (When your mind has negative
thoughts it cannot have positive thoughts at the same time so you’re
essentially stopping personal growth.)
The Importance of Having a Clearly
Defined Goal Physique
If you’re following my training program to the letter, you’re tracking your
training sessions, but it’s also crucial to make it a habit to: 1) Have clear
body-composition goals to work towards and 2) Track your bodycomposition progress.
If you do these things you will know whether the training and diet you’re
following are working for you, and if they aren’t, you will have the data
needed to evaluate and adjust.
I want to emphasise that it’s better to aim for specific goal measurements
than a look you see in a photo because of the reasons listed below:
1. Everyone has different genetics so it’s completely unrealistic to say
you want to look like someone in a photo. You will never achieve
the look someone else has and it will mess you up psychologically
to chase something that cannot be achieved. You’re better off
creating YOUR OWN LOOK and owning that look 100%.
2. Tracking your measurements and having goal measurements to
work towards is a lot more motivating for a skinny-fat guy with poor
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genetics because progress is very slow when looking at photos,
however you will see changes in measurements faster.
3. The goal measurements I will provide you with are more realistic
than photos. Most fitness models you see in photos are enhanced
and on drugs. And those who aren’t, use very flattering lighting
and angles and they take their photos with a training pump.
If you aren’t sure about what kind of numbers and measurements you should
aim for, I will provide some guidelines below.
The Golden Ratio of Bodybuilding
Creating an athletic and proportional looking physique is largely a science.
According to countless studies on male attraction, females are mostly
attracted to men who have a big shoulder-to-waist-ratio of roughly 1.6 so
your shoulder circumference should ideally measure ~1.6 times bigger than
your waist circumference.
This ratio is also called the Golden Ratio and it’s not only used for sculpting
the perfect physique, but also in countless designs and architecture.
When you achieve the golden ratio, you have that athletic looking V-taper
physique and women like that because a healthy waist size signals that
you’re at a lower risk of catching cardiovascular events such a stroke or
heart attack and wide shoulders mean that you’re strong and powerful.
In other words, a big shoulder-to-waist-ratio is a signal of health and fitness
in a man, both traits which are crucial when women look for a mate.
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This is essentially the opposite of a skinny-fat guy who has narrow shoulders
and a large waist.
When I started out training, I had something like 117 CM shoulder
circumference and a 97 CM waist. This means my ratio was just 1.21.
After about 4 years of training, I managed to build my shoulders all the way
up to 135 CM (+18 CM) and bring my waist down to 86 CM (-11 CM).
This brought my shoulder-to-waist-ratio all the way up to 1.56 which is close
to the ideal.
Since achieving the 1.56 ratio around April 2014, I have been doing a study
abroad program, travelling a lot and spent a lot of time building my coaching
business so that meant my own training and diet became a low priority and
I’ve therefore had times where my waist increased in size and my shoulder to
waist ratio dropped all the way from 1.56 to 1.4.
When this happened, I noticed a HUGE change in the way I look and the
way people perceive my physique.
And worst of all, the change can happen very fast when you skimp on your
diet and gain a lot of body-fat. For me it’s just a matter of a week or two
when, and that’s why tracking progress and measurements is so important!
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Goal Measurements
I’ve once come across a list of measurements that I believe are both realistic
and motivating to work towards.
Here they go:
Waist = 45-47% of height.
Shoulders = 1.618 x Waist.
Arms = Size of neck circumference.
Chest = 25-30 CM greater than waist.
Most skinny-fat guys will be able to achieve these measurements or come
close to them within 5-10 years of hard training.
Feel free to use these measurements as your guidelines, or come up with
your own. I’m just trying to show you realistic numbers to aim towards so you
know what you can realistically achieve without using performanceenhancing drugs.
The Muscles You Don’t Want to Overdevelop
There are certain muscles that you want to avoid overdeveloping when
you’re training because they take away from your aesthetics.
Here they are:
• Traps: Big traps take away from the width of your shoulders since they
grow vertically (up).
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• Lower chest: A big lower chest makes your chest look feminine and
“saggy” rather than square and masculine. I recommend you develop the
upper and inner chest to get a square-looking and masculine chest.
• Legs: Big legs don’t look great and make it difficult to buy jeans. Getting to
100 bodyweight squats will ensure that most of you will have enough size
and definition on your legs without making them look too bulky.
• Abs: Just like any other muscle, abs can grow too. When you have big abs
you thicken your waist and take away from the V-taper look that is a result
of a small waist and wide shoulders. This is why we limit ab training to
planks and focus on keeping the abs tight while doing the plank.
These are the muscles that tend to grow a lot when you do your typical
Starting Strength or 5x5 program.
For skinny guys with tiny waists, good bone structures (narrow waist and
wide shoulders) and decent genetics, it is fine to grow these muscles, but it’s
not optimal for skinny-fat men because we already have a very difficult time
creating an aesthetic physique.
When you have naturally bad proportions, the last thing you want to do is to
add mass in the wrong places, since that detracts from the hard work you
put into sculpting the arms, shoulders, upper chest and lats.
This is also why we don’t include traditional strength exercises such as
heavy deadlifts, barbell squats and the flat bench press:
• Heavy deadlifts and squats thicken the waist and make your traps and legs
big.
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• Flat bench presses grow the lower chest.
How to Track Body-Composition
Progress
Tracking and tracking and tracking. Are you trying to make us go crazy?
Yes, I understand that there’s a lot of advice for tracking here, but here’s the
thing: The more things you track, the more consistent you will be with your
training and diet and the better results you will get.
Furthermore, tracking doesn’t take much time at all.
You can track your training sessions while doing them.
You can track your BioFeedback in a few minutes while eating.
You can do the body-measurements and photos I’m about to write about, in
less than 5 minutes per week.
So really, tracking isn’t that difficult once you get into the habit of doing it.
In this section, I will show you how to track body-composition progress.
It’s crucial to track body-composition progress through measurements and
photos because if you don’t track your measurements and take photos, how
will you know if your physique is changing?
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The mirror does not show a 1 CM increase in the size of your chest and
biceps, but measurements do.
Each Sunday morning, I have my clients take
out a measurement tape and measure their
body-parts:
• Flexed bicep circumference (put the tape around the peak of your flexed
biceps).
• Relaxed shoulder circumference (put the tape all the way around the
shoulders, chest and back).
• Relaxed chest circumference (put the tape under your arm-pits and
around your chest and back).
• Relaxed waist circumference at the widest point (put the tape around the
widest point of your waist).
• Relaxed waist circumference at the belly-button (put the tape around the
belly-button).
• Relaxed hip circumference (put the around the widest point of your hips).
In addition, I also have them check their bodyweight just to have as much
data as possible. (The measurements are far more important though since
they show changes in body-composition while bodyweight doesn’t show
much without the measurements to go with it).
The measurements are all done in the morning on an empty stomach, before
doing any kind of training and preferably after a visit to the toilet.
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If you have a lot of food in your stomach that can skew the waist
measurement and if you do a training session before doing the chest,
shoulder and biceps measurements, your measurements will be bigger
because of the training pump.
Once you have your measurements and bodyweight, put them into a table
and keep track of them every week.
It’s important that you do the measurements
honestly and consistently.
Don’t hang the tape loose around your biceps to get a bigger biceps
measurement or squeeze it tight around the waist to get a lower waist
measurement.
You are only cheating yourself by doing that.
Furthermore, don’t stress about whether you’re doing them perfectly.
The most important part is consistency.
Do your best to measure around the same spot each time, and if you’re
unsure, do 3 measurements and take the average for better accuracy.
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Tracking Progress For skinny-FAT vs.
SKINNY-fat Guys
The measurements are especially great for skinny-FAT guys because they
enable you to evaluate how your diet and training are working for you.
For example, if you’re skinny-FAT and your goal is fat loss, but your
waist and hip size aren’t dropping and your bodyweight is the same or
increasing, it means you might need to reduce your food intake. (More
about making adjustments later).
If you’re SKINNY-fat and your goal is to stay at the same weight while adding
muscle tone, the measurements and bodyweight are not as useful (initially),
because you will be losing fat and gaining muscle mass at the same time.
The issue is that a lot of skinny-fat guys are under muscled so when they
start training, they start gaining muscle mass while losing fat at the same
time. This means that they stay at roughly the same bodyweight and
measurements, but their body-composition is changing for the better each
week.
What happens in these cases is often that the skinny-fat guy thinks that he
isn’t losing body-fat, so he reduces calories further to the point where he’s in
an unhealthy caloric deficit and then he starts losing muscle mass instead of
fat.
Therefore, for SKINNY-fat guys, a combination of biofeedback, monthly
progression photos (shirtless photos from the side, back and front) and
training progress will provide a better evaluation of progress.
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(I want to emphasise that SKINNY-fat guys should still do the measurements
and check bodyweight every Sunday because it takes less than 5 minutes
per week and it gives you great data to make diet and training adjustments).
Thing to do right now: Set a reminder in your calendar for every Sunday
morning in your calendar with the title “Take measurements”.
Take Monthly Progression Photos, Starting
From TODAY
In addition to tracking daily BioFeedback, weekly body-measurements and
your training sessions,I recommend that you take monthly progression
photos.
Monthly progression photos are equally important to measurements and now
I’ll list the 2 most important reasons to why they’re so important.
(1) The Mirror Lies. Photos Don’t.
A lot of people make the mistake to evaluate their progress based on what
they see in the mirror.
This is a huge mistake because the mirror is an inaccurate way of evaluating
progress.
You see yourself in the mirror everyday however visible physique progress
takes a long time.
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If you look at yourself in the mirror, you will most likely see the same
image every time because the changes are so gradual and you will be
the last person to see you’re getting in shape.
To give you some perspective, when I had trained for nearly 3 years I still
saw myself as skinny-fat when I looked in the mirror.
However, I was clearly not skinny-fat anymore.
I could do 15 perfect form pull ups at 200 pounds bodyweight and other
people started calling me “big guy” and commenting on the size of my arms
and lats.
It was only when I put two photos side-by-side that I realised I had made
huge progress the last 3 years.
Photos are much better than because you can put them side-by-side and
see your actual progress.
(2) Photos Will Motivate When You’re About to
Give Up.
Throughout my transformation, I had many “dark moments” where I thought
“screw it, I’m not making progress so I’m gonna quit”.
Then I would look at my progress photos and see that while my progress
was slow, I was making actual progress.
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This gave me hope because seeing that I was able to make even a small
amount of progress, meant that if I continued I would eventually come closer
to achieving my goal.
I can safely say that if I had not taken progress photos every month, I would
have given up and my transformation wouldn’t have happened. (And the
Skinny-Fat Transformation blog would not exist if I didn’t have my photos and
now I make my living from helping others achieve the same transformation).
6 Photos to Take Each Month
You want to take a shirtless photo from the front, side and back.
You will have one photo in each angle where you’re relaxing and one where
you’re flexing.
This means you want to take 6 photos each month:
• Front relaxed.
• Front double biceps flexed.
• Side relaxed.
• Side triceps flexed.
• Back relaxed.
• Back double biceps flexed.
It’s important to take photos from a variety of angles because sometimes you
won’t see much muscular development from a certain angle, but then when
you look from another angle it will be a completely different story.
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Instructions for taking progression photos:
1. Take the photos in the morning on an empty stomach and before
working out.
2. Use a decent camera.
3. Stand in an uncluttered environment, e.g. by an empty wall.
4. Take a portrait full body photo (not horizontal) where you can see your
whole physique. (Make sure your body fills out most of the photo).
5. Do not suck in your gut or flex, unless it’s a flexed photo.
6. Take photos from different angles (front, back, side - both flexed and
relaxed).
7. Always take the photos in the same place for consistency.
It’s best if you have someone to take the photos, e.g. parents, wife or
siblings.
I know that you may feel weird about having someone take your photos when
you aren’t in good shape.
I still remember when I asked my mom to do it and she was laughing at
me when I was doing my front double biceps pose.
But it doesn’t matter if someone laughs.
Just smile and ignore and get the photos out of the way once per month so
you can move closer towards your goal.
The goal matters more than what someone thinks about you working hard to
achieve your goal.
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If someone laughs at you because you want to track your physique
progress, use it as motivation to progress so you can SHOW them later.
Things to do right now: Have someone take your starting progression photos
RIGHT NOW. Once you have your photos, put them in a folder with today’s
date and set a reminder in your calendar for once every 4 Sunday’s to take
progress photos. You will be happy in 4 weeks when you compare your
current photos with next month’s photos. Please do not skip this step
before continuing.
Realistic Expectations
I often hear from readers that they’re scared to get too big and bulky.
A lot of people don’t want to become as big as me or other guys who’ve
been training for years, and that’s fine.
However, you need to keep in mind that getting big takes many years of
consistent effort. It doesn’t happen over night, so you can easily stop once
you have enough size.
And should it happen that you get too big, just stop training for a few weeks
and you will start losing size very fast.
Getting too big should never be a concern for you if you’re not using
performance-enhancing-drugs.
It simply won’t happen.
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The other thing I hear is that people want to achieve a toned physique with
shaped muscles.
This sounds great in theory, however you have to keep in mind that the
shape and the way your muscles insert are 100% genetic.
What you can do is to grow the size of the muscle fibres to their potential and
then it will look the way it does.
I personally have a poor muscle shape on nearly every body-part and a bad
bone structure.
This means that I will never be able to have those round, ripped and full
muscles you see on certain guys who seem to have been “born with
muscle”.
The only way I can achieve that look is by taking performance-enhancingdrugs, and this is the case for most guys who train hard.
If you want to look like a professional fitness model, yet you have poor
genetics, it’s completely unrealistic to chase that look.
Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t look great. You can still look better than
90% of guys out there if you put in the work.
You just have to adjust your expectations a bit and remember that genetics
play a HUGE role in the physique you can achieve.
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So what exactly is realistic? Let’s talk about that now.
How Lean Can You Get?
When you see guys in magazines with ripped 6-pack abs you may get
tempted yourself to chase the exact same look.
The thing I hear most often from skinny-fat guys is that they want to get
completely rid of the body-fat in their lower stomach.
However, this is a big mistake and now I’ll explain why.
First and foremost, it’s only a small minority of the population of men who can
sustain a level of leanness where they don’t have that pinch of fat in their
lower waist.
Having a pinch of fat on the lower waist, especially when you sit down, is
completely normal and you shouldn’t worry about it.
The vast majority of us, including me, always have a small pinch of body-fat
on the lower waist and I can recall that even when I cut down to 77 KG (177
lbs.) at a height of 188 CM (6’2”), I still had it and I looked super skinny while
being able to deadlift 400 pounds.
Does this mean that it’s impossible to lose it? No it doesn’t.
If you stay in a Caloric deficit for a long time, you will eventually lose it, but
you will also lose A LOT of size and muscle mass.
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This is the true reality for natural bodybuilders: When we want to get super
lean, we have to reduce food intake a lot and go hungry for big parts of the
day, drink energy drinks or take stimulants to keep appetite low, our
testosterone production drops, our sex-drive becomes non-existent and we
aren’t able to sustain hard training and muscular fullness when we’ve been in
a Caloric deficit for many months.
In addition, even if you were to lose that last amount of lower belly fat, you
might still have some loose skin there from when your waist was bigger, so
when you sit down you will still have that pinch of skin.
As mentioned earlier, it’s only a small minority of the population who can
remove that last layer of body-fat and sustain that level of leanness longterm.
It’s mostly guys who have always been very lean or guys who are naturally
lean and got fat later in life. (When you get fat late in life, you don’t have the
fat cells that are developed in overweight people during puberty, so you may
still be able to get very lean without having to make a lot of sacrifices).
By the time you’ve lost that lower ab fat, it simply won’t be worth all those
months of extra effort where you’ve only been eating 100% clean boiled
food, had low energy levels throughout the day and went into each training
session feeling weak. You’re taking months away from building muscle mass
just to have your waist look slightly better.
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Unless you’ve built more muscle mass than you want to have, it’s simply not
worth it. Once you start bulking again, you will re-gain your bodyweight very
quickly and lose that progress anyways.
You’re much better off dieting down to a sustainable level of leanness where
you have definition on the upper abs and possibly the middle abs, then
maintain that level of leanness while gaining muscle mass in the right places.
Over time, you will develop very aesthetic proportions and you’ll forget
everything about that small amount of body-fat in the lower waist.
And should it happen that you still want to lose that lower waist fat, you can
always do a long fat loss diet once you’ve built 20 pounds more muscle
mass than you’d like to have — if you are ever able to reach that point. This
is a much better way of doing it because you will lose a lot of muscle mass
during your diet anyways, so you will have some spare size that you can
“afford” to lose.
How Fast Can You Gain Muscle Mass?
You can gain at most 20-25 pounds of muscle mass in your first year of
serious training, provided that you’re following a diet that supports muscle
gains.
In this case, you’re focusing mostly on fat loss, so you’re unlikely to achieve
the 20-25 pound target, however you may come close at 15 pounds or so.
That’s just slightly over 1 pound per month.
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Now, 15 pounds isn’t that much, especially if you’re over 6 feet tall and have
long arms and legs. And on a monthly basis, it will be hard to see a 1 pound
difference. (This is also why we take body-measurements and photos
regularly).
After the first year, gains slow down and you will be gaining less than 1
pound per month.
Besides that, if you’re under muscled and fat (skinny-fat), you will not see
much of a visual difference in the mirror in the first months, because:
1. In many cases, the initial strength gains you make in strength training are
a result of adaptations in your Central Nervous System. (I.e. you become
better at activating the muscles you already have).
2. Once you get stronger and start working the muscles instead of the
Central Nervous System, you will gain some muscle mass, however, if you
have excess body-fat, the gains you make will be hidden under the fat.
3. The first 10-15-20 pounds of muscle mass you gain basically make you
go from under muscled to toned therefore you won’t look big after gaining
those initial 15-20 pounds.
In other words, the biggest visual differences you can make in the initial
stages of your training are a result of losing body-fat and not gaining muscle
mass.
But here’s the thing you need to know… Once you build your foundation of
muscle mass and strength, the additional gains you make become MUCH
more visible.
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You can just look at the photo below:
Up until November 2012, I spent almost 3 years training hard, and while my
gains weren’t optimal, I did gain some muscle mass. I mean, I could deadlift
400 pounds at 177 pound bodyweight and bench press 220 pounds, so I
had clearly gained some strength and mass.
The thing is that my gains weren’t visible because I was still building my
foundation. The muscle mass I had, was basically the amount of muscle
mass that made me look “not undermuscled”.
Then, after November 2012, I added 1 inch to my arms and my arms
suddenly blew up and became big.
The same goes for my shoulders, upper chest and lats where I gained an
inch or two.
When I looked at my measurements, nothing big had happened, but the
visual difference was astounding.
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So what you need to know is that once you have a foundation, even small
gains become visible so don’t get discouraged if you don’t become
muscular in your first 6 months of training.
When you get that foundation, the gains and changes in your physical
appearance will be much faster than you imagine.
Now, when it comes to fat loss, the story is very different.
If you start out with a lot of body-fat, you will see drastic differences in
your physique in just 8-12 weeks.
You can lose up to 10 pounds of fat per month, but you can only gain 1-2
pounds of muscle mass.
Fat loss is a lot easier than gaining muscle mass therefore those of you who
are skinny-FAT with a lot of body-fat to lose will see the fastest changes in
your visual appearance, while those of you who are SKINNY-fat with less
body-fat to lose will see less changes in your visual appearance, however
you will be able to progress faster on the bodyweight exercises because you
have less “dead-weight” to move.
To sum it up so far: Muscle gains follow the 80/20 rule where 80% of
your results come from 20% of your actions.
You will gain 80% of your muscle mass in your first 3 years of training and
then spend 12 years gaining the remaining 20%.
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Similarly with fat loss, you will lose your excess body-fat while putting in
moderate effort and feeling great throughout the process, then when you
want to go from lean to ripped, you’ll have to go hungry for big parts of the
day and make a lot more sacrifices to lose that last 5-10%.
The conclusion is that unless you’re getting paid to be a fitness model, pro
athlete or actor, it’s not worth it to make all these sacrifices to get that small
amount of added benefit. Stick to the 20% of actions that get you 80% of
results.
Factors That Affect Your Progression
Rate
So far, I’ve made it sound like I have the secret answer for any skinny-fat guy
to transform, but the truth is that the concept skinny-fat is broad.
To be specific, we have skinny-FAT and SKINNY-fat guys. Some of you are
more on the skinny side, while some of you are more on the fat side.
Regardless of what type you are, you will have to cut the excess chub first.
The main difference lies in the amount of time you will have to cut for.
The skinny-FAT guys may have a harder time cutting and staying lean when
bulking since the fat cells you have created will never go away and are
always ready to fill up.
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Besides that, there’s also a big difference between taller guys and shorter
guys.
For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say that taller guys are anyone 6 feet or above
while shorter guys are below 6 feet.
Taller guys will generally have a harder time “filling out their frame”, simply
because they have more to fill out.
A 10 pound muscle gain is not that noticeable on a 6’5” guy, but it’s quite
noticeable on a 5’7” guy.
The same goes for strength gains… Shorter guys tend to make more rapid
gains on pressing movements and bodyweight exercises and start off with
higher lifts.
The reasoning is that shorter arms decrease the distance you have to press
or pull a weight, and a shorter body usually weighs less thus making
calisthenics exercises easier. (This is also why you never see tall gymnasts).
With that said, the big benefit of being tall lies in potential… I’m 6’2” and it
took me half a decade to fill out my frame, but now it looks extremely
impressive.
It’s a rare sight to see a tall guy with wide shoulders, big arms and a tight
waist so keep at it if you’re tall. You will eventually see results.
Also, there’s also a huge difference in bone structure.
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Most skinny-fat men have relatively wide hips and narrow shoulders and a
narrow rib cage.
Generally speaking, the wider your hip structure and the narrower your
natural shoulder and rib cage structure, the more difficult it will be for you to
create that ideal and proportional physique.
And then we have age… As much as I wanna say that being young is better,
I’ve found the opposite to be true with skinny-fat guys.
I most often see my older +50 aged clients make much faster progress
compared to my teenage clients and those in their early because the older
guys are more disciplined and have a better work ethic.
With that said, from a hormonal and metabolic perspective, the best age for
building a physique is from the time you’re in late puberty until your mid-late
twenties.
The further away you are from 25-30 years old, the harder it will be to stay
lean and build muscle.
Similarly, it may be very hard to gain lean mass if you’re a young 13-15 year
old guy who’s a later bloomer going through early puberty.
If you’re a late bloomer, you may not see good gains until your testosterone
levels develop enough to take advantage of your training. If that’s you, I can’t
emphasise the importance of diet enough. Get those healthy diet habits
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squared out now, so you set up your hormonal and metabolic foundation
properly from an early age! It will pay off big time in the future.
And finally, we have mental health/environment/resources. If you’re
depressed, anxious, stressed, surrounded by an unsupportive family, have
low quality friends, a nagging wife/girlfriend and lack the money to pay for
healthy foods, then you will have a difficult time changing your physique.
Many of these things you can change, but they will take time to fix
depending on how bad they are and how many issues you have to deal with.
To sum it up, you have the following factors to keep in mind:
- Starting body-fat percentage: Skinny-FAT men with a high starting bodyfat percentage will take a longer time losing the excess fat and have a
harder time staying lean while bulking.
- Height: Taller guys take a longer time to fill out their frame and make
slower strength gains.
- Bone structure: Guys with wide hips and narrow shoulders and rib cage
will have a harder time creating the ideal V-tapered proportions.
- Age: Older men and puberty late bloomers who are yet to develop will
have a harder time making changes, however older men can make up for
their lack of hormonal and metabolic advantages through increased
discipline and commitment.
- Mental health/Environment/Resources: Poor mental health, a negative
social environment and a lack of money for healthy foods will make this
process much more difficult.
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Regardless of how your situation is, you shouldn’t compare yourself with
ANYONE, not even other skinny-fat guys.
You are unique. You have your own challenges, so you should take any kind
of muscle gains or fat loss you can get, and keep up with the program as
long as you make even the smallest changes!
Over time, these small changes will add up to BIG CHANGES.
Should You Set Goals?
One thing you often hear is about the importance of setting goals and having
a time-frame to achieve them.
I’m all about setting goals in fitness, however I’m against setting a timeframe to achieve them because as I mentioned earlier, each skinny-fat
guy is different and progresses at different rates, regardless of how
hard they train and diet. Genetics and your individual response to
training and diet make a bigger difference than ANYTHING else.
Even within the subset of skinny-fat guys, I see guys with almost identical
bodies and starting strength levels progress at very different rates.
And it’s not because one guy is training 3 times harder than the other. It’s
mostly because of the way each of them responds to training and diet.
You can’t predict how fast you progress, so it’s not a good idea to set
goals with a time-frame.
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As long as you’re feeling you’re working hard on a daily basis and making
progress, you should accept that progress and just keep at it because
eventually, you will reach your goal.
Second, it takes a long time to build a truly muscular physique and the exact
training program you do matters much less than doing the type of training
you enjoy and doing it progressively.
The training program matters less because in the long-term, you can gain
muscle mass with nearly any weight, exercise and rep-range, as long as you
do it progressively (i.e. always training to do “one more rep” or “one more
set” or “one more workout per week”).
Countless studies show that both low rep training with heavy compound
weights build muscle mass and high rep training with bodyweight exercises
build muscle mass. (High rep training is a lot safer though and builds more
mass).
This is why finding a way of training that you truly enjoy and keeping at
it for years while progressing is the key to build a muscular physique.
Of course, I hope that you will enjoy bodyweight training like I do and keep
at it since it’s one of the safest way of training and the best way to get
started, however, if you find that once you can do 15 chin ups and 30
diamond push ups bodyweight training is not for you, that’s 100% OK. Just
make the switch to another type of training and the strength you’ve built with
bodyweight exercises will help you get strong faster with your new training.
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Summing Up The Actionable Advice
Training:
• You’re doing strength training at home for 30 minutes, 6 days per
week and if you have the time, you also do light cardio for 30
minutes per day.
• You’re tracking the way you feel before going into each training
session, during each training session and after each training
session so you can use your notes to make adjustments to your
training later.
• You spend the first 14 days on mastering your exercise technique.
• Once you master the technique on each exercise, you start tracking
your sets and reps on each exercise and going into each training
session with a clear goal of doing at least “one more rep” on each
exercise.
• If you hit a plateau, you look back at your BioFeedback notes and
follow the adjustments outlined earlier to re-gain progression.
• The overall goal is to get into a routine where you’re looking forward
to each training session and going into it with high energy levels,
executing each exercise with perfect form and seeing strength
progress on the exercises on a regular basis. Once you get to that
point, there’s no way you will want to stop.
Diet:
• The first 30 days you’re following a structured diet plan where
you’re eating 4 healthy and balanced meals per day. During this
time, it’s crucial that you get rid from all junk food and candy from
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your house to reduce the chance of binge eating and that you
prepare your meals in advance so they’re always ready when you
need them.
• If you’re skinny-FAT, you’re following a Calorie deficit diet plan that
supports fat loss and have one cheat meal per week to reset your
testosterone production and metabolism. If you’re SKINNY-fat
you’re following a Caloric maintenance diet plan that enables you
to stay at around the same bodyweight.
• You track your BioFeedback and body-measurements so you can
adjust your diet depending on how you feel and how your body
responds to it. The goal is to follow a diet plan that support
• Once you’ve established a base-line diet plan that works for you,
find ways to make dieting an easy and enjoyable thing to
implement into your daily life so you don’t have to weigh foods and
cook all your meals at home.
• The overall goal is to find a way of eating that provides you with
high energy levels, clear mental focus, makes you feel light and
satiated and which supports your training and body-composition
goals. Once you find the way of eating that works for you, it won’t
be a “diet plan” anymore but just the way you eat to feel your best.
Body-Composition Progress:
• You have defined exact body measurements that you want to work
towards the next many years. You can always change these later,
however it’s good to have something to aim towards.
• You’re tracking your body-measurements and bodyweight once
every Sunday. This takes 5 minutes and will enable you to evaluate
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whether your training program and diet plan are moving you
towards these measurements.
• Once per month, you have someone take photos of your physique
from various angles. This will enable you to evaluate your progress
in case your measurements aren’t changing and the progress you
see each month when you compare photos will motivate you to
keep going when you’re about to give up.
Expectations
๏
Losing excess body-fat is a lot faster compared to gaining
muscle mass. You can lose up to 10 pounds of body-fat per
month and only gain 1-2 pounds of muscle mass.
๏
You can lose most of your body-fat in 3-10 months depending on
how much you have to lose, and after that, to lose that last fat
around the lower waist, you will have to put in significantly more
effort with a small reward.
๏
You will gain more than 80% of the muscle mass you’re able to
build naturally within the first 3 years of consistent and
progressive training and eating.
๏
It’s a terrible idea to want to look like someone else in a picture
because you will never look like someone else. It’s better if you
visualise your own look and own it 100%.
๏
As a natural bodybuilder, it’s almost impossible to get too
muscular and should it happen that you have too much muscle
mass in a certain area, you just stop training it for a few weeks
and it will start shrinking. (I know because I had issues with my
lats getting so wide I couldn’t keep my arms straight. Within 10
days they shrunk with more than an inch.)
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I know what you’re thinking now: Transforming requires a
lot of hard work over a long period of time.
It takes a lot of hard work to:
• Set up your base-line diet plan.
• Find all the groceries you need.
• Set aside time to prepare clean food, or even to learn how to cook
basic meals.
• Limit junkfood and candy to once per week.
• Track your food intake and the way you feel on your diet
throughout the day.
• Do your training sessions when your strength and mobility is very
low and you get tired fast.
• Make videos of yourself doing very basic exercises such as knee
push ups or squats so you can work on your technique.
• Track your body-measurements and take progress photos when
you aren’t proud of the way you look.
And then you still have to spend several years just to look great.
I can relate to all of this, however you need to know that the start is the
hardest and that you’ll soon grow to enjoy the actual process of getting
stronger and building new muscle mass you’ve never seen before.
Just imagine when you get to the point where you look forward to your
training session because you just got your first chin up and now you want to
get the 2nd one.
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Once you make dieting a natural part of your lifestyle, you start seeing
progress in your bodyweight training and your body-measurements and
photos start showing changes, you will be happy that you took out a few
weeks or a month to do the hard work and set up all these life-changing
habits.
Just think about this: The average skinny-fat guy I train has had unhealthy
lifestyle habits for years or decades, so is it really that bad to dedicate a
month to change the direction of the ship and make sure that you get your
transformation started properly? I think not.
And you need to know that looking for an easy strategy that doesn’t require
consistent effort over a long period of time won’t work. When is the last time
in your life where you’ve put in a small amount of effort for a short amount of
time, yet achieved amazing results? It doesn’t work like that.
There’s a certain degree of effort that you’ll have to put into fitness if you
want to completely transform your physique, so it’s better if you accept that
and work towards making your transformation happen.
Following my training, diet and progression tracking strategy
doesn’t require any unnecessary effort. I’m just telling you the
20% of actions you’ll have to take to get 80% of results.
You know already that in order to achieve a good physique, you need to train
intelligently to stay injury free, execute the exercises correctly, push yourself
and train in a progressive way. My program helps you with all these things
while putting in just 3 hours per week into your training.
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You know that in order to support training recovery, lose body-fat and gain
muscle mass, you need to eat a nutritious diet plan that works for you unique
body-type and supports your body-composition goals. My diet strategy will
help you do all of that while feeling satiated and energised and eventually
making healthy eating a natural part of your lifestyle.
You also know that progress is very slow for skinny-fat guys, regardless of
what program we follow. Therefore, it’s more important to do a great job
tracking body-measurements and taking photos to stay motivated and
consistent with our training and diet goals, rather than always looking for a
new magic pill.
Fitness Is Not A Sprint. It’s A Marathon
A lot of guys who get into fitness want it fast. They want results in 3
weeks, not 3 years. I can relate a lot to this mindset.
Now, I’ll explain why this mindset is toxic. It’s toxic because it’s extremely
difficult to put on muscle mass and lose fat for the average person. When
you’re skinny-fat, it’s even more difficult, since you most likely have below
average genetics. Because of that, it will take a long time to see progress
no matter what workout and diet you follow. There’s no magic pill out
there.
If you go into fitness with the mindset of getting fast results, you will want
to train more, eat like a bodybuilder and base your whole life around
fitness. After a while, you get disappointed because you put in so much
work, and don’t get the results you want. I’ve been there myself, and I was
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close to quitting training at that point. This is unfortunately what happens
to most people; they want results fast, base their life around fitness, and
end up disappointed and eventually quit. Then you hear them saying: “I
don’t have the genetics for this, or my body doesn’t respond to training.”
I don’t want you to be one of those guys.
So, what’s the right mindset Oskar? The right mindset is to think about
fitness as a marathon. During a marathon, you have to pace yourself to
complete it. You can’t just sprint, because then you will burn out fast and
quit. The same applies to changing your body. Slow changes are better,
because you can sustain them over a long period of time. This is also why
I don’t give you some crazy low calorie diet where you eat apples all day
and lose 50lbs in 2 months. Yeah, it’s nice to be able to say that my
program enables you to lose 50lbs in 2 months, but how about in the
years after those 2 months? Will you be able to keep eating apples all
day, everyday for the rest of your life? I surely couldn’t.
I know this example is extreme, but it illustrates a very good point; the
vast majority of people want to look like a fitness model, but they will
never be able to stick to the regime of a fitness model.
Be honest with yourself… Do you see yourself counting calories, protein
intake, carb intake, fat intake, doing intense cardio several times a week
and weight training 4-6 days a week for the next 5 years? Do you see
yourself skipping out on social occasions, nice foods, alcohol and even
trips to other countries because you want to stick to your diet and
training?
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Those are the sacrifices that it takes if you want to look like one of the
guys in the magazines. And, to add to that, MANY if not MOST of them
take hormones/steroids etc. When you do a very low calorie diet or you
sustain a shredded physique year around, your body’s natural production
of testosterone decreases significantly, so you may have to inject
testosterone to keep it up and thereby retain muscle mass, or even build
some.
All I’m trying to say here is that it may look “cool” to be a fitness model,
but I would personally never choose that line of career. It requires a lot of
sacrifice and I hate to say it, but also the right genetics, which most
skinny-fat guys do not possess.
So, my point is that you should enjoy fitness, and only implement lifestyle
changes that you know you can stick to over the long term. Every time
you decrease calories, or start doing a training routine, ask yourself: Can I
see myself doing this for the next 5 years? If you can’t, chances are that it
will all catch up to you, and you will burn out. And additionally, I want to
make it clear that you can still build a great physique that is in the top 5%
without starving yourself or training for 2 hours a day. It will just take
longer than you would like, no matter how good your routine or diet is.
And you need to know that even though it’s hard, many skinny-fat guys just
like you have done these things.
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Countless skinny-fat guys who have trained for years or even
decades, have followed the blueprint above and gotten
amazing results.
Many guys just like you and me, have followed these strategies and gotten
amazing results.
And when I say amazing results, I’m not talking about getting ripped 6 pack
abs and being on the cover of a magazine.
I’m talking about going from always being fatigued and having a body that
looks decades older than it should to having high energy levels on a daily
basis and being able to do simple fitness feats such as 15 chin ups and 30
diamond push ups without getting tired.
These simple things that most young guys take for granted seem like an
almost impossible dream to skinny-fat guys who have never seen any abdefinition on their body or never been able to do a single chin up or push up.
But they’re possible. I and countless other SFT-readers are proof of that. If
we can do it, so can YOU!
No matter if it takes you 6 months or 5 years, it’s still going to be worth it.
I can safely say that transforming my body changed all areas of my life and
enabled me to create the lifestyle I always wanted.
It’s invaluable to be able to take off your shirt and be proud of what you have.
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It’s also invaluable to know that you’ve pushed your body to the limit and
built up your body’s strength close to its genetic potential.
You have only one body to go through your life with, so build it up and
become the strongest version of yourself.
There’s no way you will regret it.
Furthermore, when you get started with this plan, don’t make the mistake of
relying on motivation, because motivation comes and goes so you can’t rely
on motivation to make a lasting change in your life.
Instead, rely on daily action and commitment.
Clean out your home from bad foods because if they aren’t there, you won’t
eat them.
Stock up on healthy foods and prepare them the night before so they’re
ready whenever you get hungry.
Schedule your training sessions in your calendar and prepare your workout
clothes the night before.
Get a chin up bar if you need one for your home, or find a place to do chin
ups.
You need to take massive action to experience massive change and I hope
this eBook has inspired you to do so.
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And of course, let me know what you think of the eBook by sending me an
email to oskar@sftransformation.com
I can’t reply to all emails however I promise that I read through all of them.
And if you’re interested in checking out some of my coaching success
stories you can do so on the next pages and at the end I’ve included a FAQ
section with some of your most popular questions answered.
Be proud but stay hungry!
Oskar Faarkrog
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Testimonials By Coaching Clients
Steve Chavez, Peru
1a) Why did you hire me as your body transformation coach?
I watched your transformation pictures and video and it amazed me, I didn't
thought anyone that was skinny fat could be in that shape and I could relate
to all the problems you had been through. Also I read all your blog articles
and they all made sense to me.They were to the point and filled with your
experience, they were exempt of any motivational bullshit and completely
logical, also by reading your replies to comments I noticed that you were
honest since you never claimed to have all the answers. I never considered
online coaching at that time but by seeing all the trial and error you went
through for years, I thought of all the valuable knowledge you had to offer me
if I got you as a coach so I'm glad I found you offered that service.
1b) Was it an easy decision?
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I never did online coaching before. And I didn't thought I would ever do it
since I've always heard that it was easy to get scammed, but after reading
your honest advice and doing the application form for your coaching it was
clear to me that that risk didn't exist, so that made the decision easier for me,
it was the best decision I made for my personal health.
2) How has my coaching helped you with your body transformation?
More than just helping I'd say it was the root cause. Without your coaching I
wouldn't been able to improve my physique.
3) Did your body transformation help you overcome other issues in life?
Many, the clothes now fit me better, I haven't just improved my physical health
but also my mental health. Also there's another perhaps not planned
consequence of the body transformation. It used to be impossible for me to
go out of my house after eating lunch or any other significant meal, I felt
bloated and overall irritable and also avoided eating on the street. This
caused me a lot of social issues. Thanks to the constant exercise and the
customized diet plan, nowadays I can go out after lunch and eat on the street
normally.
4) What kind of results have you gotten since you started following my
coaching program?
Results have being the best I've got in my entire life. I'm in the best shape I've
been. I think the pictures say all of this. Before I followed intermitent fasting,
HIIT and a routine that was designed for me in a gym, I didn't get any
noticeable results.Yours were the best results by far.
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5) How do you feel about the structure of my diet plan? Do you feel
strong and energized on it? Is it easy to prepare the meals and stick to
the diet throughout the week?
Is the best diet I've followed. Since you customized according to my needs it
was simple and easy to maintain and I never felt it was hard to follow it. The
pinneaple does magic to my stomach, I never feel bloated now and I feel
energized over the day. I'm plannig to stick with this diet for the rest of my life.
6) How do you feel about the structure of my training program? Do you
feel your muscles get worked well in a time efficient manner?
Is the best workout I've had, I've never did a single pull up, managing to do
pull up reps was a breakthrough for me. I really like the bodyweight exercises,
I feel accomplished when I progress on them and also I feel stronger and
more agile after doing them. With weights exercises I feel I somehow get
clumsier. It's really fulfilling seen I'm getting closer to that v-taper form.
7) What makes my training programs and diet plans better than those
you tried before?
They take into account the skinny-fat body type, since it comes from your own
experience being skinny fat and overcoming it.
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8) How did you like the weekly progression check ins and monthly
progression photos? Did they help you stay focused and stick to your
plan?
They showed me how to train. Before the only way of tracking progress I had
was by watching myself. They made me visualize progress and served me to
be motivated and to stick with the plan.
9) During my coaching you had access to my private email address and
you could ask any questions that came up. Do you feel I gave you timely
and clear replies to your questions?
All of your replies were clear and on time.
10) How clear are the exercise and diet instructions in my documents?
Were they easy to follow?
They were simple, short and with the neccesary detail. I followed them easily.
11) What does a typical day in your life look like?
Before it was a sedentary life. Now I workout usually first hour morning and
work on my computer until late night. If for some reason I cannot workout in
the morning I do it late at night. If I miss a workout now I feel bad and
uncomfortable, like I'm losing shape.
12) Is there anything you would like to add? If so, please do it here.
Your program has improved my physical and and mental health. It was the
best investment I've ever made. Also a life lesson I got by reading your blog
that can be applied to accomplish other long term goals as well was that one
must not rely on motivation but on habit. I'm going to maintain your training
program and diet as a lifestyle.
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Gordon Martin, US
1a) Why did you hire me as your body transformation coach?
I hired you because you struggled with your weight growing up. You know
what it feels like to struggle with body image in a world that tells men that they
are not allowed to have body image issues. Most of all, you were able to
overcome all of these obstacles and build an amazing physique! I knew you
were the real thing before I hired you!
1b) Was it an easy decision?
Yes! You were incredibly supportive from the time we first chatted on Skype.
2) How has my coaching helped you with your body transformation?
I have lost over 25 pounds and about 4.5 inches since we started. I still have
a long way to go, but I am so much happier with my body.
3) Did your body transformation help you overcome other issues in life?
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The combination of support, healthy food, and exercise have made me feel
less stressed out and more capable of handling daily challenges. When I get
in a bad mood, it’s time to work out!
4a) What kind of results have you gotten since you started following my
coaching program?
For the first time in 36 years, I am losing fat rather than gaining it! I already
look better than most of my friends who are out of shape and overweight.
4b) How do these results compare to the results you got on other
programs you followed prior to my blog advice and coaching?
The results are slow but steady. Other programs always offer a quick fix… the
quick fixes sometimes work. Then you stop, and you gain everything back
again. Your coaching is more like running a marathon rather than sprinting a
short distance. I now realize that it will take another year or so before I reach
my goals, but you have given me the tools to reach them slowly but surely.
You helped me build new, healthy habits!
5) How do you feel about the structure of my diet plan? Do you feel
strong and energized on it? Is it easy to prepare the meals and stick to
the diet throughout the week?
I have never eaten so much on a diet! There were many times I simply felt
that I couldn’t stuff another bite in my mouth. I shop and cook once a week.
Right now, my fridge is stocked for the week… salmon, chicken breast,
ground turkey meat, grilled vegetables, rice, sweet potatoes… I have the
most delicious meals that only require 3 minutes in the microwave. No more
endless snacking on garbage that never fills me up. The food always makes
me feel full and happy and never bloated or slowed down or gassy.
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6) How do you feel about the structure of my training program? Do you
feel your muscles get worked well in a time efficient manner?
I loved the customized bodyweight workouts. For those of us who travel a lot,
there are no more problems with finding a gym. Also, the workouts are short
and to the point. I like working out now, but I still want to be done in an hour
or less. Your workouts were perfectly timed and easy for an out-of-shape
beginner to follow and work on.
7) What makes my training programs and diet plans better than those
you tried before?
The personal interaction and accountability. When I first started, I often found
myself choosing healthier food options because I did not want to have a bad
weekly check-in with you. I knew that if I did bad, you would question my
commitment, and I would feel like a lazy fool.
8) How did you like the weekly progression check ins and monthly
progression photos? Did they help you stay focused and stick to your
plan?
I will probably do weekly check ins and monthly progress photos for the rest
of my life. This is the ONLY thing that consistently works for me. It’s Monday
morning, and I am already thinking about what I need to do to have a great
week and lose some more inches off of my mid-section. Making photos of
yourself is a great way to critique your physique. It’s totally different than
simply looking in a mirror.
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9) During my coaching you had access to my private email address and
you could ask any questions that came up. Do you feel I gave you timely
and clear replies to your questions?
You were always easy to reach and gave me thoughtful, educated answers to
my questions.
10) How clear are the exercise and diet instructions in my documents?
Were they easy to follow?
Very clear and easy to follow. I would tell future clients to turn off their brains,
listen to Oskar, and get ready to lose some weight.
11) Is there anything you would like to add? If so, please do it here.
You are one of the few people on the Internet involved with men’s health
topics that actually cares and can get results for clients. The money I spent
on your coaching services are the best money I ever spent!
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Logan Rando, US
Hi, my name is Logan Rando and I’ve been a skinnyfattransformation reader
for one year and two months.
I began my fitness transformation in December of 2014 and I stumbled across
Oskar’s website while reading through some fitness forums.
For several months I had been killing myself in the gym, lifting heavy weights
five days a week. My results were lacklustre and I constantly felt lethargic and
irritable.
I was putting in very hard work at the gym yet wasn’t gaining the muscle I felt
I deserved. Even worse, I felt that I was retaining fat in all the wrong places. I
still had a visible belly and very little definition. I had friends that put in half the
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effort I did yet were receiving stellar results? I thought to myself… what am I
doing wrong?!
When I discovered Oskar’s website, skinnyfattransformation.com I had a
moment of clarity.
For the first time in my life, someone was specifically addressing my build and
my genetics. The “skinny-fat” physique perfectly described my body type.
When I read about Oskar’s personal transformation from skinny-fat to ripped,
I knew I had to try his body-weight regimen for myself. My mind raced with
excitement as I drove to the gym from work that day.
I was so eager to try out his back-to-basics routine that I drove so fast and
actually got a speeding ticket on the way over to the gym.
After 6 months of doing the beginner body weight routine I found myself 30
pounds lighter, with visible abs and a lean build.
I took a vacation to the Dominican Republic and was constantly
complimented on my physique. Friends who hadn’t seen me in months were
astonished and inspired by my transformation.
My progress inspired one of my friends, who also had a skinny-fat body type,
to join me at the gym.
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I knew this program worked for more than just me when I saw him lose his
love handles and chest fat while gaining a toned masculine build in a few
months’ time.
After making the best progress I ever had, I felt amazing but was hungry for
more. I knew I was ready to take my fitness to the next level, so it was a nobrainer when I made the decision to work with Oskar in the online coaching
program.
After skyping with Oskar he made note of my personal fitness goals and
designed an exercise routine and diet plan tailored to my goals and lifestyle.
Following the fitness regimen could not have been simpler. Oskar laid out
each exercise with the prescribed rep range, number of sets, and rest
periods.
The diet plan included nutritious foods that I like to eat and was incredibly
easy to follow.
I was never tempted to fall off the wagon because Oskar built into the plan
two cheat meals per week. I constantly looked forward to my meals, felt
satiated, and was energized for my intense workouts.
In the past, workout routines I found online had me lifting so heavy that I was
quickly drained of energy and struggled to complete the remaining exercises.
The results I received from these efforts were nonexistent! The routine that
Oskar designed challenged me to work every muscle group in my body in a
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timely, effective manner. I always left the gym feeling satisfied that I put in a
hard day’s work while hitting each muscle groups effectively.
Simply put, the return on investment that Oskar’s plan yielded far exceeded
that of any workout I had previously used.
The most important part of the training process for me was the constant line
of communication I had with Oskar. On a weekly basis I input body
measurements into a google spreadsheet. With this data, Oskar could
monitor exactly how my body was changing and could adapt the plan to
minimize fat loss while maximizing muscle gains.
Within 24 hours of updating my stats, Oskar would provide valuable feedback
and adjust the plan if needed.
Whenever I needed clarification or had a question, I could count on Oskar
getting back to me very quickly. I felt that I received a lot of value and
personal attention from the program.
After completing a 12 week coaching program with Oskar, I’m pleased to say
that gained significant size to my biceps, shoulders, and back all while
maintaining a lean figure.
Oskar and I skyped at the conclusion of the program and he provided me with
the tools and knowledge to continue into the future. I’m absolutely confident
that I’m prepared to continue to make muscle gains on my own!
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If anyone is unsure about whether or not this coaching program is for you, I
urge you to try Oskar’s body-weight routine, see the results you get, and then
ask yourself if you want more. Oskar is determined to help you reach your
fitness goals and will be along with you every step of the way.
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Frequently Asked Questions
“I don’t really understand how the process of
getting ripped works. What steps do I have to
take to go from skinny-fat to ripped and how
does your training fit in that context?”
To understand the process of getting ripped, I recommend you read through
my page about the 2 Phases of a Skinny-Fat Transformation... It will show
you the exact steps I took to lose 60 pounds of fat and gain more than 40
pounds of muscle mass and my full transformation video with monthly
progress photos.
“As I did the stretches after the work outs I
found that I couldn't complete the leg stretches
to their fullest without feeling a lot of pain.
Should I modify the stretches to feel less pain?”
The stretches shown in the photos are the ideal you should strive for, not
necessarily start with. For example, I can’t do the lizard stretch as shown in
the photo, but each training I do my best to get as close to it as possible,
without feeling pain. The idea is that you stretch to the point where you feel a
gentle stretch and then gradually build up your flexibility. By doing so, you get
all the benefits from stretching without injuring yourself.
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“I won’t have access to a pull up bar while being
on holiday. What should I do?”
Do your best to find a pull up bar in a nearby park, beach or a pipe
somewhere on a building. If you can’t find one, just do the other exercises
until you return from your holiday.
“How many calories should I eat to lose fat and
what should my macros be?”
Following a fat loss diet isn’t all about using using a calorie calculator and
then following through with it. With my clients I start out with some kind of
base-line, and then based on how they feel and respond, we make regular
adjustments to their portions, food choices and macros. These adjustments
are crucial to their long-term success because often the first diet I design for
my clients isn’t all that great for them. It’s once we make adjustments that
they start seeing real results while feeling great in the process. This process
of making adjustments is time-consuming and requires on-going coaching,
and that’s why I’m not able to simply tell you what your calories and macros
should be. I hope you understand.
“I’m a tall guy (over 6 feet). Should I make
adjustments to the training?”
Taller guy will require a longer time to see results from training because of
increased work done on each rep and a bigger frame that the muscle mass
is spread on. For example, when a 6’4” guy with long arms does 5 reps on a
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chin up, he does a lot more work than the 5’9” guy because he has a longer
distance to lift on each rep and more weight to lift. Because of that, taller
guys progress slower on nearly all exercises so that’s something you should
keep in mind if you’re tall. Also, when it comes to gaining muscle mass, a 10
pound muscle gain is not as visible on a tall guy as it is on a shorter guy
because it’s spread on a bigger frame. In other words, tall guys progress
slower on exercises and it takes us a longer time to see muscle gains
because of our long limbs. With that said, I found that my taller clients benefit
a lot from adding some dumbbell isolation exercises to strengthen the 3
shoulder heads and exercises for the biceps and triceps. By adding these
assistance exercises, they’re able to build up their shoulders and arms faster
(and boost their progress on chin ups and diamond push ups). Read more: 4
Challenges for the Tall Bodybuilder
“Do I need to eat a good diet and should I
supplement with Omega-3?”
You can get results from following my training program alone, however the
results will be slower and mainly be in the way you perform (i.e. strength
gains). To achieve body-composition changes (fat loss and muscle gains),
you need a nutrition plan that supports these goals. In other words, you will
see some results from doing the training alone, but they will be far from
optimal. To make a complete transformation you need both TRAINING and
DIET and SLEEP.
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“I don’t want to get as big as you. I just want to
get lean and defined.”
Gaining muscle mass takes a long time so you won’t wake up big one day. It
took me years of hard work to gain 40 pounds of muscle mass, and I could
stop at any time. The reason to why I didn’t stop was because I fell in love
with training, so instead of training to get bigger muscles, I was training
because it was the one thing I looked forward to everyday. And surprisingly, I
got better results when I started enjoying my training rather than doing it just
to get something out of it.
“I’ve been trying to transform for years, but I
didn’t get results. Why would your training
program work for me?”
I was in the same situation as you. During the first 2 years of training, I
followed the popular advice of lifting heavy weights and eating a high protein
diet but I didn’t get any visible results. The same goes for many of my clients
and readers who made great transformations. Here’s a testimonial from my
reader Emilio who was skinny-fat for 15 years prior to finding my website: “Hi
Oskar, my name is Emilio, I´m 29 years old and I’m from Argentina. I came
across your site and felt identified with you almost instantly. As a skinny fat
guy, I have been struggling for a long time to improve my appearance with a
lot of effort and poor results, following the same bad advices as you in your
beginning. It’s been 7 weeks since I started applying your ideas and so far
I’ve had the best progress in my life after years of intermittent weight training.
Having been a skinny fat for 15 years (I’m almost 30 now), I’m still surprised
and enjoying not being it anymore. From being about 1m85 / 87 kg with
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20-25% BF, right now I’m about 77 kg, with about 12-14% bodyfat, and I love
the way I look. I still sometimes look at me in the mirror and I can’t believe I
am now between slim and toned, having been flaccid all my life, ashamed of
taking off my t-shirt. I really appreciate having found your website and I want
to thank you for sharing all your experiences!”
“Should I take protein powder?”
Protein powder isn’t necessary. You can get all the protein you need (and
more) by eating 150-250 grams of lean meat or fish twice per day. I’ve built
most of my muscle mass while eating just 100-120 grams of protein per day
(at a bodyweight of 200 pounds) and my clients are building muscle mass
while eating similar amounts.
Besides that, most protein powders out there are made from whey which is a
byproduct of cheese production. This essentially means that whey is dairy,
and I mentioned earlier that dairy products tend to spike your estrogen levels
- we don't want that! This means that most protein powders out there are a
bad idea.
With that said, protein powder does have some practical uses. Some of my
clients take protein powder with breakfast and some clients use it as a snack
when they get hungry along with some fruits. If you believe you need protein
powder to fill a gap, I recommend you look into egg white protein powder
and if that isn’t available, find a good vegan protein powder.
“Should I do hormonal blood work?”
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Regardless of whether you’re young, middle-aged or old, you should get
hormonal blood work done now and after that, once per year as part of your
health check up. Most of my clients who do blood work find out they either
have thyroid problems, low testosterone levels or other deficiencies that
need to be addressed. And even if you don’t have any problems right now,
it’s good to have your current numbers do you have a base-line. You can use
this base-line later when you eventually get problems (this happens as you
age), to get your numbers back to their base-line.
In the case you decide to do blood work, you can get it done privately
through Private MD Labs.
“Do I have wide hips, narrow shoulders or a
skinny-fat physique because of my hormones?”
There most certainly is a hormonal component to it, however hormones and
body-composition follow each other, so as your body-composition improves
through diet and training, so do your hormones. The only things we can’t
change are your height and your bone structure.
“I won’t get stronger on bodyweight exercises
while cutting so I should avoid training?”
You should do resistance training regardless of whether you’re cutting for fat
loss or bulking for muscle gains. Resistance training ensures that you
maintain the muscle mass and strength you already have, and if you haven’t
consistently followed a proper training program and nutrition plan, you will be
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able to build strength and muscle mass while cutting. Let me say this again:
Resistance training is 100% CRUCIAL for your body-transformation goals at
ALL TIMES.
“Did you really get to your goal without using
the gym? I saw a video in your main
transformation youtube video where it shows
you working out in the gym.”
My “2013 park photo” where I’m flexing shirtless in long pants was taken
after 16 weeks of focusing on bodyweight training and playing sports. This is
the photo that is considered my best ever and the physique in that photo is
100% achievable with bodyweight training. Does that mean I’ve only done
bodyweight training? No, I currently train in a gym and my first 2 years of
training were done in a gym. I’m not going to sit here and say that
bodyweight training is the only way to train because that’s a lie. Like I
mentioned earlier, there’s nothing magical about my bodyweight training
program. It just happened to work extremely well for me after 2 years of
getting no results in the gym and it worked very well for my readers and
clients too, so give it a shot and build your foundation with it, then think about
the next step later.
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“I have been thinking about applying for your
coaching program, but I’m not sure if it’s the
right fit for me?”
If you’re in doubt, try my free training for a few months first, see what results
you get and then decide if you want to take your transformation to the next
level.
“Why should I apply for your coaching program
if your eBook and blog advice works so damn
well?”
My expertise is constantly evolving so what you see written on my blog or
eBooks is 6-12 months behind my practical application. This means that my
clients get access to the most-up-to-date programming and nutrition advice.
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