Let’s be honest, most of the guys and gals out there will put all that effort into going to the gym, working out and dieting for the looks. Yeah, being healthy and stuff will be a nice byproduct of all that, but that’s the blunt truth.
People want to look good, they want to feel comfortable about themselves and they want to be admired. I know that’s why I initially started working out.
So if you are at that point in your life where you are not happy with the way your body looks and you want to make a drastic change, you are on the right page. This post will go right down your alley.
What is skinny fat
Well, it’s the most common type of physique you’ll see in sedentary people. They are not overweight, however, they have little to no muscle, but instead, they hold a generous amount of body fat.
Heck, they even look OK-ish in clothes, but they are all flabby underneath. To put this into more perspective, a skinny fat guy could be anywhere between 20% and 25% body fat and gal maybe 25% to 30% body fat.
What are the main characteristics of an aesthetic physique
A great physique, on the other hand, has the exact opposite characteristics.
- Very low body fat percentage – we’re taking 10% or even single digit body fat for guys and maybe around 15% for women
- A decent amount of muscle mass. Even though an aesthetic physique doesn’t necessarily need that much muscle mass, like you see in bodybuilding competitions, you will need to build muscle.
- Very good muscle definition, there is clear separation between all the muscles
- Small waist and wide back (if you’re a guy)
- Small waist and toned up legs & hips (if you’re a gal)
- And a six pack or at least a flat stomach / visible abs.
Alright so now that we got that out of the way, how can you go from skinny fat to aesthetic?
How to get from skinny fat to aesthetic
Before we get started let me tell you that there are no shortcuts and that it involves a lot of hard work. If someone else is trying to convince you otherwise they are either trying to sell you a scam product or they simply don’t know what they are talking about.
Transforming your body takes time and effort. Don’t expect to see results overnight.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to it.
Nutrition
Roughly 70% of your success will depend solely on your diet. No matter how hard you train or how many hours you spend in the gym if your diet is not in check you are not going to look good.
Caloric deficit
First and foremost you want to get rid of all that body fat which covers your muscles. To do that you will need to stay in a caloric deficit, by eating fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its weight.
Start by determining your daily caloric needs and then eat just 75-80% of that. So if your body needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain its weight, you will need to eat about 1,500 – 2,000 calories each day.
If you don’t know how many calories you need, one simple way to get your numbers right is to use an online calorie calculator such as this one. These tend to be pretty accurate most of the time.
An even more accurate method (but it will take more time), would be to track your calories for a week or two and weigh yourself every day. If your weight stays the same, you found your caloric maintenance level. If it goes up or down, you are eating more or fewer calories than your body needs.
A healthy and sustainable weight loss rate is around 1-2 pounds a week, so try to aim for that.
Macro split
Going one step further, you will also need to keep an eye on your macronutrients as well. Meaning the carbs, protein, and fats.
You want to follow a high protein, high carb, and low-fat diet. The proteins are turned into amino-acids which are the building blocks of the muscle fibers. So you will need those for toning up and putting on some muscle mass.
The carbs are turned into glycogen, which is the primary source of energy used by the muscles during an intense workout. Without enough carbs, your workouts will suck and you will not be able to get that nice, muscular body.
Lastly but not least you also need to get in about 50-60 grams of fat each day in order to keep you healthy at a hormonal level. Fat is also very important for the health of your hair and skin.
A good macro split would be something like 30% protein, 50% carbs, and 20% fat.
Training
When it comes to working out, the absolute best way to make your muscles develop and grow is to follow a resistance training program. Meaning you will need to start lifting weights. Regardless if you’re a man or woman.
I know many women out there think that lifting weights will make them bulky, but there’s no way in hell you will get bulky from it unless you are using steroids. The muscle growth potential for women is not that impressive, so if you will do it naturally and you keep your body fat percentage low, you will not get bulky.
Progressive overload
As a beginner, you will notice that you will make progress relatively fast. Since your muscles are untrained, they will respond very quickly to your workouts, which is great. It will give you that drive to keep training and you’ll be motivated to put in even more work.
As time passes, it will become more and more difficult to see progress. That’s perfectly normal. What you want to focus on is using the progressive overload training method.
Basically, this means that your goal in the gym should be to constantly get stronger and stronger. That’s how you will continue to make progress.
If you stick with the 20-pound dumbbells you won’t see any growth. So each time you go to the gym challenge yourself and try to get in more reps or increase the weight.
Rep range
Speaking of reps, for maximum muscular development you want to stay in the 6 to 12 rep range – the so-called, hypertrophy rep range.
Doing more reps will only burn off your muscles, which is good from time to time, but it will not give you that much benefit in terms of muscle growth.
Compound movements
Including a lot of compound exercises in your training routine is also a good idea.
There are exercises which use more muscle groups at once. Common examples are squats, pull-ups, bench press, deadlifts and so on. These exercises will recruit more muscle fibers and because you are using more muscle groups at once you will be able to push more weight.
And more weight means more muscle gains.
Isolation exercises such as bicep curls, leg extensions or tricep pushdowns have their role too, so definitely don’t leave those out. If you spend 80% of the time on the compound exercises and 20% on the isolation exercises you’re good.
Lean bulk
As a beginner, you will be able to put on muscle and lose fat at the same time, which is great.
But after a point, you will not be able to do that. So if you want to continue to develop your muscles you will need to start eating more. Now, the problem with eating more is that you will also put on some fat.
That’s just the way things work.
However, if you do it in a smart way you can minimize the amount of body fat you’ll gain while maximizing the amount of muscle you will build.
So, instead of “eating big to get big”, eat just 10-15% more calories than what you need to maintain your body weight. That’s it! This small amount will keep your fat gains at a minimum while allowing you to grow your muscle at your natural maximum genetic rate.
Conclusion
So, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
Get lean, lift heavy to build muscle and keep on working towards achieving your dream body. It will not happen overnight so be patient and continue to grind. You will eventually get it.
Author bio:
Tyler is a NASM certified personal trainer with over 10 years of experience. In addition to training a wide variety of clients, Tyler is also the founder and senior editor of PTPioneer.com; a website designed to help people become industry leading personal trainers. You can also check out PTPinoeer’s YouTube channel as well.