When you have terrible genetics, bulking up, building lean muscle mass, and getting ripped can be an uphill task. It’s one of the reasons why skinny fat dudes who struggle all day every day working out, get little or no results.
Genetics are one mean son of a b****, so you gotta know how to beat it, and get the body you’ve always wanted. This definitive guide contains information and rules that if applied, will transform your body phenomenally.
It’s the same rules and strategies that thousands of others like you, have used and applied to pack on between 30 and 70 pounds of muscle. These rules are specifically designed for skinny fat guys who are either utilizing workout regimens meant for the guys with great genes or one that everyone else is using.
These workout regimens are often popular among these guys and tend to have their own rules. If you’re following their regimens, chances are you’ve also bought into one or more of the following myths:
- Do more endurance or resistance training to get fit
- Only do power lifts and nothing else for growth
- Don’t do isolation workouts because they don’t do anything for you
- Full body workouts are a must if you want to bulk up
- Avoid light reps and only go heavy
- Avoid carbohydrates like the plague
- Plunk down significant change every month on bodybuilding supplements
- Eat like a fiend all day every day to bulk up
- You can get your six pack abs by simply doing intense cardios and abdominal crunches
- … and so much more
Whatever the case, all of these myths are just that… myths that aren’t worth a dime, and ones you shouldn’t be listening to. This is because following all the aforementioned advice will most likely get you injured, and translate into wasted time and cash.
In this guide to muscle building for skinny fat guys, you’ll learn everything you need to start doing to pile on those lean muscles year on year and enjoying those massive gains you’ve always desired.
You’ll learn what workouts to do, how to do them, what foods to eat and general lifestyle habits you need to form to maximize your gains… all without the attendant injuries and problems associated with most workouts that people do these days.
These strategies will work well for just about anyone, including men in their middle ages -35 and above.
These strategies and rules work, period!
The ONLY thing you need to do is simply put in the work. The biggest single reason skinny fat guys don’t get the results they want from their workouts is because they get discouraged when they don’t start bulking up after a few workout sessions.
Results come from dedication, consistent grinding, hitting the gym frequently, sticking to a proven workout plan, and eating right… for a period of time.
Here’s our guarantee: If you stick with these strategies and implement them for just 90 days, you WILL be well on your way to packing on 15-20 pounds of pure muscle and would have melted off at least 40 pounds of fat. If that sounds like something you’d like, let’s get to it.
Muscle Building Guide
Commandment No 1: Thou Shalt Build Your Strength
The major mistake many people make is hoping that they can keep doing the same workouts and exercises and gain some bulk. Let me tell you right now, that will not happen.
To grow, you need to become stronger, compel your body to grow, and adapt. Growth comes from being stronger. To do this, you need to consistently up your weights, push your limits, increase your reps and sets.
The good news is the human body is built to adapt to anything, given enough time and training. So, instead of doing your regular workouts, start by adding 20-50 percent more weight, but maintain your current reps –stick with 5-10 for a start and then move up from there.
Fact: Lifting using heavy weights with fewer reps will get you faster results than lifting light with higher reps.
Always make sure to set new personal milestones too. Gradually increase your reps and weights every 3-5 days of training. This way, you’ll end up pushing yourself harder and enjoying more gains.
Identify those workouts that you can easily do 5-7 reps of each, then set goals of adding 2-5 pounds plus 1-2 more reps every 2-3 weeks. Do this until you are able to conveniently do 15-20 reps, then increase the weight and start over.
Some people recommend either adding more weight and maintaining the same reps or carrying your regular weights, but adding more reps. You can do that too if it’s more convenient.
The most important thing is increased strength, growth and gains –and this formula will help you add more bulk. As you can see, there’s nothing complicated about it. Pretty simple? Yes. Incredibly effective? You bet!
Commandment No 2: Thou Shalt Go Big With The Best Compound Muscle Exercises And Workouts For Rapid Muscle Building
Ever heard of compound exercises? These are the second thing you need to add to your workouts. These workouts are designed to accelerate your growth and get you built like a beast. In fact, these are the fastest way to bulk up real quick because they work on a lot of muscles at the same time.
It takes some work –what effective workout doesn’t, but you are will enjoy incredible growth. Most people assume that you just need to focus on isolation and machine workouts to grow. That’s not true.
They are great for making you feel like you’re getting a good workout, but they don’t actually do anything for you size-wise. With compound exercises however, you will enjoy elevated testosterone and growth hormone levels, lift bigger weights faster, target multiple muscle groups at one, save time, and build muscle quickly.
Compound workouts consist of utilizing the biggest weights possible, whilst still making room for incremental increases. These will get your muscles tearing up, repairing and growing faster than you ever thought possible. So, what are the best compound weight training exercises and workouts?
- Squats
- Horizontal push and pulls such as the bench press and rowing back exercises
- Vertical push and pull
- Overhead press
- Deadlifts
- Step-ups
- Leg press
- Lunges
- Sled work
- Front rows
- Military press
- Pull-ups
- Seated cable rows
- Chin ups
You will almost always target many muscle groups combining two or more of these workouts. Kindly understand that there are variations of these exercises, all of them designed to help you get the most out of your body building.
For instance, military presses may involve the use of kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells and logs, while sled work often involved pushing and pulling exercises.
Bottom line, focus on each and every one these exercises –or as few as you are comfortable with- become strong doing these exercises, and then increase your reps and sets as you see fit.
Fact: Once you’ll need to be able to do 7-10 reps of these workouts per set to bulk up.
Commandment No 3: Thou Shalt Utilize The Best And Most Effective Bodyweight Workouts For Max Gains
You may not know this, but bodyweight exercises alone are capable getting you decent gains. You’d have to push yourself though and consistently increase your reps/sets to get the best possible results.
They are incredibly great for giving you a great looking physique –none of those common top-heavy, thin leg physiques. They also help with your conditioning and lower your odds of sustaining injuries from your workouts. Some of the best bodyweight workouts include:
- Push-up variations
- Squats and many variations
- Dips
- Chin-ups
- Lunge variations
- Different planking variations
If you combine these effective bodyweight exercises with lifting heavy weights, you will have a body that most guys envy.
Commandment No 4: Thou Shalt Maintain Perfect Form
Every… single… time! Most fitness enthusiasts are guilty of poor form and weakly executed reps. You need to pay attention to and maintain perfect form every time you train.
To give you a clear picture of what your perfect form should look like, think about the constant contraction and relaxing of muscles. Always warm up before lifting weights. Tighten your muscles, core, whatever needs tightening.
For instance, if you’re doing the seated cable rows, tuck in your tummy, contract your abs, breathe in, pull, exhale, release, and so on. For planking, assume the pose, tighten your core, spread out your legs, and go for it.
If you’re doing bodyweight exercises like push-ups, keep your core tighten, your glutes contracted, your arms in the right position –spread out for chest impact and widening, closer to the body for triceps and shoulders.
Perfect form helps you get the most out of your workouts, lowers your risk of injuries, and does an incredibly wonderful job of improving your growth rate. You cannot go wrong with assuming the right form always. Do this always and your body will thank you for it.
Commandment No 5: Focus On Best Possible Reps During Training
If you’re just starting out, it’s tempting to look at what other seasoned gym guys are doing and try to do the same. Doing this outs you on a fast track to injuries and exhaustion. Don’t even try to compete with those guys. Many of them have been doing it for years, have a lot of experience, and have gained the strength needed to do that.
Instead, start out slowly. The ideal muscle building rep range for beginners is between 5 and 8. Whatever you do, don’t go below 5, and avoid exceeding 8. This is how you get to build your strength, perfect your form, grow your muscles and enjoy considerable gains.
Do this for a while at the max rep of 8 –ideally 9-12 months- before ramping up your reps per set. And when you do increase your reps, make sure to add between 2 and 4 more reps per set.
Men in the 40+ age range will get far better results by doing more 8-12 reps per set. This helps to lower your risk of injuries as well as keep your joints in great shape. You should also pay attention to how many reps you do for each muscle group.
The best rep range for men in their 40’s is between 30 and 60 max. So, you would need to do 5 reps per set and 6 sets to complete the 30. Working out with this range in mind is bound to help you get the best results possible. But as a beginner, you should start with 15-30 max, then grown from there.
The good thing is you can always increase your reps and reduce your sets, or lower your reps and increase your sets as you see fit. As you get better, expend considerable effort on squeezing out every bit of energy from the targeted muscle group for the duration of your sets.
So, let’s say you’re working on building your biceps and are interested in doing only 7-10 reps per set. For every rep, squeeze your arm’s muscles, contract your biceps and curl. Then relax a little while maintaining the tension as you uncurl.
Do the same for every rep until you complete the set. Then, gradually work towards lowering your rest periods between sets. For instance, if your default rest period is 20 seconds in between sets, try lowering to 18, then, 15, then, 12, then, 10 and so on.
This will train your body to recover faster, boost your endurance and skyrocket your strength and stamina. Please note however, that you should do this gradually, so you don’t sustain injuries.
Commandment No 6: Arrange Your Workouts For Maximum Results
For the average person who is just looking to get and stay fit, you will get good results from working out just 4 days a week. So, this should be your target if you’re looking to get fit. And getting the result you desire will depend on how often you build and work on specific muscles.
Also important in your workout regimens is targeting specific muscle groups. So, in addition to your compound exercises, you should focus on key muscle groups you intend to develop.
This will help you get great gains from them as well as accelerate your results. Whatever workouts you choose, make sure they are primed to help you achieve the biggest gains, lower your risk of injuries, make you stronger and allow adequate recovery. This is how you build muscles without injuries.
Pay attention to your back, joints and muscles as you train. If they feel more painful than usual, you might want to check yourself. Many weightlifters and bodybuilders consistently preach more pain, more gain. And that’s true… to a degree.
Once you exceed your pain threshold –and remember this is different for everyone- stop immediately. It doesn’t matter if the other smaller guy can lift 150 pound weights and pump 15 reps per set.
Don’t compare yourself to him. You don’t know how long he’s been training, what his background is, and his pain threshold. Bodybuilding is personal. Always remember that. If your body truly tells you to stop –within reason of course, after all, you have to push past the pain to enjoy significant gains- do so immediately.
With that out of the way, let’s talk workout frequency. If you’ve been training specific muscle groups for a while, you might need to slow down a bit on how frequent you train them after a while. That said, let’s jump right into training frequency for all categories of bodybuilders.
- Training Frequency for Newbies
As a newbie, full body workouts are the way to go. Start with three sets, and then work your way up. Your workouts should include compound exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, squats, planking and lunges. So, you can start with
- 5 push-ups or bench presses
- 5 pull-ups
- 5 chin-ups
- 10 second planks
- 5 squats
- 5 lunges
- Add extras like swings and loaded carries if you feel like it
Then take a 30 second to 1 minute break, repeat, until you’ve completed three sets. If you still feel much winded after the 1 minute break, take as long as you need to recover. But, we would recommend shortening the recovery timeframe.
This will teach your body to adapt and recover faster. Do this 3-4 times weekly until you’ve adapted, then increase the reps to between 7 and 10, and add 10-20 seconds more to your planks per set.
- Training Frequency for Intermediate Bodybuilders
If you maintain the above frequency for at least 24 weeks, and have experienced some decent gains, you are at an intermediate level. The intermediate level is where the bulk starts kicking in big time.
What you need to do is group your workouts into different days. You can work on the upper body on day 1, lower body day 2, and alternate for the 4 days of your weekly training. Simply rotate as you see fit, and watch your gains jump through the roof.
As you can see, it’s pretty simple, but simple works in bodybuilding. Thousands of bodybuilders have seen great results from adopting this training regimens. You can do this for as long as you want and be in superb shape.
In fact, guys who stay committed to this training frequency, while increasing their reps and sets are usually bigger than your average bodybuilder. In fact, many powerlifting enthusiasts stay at this stage for as long as they lift. And all this can be achieved without the aid of steroids or other bodybuilding enhancers.
- Training Frequency for Advanced Bodybuilders
At the stage, you’re way past the average bodybuilder, and are either training for a competition or just want to be bigger, huger, and larger. Whatever your goals, this is where the pros fall into.
Well, the only thing to add here is train heavier with fewer reps and sets. The bodybuilding community is all about high reps and lighter weights right now.
But, proven training methods have shown that bigger weights, done in perfect form and with far fewer reps, while concentrating on muscle contraction and relaxation will get you even bigger, and with less risk of injuries.
Advanced training frequencies can be just 3 days a week, but with focus on specific body parts, every time. For instance, you can focus on the legs on day 1, triceps, shoulders and chest on day 2, and biceps and back on day 3.
This works like gangbusters, and will have you enjoying even more massive gains. Like we said, it may be simple, but it’s a proven, time tested strategy that works really well.
Commandment No 7: Thou Shalt Be Wary Of Training To Failure
Many bodybuilding enthusiasts are emphasizing on the need to train to failure to bulk up fast. For those who don’t know, training to failure means lifting or doing your reps until you absolutely cannot lift or do another rep.
This forces you to push past pain thresholds and causes maximum muscle damage, which in turn accelerates muscle growth and gains. The problem with this training method is that you’re prone to injuries, which is why experienced bodybuilders and pros recommend that you avoid it.
So, while it’s okay to go hard on your training, you shouldn’t do it to the point of getting hurt. Don’t take on more than you can handle. It’s the shortest cut to costly injuries.
A sprained or torn muscle/ligament can easily land you in the hospital, resulting in prolonged bed rest and causing weight gain in the process. This, as you know, will end up negating all your hard work in the gym. Worse still, the recovery process can be excruciating and difficult.
Avoid training for longer than 60 minutes at stretch –if you’re doing it right, you won’t need more than 60 minutes every time you go to the gym. Growth is gradual and cannot be attained in one day.
It takes gradual, but consistent workouts to get to your intended size. But, you need to be smart about it. Get adequate rest -7 to 9 hours is ideal for an adult- relax when you can, and your body will reward you for it.
Bottom line, go hard, but leave some reserve. This helps you accelerate your gains, build your endurance and keeps you in the game for a lot longer. Rest and eat well after a series of grueling, body wrenching workouts.
Give your body ample time to heal up and grow. The reality is that the more time you spend working out, the longer you’d have to rest. Which means your growth rate will be slower and you won’t be able to function at full capacity.
It’s a lose-lose situation really. Like it or not, that’s just nature, and you can’t cheat it. So, understand that rest is just as important as your workouts. They complement each other to produce incredible benefits and results.
Commandment No 8: Thou Shalt Do Thine Conditioning Exercises Frequently
You’ve probably heard that conditioning negates your weight training and bulking up, right? Wrong! That’s just a load of crap. Conditioning makes you stronger, improves your recovery time, keeps you trim, fit and lean, and does wonders for your cardiovascular health.
Conditioning exercises is how you stay on top of your game, and become a badass. Smart weightlifters and bodybuilders understand this, and tend to work it into their weekly trainings.
While there are many variations of this, we strongly recommend a combination of high intensity interval training (HIIT), and a more active lifestyle. Just because you lift weights and work your butt off while doing that doesn’t mean you don’t need conditioning.
Think of it as a supplementary workout to help reinforce your and cement your results. Your HIIT sessions should be between 1 and 3 weekly sessions of 12-25 minutes, depending on your conditioning needs.
If you’re just starting out with HIIT, do 10 seconds maximum pace and speed, slow down to normal running speeds for 60-120 seconds, and repeat.
Seasoned bodybuilders with increased capacity should try to do 40-60 seconds full speed and at max effort, then go back to normal or slower paced activities for about 1-2 minutes, then go back to the full speed at max effort for the same duration.
For both categories bodybuilders, newbies should do this for about 7-15 minutes, while the more seasoned weightlifters should do 20-30 minutes. If you need a few ideas for your HIIT sessions, you can either talk to a trainer or lookup some ideas online.
We do recommend, jogging/running/sprinting at full speed, running at full speed with a resistance weight, jump ropes, full speed on a bike with increased resistance, swimming, and punching bags at max speed and effort.
There are so many options available. Just pick the one that works for you and you’ll be fine. Some fitness experts also recommend walking at least 10k steps daily –that’s 25mins to an hour every day depending on your pace.
Commandment No 9: Pay Attention To Your Meals
There’s the old school eating method where you are advised to eat all you can for as long as you can. This is dangerous to your health and will eventually take its toll on you as you age and grow older.
There’s the tendency to want to do this if you’re skinny and have those bad genetics. Don’t do this, instead focus on eating healthy for your mind and body. Gone are the days when it was common to see bodybuilders wolfing down tons of junk foods multiple times a day. Not anymore. These days, any bodybuilder worth his salt will recommend healthy eating above all else.
Healthy eating equals optimum growth rate, faster recovery and fantastic health. It’s that simple. So, cut out the junk and follow good, healthy meal plans. Make sure your foods contain fish, lean meat proteins like chicken and turkey, nuts, eggs, grass fed steak/beef, brown rice, vegetables, oatmeal, and beans.
Also, make sure to drink lots of water every day. This will help flush out toxins from your body, keep you hydrated and replace unhealthy sugary drinks. If you don’t like the natural taste of water, you can purchase flavored, carbonated or sparkling water. These are great water sources for you and eliminate the bland taste of water as you know it.
Commandment No 10: Be Consistent And Dedicated
At the end of the day, bodybuilding is a lifestyle. If you adhere to all the commandments listed above, without doing it consistently, then you’re just wasting your time. Nature favors momentum.
The more you do it, the better you get. So, don’t just apply this over the course of one week, one month or even one year. This should be your lifestyle. You MUST endeavor to practice these every single time, every day and for as long as you’re looking to bulk up and increase your mass.
You must commit to doing the work, eating the right meals and staying commitment all day every day. That’s how you grow and achieve those huge gains.
