TLDR: Skinny fat people have to both signal for muscle gain and fat loss to break out of the state
The skinny fat stage is a truly weird place to be in; on one side the person is fat and wants to be less fat, and on the other, the person is skinny and needs to gain muscle, but nutrient partitioning does not work in favor of him. For Anthony Mychal, he believes that this can be changed, and split the process into 3 phases.
He believes getting strong in the fundamental human movements (squat, hinge, vertical and horizontal pressing and pulling), and prioritizing the building of the “X” physique, is key to looking muscular. A skinny fat person should focus on exercises that signal that muscles are needed, and on exercises that signals that fat is unnecessary.
The program can be done in either 3 sessions a week or 4 sessions a week, alternating between a lower body ‘focus’ day and an upper body ‘focus’ day. There are generally 2 lower body ‘focus’ days, one for the squat movement and one for the hinge, while the upper body days are either chin up – incline press focused or pull up – overhead press focused. This is the base template for people with little time, but ‘installs’ can be made to upgrade the base program.
Each install adds in a few more beneficial movements to the program. The first install adds in a light reciprocal of the focus movement for the lower body (if it’s a hinge day, a light squat exercise is added at the back), adds a horizontal press and pull for the incline press day, and some bicep and push up work for the overhead press day. Calves and abs are also added to both lower body days.
For install 2, push ups and pull ups are added to the lower body days, to be supersetted with the lower body movements. The focus on grace, to look as smooth and as effortless as possible. One will basically try their best to increase the amount of ‘easy’ reps; if one can do 8 easy pull-ups when they could only do 2 easy pull-ups before, that is progress. There are also many different progressions to take than just simply adding weight, or doing more reps.
After these, there are 3 more installs for the program to deal with more fat loss. These installs progressively increase the amount of cardio done by the lifter; first with walking, then rope skipping, and then finally adding sprints into the program.
Pros:
- Lots of progressions and troubleshooting methods for said goal
- The program is written with a long-term vision in mind
Cons:
- Can’t really think of any