Skinnyfat To Ripped: How To Decide If You Should Cut Or Bulk
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Dr. Mike addresses the common concern of being 'skinny fat,' offering practical advice for those looking to improve their physique. He debunks traditional body type theories and emphasizes the importance of nutrition and consistent weight training. Dr. Mike suggests a year of focused exercise and healthy eating to build muscle and reduce fat, followed by a targeted fat loss phase. He reassures viewers that with discipline and gradual progress, they can achieve a leaner, more muscular appearance without fear of regaining fat.
Takeaways
- π The term 'skinny fat' refers to individuals who have relatively low muscle mass but significant fat stores, making their body type hard to describe.
- π€ The traditional body type categories of ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph do not account for the 'skinny fat' category, which is a significant oversight.
- πͺ The speaker suggests that if you're skinny fat, you should focus on strength training, aiming for 3-4 sessions per week.
- π₯ Emphasizes the importance of a nutritious diet with a focus on consuming enough protein to support muscle growth while potentially losing fat.
- ποΈββοΈ Recommends a 'recomping' approach, which involves gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously, as a good starting point for a year or more.
- π§ββοΈ Advises against drastic dieting or bulking, as it may lead to unwanted side effects like looking too thin or too fat.
- π Suggests that after a year of consistent training and healthy eating, one's physique will have significantly improved, becoming less 'mushy' and more muscular.
- π Highlights that after the initial recomping phase, a focused fat loss phase of about 12 weeks can reveal the muscle gains made and further improve body composition.
- π Encourages the idea of personalizing the fitness journey, with options to either maintain, continue fat loss, or start a slow muscle gain phase after the initial transformation.
- π« Dispels the fear that gaining weight will automatically lead back to being 'skinny fat', emphasizing that controlled weight gain with proper diet and training will not revert the progress made.
- π Conveys the message that body image and composition are not the most important aspects of life, but for those who choose to pursue fitness, a gradual and sustainable approach is recommended.
Q & A
What is the term 'skinny fat' referring to in the script?
-The term 'skinny fat' refers to individuals who, compared to their peers, do not have a lot of muscle mass but have significant fat stores, making it difficult to describe their body type.
Why does Dr. Mike consider the traditional body type system (ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph) incomplete?
-Dr. Mike considers the traditional body type system incomplete because it does not account for the 'skinny fat' category, which represents a unique combination of low muscle mass and high fat stores.
What is Dr. Mike's initial advice for someone who is skinny fat and concerned about their appearance?
-Dr. Mike's initial advice is to not worry about being skinny fat, as physical appearance does not significantly impact success in life. He emphasizes that qualities like personality, wealth, and success are more important.
What is the recommended approach for a skinny fat person just starting with weight training?
-The recommended approach is to start lifting weights with moderate intensity, around three to four sessions a week, and to focus on a nutritious diet with an emphasis on protein to support muscle growth.
How does Dr. Mike suggest balancing muscle gain and fat loss for someone who is skinny fat?
-Dr. Mike suggests a balanced approach of weight training and eating a nutritious diet with adequate protein. This can lead to muscle growth while also potentially losing fat as junk food is replaced with healthier options.
What is the significance of aiming for maintenance calories in the diet plan suggested by Dr. Mike?
-Aiming for maintenance calories ensures that the individual is not overly hungry, which can support muscle growth without leading to significant weight gain or loss, allowing for a gradual transformation.
How long does Dr. Mike recommend following the initial balanced approach of training and nutrition for a skinny fat person?
-Dr. Mike recommends following this approach for at least six months to a year, or even up to a year and a half, to allow for substantial changes in body composition.
What is the next step Dr. Mike suggests after the initial year of balanced training and nutrition?
-After the initial year, Dr. Mike suggests a 12-week fat loss phase, aiming to lose a moderate amount of weight per week to reveal the muscle growth achieved during the previous phase.
What are the options for someone who has completed the fat loss phase and is looking to further improve their physique?
-The options include maintaining the current physique for a few months, or starting a slow muscle gain phase followed by another fat loss phase to continue the cycle of getting leaner and more muscular over time.
Why does Dr. Mike emphasize the importance of not worrying about gaining fat when trying to add muscle mass after being skinny fat?
-Dr. Mike emphasizes this because gaining a small amount of weight gradually, such as half a pound per week for 12 weeks, will not significantly impact one's physique and can be easily managed with a short fat loss phase if necessary.
Outlines
ποΈββοΈ Overcoming Skinny Fat: The Right Approach
Dr. Mike from Renaissance Periodization addresses the common issue of being 'skinny fat', a term used to describe individuals who lack muscle mass but have significant fat stores. He emphasizes that body type systems like ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph are inadequate as they fail to account for the 'skinny fat' category. He advises against worrying about body image, citing examples of successful individuals who may not fit conventional attractiveness standards. For those concerned about their 'skinny fat' status, Dr. Mike suggests starting with a consistent weightlifting routine and a nutritious diet rich in protein, without focusing on bulking or cutting. The goal is to build muscle while potentially losing fat, leading to a healthier and more muscular physique without the need for drastic dietary changes.
π½ Building Muscle and Losing Fat: A Balanced Approach
Continuing the discussion on 'skinny fat', Dr. Mike outlines a strategy for individuals new to fitness to improve their physique. He recommends maintaining a diet at the maintenance calorie level, rich in protein and nutritious foods, while engaging in regular weight training. This approach is expected to stimulate muscle growth and simultaneously reduce fat, as a healthier diet often leads to fat loss. He suggests this lifestyle should be maintained for at least six months to two years to see significant changes. By the end of this period, one can expect to be less 'mushy', with improved muscle tone and a more defined physique. The focus is on gradual transformation rather than rapid changes, emphasizing the importance of consistency and patience.
π΄ββοΈ Post-Transformation: Options for Maintenance or Further Progress
After discussing the initial phase of combating 'skinny fat', Dr. Mike presents options for individuals who have successfully hardened their physique. He suggests a 12-week fat loss phase to further reveal the muscle built during the previous phase, leading to a more chiseled appearance. Post this phase, individuals can choose to maintain their new physique for a few months, allowing for recovery from diet fatigue before deciding on another fat loss phase or a muscle gain phase. Dr. Mike assures that with proper control over appetite and a focus on healthy eating, it's possible to cycle through muscle gains without reverting to a 'skinny fat' or fat state. He encourages taking a measured and calm approach to body transformation, with the assurance that it's possible to achieve a leaner and more muscular physique without the fear of regaining fat.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Skinny Fat
π‘Bulking
π‘Cutting
π‘Mesomorph
π‘Ectomorph
π‘Endomorph
π‘Nutrition
π‘Protein
π‘Maintenance Calories
π‘Recomposition
π‘Fat Loss Phase
Highlights
Defining 'skinny fat' as a body type with less muscle and significant fat stores compared to peers.
Criticizing the traditional body type system for excluding 'skinny fat' and suggesting it's a common issue.
The importance of not worrying about body type and focusing on overall health and success instead.
Contrasting the advice of bulking versus cutting for skinny fat individuals and the dilemma they face.
Suggesting a balanced approach to training and nutrition for skinny fat individuals to build muscle and lose fat simultaneously.
Recommending a maintenance calorie diet with an emphasis on nutritious food and sufficient protein intake.
The potential for both muscle gain and fat loss during the initial phase of a fitness journey.
A one-year goal for consistent training and nutrition to achieve significant body transformation.
The benefits of a 12-week fat loss phase after the initial year to further reveal muscle definition.
The option to maintain a new physique after the fat loss phase to prevent diet fatigue.
The possibility of alternating between muscle gain phases and fat loss phases for continuous improvement.
Addressing concerns about regaining fat after becoming lean from a skinny fat state.
The assurance that controlled and gradual weight gain will not lead to excessive fat accumulation.
Encouraging a cycle of muscle gain and fat loss to achieve a leaner and more muscular physique over time.
The final advice on not rushing the transformation process and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for long-term results.
Transcripts
hey folks Dr Mike here for Renaissance
periodization answering a super common
question that we get all the time is
Dr Mike what do I do if I am skinny fat
and I feel you 1000 and I think I have
some good suggestions in your quest to
look the best
you came here for some reason made a
mistake on your apartment we'll find out
very soon so
do you balk do you cut
what the fuck are you supposed to do if
you're skinny fat so first let's Define
skinny fat it's uh you know not a clear
definition but it's a spectral
definition so it's folks on the end of
the spectrum where compared to their
peers they don't have a ton of muscle
but also they have some pretty
significant fat stores like if you had
to describe someone's body to someone
before a blind date or a setup date
that's more that's the kind of body
that's a little tough to describe you
know like you set up your friend Rob
with Rebecca both our names isn't that
nice and she's like oh my God like what
does Rob look like you know could
explain David could shut up we can't
tell you he's like hi just give me like
a Clarence yeah oh is it like skinny you
know yeah yeah it's like a skinny guy
trapped inside a fat person's body and
she's like oh
like I said that wrong just kidding
Rebecca
it'll be more than you need or deserve
Jesus I hate Rebecca for some reason in
any case sorry Rebecca's out there
didn't mean to use your name but
skinny fat
is actually the living proof of the fact
that the body type system they used to
use with mesomorph endomorph ectomorph
is bullshit because they forgot skinny
fat as I remember ectomorph is like
you're skinny but lean mesomorph is your
fucking Superman jacked and lean
endomorph is your fat but fucking jacked
underneath
skinny Fat's the other one man and they
never talk about that one because that's
fucking rough right but hey couple
things first of all how your body is and
how you look doesn't fucking matter
hardly anything in life our fucking
whole industry is a goddamn like legious
Leisure industry it's the whole thing is
a game it's a joke right so first of all
you're skinny fat don't worry about it
another shit fucking matters anyway what
does uh Elon musk's body composition and
Jeff Bezos was going to say some shit
boy got jacked on me real quick Bill
Gates what does he look like doesn't
fucking manage he's a goddamn
billionaire right so if you're you've
got solid game you're handsome you're
rich and successful and just not a piece
of shit you're gonna be doing just great
in your life being skinny fat I wouldn't
worry about anything but if you want to
not be skinny fat or you want to be less
so what is the proper thing to do and a
lot of times this is where standard
advice kind of clashes with the
predicament of the skinny fat person
here it is a lot of people say you go to
fuck both bro you got to just fucking
start lifting you got to bulk and a lot
of these folks are entering Lifting for
the first time so they really have a lot
of questions
well yeah on the one hand like the bulk
I feel you on that but they're like well
I'm already fat if I'm in a bulk I'm
just going to be like a fucking sumo
wrestler that's not why I entered the
the training and nutrition game is to
become that and then the other hand if
you say well all right just cut well
hold on a second I'm skinny underneath
I'm fucking lifting all these weights
you need all this goddamn protein powder
so that I look like some kind of
something and if I just died a bunch of
weight off I don't want my co-workers
and the girl of my dreams who also is at
work and that's problematic I don't want
her to be like oh my God are you okay do
you like have like cancer or something
like Jesus Christ who the hell just says
that to someone no I just
started a fitness program
you don't want that sort of shit you
want her to be like oh my God you're
like I'm staring dressed Rebecca and
she's like Ah that's Rebecca again it
was always Rebecca
so
bulking sucks cutting sucks what the
fuck are we supposed to do with skinny
fat people in order to get them in the
kind of shape that they want to be in
more than they are in now so
I think a really good approach to the
skinny fat situation is something like
this
priority number one if you're a skinny
fat and you just entered the fitness
space you just started lifting or
whatever is to just begin continue to
lift hard or begin lifting nice and hard
nothing crazy three four sessions a week
is good for almost everyone at the stage
like an hour each at a time train
whatever muscle groups you want to
develop probably all around is good and
on the nutritional end just try
to make your diet nutritious and feed
your muscles
which is to say multiple meals a day of
mostly healthy foods
and keep trying to hit like the decent
amount of protein okay for bodybuilder
looks down at your meal on his way with
his own meal out of the restaurant
you're eating at he should be like oh
there's some protein on that plate
that's nice good for that guy as opposed
to being like what the fuck are you four
years old who made your plate for you or
like oh are you getting over breakup
because there's only dessert foods on
that so you want some veggies some fruit
some whole grains nice good slab of meat
or vegetarian protein source so glass of
milk something like that just good
nutrition and we have a ton of videos
for you guys on just nutrition for
healthy eating that we have I don't know
where the fuck's got the video guys
gonna put it he may put it nowhere he
may tell me to go put it somewhere if
you know
saying he's often rude to me is that a
problem comment below so
yes we have tons of ways to eat healthy
but basically we just want this person
this individual to eat healthy and not
100 healthy but just healthy Baseline
and eat plenty of protein this is going
to do a few things it is going to supply
muscle growth so underneath the skinny
fatness the muscles will be growing and
in addition to that a lot of times when
people cut out a bunch of junk food and
try to eat more healthy they lose a lot
of fat too often at the same time
because they're just beginning the
process
so what's your body weight gonna do in
you basically shoot for maintenance
calories with this whole plan or just
eat enough food to where you're not
super hungry anymore and just call it
there you may lose weight you may gain
weight based on how your body responds
to the hunger signaling of weight
training some people may start weight
training even if they eat well they gain
weight that's solid they're going to
gain mostly muscle anyway or all muscle
it's going to be amazing once you cut
down later if you just aren't super
hungry when you start eating healthy
foods you're going to be building a ton
of muscle under the hood because of the
high protein and the great health value
of the food and because you're training
for the first time in your life but you
may actually lose a bunch of weight so
by the time it comes time to like cut on
purpose you're already pretty fucking
lean and you're not even skinny fat
anymore amazing
what I would recommend doing that for is
I don't want to put too fine a point in
it but like basically here
if someone comes to me if you came to me
this is the way I I make all these
videos as far as like the Powerpoints
for them the way I answer questions in
these videos is if a human being
actually came up to me and like had a
real fucking life situation asked me
what to do this isn't like just
hypotheticals this is like real shit so
I don't ever want to say like it has to
be a year
but like yeah at least six months and
maybe as long as a year and a half to
two years so I'd say a year is a good
goal so if you just started lifting
weights you're kind of skinny fat you
don't know what to do eat healthy and at
maintenance with plenty of protein train
hard or just fucking put the horse
blinders on for one year straight is it
the most rapid body transformation you
can have no but it's the one that'll
make the biggest impact shortly after a
year
so let's say about a year of this you've
done it the prediction is that you are
going to be substantially harder I don't
know about down there my doctor says
that's an intractable problem for me at
this point that's neither here nor there
what you are going to be is like less
mushy you may have a similar overall
shape maybe but your shape will probably
be better your shoulders will be a
little bigger your arms are all tighter
at the sleeves and you are physically
harder for the touch because more of you
underneath his muscle and less is fat
this is already really good news but
it's just the beginning
after that year of essentially recomping
gaining muscle while losing fat and
taking advantage of the fact that that's
really all you need to make crazy
transformation crazy progress
after that what I recommend
is taking like about a 12-week fat loss
phase where you lose like oh a half a
pound to a pound and a half per week
depending on how large you are but like
for your average you know 170 pound 180
pound person maybe just even a pound per
week just a little above that you lose
maybe 12 15 pounds in the course of
three months and remember you have built
quite a bit of muscle and now that
muscle gets revealed substantially more
now you're looking
way way way different this is when the
people start complimenting you this is
when Stacy from accountings like um I'd
really like to account for your deck is
that too much holy shit Stacy you've
been in this job for like four days of
course yes tonight at eight no yes I
live with my Grandma she's cool she'll
be asleep by 7 30.
anyway it's like I practiced this before
huh so after this fat loss phase you're
gonna look pretty fucking good way
better than ever and then depending on
sort of which way you want to Zig or zag
you can choose your destiny and there
are a couple of options
you can choose to maintain for a few
months to let the diet fatigue cool off
before going again and doing another Fat
Loss phase because you're like oh I love
this look but I on that it's I'm so
close to being actually fucking lean I
need a little maintenance and another
three month diet and then I'm gonna get
a fucking world champion amazing totally
fine uh answer if that's you you could
get down to this new body fat level and
be like oh my fucking God I look
unbelievable by social life's night and
day my confidence is incredible I'm not
a fucking freak bodybuilder weirdo
asshole steroid addict say some other
words but the current social justice
movement prevents that so uh I'm not
into that sort of thing so I'm just
going to maintain and keep lifting three
or four times a week keep eating
fundamentally healthy and just do me for
the rest of my life beautifully perfect
answer we don't all have to go and like
what am I now year 23 of a
self-improvement journey that's actually
killing your insides
and or you could say hey like I love
this new look but fuck man I could do
with a little more muscle and you start
a slow muscle gain phase
and then you do maintenance fat loss
muscle again Etc and then you're in the
life of getting more jacked over time
and lean over time which at some point
you like the way you look and all the
way up to that point you are better
looking than ever I will say one thing
before we wrap this up
a lot of folks who have been skinny fat
before
they harden up they diet it off and then
they're pretty fucking chiseled they are
like I want to be bigger but I feel like
if I try to gain weight I'll just get
really fat again
the answer here is if you're gaining it
like half a pound per week for 12 weeks
that's like six pounds total there's
just no way that let's say you only gain
pure body fat
that's not gonna happen you're gonna eat
some fucking muscle maybe most of it
will mess in your first try
if you gain only six pounds of pure body
fat you started at like 174 pounds you
went to 180.
that is barely an impact on your
physique that's like three three just
over three percent body fat gain if
someone goes from 12 to 15 or 15 to 18
you're not like holy shit Jim what
happened to you was Japan opening up a
new Sumo division that's not even a
thing so you just get like a little
pudgier and then here's the deal just a
few weeks of hardcore fat loss to
heading will wipe that slate clean for
you so if you've been skinny fat before
if you have a decent control of your
appetite regulation situation you're not
just going to fall in to a White Castle
portal and go through a Taco Bell portal
and get shit out of a Burger King portal
that's not going to happen to you uh
then there's not any way you're gonna
make magically back to super fat status
so don't worry about it take your time
do it right do it calmly do it with
mostly healthy foods and a little bit of
junk you absolutely can put on cycles of
muscle and go through Mass gains even if
you've been fatter before or skinny fat
before folks I sure hope I made some
sense
um you know about all the jokes are
funny that's all I'm gonna say see you
next time
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