Skinny Fat Solution

Solutions for the Skinny Fat Ectomorph Part I – The Basics THE USUAL SUSPECT Here are the defining skinny fat ectomorph traits: • Apparently thin in clothes, but bare skin reveals otherwise • Small wrists • Tall(er) • Weak and non-muscled arms • Love handles, lower stomach, and lower chest are main areas of fat accumulation

Before moving on, I have a confession: I was once a skinny fat ectomorph. (I’ll show pictures of my own journey soon enough.) I suffered through the talks of being “lanky.” And, by the way, the world should know the word “lanky” is a verbal knife for a tall and skinny person wanting to bulk up, even if it has complimentary intentions. “Bob’s not fat! He’s lanky!” Meanwhile, Bob is wallowing in sorrow, succumbing to syringes full of steroids. This is why life as a skinny-fat is tough. We’re at the mercy of lanky and the reality of chubby. Most of my life, I ignored my unique body composition while questing for the holy grail of training programs. Anytime I saw a jacked dude I was hooked. I needed to know his routine because I thought a magical sequence of exercises was going to cure my problem. But during my expedition, I noticed something: most figureheads that undergo massive transformations are very lean beforehand. Here are some examples: • Nate Green • Vince del Monte • Chad Howse • John Berardi • Paul Valiulis

Now, I have tremendous respect for the people listed. What they did, regardless of the starting point, takes hard work and dedication. But their prior body composition can’t be ignored. They can follow normal “bulking” rules because they aren’t likely to store fat. So when these people load their plates with pasta and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and see amazing results, it’s no wonder this advice gets passed down to those on the lower end of the genetic totem pole. Yet if we follow a similar plan, we end up looking like dirty bulk kid.

WHERE SKINNY-FATS GO WRONG I’m going abstract here and saying that skinny fat ectomorphs aren’t hindered by a lack of training and nutrition knowledge; they are hindered by a lack of psychological togetherness. Skinny-fats carry large emotional baggage about themselves and their body composition. They don’t stand a chance. From a nutritional standpoint, skinny fat ectomorphs are a wreck. They will do damn near anything to get rid of their “pouch.” A skinny-fat asked me for tips on Facebook the other day. He gave me his daily food intake: My diet right now is: Breakfast: 6 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal Snacks: 2 scoops protein Lunch and Dinner: Shrimp and broccoli Let’s break this down: • 6 egg whites ~ 120 kcals • 1/2 cup oatmeal ~ 300 kcals • 2 scoops of protein ~ 250 kcals • Shrmimp and broccoli x 2 ~ 300 kcals x 2 = 600 kcals So we have a young, handsome lad eating a paltry 1000-or-so kcals per day and failing to lose

weight. I’d guess this person is either very under muscled or obsessing over the tiniest bit of fat around their lower abs. Both showcase the dysfunctional mindset and damaging habits skinny-fats carry.

LIFESTYLE & PSYCHOLOGY I don’t mean to go all Dr. Phil on you here, but understanding the stress response is an important part of understanding how to optimize physiology for muscle growth and fat loss. If you’re a constant subordinate filled with inadequate feelings, you’re losing out. This is troublesome, as skinny-fats often feel this way. Worrying about the perfect routine. Worrying about losing weight. Worrying about gaining muscle. Worrying about what others are doing. Worrying about what others are saying. Worrying about their current body composition. Worrying about girlfriends. Worrying about gossip. Sound familiar? Trust me, I get the e-mails. I know how you think. But this is a double whammy. Not only does it screw with your immediate physiology, but it also lessens your chances to follow through with, and dedicate yourself to, your training. “I’ve been on this program for two weeks and nothing is happening!” It takes longer than two weeks, Honey. So on the lifestyle front, find a group of loving people to be around, whether it’s your family or friends (that don’t push you to get shitfaced three nights every week). De-stress yourself. Meditate. Take care of other people. Get a little cocky too. Don’t be an arrogant alpha-male. Just have a quiet confidence. Most of alltrust in the process.

Do yourself a favor and pick up Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. It’s one of the best training texts you can read, even though there’s no mention of training. It’s a book about stress and adaptation. And lifting weights, getting stronger, losing fat, and increasing performance— everything you want this article series to be about—is rooted in stress and adaptation. It’s

important stuff.

TROUBLESOME TRAINING In general, we get fat from eating more energy than what our body needs. (There are a lot of other things that affect this situation, but we’re simplifying.) The body is stingy. It won’t waste extra energy. So it stores the energy as fat just in case the rapture actually comes to pass. The body cares only cares about survival. If you want to be muscular with a low body fat, you have to live a lifestyle that trips the body into thinking, “the only way I can survive is if I have capable muscle with little excess weight.” Most people miss this. Living a sedentary life tells the body that carrying around sacks of fat won’t damage its immediate ability to survive. But start running hill sprints—a reincarnation of primitive hauling ass from a chasing lion—and carrying those fat sacks suddenly hinder survival. Excuse me while I go on a quick broscience rant: Exercise, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t burn many calories. Most people can easily forego the Tastykakes and see the same net caloric reduction. So here’s the question: Does exercise cause fat loss because it burns calories? Or does it cause fat loss because the body recognizes that weighing less is better for survival? After all, we lift weights—which “burns” calories—and yet our muscles grow. So just because something has a metabolic cost doesn’t mean it’s all in the name of fat loss and catabolism. If our muscles grow to better survive the external stressor (weighted barbell), couldn’t our fat also “shrink” to better survive the external stressor? Let’s paint this. Say you run ten hill sprints. Sure, you’re burning calories. But, to your body, what do the hill sprints mean? From a primitive standpoint, they probably mean you’re either escaping danger or trying to catch food—two things essential for survival. I doubt the Aztecs ran up and down mountains in the name of “hardcore” hill sprints and getting a visible six pack. So does fat loss come from the body’s attempt to better survive the stressor? Or from the calories it uses for energy?

The other side of the equation is nutrition. No matter how many sprints you run, the body isn’t going to lose weight if you’re consistently overstuffing yourself. From a primitive standpoint, overfeeding probably means a hibernation is near. So your body thinks you’re overfeeding for a reason—that it’s going to need the energy down the line because food won’t readily be available. The opposite of this—grossly underfeeding yourself—isn’t optimal either because the body assumes famine. It’s going to hold, and be efficient with, what energy it has for as long as possible, never knowing when proper nourishment will come. This is why very low calorie diets don’t often work for anyone but the morbidly obese. Signed, Anthony Mychal M.D. Ph.D. Program Coordinator at Broscience University Ahem, back to reality. Gaining muscle is also a survival mechanism. It doesn’t want to be squashed meat under a barbell, so it gets stronger. This adaptation can happen in two ways: improving the nervous system or improving the muscular system. If the right hormones are floating around, these adaptations happen simultaneously. Muscle, however, is metabolically expensive. The body won’t build it unless it knows it has the proper nutrient flow. But I’ll save this discussion for later.

PUMPING IRON Skinny fat ectomorphs need to help on three levels: mindset, nutrition, and training. Hopefully, after reading this article, you have better grasp on how to carry yourself and live your life. It’s about time to break through and recreate your hormone profile, as your current one gives Aunt Tilly a run for her money. So control unnecessary stress, gain some confidence, have some faith in what you’re doing, and find a caring network. When you see the guys in Pumping Iron living the good life seemingly without stress, ordering 12 eggs and a pound of steak for lunch, lounging and relaxing by the beach, being idolized by women, and growing into a tightly connected group of friends, it’s no wonder they were successful (steroids aside).

Part II – My Story The Past and the Future Everyone neglects the past. I could have just posted my pictures and listed my training program and have been done with it. But the way I train now isn’t the same way I trained to get where I am. Training history matters. So I’m adding this piece for two reasons. First, so you can see that I was once a member of the Skinny Fat Ectomorph Brohirrim, which, by the way, is now the official name of the skinny-fat tribe. (Yeah, I just made it up. And it’s a super nerdy reference to Lord of the Rings too. Awesome.) Second, so you can see my evolution alongside what worked and what failed. Now, I don’t remember everything from the past six years. But what I do remember follows.

February 2006 I decided to “get serious” on February 16, 2006. I know the exact date because I so aptly dated the folder for the pictures. (Too bad I didn’t follow through with this smart strategy.) As you can see, typical skinny fat ectomorph body type. No arms. Most of the body fat chucked around the waist. Good times. I think I was 200 pounds.

June 2006 Over the next five months, I jacked my physical activity through the roof. I lifted weights, but not seriously. My routine consisted of mostly isolation exercises as I didn’t have good equipment — just a cheap bench, barbell, and adjustable dumbbells. So I did what I could, but it wasn’t ideal. To aid fat loss, I downed instant coffee in the morning (even though I hated coffee) and did “cardio” on an empty stomach as that was what cool kids did back then. Exercising on an empty stomach was reported to better utilize fat for energy, and caffeine encouraged the same. So three days per week, rain or shine, I did tabata sprints. The other days I walked on the treadmill for forty five minutes.

I devoutly ate six meals per day. It was clockwork. Breakfast was one serving of oats and two eggs. Lunch was one piece of whole wheat bread, one can of tuna, and one piece of fruit. I can’t remember the other meals, but that slice of bread at lunch was the last of the complex carbohydrates. I shot for six meals at 300 kcals, which brought me to 1800 kcals.

October 2006 I dropped the”cardio” and closely monitored my nutrition. Although I put more emphasis on weight training, I wasn’t gaining muscle fast enough for my liking. So I listened to conventional wisdom and I “bulked.” It was a bad decision. But I did upgrade my equipment. I now had squat stands and Olympic sized plates and barbells.

February 2007 I ate my way to 203lbs, and the results didn’t show. My arms remained rails, and body fat crept to my midsection faster than muscle elsewhere. Looking back, I’m sure I did one million things wrong. But as a whole, my first bulk didn’t go well. Am I biased? Yes. But only because my greatest gains (as shown below) came when I trained without the “bulk” mentality.

Late 2007 Bulking taught me one thing: I knew how to get lean. And fast. I knew what my body responded to, so it came down to execution. By summer, the extra weight was gone and I was back to training and eating normally. Although I intentionally kept my body fat “low,” I didn’t obsess over a “six pack.”

My routine (created by my then mentor Chicanerous) went something like this: Sunday: Back Squats 6×6, Good Mornings 2×20, Press, Chin-ups Wednesday: Back Squats 5×3, Romanian Deadlifts 5×5, Press, Dumbbell Row Friday: Bulgarian Split Squats 3×8, Cleans, …? Saturday: Ultimate Frisbee games But after consistently failing to respect recovery, I was bound to break. And one day, during an Ultimate Frisbee match, my groin exploded. It took six months to heal. Upper body lifting became lax, and I lost nearly everything I had built. Before the injury, I squatted 380 for reps and I romanian deadlifted 315 for reps. But after the injury, my strength was gone.

2008 After healing, I went on Starting Strength. My squat and deadlift strength prospered. My upper body strength, well, not so much. And I was stricken with intensive bouts of chronic knee pain. Idiotically, I ignored the pain. Eventually settling into the Texas Method, I adopted the whole “isolation exercises are garbage” mentality. My lower body got stronger, and I played to what I was good at. It’s no wonder I wasn’t satisfied with my physique. As a small aside, this was the year I started working with athletes. And as a note, I bulked in 2008 for a month or two. Results were lackluster. But it did reaffirm my ability to lose fat after a “bulk.”

2009 In January 2009, I felt the Texas Method wasn’t ideal for hypertrophy. Once again, I decided to bulk. My program was WS4SB, and I ate my way 233. It was the heaviest I had ever weighed and the heaviest I have ever weighed. But my bulk failed again. The hidden benefit of bulking for three straight years and failing for three straight years is that I became a master of losing fat. (Holding true to this day.)

Another bout of chronic knee pain forced me to stop squatting. On top of that, the constant maxing on WS4SB made my bench stall fast. And my joints weren’t too happy either. But I was “bulking,” and I thought eating more would solve my problems. It, of course, didn’t. I ate clean though. Tons of eggs, oats, brown rice, and the usual fare. But it didn’t matter. My knowledge of health, fitness, and training was at an all time high. I could write programs for anyone except myself. For whatever reason, I thought I followed different rules and tried to follow a “standard” program. Eventually, my injuries forced me to rethink my path. Midway through 2009, I stopped lifting. For the rest of the year, and for first few months of 2010, I dedicated my time to fixing my chronic knee pain.

2010 2010 was a great year. I was healthy and doing better than ever. I was getting strong, I was tricking regularly, and I finally “got it.” My schedule was a little funky, but I enjoyed it. Wake up was at 5AM-6AM. Breakfast was oats and eggs. I worked from 7AM-3PM. Lunch was a piece of fruit at 12PM. And when I got home at 3PM, I lifted. Two or three meals followed. Of what though, I can’t remember.

Early 2011 On January 28th, 2011, I broke my foot in five places. It was frustrating. For the first time in my life I was healthy. Things were perfect. But this, I thought, was the nail. The end. From February to mid-March, I was on crutches. I began my rehab process early (I’m not a fan of traditional rehabilitation timetables and theories). I was doing supported squats in my cast three weeks post injury. One week before getting my cast off, I was walking with a boot. It didn’t matter much though because when I got out of my cast my foot was lifeless. I had a severe limp. Walking on it was more painful than breaking it. But it felt good to be free. What’s ironic is that this what began my intermittent fasting journey. Before breaking my foot, I loved breakfast and never went without it. But after breaking my foot, standing for more than five minutes made my foot would swell inside of my cast. That, and being on crutches, made cooking rather impossible. So I learned how to survive without breakfast,

eventually adopting the principles of intermittent fasting. I’ve always believed you can learn from negative experiences. So I forced myself to extrapolate the good out of breaking my foot. The injury taught me that health is king. Over strength. Over muscles. Over everything. If you’re not healthy, why does it matter? It also taught me patience. Things don’t happen over night. Ever. So when I started training again, I didn’t care about adding weight to the bar. I didn’t obsess over strength. I just enjoyed being able to train. Eventually, I got some squat strength back. But then it hit me: what the hell was I doing? I broke my foot, yet I was putting a loaded bar on my back and tentatively teetering out of a rack. It just wasn’t worth it anymore. So I stopped doing it. Yes, I stopped squatting. Then I asked myself: what do I love doing? And when I answered, I acted. For the next few months I lifted everyday. I thought my foot could benefit from a low load and a high frequency. So I did deadlifts, power curls, hip thrusts, unilateral dumbbell floor presses, and waiters walks. Concurrently, I did Chat Waterbury’s PLP program. I felt great every day. I left the gym refreshed. It was perfect. And it was just what I needed. This taught me a few things. First, recovery doesn’t happen in a 48 hours. Recovery depends on the stress imposed on the body in relation to the current state of adaptation. I, of course, already knew this. But I never felt it. I was feeling it. Second, stress is more than strength. While never adding weight to the bar, I was filling out because my volume and frequency — not intensity — were increasing. I can’t remember the totality of my food intake but it looked something like six eggs, a pound of turkey meat, and a ton of vegetables. I sprinted twice a week most weeks. Usually eight to ten sets of fifty yard sprints on a hill. Nothing big. Certainly no cardio fest. I just sprinted up the hill, walked back down the hill, hung out, and then went again when I felt good. Really, I just stopped obsessing. I didn’t care about maximizing muscle growth. I just did what seemed right. And what seemed right was training easy every day, doing a lot of body weight stuff, and sprinting. But it was perfect because I didn’t care about aesthetics anymore. Moving without pain became my primary objective. So for the entire summer I lived stress free, lifted some heavy things, and sprinted. Most importantly, I stopped obsessing. Not once did I come close to failing, busting an adrenal glad, or thinking about changing programs. I liftedevery day because I felt great every day. I might have gotten more muscular. I might not have. But I didn’t care to take notice. And I truly

think this is what allowed me to make progress — the lack of obsession. Now, I’m reluctant to say this because a lot of people are going to combine the 40 Day Program with PLP and expect huge gains. Not that it doesn’t work, but idly following my path is dysfunctional thinking. And if you don’t know why, you don’t “get it” yet. The actual “program” doesn’t matter as long as it suits your goals — an idea that sounds contradictory as the next article will suggest programs. But, in general, most people will be awesomely served doing the following: • Lifting weights consistently • Mastering body weight exercises • Sprinting • Eating primarily meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables • And really, has that ever not been the formula? You don’t have to kill yourself in the gym. You just don’t. You need to stay healthy enough to lift consistently. That’s it. And by consistently, I don’t mean training daily. I mean training regularly for a few years. No one that trains regularly becomes weaker and less muscled. So as long as you’re consistent, you’re on the right path. Look at my life. I didn’t get here with one program. I got here because I found ways to consistently train — through injuries and downturns — for six years. I didn’t just hop on an eight week program and ride it to success. And you shouldn’t expect to either.

Part III – Programming and Training The following sentence will save you hundreds of dollars and cost me current and future clients: for physique purposes, programs don’t matter. Or, they matter, but not to the extent you believe. Nearly any reputable program has some type of squatting, some type of pressing, some type of pulling from the floor, and some type of rowing. Mind blowing stuff, isn’t it? You are never going to find a program that has a result increasing secret set of exercises or a secret sequencing of exercises. There are no Holy Grail exercises. There are no Holy Grail programs. So stop looking. Results come from consistent training. That’s it. Yet we’re constantly misled. We’re told squats make bigger arms. And deadlifts do just about

everything. Not to take anything away from those important lifts, but for all around development—what most skinny fat ectomorphs seek—you have to embrace vanity. If you want big arms, you have to curl. Sure, you can do chin-ups and rows, and, over time, your arms will grow. But you’ll never match the growth you would otherwise have with isolation exercises. It’s like math. Why do long division by hand when you can use a calculator and get the answer much quicker? Now, this isn’t a squat bashing. I squat. I always have. And I will until I can’t. But there’s simply more to consider for a well rounded physique.

Programming Everyone wants to know what program to use. But programs are poison. They lead to program hopping—the worst behavior any trainee can adopt. Progress is the ultimate motivator. And progress comes from practicing a handful of lifts consistently enough to get good at them. Doing barbell row for two weeks and then switching to dumbbell rows and then switching back to barbell rows before trying arc rows after moving to inverted rows after doing chest supported machine rows makes progress impossible to gauge. Instead of focusing on a program, focus on having your mind in every session, lifting with a semblance of heart, and developing a worthwhile intensity while taking targeted muscles through a decent range of motion. Do that on a regular basis, and you can’t fail.

Rate of muscle gain Skinny fat ectomorphs have to come to terms with their bodies. We will never be the Incredible Hulk. But that shouldn’t discourage anyone from reaching their maximum potential. Casey Butt created a rather accurate maximum muscular potential calculator. Don’t use it. Fixating on it yields an ill mind. Truly, it doesn’t matter. What should, however, is questing to always improve, regardless of where arbitrary numbers estimate failure. How fast muscle can be synthesized, however, is an important concept.

An idol of mine, Jon Call (Jujimufu), has undergone a tremendous physical transformation

since 2001. I wanted to know his secret to lean mass gain, so I asked him. His answer was stunning. It took years. 2002 I was 155. 2003: 165. 2004: 170. 2006: 185. 2007: 200. 2008: 215 (when I stopped tricking and started eating insane amounts of food). Now I’m 205 again. I’ve never gained a “lot” of fat no. But I have gained some of course. Yeah. There was no secret. Unless you consider staying dedicated enough to train consistently over a span of five years a secret. Now, Jon gained fifteen pounds some years, which is encouraging. But the disclaimer is this: Jon is the most dedicated person I know. My birthday celebrations consist of cake, cookies, alcohol, and other guilty pleasures. Jon, on the other hand, celebrates with a shrimp circle.

For us peons, ten pounds of raw lean muscle gain in one year is downrightimpressive. This equates to less than one pound of muscle gained per month. Beginners will add a little more— fifteen to twenty pounds, and experienced lifters will add a little less—five pounds. And while this sounds good, on a tall(er) frame, it’s barely noticeable. Recently, I was working with a college lacrosse player who wanted to put on some size in his off-season. At 6’2” and 180 pounds, I didn’t blame him for wanting to get bigger. We packed 15 pounds on him during the summer, and when he walked through the door on the first day of practice the coach looked at him and said, “I thought I told you to gain some weight.” This kid went from 180 to 195 pounds, with only three pounds being fat, and his own coach didn’t pick up on it until he got on the scale. Granted, it’s partially a height issue; if a guy who’s 5’8″ put on fifteen pounds it would be a lot more obvious. But my point is most people aren’t putting on fifteen pounds over a summer; they’re adding five to ten, tops. And since it’s spread over their entire body, no one really notices. -John Romaniello

Reasons skinny-fat sufferers fail Skinny fats fail because they either expect results too fast or they follow a program not suited to their own vanity (doing a squats specialization program when wanting big arms). This leads to either program hopping or bulking. (You might as well club baby seals.) Bulking is a pastime in which skinny fat ectomorphs try gaining fifty pounds of muscle in six weeks, resulting in tremendous fat gain, eight weeks of cutting, and being back at square one. But this whole series of behavior cascade into lackluster progress and falling for gimmicks.

The creation of muscle Lifting weights signals for the creation of muscle as a survival mechanism. A barbell is a predator. Throw that sucker on your back or above your throat and the body only cares about not getting crushed. It responds by getting stronger. In the presence of the right signaling, the muscle grows because larger muscles give capacity for stronger muscles. We know what exercises stress certain muscles. We know incline presses target the upper chest. We know rows build a big back. We know chin-ups do a lot of good for the upper body. We know curls work the biceps. And so on. So to build muscle, we simply need to pick a handful of lifts and consistently push the boundaries of our current level of adaptation.

Recovery and frequenct Training frequency depends on recovery. The greater the stressor is, the greater the recovery must be. Martin Berkhan uses Reverse Pyramid Training, which consists of maxing out in some capacity every training session. This why he only train three days per week. Bodybuilders, on the other hand, train more frequently because they often use lower loads and stress the muscle on a local level. When a Powerlifter bench presses, he uses his entire body to push the weight. This is systematically stressful. A Bodybuilder, by contrast, wants the chest doing most of the work. So they localize the stress into the chest. Since the stress isn’t as widespread, they can train more frequently. This also explains why some bodybuilders aren’t as strong as their size indicates. They consciously neglect using more muscle mass because they only want the targeted muscle(s) working. Less muscle working means less weight lifted.

While training five or six days can work, it’s not optimal for a skinny fat. Not because of recovery, but because balancing between “bulking” and “cutting” requires fluctuations in nutrient and caloric intake. Maximizing absolute muscle mass is different than maximizing muscle mass while minimizing the likelihood of becoming Paula Deen. There’s no reason to train, from a muscular standpoint, if you’re not optimizing the resultant growth. We want to grow on our training days and lose or minimize fat gain on off days. By training too frequently, this balance gets upset. So you can train six days per week, but you’re going to be growing six days per week. For most skinny fat ectomorphs, three or four training sessions per week is ideal because it means that three or four days you’re working on building muscle, and three or four days you’re working on losing or minimizing fat gain.

Methods and progression Initial strength levels don’t matter, so don’t get self conscious. It’s all about slow progression, consistency, and small wins over time. If every week of the year you added one repetition to the amount of chin-ups you could do, at the end of the year you would be doing fifty-two additional reps. Nowthat’s progress. For the absolute novice, progression should be linear. Using the squat as an example, go to the gym and find a weight you can do for ten reps without extreme fatigue. Next week, do the same warm-up, but add five or ten pounds to the weight you did last week. The week after that, another five or ten pounds. There will come a point where adding ten pounds becomes difficult. Bump it down to five pound jumps before you fail. For upper body lifts, use exclusively five pound jumps. People, at minimum, reach high 200 pound squats for five reps on Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength. This simple concept of adding weight to the bar can take you a long way. But once five or ten pound jumps become too difficult, abandon the obsession of immediate strength gains. People go ballistic after programs like Starting Strength because tangible weekly results fade. While strength gains are important, realize that no one trains with intensity and consistency and gets weaker. Progress comes with consistency. Yet people are apt to jump on programs like The Texas Method or 5/3/1 because there is a semblance of structure. But don’t get too caught up in this.

You need to do two things to get stronger: add weight and do more reps. The answer has never been: lift light weights for high reps, or lift heavy weights for few reps. The answer remains: Lift heavy weights for high reps. -Dan John Lifting a heavy weight isn’t a good indicator of hypertrophy. What is, however, isrepping a heavy weight. Strength comes in many forms. Lifting a single weight for one repetition isn’t much of an indicator of anything unless you’re a Powerlifter or Olympic Weightlifter. Decreasing rest periods, increasing total volume, and altering time under tension are just some of the ways that overall difficulty can be jacked up without increasing total load. In, Getting Jacked for Dummies, Mike Guadango put together a sensible progression. Week One: 3×8 Week Two: 3×10 Week Three: 3×12 Week Four: 4×8 Week Five: 4×10 Week Six: 4×12 Sadly, few people will follow this scheme because the weight on the bar doesn’t increase weekly. Yet, if five or ten pounds were added to the bar at the end of this six week progression, and it was continued across the year, nearly one hundred pounds would be added to any lift. If you can lift a weight for three sets of eight and, in six weeks, lift it for four sets of twelve, you’re stronger. And if you’re getting stronger you will also be growing provided correct caloric and nutrient intake.

The program(s) Skinny fats want broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a low body fat. And nothing—nothing— contributes to this quite like the chin-up. The second most important lift is the deadlift. But in all seriousness, there’s no need to “neglect” any part of the body so ranking importance is silly. These following programs are simple, not easy. They include high(er) reps than most programs. The reason the world is obsessed with 5×5 is because way back they found that 4-6 x 4-6 best produced strength. Five, being the middle, became the norm. But strength isn’t rep-

range dependant. Like stated before, taking a set of ten reps at 200 pounds to a set of ten reps at 300 pounds means you got stronger. And that can happen without using low reps if you wanted it to. For most everyone, I like upper and lower splits. Beginners, however, do well on a consistent three day per week total body routine. Upper lower splits can be done either four days per week (A-B-C-D) or three days per week (A-B-C / D-A-B / C-A-B ). Most skinny fat ectomorphs, are best served with three heavy training days if trying to cut down, and four heavy training days if trying to gain.

Beginner Program Monday A1) Back Squat 4×6-8 A2) Chin-Ups (25) B1) Romanian Deadlift 2×8-12 B2) Incline Press 3×8 c1) Pushups 2 x max C2) Thick Grip Barbell Curls 2×15 – Sprints Wednesday A1) Overhead Press 3×6-8 A2) Barbell Rows 3×8 B) Hip Thrust 2×10

C) Calfs 2×20 –Farmers Walks Friday A1) Deadlift 3×5 A2) Incline Press 3×8 B1) Front Squat 3×5 B2) Chin-Ups (25) C1) Dips 2 x max C2) Thick Grip Hammer Curls 2×10 –Sprints

Program Notes • For all exercises do at least five sets, including warm-up sets. So a squat workout planned for 3x6x135 will look like this: bar x 6, 95×6, 135x4x6. • Strive for 25 chin-ups in as little sets as possible. At first, shoot for five. Then four. Three is ideal. Two is great. • The 1′s and 2′s mean the exercises can be supersetted to save time. • Do two sets to failure of dips and push-ups. Strive to add one rep to the total each week. • Sprints are preferably done on a hill of about 50 yards, with 6-10 total repetitions. Sprint to the top, walk back down, catch your wind, and then go again. Do that a minimum of six times and a maximum of ten times. • Farmers walks are done for 100-200 yards. Just grab heavy dumbbells and go.

Intermediate program Sunday A1) Incline Press 3-4×8-12 A2) Chin-Ups (50) B1) Dumbbell Overhead Press 2-3×8-12 B2) Dumbbell Rows 2-3×8-12 C1) Lateral Raises 2×15-20 C2) Barbell Curl 3×10 –Farmers Walks Monday A) Back Squat 3-4×8-12 B) Romanian Deadlift 3-4×8-12 C1) Calfs 2×20 C2) Back Extensions 2×20 –Sprints Wednesday A1) Overhead Press 4-5×4-8 A2) Chin-Ups 4-5×4-8 B1) Dumbbell Incline Press 2-3×8-12 B2) Barbell Row 3-4×8-12

C1) Dips 2xmax reps C2) Thick Grip Hammer Curls 2×15 –Farmers Walks Friday A) Deadlift 2-3×3-5 B) Front Squat 2-3×3-5 C1) Hip Thrusts 3×10 C2) Calfs 2×20 –Sprints

Program Notes • For Sunday’s Chin-Ups, use as little sets as possible to hit fifty reps. If completed in less than five sets, add ten repetitions to total amount (60). Once sixty is completed in under five sets, add another ten (70). Etc… • For the exercises that are prescribed ranges of sets and reps, use the progression referenced from Guadango’s Getting Jacked for Dummies Article. • Sprints and Farmers Walks follow same protocol as Beginner Program.

Loose ends • Both the rules and the method of progression change from the novice to intermediate stage. My general rule of thumb is this: if you can do ten consecutive chin-ups, squat or deadlift 1.5x your body weight, and incline press your body weight, go with the intermediate program. • You may be wondering where regular old bench pressing is. Most skinny fat ectomorphs will benefit from more shoulder and upper chest, so I opt for more incline work. Bench

press fanatics can substitute it in place of barbell incline presses on Sunday. • You can swap the days around. The template is this: upper-lower-off-upper-off-lower-off. The programs aren’t revolutionary, and there are hundreds out there that also deliver results. The routine itself isn’t important. Picking something, sticking with it, and working hard trumps the “program.” So if you have something good going, keep going. But if you’re looking for a fresh start, here it is. Adopt this philosophy and slow cook your way to solid gains.

Part IV – Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting, Carb Cycling, and Hormones For a long time, people ate six meals per day and the enjoyed every second of doing so. Lunking around Tupperware containers was a badge of honor, symbolizing a dedication to health. Then came intermittent fasting. Tupperware?Obsessive eating habits? So not cool. When I first got into the game I devoutly counted every calorie I ate. It’s an obsessive lifestyle that I don’t wish upon anyone. But the past is important. The only reason I am nutritionally sound now is because I slaved over every calorie years ago. And overall, I think everyone that is locked in on their body composition has, at some point, gone through the same obsessivecalorie-counting-food-weighing phase. So instead of blabbling that I don’t count calories or weigh food, the truth is that I used to, and it contributed to who I am. I know eggs have 70 – 90 kcalories and 1/4 cup of oatmeal is 150 kcalories. And if you’re ignorant of these nuances, maybe you need more obsession. It’s the four stages of learning, and you can’t jump from conscious incompetence to unconscious competence. No, because after years of doing it slavishly and trying all sorts of eating styles, I’ve got a really, really good idea of how my body reacts to foods. I’m really tuned into what’s going on so I don’t need to do that anymore. But I couldn’t have gotten this way without keeping records and doing the experiments. -

Jon Call (Jujimufu) in response to weighing food

The clean bulk A few years ago, the consensus was that the clean bulk—gaining muscle without fat—was impossible. But since, the consensus changed. An idea still proliferates, however, that pancakes, maple syrup, and total disregard for body composition are keys to solid mass gain. But muscle creation isn’t expedited by an overingestion of nutrients. If eating 3000 kcalories builds muscle, 6000 kcalories isn’t going to build twice as much muscle. There’s an old adage about muscle growth being akin to laying bricks. Assuming a fixed number of workers, more bricks yield more building to a point. Once the workers have enough bricks to keep busy all day, sending more won’t lead to more output. So if we can only build ten pounds of muscle per year (plus or minus five to ten pounds for beginning and advanced trainees), trying to jam all ten pounds into a three month “bulk” window is silly. Even worse, fat cells (usually created during a “bulk”) are permanent. They shrink, but never really “dissolve.” One reason for the popularity of the clean bulk comes from Martin Berkhan ofLeangains.com, who regularly posts client updates showcasing the ability to get big and strong without getting fat and ugly. Martin is a pioneer of intermittent fasting, which refutes the superiority of a higher meal frequency. As I mentioned in Solutions for the Skinny Fat Ectomorph Part II, I’ve settled into intermittent fasting and carb cycling (a bastardization of Leangains) and it’s the basis of the strategy explained below, even though I’ve seen gains with both frequent and infrequent feedings. Personally, I think most fitness professionals cling to the intermittent fasting boat out of necessity. Planning and pre-cooking six meals every day, seven days of the week becomes mentally taxing. The encouraging aspect of intermittent fasting and carbohydrate cycling, however, is that it better manipulates hormones. Hormones control both building muscle and losing fat. The specifics are complex, but the premise is simple: build muscle when you’re best suited for muscle growth and combat fat accumulation with you’re not suited for muscle growth.

The ins and outs Partitioning describes how well the body handles excess calories. The guys mentioned in Solutions for the Skinny Fat Ectomorph Part I are good partitioners. Good partitioners have a hard time gaining fat, and gaining muscle is all about sacking up and eating.

For a skinny fat ectomorph, sacking up and eating leads to sacking up around the waist. We are on the low end of the partitioning totem pole for two reasons. First, genetics and hormones. Second, we have a judgmental eye when it comes to self body composition evaluation. We obsess over the slightest subjective imperfections, as mentioned in Part I. This can negatively affect hormone levels. How well partitioning goes depends — in general — on how hormones are working. Carbohydrate cycling manipulates insulin — a storage hormone usually released in response to eating carbohydrates. A generalization is that when insulin levels are high, the body is prone to “build” and “store” things. So when insulin spikes, fat intake should be low to avoid its storage. Again, that’s a generalization. Carbohydrate cycling can get complex, turning people away from its use. But by sticking to a few basic rules, it’s not complicating. The jist is this: more carbs, less fats, and enough protein on training days; less carbs, more fats, and more protein on rest days. And to get a little more specific:

Training Days • High protein intake • Mid-High carbohydrate intake • Trace fat intake • At least one gram of protein per pound of body weight • Leaner cuts of meat • Carbohydrate intake around one to three grams per pound of body weight

Off Days • High(er) protein intake • Mid-High fat intake • Trace carbohydrate intake • Carbohydrate intake comes from cruciferous vegetables • Fattier cuts of meat allowed • One to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight • Less than 100 grams of carbohydrates

For the specifics, and how to structure the intermittent fasting philosophy around your training schedule and daily life, check out the Leangains Guide. There’s no need to plagiarise Martin’s fantastic body of work. Below, however, is my personal adaptation and overall structure on how I use intermittent fasting.

Wave your way to gains Building muscle is a long term process. You don’t suddenly add one pound of muscle to your frame after eating turkey legs, corralling wenches, and downing some mead. It’s not an “either-or” process. You’re not “either” building muscle “or” losing fat. The goal of bulking is to linearly gain weight and then linearly lose the fat that accompanied the journey. The rationale is that during the “bulking” period you’re optimizing the ability to gain muscle. And truly, you are. You’re in a caloric surplus and you’re telling the body it will be fed plentifully. But the body isn’t a linear creature. When gaining muscle while minimizing fat, there are no straight lines or steep climbs. Instead, there are small waves that gradually increase in gradient over time. So every day is an experiment. Every day can vary. Everyday you can signal your body to do different things. You can bulk one day and cut the next. It works like this: If you wake up feeling super lean and ripped, eat more. If you wake up feeling puffy for a few consecutive days, eat less. Daily caloric intake depends on how you feel. Consider this nutrient autoregulation. A generally accepted caloric increase for building muscle is 500 kcalories above maintenance. Now, “maintenance” level will vary as not one equation can predict everyone’s metabolic rate. But a gross formula is multiplying your body weight by anything from thirteen to sixteen. Here’s an example: Body Weight = 200 pounds, 90.7 kilos x 13 Maintenance Intake = 2600 kcalories Note: I’m guessing this equation assumes a relatively lean body fat. When comparing two

people of the same weight, the person with more muscle and less fat will have a higher metabolic need. This little nugget is precisely why relying on calculators is difficult and why I prefer coming to a “maintenance” level by eating a set amount of food for a week or two and seeing how the body reacts. I’d set a baseline with thirteen first and move up from there. Instead of sticking the maintenance level day in and day out, the idea is to fluctuate the intake depending on both training status and subjective feel. Think of it as daily, yet controlled, mini bulking and cutting cycles.

If you’re already at a comfortable body fat level… • Eat an extra 500 kcalories on your training days. If, after one week, you are still lean and mean, slowly add more kcalories on your training days. • Keep your rest day calorie level constant. But if you ever feel puffier over a four or five day span, keep your training day calories to 500 above maintenance (at most), and drop your rest day intake to 500 kcalories below maintenance. • If this doesn’t get you leaner in a few days, drop your training day calories to maintenance and keep the 500 deficit on rest days. But always try lowering the rest day 500 kcalories before lowering training day kcalories. • Training frequency can vary, but have no more than three to four “heavy” sessions for high carbohydrate feedings. In general, you want to save these for the lifts and body parts that are lagging to ensure they will be fed accordingly. So if you want bigger shoulders, follow an intensive pressing session with a high carbohydrate day. • Just because you train doesn’t mean you need to carb you face off. Just understand the training days that occur outside of the three or four high carbohydrate days will be best suited for strength development, not size.

If you’re leaning out… • Keep the 500 kcalorie deficit on rest days. • Stay at maintenance on training days. • If you’re struggling to lose one pound per week, then — and only then — drop your training day calories down 500. Never further. • Keep two to three heavy training sessions per week and use these days as your high carbohydrate days. (Similar to the strategy mentioned above.)

The more precise version of the above advice… • Body weight x 13-16 = maintenance. • On training days, intake maintenance x 1.1 or 1.2. • Rest days, if feeling puffy, go for maintenance x 0.8 or 0.9. A note on food types: There are a lot of philosophies that dismisses gluten, dairy, and other foods. These kind of debates are outside of the scope of this article. My advice: experiment. Some people feel awesome after eliminating gluten. Some notice no difference. I’m a fan of the old school bodybuilding staples. Meats. Fish. Eggs. Vegetables. Fruits. Potatoes. Oats. Rice. Beans. Nuts. Dairy (if tolerable).

Carbohydrates peri-workout The age of superultratectonicperi-workout nutrition is over. You don’t need to gorge on liquid sugar pre-workout to refuel your glycogen (it’s filled long before the immediate pre-workout hours). Likewise, you don’t need a Super Mass Gainer Pro Z X Grade post-workout shake. Following Leangains, I’m a fan of working out in a fasted state after the ingestion of BCAAs. (Although for a few months now I haven’t used them and I’ve yet to notice much.) Post workout, no shakes are required. Just a wholesome carbohydrate dense meal. Precision Nutrition, another damn good nutrition resource, also recommends secluding most carbs to the post-workout window (especially when trying to lose fat).

Hormones and fasting Warning: If you don’t have a solid grasp on the above nutritional concepts, below will only confuse you. But discussing this is in the best interest of everyone reading, and I feel it will be popping up in the future. Just another issue to think and tinker with. For the most part, however, the following section is broscience. Proceed with caution. Fasting can boost growth hormone and may do the same with testosterone. When both of these hormones are churning, lipolysis (breakdown of fat) is primarily rocking to fuel the body. The moment insulin surges, however, both testosterone and growth hormone levels

fall. Theoretically, ingesting a monsoon of carbohydrates post-workout kills the workout enduced surge of growth hormone and testosterone . So there’s compelling evidence for saving the carbohydrates until hours after the workout. After all, feasting later in the day may be better for fat loss. And about the immediate post-workout refuel — there might not be a need. Have you ever noticed that, after a workout — for the most part – you’re not overly hungry? The problem with making this an absolute is that there are many factors to consider. By carbohydrate cycling and fasting, you’re already benefiting from elevated growth hormone and testosterone levels through out the day. And because you’re limiting carbohydrate intake on rest days, your body might better utilize post-workout carbohydrates. So if you don’t carb cycle or fast, avoiding carbohydrates in an eight hour window (-+ 4 hours before and after workout) may be your only shot to bask in elevated growth hormone and testosterone levels. In this case, a good post-workout meal would be eggs and meats with trace carbohydrates from vegetables or something similar.

Odds and ends There are a lot of nutrition programs and protocols out there. Truthfully, most of them probably work to certain degrees. For the skinny fat ectomorph looking to lose weight with no regard for retaining muscle mass, detailed nutrition isn’t necessary. It’s more about reducing overall caloric intake and jacking physical activity through the roof. Understand, however, that this method tends to take muscle mass with it (as it does for most people without the use of steroids). But if that’s the goal, that’s the goal. Skinny fat ectomorphs don’t have good muscle retention genes when nutrient deprived. It’s a tradeoff you have to be willing to take. The better way to go about both losing fat and gaining muscle is the long term training approach mixed with mini periods of bulking and cutting – otherwise known as nutrient autoregulation – by fluctuating hormones through dietary manipulation that concide with your training days.

The X Physique Part I – What It Is, Why You Want It, And What You Should Know About It by Anthony 58 comments Don’t kid yourself. It’s not about absolute muscle mass. It never has been. Yet you train like it is. Pick your physique: Steve Reeves, or Ronnie Coleman? Of course, I know the answer. That’s because it’s about proportional muscle mass. It’s about the X Physique.

WHY THE X PHYSIQUE IS APPEALING Growing up skinny-fat, I had narrow shoulders, small wrists, and a wide waist. While I always wanted big muscles, they were the means to the end, more so than the end itself. What I really wanted was proportion – wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and powerful legs. Together, these form something known as the X Physique. For a long time—and for whatever reason—I associated this X Physique with athleticism and virility. I’m no oracle, but I was onto something.

Fear Primes May not Affect Women’s Implicit and Explicit Mate Preferences • Women value physical characteristics in men such as height, muscularity, and broad shoulders (Buss, 1994; Barber, 1995; Franzoi & Herzog 1987)… Foundation of Human Culture - Human Morphological Variation • Narrow hips are another advantage in fast running…. Human Evolution and Ultrarunning • According to that hypothesis [D. M. Bramble and D. E. Lieberman, "Endurance running and the evolution of Homo." Nature, vol. 432, pp. 345-352, 18 Nov. 2004], such wellknown human traits as lack of body hair, high perspiration rate, upright stature, high arches, broad shoulders, and large gluteus maximus were selected through evolution to make it easier for us to run long distances. The Science of Sex Appeal: An Evolutionary Perspective • …Using facial photos of male college students that were cropped at the neck, those with faces that women rated as attractive had more pronounced wedge shaped torsos (broad shoulders and narrow hips), a masculine feature many women prefer. In addition, these same males had stronger grip strength scores (see also Fink, Neave, & Seydel, 2007; Sell et al., 2009), and more sex partners… The Science of Sex Appeal: Sexy Body Motions • Proportions alone are associated with physical attractiveness. In the crudest sense, the more you appear like a certain sex, the more attractive you will be be. We don’t like ambiguity. [My conclusion: Since the X Physique is so culturally recognized in males, it's what's deemed as attractive from first glance. Same can be said for females and the hour glass shape.] We look for immediate cues to tell us whether or not someone can be mated with.

YOU NEED TO EMBRACE SOME VANITY Is it cultural? Is it evolutionary? Physiological? Really, who cares? Part of building a body that matters is being proud of what you look like. The seed is implanted. And as long as it’s there, wehave to address it. So embrace your vanity. When I was in 9th grade and a classmate told me I had “boobs,” I sure didn’t care

about culture. Of course, it’s not good to base the entirety of your existence on your physical-self. But let’s face it: feeling good about your appearance trickles to every aspect of your life. How you perceive yourself is the most important step in any physical transformation – and why I started the Skinny-Fat Ectomorph series with a post on mentality. Bottom line: If you have any semblance of aesthetic regard, and you don’t address it, you will fail. If you have no hook with how you look, don’t worry about it. But if one slice of your brain wants bigger arms, and you ignore it, you’re cooked.

YOU’RE SCREWED, SORT OF… Shoulder and hip width are genetically determined, and you can’t adjust skeletal structure. So if you’re born with narrow shoulders relative to your waist (like me), you have a lot of work ahead of you to make yourself into an X. Instead of hating your parents and cursing to the clouds, focus your energy on building muscles in the right places to give yourself a better shot at the X Physique. It sounds easy, but I kind of already know your problem. You’re focusing on the wrong places. The term “broad shoulders” is a bit misleading. If you’re throwing all of your focus to the front deltoids, you’re wasting your time.

THE NEED TO KNOW 1: TRAIN LIKE A BODYBUILDER Everyone wants programs. But programs pale compared to principles. You won’t often find me writing programs for free on this website. I’m much more concerned about you developing

the right philosophy – a mindset that sticks with you for life. The following will be hard to swallow. But stop thinking about maximal strength. Just stop. The goal here isn’t to break powerlifting world records. The goal is physique. That’s all. YOU NEED TO TRAIN LIKE A BODYBUILDER, NOT A POWERLIFTER I’m not talking about doing machine work or a host of isolation exercises, either. When it comes to lifting weights, the goal is to continually overload the muscles. The easiest and most trackable way to do this is by slapping more plates on the bar. The problem with this philosophy is that the muscles become secondary to the weight. But the muscles are what actually lift the weights. This is different than most athletic performance methods. Plyometrics and the likes are more suited to train the nervous system and the entire musculoskeletal complex. So muscular control isn’t as concerning. But when dealing with “carving” a physique, Arnold said it best: ”The weights are just a means to an end; how well you contract the muscles is what training is all about.” This shift away from muscular control — in my opinion — is at fault for a lot of barbell related injuries. You should be lifting weights — unless you’re doing a complex or overspeed movement — with your mind in your muscles. Control the weight, mentally and physically, through-out the entire range of motion. Make the muscles work in every phase. Think about them squeezing and lengthening. And before I get the hatred, I’m not downing the importance of strength. Dan John hits it when he said: “You need to do two things to get stronger: add weight and do more reps. The answer has never been: lift light weights for high reps, or lift heavy weights for few reps. The answer remains: Lift heavy weights for high reps.” But my addition to this is: heavy weight, high reps, with the mind in control of the muscles at work. (And by high reps, I’m talking about 5-10, which is “high” compared to the “few” reps referenced by Dan.) The goal is to “sculpt.” Remember, it’s about proportional muscle, so what muscles get stressed the most in movement is important. And you can control this with the mind-muscle

connection.

THE NEED TO KNOW 2: IT’S LESS ABOUT PRESSING Broad shoulders are a hallmark of the X Physique. But it’s not about pressing, really. Pressing is secondary. Maybe even tertiary. So if you’re benching to grow the upper body for the X Physique, you’re missing out. It starts with the back. Hands down. Most famous poses for showing off the X Physique don’t even involve the shoulders. More specifically, it starts the the lats. The lats are the number one muscle to give someone a wider look. Some people even call lats “wings.” And I’m all about wings and taking flight (metaphorically) here at Life As Sport. Hell, even birds expand their wings to intimidate others. Big lats are a big mental boost.

THE NEED TO KNOW 3: BIG ARMS HELP After building wings, building big arms helps create an a wider look. Yes, I said it. Big arms.But this only applies is you have the right back development. Big arms without the wide lats means you just look like another goon. But taking one look at Don Howorth will help you understand what I mean.

THE NEED TO KNOW 4: PRESSING POSITION MATTERS Of all body parts, the chest is the most finicky. And despite what I said earlier, pressing is still

important. It’s just not the end all. One thing to note about the X Physique and pressing is that puffy chests usually lose. Arnold had a great physique, but he rarely gets put in the same category as others for having the X Physique. In this regard, the chest and pressing exercises chosen are important and should tailor to your body type. Blindly flat benching because powerlifters do won’t get you very far in the aesthetic column.

THE NEED TO KNOW 5: IT’S NOT ABOUT SIZE FOR THE SAKE OF SIZE Although I touched on this earlier, if you’re in the running for an X Physique, it’s less about gaining a set amount of weight. Being 200 pounds reveals little abouthow that muscle is packed on your frame. It might be more beneficial to be 190 with the muscle in the right places. It’s important you pick exercises and divide your time among what will propel you towards your goal. In other words, everything you do should have a specific goal or meaning attached to it. Don’t do anything for the sake of doing it. Make sure its specific rationale fits in with your entire rationale. In most cases, a good physique is an illusion between muscle groups built in the right proportion when compared to one another. Anyone with an X Physique will immediately be perceived as more muscular, even if they are smaller or lighter. This is the beauty of proportion, and is something that has been lost over time. Again, not to dog basic barbell training — it is certainly is important — but the idea of not tailoring your program to your psychological wants (getting an X Physique, for instance) has cursed the population of people that pick up weights. The vast majority lift to look better — even if they lie and use the “it’s all about strength” excuse.

For someone that never wants to compete in powerlifting, there’s no reason why they can’t forego flat benching for incline benching, if that’s something that willwork better for them. It’s not like swapping out benching for bosu ball one arm semi sumi functional presses. It’s one basic barbell lift for another. And I’m all about basic barbell lifts. Just the ones that are best suited for each goal. Consider it basic barbell training with a twist.

The X Physique Part II – Do These Things, Not Those Things Think of where you want to add muscle. I know you have a few spots in mind. And these spots are probably your trouble areas — areas that don’t seem to add muscle quite as well as rest of your body. Everyone has them. And acknowledging them — and wanting to build them in portion to the rest of your body — shows that there’s a little something more to physique than just questing for absolute muscle mass. It’s about absolute proportionalmuscle mass. And the proportion most everyone is after? The X Physique. The X Look. The X whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it. See The XPhysique Part I – What It Is, Why You Want It, and What You Should Know About It and 5 Old School Methods for New Muscle if you aren’t familiar with this fabled body frame. And as for developing the the X Physique? Don’t worry — I got you covered. Just do these things, not those things.

Do This, Not That for an X Physique Do some kind of chin-up every day. Never go to failure either. Slowly and steadily increase volume over time.

Don’t avoid chin-ups in favor of rows. Chin-ups are difficult, I know. But don’t be an idiot. If your elbow is giving you problems find a way to do chins with a neutral grip. Do your curls with a thick grip. They’ll help your biceps grow, especially if you’re skinny. And biceps can go a long way in creating a pleasing physique from the front. Fat Gripz do wonders for this. Don’t toy around with curl variations; pick one or two and work with them over time. Heed the thick grip recommendation above. (Hint: barbell curls and hammer curls are the answer here.) Wear shirts that fit tight around the neck. It de-emphasizes your lackluster upper chest. Just make sure it isn’t so tight that it makes your lower chest look like you have a C cup. (Unless you’re a chick, in which case this is a good thing.) Don’t wear loose clothing. Be picky here. Make sure you try your clothes on before buying them. They have to fit your body right. Clothes can make a big difference. Do a bunch of chin-up variations, pull-ups included. Sure, we do chin-ups frequently. But you don’t have to drone yourself into one variation. Sternum chin-ups, front lever pull-ups, and basically any variation where you’re hanging on something works. Don’t do nothing but chin-ups, your elbows won’t be happy. Mix in some pull-ups at the least. Buy some rings if you can. Have fun. Focus on the muscles you need to grow. Look at yourself and see what muscles need to be bigger. It’s probably the shoulders and lats. Don’t focus on muscles you want to shrink. They won’t. Nothing’s going to shrink your waist. It will grow with everything else. The key is making the muscles in the point above grow that much larger in comparison. Do incline presses on a 30 degree incline. It will hit your upper chest best. A 45 degree incline shifts most emphasis to the shoulders. Don’t flat barbell bench press. Unless you’re a powerlifter, in which case, why the hell do you care about proportion? Pick stuff up and put it overhead; this requires a lot of lifting on your own feet. Picking stuff up will make your back grow. Getting it into a position to press it overhead will make your upper back grow. Putting it overhead will make your shoulders grow. Are you seeing why this is important? Don’t do a lot of things sitting down. Incline bench pressing. That’s about it. Do a lot of things where your hands support your body weight. Chin-ups, dips, levers, handstands, planche practice. (Rings help with this.) Don’t let the bar be your only form of upper body resistance. Putting your body weight to use in challenging ways does wonders — especially if you’re progressing to straight arm

gymnastics ring work. Front squat. It will hit the upper back in a unique way. Don’t get fancy with leg exercises; the barbell is the solution. Squats. That is all. Pull with a snatch grip sometimes. This can be power snatches, snatch pulls, or snatch grip deadlifts. Don’t forget about conventional deadlifts. It’s still the base pulling exercise. Get good at it. Do barbell rows with your back parallel to the ground. You’re going to be doing enough pulling with your body vertical. Don’t ditch barbell rows in favor of dumbbell rows; your troubles can be solvedhere. Old timers used to barbell row on top of a box to get a full stretch at the bottom position. The barbell and the stretch are the take home points. Do some Olympic lifting. See the part about getting stuff to your shoulders and putting it overhead. Don’t do shrugs. You’re better off doing another exercise that will contribute to something else too. Just do your deadlifts and finish with a shrug. Get to your solid base. Don’t think you need to be 200 pounds to look good. Frank Zane — who many considered to have had the “best” physique – only weighed 185. And that was likely with performance enhancing drugs in his system. Overload chin-ups with sub-maximal volume. If you add one rep to the total amount of chins you can do every week, you’ll be up 50 reps within a year. It won’t happen, but it shows you the power of volume over time. Don’t overdo weighted chin-ups. One session per week at max. Flare your elbows on your rows and use some oomph. Flaring your elbows will hit your upper back more. This is a good thing. Also use your legs a bit to get the weight moving. The upper body will be further overloaded by the increased weight you’re using. Don’t flop like a fish or anything, just use a controlled boost. Don’t row with super strict form. No one that does is worth a salt. Learning how to create and use force with a little extra body movement is key in almost every lift. Why do you think old time Olympic pressers shifted their hips back and forth on the press? Go train now. You won’t get the physique you want reading articles online all day.