Hey Nation,

 

I’m in a cycle of gaining no muscle at all, and i’m finding it near damn impossible to break the cycle. I’m sure most of you have heard of skinny fat, that’s what i am and i have come to the one place where there’s a loyal and knowledgeable community that can help me out as you have in the past.

Below are pictures of me, the first one is no tensing at all, and the rest show what little gains i have made. I am not happy with the way i look, i want to build muscle, but i don’t want to have this layer of fat that i have now still on my body. I know what my problem is as to why i’m not building muscle, it’s because i’m eating no where near enough protein nor have the best diet, but not the worst (something i don’t understand is i always find myself eating below what my maintenance caloric level is but i still don’t lose my fat).

I’m willing to dedicate 100% of my effort towards a better meal plan, when i commit to something i do it. I’m on school break now and finished my mid year exams so have nothing to worry about. Summer is approx 6 months away so i don’t have much time to act so i want to be 100% strict with everything. My rough plan i have in my head is to lean bulk (2500 calories, high protein, mostly raw foods) for 3 months and then give myself 3 months to lean down. Now i know that i won’t have much of a foundation to cut onto, but i rather be sort of skinny then be skinny fat.

Lets say i go down this road that i have in my head, how much time should i give myself to lean down, is 3 months too long? too short? or even yet should i cut now and then when i get to around ~12% bf i lean bulk? Do i do HIIT cardio when i do decide to cut or steady state (something such as 20 minutes on a stair master or 40minute walk).

I know how to workout, I have a pretty good workout routine so that’s not my issue. I need your help nation to give me advice what to do as this is all really stressing me out. I want a body that i can show off. What i’d love from you guys is help on what i should do, how many calories?, cut?, bulk? how much time should i give myself to cut? anything! I don’t want to look the exact same in summer as i do now (yes i know it’s a long process, but surely change can occur in 6 months? Please ask me any questions i can answer for you to help me more, the community Scott has built is the best one out there and there’s no denying that, i trust that you can help me out.

Thanks a ton in advance.

Travis

 

P.S - Am i around 18% BF?

Travis,

 

First off, don't get too overwhelmed. The process to transform your physique is nowhere as complicated as people make it. It takes patience and persistence. I can say you have a good base to build off of and you will have some decent size once you lean out and add some muscle :-)

 

The human body has an amazing ability to adapt and to maintain homeostasis. As such, if you do certain things too often the body adapts and has no incentive to change. Reducing body fat and growing muscle is your body's response and adaptation to exercise and diet "stressors". Eating below maintenance calories while not increasing your activity level and not eating nutritious wholesome foods just tells your body to slow down your metabolism. This means you go absolutely nowhere and in fact your resting maintenance level actually decreases. If you want to go at this the right way, you first need to do the following:

 

1) Calculate your RMR.

2) Calculate your macros and percentage breakdown based on your goal - lean gains is no more than 250-500 calories over RMR. I wouldn't think about "cut" or "bulk" right now but rather just "build". The more lean mass you have the more calories you burn and the more body fat you will lose. This will happen simultaneously as you do lean gains. "Cutting" and "bulking" are more reserved for people who already have their physique where they want it and are now looking to improve it in some way.

3) You MUST eat a wholesome nutritious diet ALL THE TIME. No slacking here and no cheat meals and other "nutritional short cuts". I am one of the few people on this board that doesn't buy into the "cheat meal" and IIYFM bullshit. Nutrition is 90% of any body transformation process and you either do it correctly from the start or don't waste your time :-) Once your metabolism and body adapt to clean eating, there will be no need for cheat meals or other nutritional dalliances.

4) It sounds like you know what to do workout-wise. I would highly suggest 4-day/week full body workouts to maximize muscle gain and calorie burn. Your goal is lean muscular growth not strength training.

5) I would mix in HIIT and steady state cardio. Do a couple days HIIT and a couple days steady state. I would not do cardio everyday. 4 days will be enough especially when doing intense full body workouts.

6) Your workouts should be short and intense.....no more than 60-90 minutes and should incorporate drop sets, super sets, and other higher volume training Scott has done videos on. Again, you need to show your body that your energy needs are high and it needs to tap into fat reserves as well as glucose stores to meet this demand.

7) Make sure to get plenty of rest days as you grow when you rest not when down the gym. It is easy to start seeing results and then think more is better. 4 days of training with 4 days of cardio and a proper nutrition plan will be enough to achieve your goal. Only after you have a couple of years of lifting experience and eating correctly can you investigate increasing your workout frequency.

 

Natural body transformations do not happen overnight and it is good you already realize this. While I can guarantee you will not be where you want to be after 3 months, you should see a noticeable change after 6 months and by 1 year you should be at or near your goal. The #1 factors that will determine how quickly you will see change will be nutrition and intensity. You need to put only the best food in your body in the right macro ratios all the time and train like an animal in the gym. Only this will force your body to adapt in a positive manner and break your skinny-fat cycle :-)

 

John

Travis,

 

First off, don't get too overwhelmed. The process to transform your physique is nowhere as complicated as people make it. It takes patience and persistence. I can say you have a good base to build off of and you will have some decent size once you lean out and add some muscle :-)

 

The human body has an amazing ability to adapt and to maintain homeostasis. As such, if you do certain things too often the body adapts and has no incentive to change. Reducing body fat and growing muscle is your body's response and adaptation to exercise and diet "stressors". Eating below maintenance calories while not increasing your activity level and not eating nutritious wholesome foods just tells your body to slow down your metabolism. This means you go absolutely nowhere and in fact your resting maintenance level actually decreases. If you want to go at this the right way, you first need to do the following:

 

1) Calculate your RMR.

2) Calculate your macros and percentage breakdown based on your goal - lean gains is no more than 250-500 calories over RMR. I wouldn't think about "cut" or "bulk" right now but rather just "build". The more lean mass you have the more calories you burn and the more body fat you will lose. This will happen simultaneously as you do lean gains. "Cutting" and "bulking" are more reserved for people who already have their physique where they want it and are now looking to improve it in some way.

3) You MUST eat a wholesome nutritious diet ALL THE TIME. No slacking here and no cheat meals and other "nutritional short cuts". I am one of the few people on this board that doesn't buy into the "cheat meal" and IIYFM bullshit. Nutrition is 90% of any body transformation process and you either do it correctly from the start or don't waste your time :-) Once your metabolism and body adapt to clean eating, there will be no need for cheat meals or other nutritional dalliances.

4) It sounds like you know what to do workout-wise. I would highly suggest 4-day/week full body workouts to maximize muscle gain and calorie burn. Your goal is lean muscular growth not strength training.

5) I would mix in HIIT and steady state cardio. Do a couple days HIIT and a couple days steady state. I would not do cardio everyday. 4 days will be enough especially when doing intense full body workouts.

6) Your workouts should be short and intense.....no more than 60-90 minutes and should incorporate drop sets, super sets, and other higher volume training Scott has done videos on. Again, you need to show your body that your energy needs are high and it needs to tap into fat reserves as well as glucose stores to meet this demand.

7) Make sure to get plenty of rest days as you grow when you rest not when down the gym. It is easy to start seeing results and then think more is better. 4 days of training with 4 days of cardio and a proper nutrition plan will be enough to achieve your goal. Only after you have a couple of years of lifting experience and eating correctly can you investigate increasing your workout frequency.

 

Natural body transformations do not happen overnight and it is good you already realize this. While I can guarantee you will not be where you want to be after 3 months, you should see a noticeable change after 6 months and by 1 year you should be at or near your goal. The #1 factors that will determine how quickly you will see change will be nutrition and intensity. You need to put only the best food in your body in the right macro ratios all the time and train like an animal in the gym. Only this will force your body to adapt in a positive manner and break your skinny-fat cycle :-)

 

John

Wow, Thanks for such a detailed response John! I just have a few things to clear up.

 

I'm a bit unsure whether you were suggesting to lean down or continue in a "bulking phase" (I know you said i shouldn't refer to it as bulk/cut, but you know what i mean). I made a rough calculation and came to the conclusion that my RMR is 1950 calories, if that's the case, how much should i be eating to lean down? You said that i have a decent base to build off and will have some size when i lean out, are you referring to when i finally add more muscle or do you mean if i lean out now i won't exactly be the skinniest guy and still have some muscle. Most people around 16/17 years old are skinny so if i were to still have even a tiny bit of size i'd be happy with that.

 

You also mentioned that i should do 4 days/week full body workouts, i really enjoy doing a PPL split twice a week with one day rest, i really feel like my body recovers in time for me to be able to train this frequently. Is this something i could continue doing? I understand mostly everything you mentioned and am thankful for your response, what i was most unsure about is whether you were saying i should lean out. My personal mind is telling me i should, and my mind is telling me is i should continue leaning out and then add lean gains when i get to my desired BF%.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you again.

Travis.

Wow, Thanks for such a detailed response John! I just have a few things to clear up.

 

I'm a bit unsure whether you were suggesting to lean down or continue in a "bulking phase" (I know you said i shouldn't refer to it as bulk/cut, but you know what i mean). I made a rough calculation and came to the conclusion that my RMR is 1950 calories, if that's the case, how much should i be eating to lean down? You said that i have a decent base to build off and will have some size when i lean out, are you referring to when i finally add more muscle or do you mean if i lean out now i won't exactly be the skinniest guy and still have some muscle. Most people around 16/17 years old are skinny so if i were to still have even a tiny bit of size i'd be happy with that.

 

You also mentioned that i should do 4 days/week full body workouts, i really enjoy doing a PPL split twice a week with one day rest, i really feel like my body recovers in time for me to be able to train this frequently. Is this something i could continue doing? I understand mostly everything you mentioned and am thankful for your response, what i was most unsure about is whether you were saying i should lean out. My personal mind is telling me i should, and my mind is telling me is i should continue leaning out and then add lean gains when i get to my desired BF%.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you again.

Travis.