The Skinny Fat Solution – Anthony Mychal

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It’s hard enough for regular guys to build muscle…but for us? For skinny-fat guys? It seems impossible with the typical advice.

That’s why I don’t follow typical advice. Instead, I use my own three step system. Wanna learn more?

Somewhere in Africa, a lion sits in the wild.

He wakes up to unknown food rations, weather patterns, and dangers. Yet he’s bold enough to handle his own life. His survival is his responsibility, and his responsibility alone.

Somewhere in a zoo, a lion sits in a cage.

He’s given food, shelter, and a safeguard from danger. He’s but a pawn, and not in charge of his own life.

Both of these creatures are lions; only one is king.

They have the same hardware — they’re made up of the same anatomical “stuff” — but the software makes all the difference.

Skinny-fat? You’re living in a unique cage.

Your software is broken. Your fat cells complicate things. Your body needs built back up in a specific way not only from a muscular proportion standpoint, but also from a overall body composition sequence standpoint.

I know these things because I was once in the skinny-fat cage.

I’ve come to be known as a skinny-fat guru of sorts, and I’m proud of that because I share your scars. Wider hips. Stretch marks on my lower back. Oh yes, the string bean arms, small wrists, lower chest fat, narrow shoulders, and the entire skinny-fat package was one there. But I’ve since learned how to live out there in the wild, and I’d like to help you do the same.

That’s why, when I had the chance to write for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s personal website, I wrote about skinny-fat syndrome. Now, I’ve been published a lot of places. But Arnold’s personal website? And skinny-fat as my topic of choice? That should tell you everything you need to know about me. (And maybe that Goku turning Super Saiyan changed my life. There was also this thing where a chick told me I had girl boobs in my skinny-fat heyday, but . . .)

It’s a complicated cage. It’s not one most people deal with, and here’s why this matters to you.

We typically learn from those that came before us and have done what we want to do. The problem with this for us? Most people that have done what we want to do didn’t start skinny-fat.

Those fat cells you have? They complicate things. Fat cells don’t really die. They shrink, but they’re always there. If you’ve filled them up in the past, chances are they’re prone to refill. This is something I call a flinch to fat. Your body, for whatever reason, has decided that flinching extra energy and nutrients to fat cells is a good idea, and so it’s going to be a factor. It will always be a factor.

Why is it important? Because true-skinny guys don’t often have a flinch to fat.

True-skinny guys, when they start training, carve out one path to muscle. The flow follows that one path. That’s why they can chow down on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all day and gain muscle without turning into lard. But if you’re skinny-fat?

You already have a path to body fat that’s paved and frequently travelled. The goal isn’t necessarily “fat loss” because that does nothing to fix what’s familiar. When you stop going fat loss berserk, you still have the paved path. And you’ll probably just get fat again. Now, fat loss is a part of the overall goal, but it isn’t the real goal. The real goal is to rewire the flinch.

Your body proportions also complicate things. You have a unique build. Not only do you need to use the worthwhile training methods that will actually build muscle, you have to be mindful of where that muscle is going to end up. A great muscle building program might not be great for you because, although you probably need muscle to build a good body, you need muscle in the right places.

Old school physical culturalists like Vince Gironda pioneered this idea with his relentless quest for an “X” shaped physique. This is important for you, too. It’s not always about “as much muscle as possible,” but rather about as much muscle possible in the right places. Physique is like a sculpture in that it’s an illusion. You can look a lot better with less clay if you know how to shape it right. But there’s a fine balance between getting overly detailed and prissy vs. knowing when to throw down hunks of clay in the right places vs. throwing down hunks of clay haphazardly. We need to be in the middle.

People are different. You are different. We can’t deny that some have better genetics for carrying and building muscle and being lean.

We don’t usually don’t fall in that bucket. Smaller and thinner bones make for smaller muscles generally. (I can wrap my fingers around my wrist and touch pinky to thumb.) The wunderkinds might have more muscle naturally or might build muscle with less effort or might build muscle using less effective exercises. Sadly, most people that “make it” don’t come from our background.

Our background, our “cage,” is a product of three things: nature (genetics), nurture (culture), and good old random chance.

It’s not that you can’t build muscle, it’s just that you can’t build muscle the same way the wunderkind does. Nurture is one third of the equation. You have control over this. Our body is aware of the world that it’s in, and so it “works” based upon this feedback. You created an environment in which your body said, “The best way for me to survive this is to be skinny-fat.” Sound depressing, right?

Wrong.

Because you have the power to change it. You are in control. You can step into the wild.

SOLDIER 3.0

The first stages gets the body saying, “Oh hey, these muscles? Yeah, they’re kind of important. Let’s think about them.” And, “Oh hey, this body fat? It doesn’t have to be here. Let’s use some of it up.” If you play your cards right, it’s not uncommon to drop fat and build some muscle here. It’s cruising into both muscle building and fat loss without erring too far to either end to see how the body responds.

This is where you learn the powerful barbell and bodyweight exercises that will best contribute to not only current “X” physique intentions, but also lead into exercises in the future. Some other work for fat loss is recommended, usually walking, sprinting, or rope jumping in a way that doesn’t interfere with the basic strength work.

Nutrition caters to muscle recovery but also promotes fat loss.

SOLDIER 2.0

The first stage usually works well. At some point though, the body usually says, “Alright, alright. I made some changes, but I don’t know how comfortable I am losing all of my fat. I’m going to hold onto some of it; I’m going to cherish it a bit more than the rest.”

This is where you tell the body, “There is no option. The fat? It’s gotta’ go.” This is the stubborn fat phase, and is SOLDIER 2.0, which SOLDIER 3.0 laid a foundation for. We really jam home fat loss here, but only as much as necessary. We let 3.0 run its course because it’s best for muscle. When you go severe fat loss, muscle is usually on hold, so that’s why SOLDIER 2.0 is only a ten week thing for when it counts.

We ramp up fat loss specific work and make some changes to prevent the dreaded starvation mode and the body locking up its fat cells.

SOLDIER 1.0

After 2.0 is over, you’re looking at coasting into muscle building and being happy, but there’s something you need to know: times of catabolism and breakdown stimulate for times of anabolism and build up. This sounds great for muscle, and it is, but most skinny-fat guys will have energy grubbing fat cells prowling. I call these “Gollum cells,” seeking their pressccciiiouusss.

That’s why, after 2.0, I recommend making the muscles hyperactive while bringing nutrition to more of an autopilot feel. When you do this, you bring your body to a reset point where the muscles are hyperdemanding so any extra energy you happen to take in goes there and the fat cells get downplayed majorly. You aren’t actively seeking out muscle or eating for it, but that’s the point of the reset.

This puts you in the best spot moving forward.

And that’s the purpose of SOLDIER. (Sorry, no Mako involved. And if you know what I’m talking about we can be friends.) We live in an age of endless programs, and people running around like chickens without heads. SOLDIER is a three step system created with one single intention: you’re skinny-fat, you’re in that cage, here’s how you changed every possible aspect of nurture (training, nutrition, life) to break free. And I’m not talking about just seeing change, I’m talking about really adjusting things inside — rewiring the flinch.

And this brings us to The Skinny-Fat Solution.

The Skinny-Fat Solution is a comprehensive resource packed with PDF eBooks and other useful tools that, depending on your level of interest, take you through SOLDIER. As of now, there are three levels you can go with. I’ll run through all of them now, but you should also read about my “No Ass-to-risk Guarantee” that follows.

THE STANDARD PACK
(SOLDIER 3.0 ON LOCKDOWN)

The Standard Pack has everything you need to go from zero to SOLDIER 3.0 hero. It contains the training, nutrition, and lifestyle basics to start changing your body. All of the below are instantly downloaded eBook PDF documents that come together in a .ZIP file.

SOLDIER PHILOSOPHY PDF hits you with a comprehensive look at how SOLDIER comes together. It might just light a fire under your feet. (Warning: it mentions Sparta. I’ve been told that anything that incorporates Sparta must be good. Just saying.)

SOLDIER 3.0 X PHYSIQUE TRAINING PDF gives you the program and teaches you the philosophy behind muscle building, specifically in a way that’s going to cater to an “X” physique. It’s a barbell and bodyweight training program.

SOLDIER 3.0 NUTRITION PDF will have you looking at nutrients in a way a casual Google search could never teach you. It gives you the nutrition basics you need in order to make any meaningful body composition strides—how to eat for losing fat, yet also what to consider for muscle repair and growth.

SOLDIER 3.0 QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE PDF gives you the most important nuggets of information from the training, nutrition, and posture/movement guides in one handy dandy place.

SOLDIER 3.0 POSTURE & MOVEMENT PDF teaches you how move. Period. It dissects the fundamental human movements in the squat, press, pull, and hinge, and also guts the issue of posture (as it’s often a skinny-fat sore spot).

SOLDIER 3.0 EXERCISE BREAKDOWN PDFbreaks down each “main” lift within the program and gives suggestions for substitutions. It also gives links to YouTube videos for demonstrations and is chock full of pictures and diagnosing common problems.

(6) SOLDIER 3.0 KITCHEN AND LIFE VOODOO sets you straight. Let’s face it. This journey effects everyone around you. This document is the real gem, in my opinion. It gives you some recipes and kitchen tricks as well as some tips on how to integrate changes into your lifestyle. It’s the stuff no one talks about, yet everyone does behind the scenes. How do you deal with nutrition habits at work? How do you deal with changing your life without de-friending your friends? How do you cook food in a time efficient way? How do you *gasp* enjoy eating vegetables? What spices make food taste good? Why is cheese the greatest thing in the world? (OK, so I don’t exactly tackle that last issue, but I’ll admit to the premise of it.)

+ FREE UPDATES FOR LIFE AND EMAIL CONTACT. I keep in touch with all buyers via email, sending them product updates and anything that crosses my nose that may be useful. This is why people that buy are students more than anything else.

THE HYPER PACK
(SOLDIER 3.0-1.0 ON LOCKDOWN)

The Hyper Pack includes everything within the Standard Pack plus these extra PDF documents. The Hyper Pack is designed to give you what you need to complete every phase of SOLDIER on your own. All of these are delivered together inside one .ZIP file.

SOLDIER 2.0: THE STUBBORN FAT LOSS PDF , which outlines nutrition and training changes to help you adjust to the fat loss wall and prevent the dreaded starvation mode. It also teaches you about the wall itself so you don’t exhaust the usefulness of this type of training. Crazily enough, this is the time when you probably should eat more here and there. This takes you through that.

SOLDIER 1.0: THE HYPERMUSCLE QUEST PDF, which tells you what you need to know about your new body, specifically that it probably wants to get fat again. Your fat cells are like Gollum in that they want their prescciioussss energy back. Inside, it also outlines the high frequency training philosophy that I like to use in this phase, which is how to combine high frequency bodyweight training and barbell training in a way that best fits your situation. It also shows you how to go about dialing back your nutrition so you’re not fat loss loopy, but yet at the same time not going into bulk mode. The goal is to “normalize” your body so that it cares more about muscle than fat. Warning: a side effect of this is usually getting jacked; just thought I’d let you know. SOLDIER 1.0 also begins to talk about how to transform some of the staple exercises into more powerful “X” physique exercises.

GMB PERFECTING THE PULL-UP PDF, I’m just going to lay it out there: I treat the barbell deadlift and chin-up like gold. Because they are gold. And because gold is important, I called in my friends over at Gold Medal Bodies to give you some training tips for the pull-up. Ryan Hurst (former gymnast) gives you a progression and proper form to go from 0 to 1 pull-up, and then even some advanced training suggestions.

THE INTERNAL MONOLOGUE PDF, I took pictures throughout the first year of my transformation. This PDF is a ‘lil special egg in the lot in that I self coach myself along the way from where I sit now. For instance, a few months in I actually look fatter than in the beginning because of how my body was losing fat. Just little informative nuggets like this I thought would be valuable.

+ THE STANDARD PACK

THE ULTIMA PACK
(SOLDIER 3.0-1.0 ON LOCKDOWN WITH PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK)

The Ultima Pack contains everything within the Standard and Hyper Packs, but also lifetime access to the “inner circle” coaching website. Like the Hyper Pack, it’s designed to take you through the entire SOLDIER system, but has much more of a personalized, community focus for those that need or want it. They PDFs and instructions for access are send immediately upon purchase.

ACCESS TO THE INNER CIRCLE for community support and also EXTRA courses. See, this isn’t The Skinny-Fat Solution’s first rodeo. I’ve had previous versions that make an appearance with the rationale of why I might have changed things, so there are different strategies there for those that might do better. Like I said: it’s a personalized kind of place. There’s a forum where you can get feedback on exercise form, additional learning courses, regularly scheduled face time (via Google+ / GoToMeeting) calls.