BY EMMET RUSHE: This article is aimed at men. It is going to be blunt and straight to the point and may offend.
We live in an age where everything is computerised.
You name it; you can do it online.
The trouble with this is that the majority of our lives are being spent in front of a computer.
As men, we sit too much, drink too much coffee, stress too much, don’t sleep enough, have pretty awful diets and don’t exercise enough.
Once upon a time, when food was food and there were no computers or video games, people used to go outside.
You heard that right kids, OUTSIDE.
You know that place where you go to get into the car, so you can drive to the gym and walk on a treadmill, or spin on a bike.
What is the result of the last few years of prosperity and technology?
We have a generation of men who are skinny fat!
This new body type is probably the most unhealthy that we as men are facing.
Skinny fat looks like this: The extremities (arms and legs) are completely normal looking. In some cases they are actually thin, whereas the trunk of the body is carrying quite a bit of excess body-fat.
When you are wearing jeans and a t-shirt you will look relatively normal. It won’t look as if there is a problem.
However, when you remove the t-shirt it will look as if you are wearing your grandfather’s skin for a shirt.
You will have “moobs”, belly fat and probably a muffin top.
To put it bluntly, you are beginning to look like a woman!
This is not an insult to women. It is natural for women to carry fat on certain parts of their bodies. Men simply should not be holding fat in the same areas.
This might seem a bit extreme, but when you look at the health and hormonal issues that are being studied regarding this issue, this is no laughing matter.
A recent study in Journal of the American Medical Association found that;
If you are skinny fat and get diagnosed with diabetes, you are twice as likely to die as if you are overweight and get diagnosed. You simply do not have the muscle mass that an overweight person has to protect you.
Testosterone levels in skinny fat men were also found to be extremely low, with oestrogen levels being overly high.
A simple test: when you wake up in the morning, are you flaccid?
If you are in your twenties and you consistently wake up like this, something is not right.
Stress levels are also extremely important in the issue of skinny fat.
Most people these days have stressful jobs, stressful commutes to work, and stressful lives outside of work.
They survive on coffee and energy drinks, are always on their phone or computers, never get into full deep sleep, which leaves nearly every situation they face feeling stressful.
This leaves cortisol levels high which in turn, will hamper the body’s ability to build muscle and to burn fat.
So let’s round this up;
If you recognize yourself in this description, you probably have moobs, belly fat and a muffin top, the testosterone levels of a 16 year old girl and the stress levels of a mortgage broker when the 2008 crash happened.
So what do we do?
How do we fix this problem and get men back to being MEN?
The first step is cleaning up your nutrition.
Stop eating pre-packaged and processed foods and reduce your consumption of refined carbs.
Reduce your consumption of carbonated drinks and alcohol.
Eat protein at every meal.
Increase your intake of healthy fats.
Take a multi vitamin, quality fish oil and a vitamin D supplement.
Doesn’t sound fun? Enjoy having Moobs!
Start lifting weights, aim for reps of between 6-10 reps and 3-6 sets per exercise.
Concentrate on the larger muscle groups and hit the big lifts like the squat, chin ups/lat pull down, deadlifts, bench press and overhead press.
STOP DOING CARDIO, you do not need it.
Trying to burn fat with excess cardio without building muscle will only leave you a skinnier fatter version of what you previously were.
Reduce you time online, especially before bed.
Preferably, there should be no screen time for 2-3 hours before bed.
What could you do instead?
Here’s a few ideas: GO OUTSIDE, GO TO THE GYM OR READ A BOOK.
Sooner or later you will have to face up to the fact that, if you are skinny fat, you are on the road to severe health issues in the near future.
How you deal with this is your choice, try and make it a good one.
#TrainSmart
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rushe-Fitness/120518884715118?ref=hl * Emmet is the owner and operator of Rushe Fitness
Tags: