Cardio Versus Weights: Which One To Pick If You’re Skinny Fat

Are you skinny fat and wondering if you should focus on cardio versus weights? Do you feel like it’s impossible to make up your mind? Have you ever wondered if the two offer similar benefits?

If so, you’re in luck. Read on because this guide will teach you everything you need to know about the type of training you should do as a skinny fat beginner.

Let’s dive in.

What Does It Mean to Be ‘Skinny Fat’?

A skinny fat individual lacks muscle mass but carries a high amount of body fat. As a result, the person appears thin while wearing clothes, but a layer of fat covers their body, robbing them of any muscle definition.

Many skinny fat people are at a healthy weight (a body mass index of 18.5 to 24.9) but could still be at risk of health issues, similar to someone overweight (1). Therefore, fixing the skinny fat physique is not only beneficial for improving how you look and gaining confidence. It is also necessary for maintaining good health and reducing the risk of issues down the road.

Here is a skinny fat man:

And here is how a skinny fat girl looks:

What Does It Take to Fix The Skinny Fat Physique?

Fixing the skinny fat body type is relatively straightforward. One must build muscle mass and lose fat. Replacing even a few pounds of fat with lean tissue can have a positive effect on their appearance and health markers.

The problem is that losing fat and building muscle is easier said than done. First, a skinny fat individual must lose weight carefully and avoid the common mistakes that cause muscle breakdown. Second, the person needs to spend periods in a calorie surplus to promote muscle growth. Third, and perhaps most important, skinny fat folks need to know what goal to focus on at any given time.

Let’s examine the two popular exercise modalities (cardio versus weights) and see which is more beneficial for building muscle and losing fat.

Cardio For Skinny Fat Individuals

Cardiovascular exercise, also known as cardio, is a popular form of training, often prescribed to people who want to shed fat. Many skinny fat beginners embark on their fitness journey believing that running on the treadmill or riding a bike for several hours per week will make them look like fitness models. There are also some individuals who want to believe they can get fit without any form of training, but that’s a topic for another day.

Unfortunately, the idea is simply not accurate. First, most cardio activities don’t train all the major muscle groups in your body. Take the treadmill as an example. Walking, jogging, and running mostly train your calves and involve your quadriceps. Increasing the incline shifts the emphasis to the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings), but that’s about it (2). Your back, arms, shoulders, chest, and midsection barely receive any stimulation.

Second, the muscles that do work during less intense activities like jogging grow initially and only to a small degree. Once you get used to the form of exercise, growth stops, and you primarily work your cardiovascular system. The primary reason for the lack of growth is that you barely overload the involved muscles. You can walk/run slightly quicker or go for a few extra minutes, but your body adapts to the stress level, and progress stops.

Third, doing only cardio while in a calorie deficit leads to muscle loss because of the poor or non-existent stimulus. As a result, you lose weight, but a larger percentage is lean tissue, further contributing to a skinny fat physique. Even if you eat at maintenance or attempt to bulk, the poor stimulus would keep you from gaining any muscle, which is necessary for changing how your physique looks.

Weight Training For Skinny Fat People

Weight training is the second popular form of exercise you can leverage to improve your body's appearance. Lifting weights is not as popular for a variety of reasons. First, and perhaps most notably, people don’t associate lifting weights with losing fat. They link it to building muscle and getting bigger. So, if you’re primarily interested in becoming slimmer, you’re less likely to lift weights.

Here’s a question I received from a reader a while ago:

Apart from controlling my food intake, what workouts/exercises can I do to reduce my overall body weight? Like, could you give me a workout plan?

I told the person that progressive resistance training would promote fat loss and possibly lead to some muscle gain. The reader wrote back:

I'm about 110 kg and wanted to drop to 80-90 kg or maybe max to 75 kg, but I'm not too sure about lifting heavy weights. I look wide enough, and consequently, I appear short, although I'm 1.85 m, and I just don’t want to bulk more.

Notice the language. The person instinctively links heavy weight training to gaining weight and becoming broader. Many women also assume that lifting weights would somehow make them bulky and Hulk-like.

These ideas are nothing more than old myths that refuse to die. Weight training won’t make you big unless you also maintain a calorie surplus for an extended period (3). No person has ever gotten big by accident. The process requires tremendous dedication, emphasis on sound training principles, regular progress tracking, and consistent overload.

Cardio Versus Weights for Building Muscle And Losing Fat

Doing some form of cardio for up to one or two hours per week can be beneficial. Aerobic exercise offers numerous health benefits, makes it easy to maintain a calorie deficit for fat loss, and improves work capacity (4).

Aside from focusing on the fat loss part of the equation, fixing the skinny fat looks also depends on building muscle. In fact, building muscle will have a far more profound impact on how your body looks. Muscle adds shape to your body and makes you appear leaner even at a higher body fat percentage.

The best and most practical way to build muscle is to do weight training three to four days per week. Perform a variety of compound (bench press, squat, barbell row, etc.) and isolation (bicep curl, tricep extension, chest fly, etc.) exercises, focus on progressively increasing the weight you’re using, and you will gain muscle mass.

If you must choose between weight training and cardio, focus on weights and only do cardio if you have the time and energy. One option is to do a bit of cardio on your days off from lifting. For example:

Monday - weights
Tuesday - cardio
Wednesday - weights
Thursday - cardio
Friday - weights
Saturday & Sunday - off

Alternatively, do some cardio in the morning and lift weights in the evening. If that doesn’t work, lift weights first and finish your sessions with 15 to 20 minutes of low-intensity cardio. Check out A 4-Day Skinny Fat Workout Plan to Build Muscle and Strength.

Final Thoughts

Focusing on the proper training modality (cardio versus weights) will save you time, effort, and frustration. Weight training is the most practical way to build muscle, lose fat, improve your body's appearance, and become more functional. Combining a good training program with a good diet and progress tracking will ensure fantastic results in record time.

Some aerobic exercise can be beneficial, but you should focus on weight training and only do cardio if you have the time and energy.