Skinny Fat Cardio: How to Get Aerobic (+2 Simple Routines)

If you’ve read any of my other articles, you know I’m a big advocate of resistance training for weight loss and muscle growth.

Still, cardiovascular exercise is beneficial even for skinny fat people.

Today’s guide will outline the best skinny fat cardio tactics, the benefits, and how you can do aerobic exercise without putting yourself at risk of muscle loss.

But First: Focus On This

Before diving into skinny fat cardio recommendations and the routine, I’d like to go over some important information.

Fixing the skinny fat look comes down to building muscle mass and losing fat. The problem with cardio is that it cannot stimulate much muscle growth. It’s also not good for maintaining your muscle during a fat-loss diet.

Because of that, it’s necessary to focus your attention on weight training. The stimulus will promote muscle growth and improve how your body looks, provided you get enough sleep and eat enough protein (around 0.8 grams per pound of body weight) (1, 2).

Cardio is beneficial, but you should use it to complement an existing resistance training plan. Check out a previous article that outlines some excellent training tips for effective workouts.

Is Cardio Even Beneficial For Skinny Fat People?

Cardio exercise is beneficial for everyone. No matter who you are and what fitness goals you aspire to reach, doing some structured cardio will strengthen your heart, improve your work capacity, and contribute to a sense of well-being (3).

Doing some cardio can also be useful for fat loss. Aerobic activities burn calories, making it easier to achieve the necessary deficit to lose weight (4).

For example, let’s say that you need to eat 2,200 calories daily to lose the recommended 0.5 to 1 percent of your body weight weekly (5). If you do three cardio workouts and burn 700 calories, you would theoretically lose the same amount of weight while eating 2,300 calories.

Cardio can also improve health markers. The medical term for ‘skinny fat’ is normal weight medically obese (NWMO). While such individuals can be at a healthy weight, the higher body fat percentage can put them at risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome (6).

Doing cardio can be good for controlling blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol, leading to better health outcomes.

The Skinny Fat Cardio Drawbacks to Consider

1. Cardio Can Increase Your Appetite

Cardio is a good way to increase caloric expenditure and achieve the necessary deficit for fat loss. Unfortunately, it can also increase your appetite and lead to compensatory eating (7). In other words, you might burn 300, 400, or 500 calories doing cardio and end up overeating later.

Aerobic exercise doesn’t have the same effect for everyone, but you should consider how it might impact your appetite. If you feel extremely hungry after cardio, consider doing it at a different time of day (e.g., the morning as opposed to the evening) and try doing it fasted to see if it has the same effect on appetite.

2. Cardio Is Ineffective For Muscle Growth

As discussed previously, a drawback of aerobic exercise is that it fails to stimulate muscle growth. The stimulus isn’t significant enough, and most cardio activities are limited to a specific area of your body.

For example, jogging mostly stimulates the calves and quadriceps but not enough to result in much growth.

3. Cardio Can Interfere With Your Weight Training

Aside from not being good for muscle growth, cardio can interfere with your weight training, resulting in poor performance and progress.

The impedance is referred to as the interference effect that occurs when a person includes weight training and cardio in the same training plan (8).

A simple explanation is that cardio can be physically demanding and impact your recovery. You might experience more soreness that hinders your performance in the weight room.

A more complex explanation for the interference effect is the molecular signaling response induced by cardio. These metabolic signals can impair pathways regulating protein synthesis and promote protein breakdown.

Of course, the interference effect is only present when a person does too much cardio and in the form of a demanding activity (e.g., sprints). Limiting the amount of cardio you do, picking less demanding activities, and doing it on rest days from the gym are helpful ways to reduce the interference effect.

4. Cardio Can Be Boring

The fourth major issue with cardio is that it can be boring to do unless you find ways to switch things up. Boredom might not seem like a major issue, but you must enjoy your workouts to stay consistent and achieve good results in the long run.

The Best Cardio Activities For Skinny Fat Beginners

1. Fast Walking

Most people consider running the best form of cardio, but that isn’t always the case. Running puts more stress on your lower body, which can lead to nagging aches and overuse injuries in the long run. That’s especially true for older people looking to get fit.

Luckily, fast walking is an excellent alternative because it increases your heart rate and allows you to burn plenty of calories without stressing your ankles, knees, and hips.

Walking is also more beginner-friendly and less intimidating. No matter your starting point, you can almost certainly walk for at least a few minutes at a time. So long as you have that, you can build upon it over time.

Incline walking on a treadmill is also an excellent way to get your heart rate up and burn extra calories.

2. Light Jogging

Light jogging is also a decent cardio option for skinny fat people, but you should be careful and monitor for aches in your lower body.

The up-and-down motion can lead to more stress in your joints than walking, but optimizing your technique will reduce the risks.

3. Jumping Rope

Jumping rope is a more technical way to do cardio, and it takes a while to get started. Unlike walking and jogging, jumping rope is a skill you need to develop.

The great thing about jumping rope is that it works at almost any intensity, trains your entire body, and develops your coordination. Plus, all you need is a jump rope, and you can practice the activity almost anywhere.

4. Riding a Bike

Riding a bike is a simple, leisurely, and low-impact way to get your cardio in and reap all associated benefits. As an added advantage, riding a bike is excellent for getting around town and exploring new places.

You can also swap riding a bike for cycling on a stationary bike during the cold months. The two are different, but a stationary bike is still great for your cardio and offers a decent caloric burn.

5. Swimming

Like jumping rope, swimming is a more technical way to do cardio, and it takes a while to develop the skill. The great thing about swimming is that it puts almost no pressure on your joints, which means you’re at a lower risk of nagging aches and overuse injuries.

Swimming is an excellent full-body activity that trains your arms, shoulders, chest, back, midsection, and entire lower body. You can learn various styles, change the speed, and try numerous workout configurations to keep things engaging.

2 Simple Skinny Fat Cardio Routines

Walking

The first is a simple walking workout almost everyone can do. Of course, it’s best to consult your doctor if you have any health issues.

Put on comfortable shoes and go outside or jump on a treadmill.

1. Walk slowly for five minutes to warm up your body.

2. Increase the speed to bump your heart rate but keep the intensity to a level where you can still hold a conversation. Maintain that tempo for three to five minutes.

3. Slow down to a more moderate tempo to lower your heart rate. Go for another five minutes.

You can do that workout two to four times per week.

Strive to increase the length over time. For example:

Week 1 - 13 minutes/workout
Week 2 - 15 minutes/workout
Week 3 - 17 minutes/workout
Week 4 - 19 minutes/workout

Riding a Bike

The following routine is more suited for a stationary bike, but you can also make it work outside.

1. Start at a leisurely pace and a low resistance to get your heart rate up. Your legs shouldn’t feel much tension at this point. Go for around five minutes.

2. Bump the intensity to the point where you’re breathing more rapidly but can still talk with a friend. You should start feeling a moderate burn in your quadriceps at this point. Go for another three to five minutes.

3. Slow down the tempo to lower your heart rate and normalize your breathing. Go for another five to ten minutes.

Similar to the walking cardio workout, you can do this one up to four times per week, but be careful because too much quad stress can impact your lower body gym training.

Aim for gradual progress:

Week 1 - 13 minutes/workout
Week 2 - 15 minutes/workout
Week 3 - 17 minutes/workout
Week 4 - 19 minutes/workout

Conclusion

There you have it: skinny fat cardio routines to improve your health, boost your work capacity, and burn extra calories.

Cardio alone is not the best way to get fit, especially if you want a lean and aesthetic physique, but it can work as an addition to a good weight training routine.

Use aerobic exercise intelligently, and it will elevate your overall results.