In my most recent article — Why I’m still skinny-fat — I blamed my enduring failure to transform my physique on relentless OCD. Specifically compulsions pertaining to routines and optimisation. The chaos that it creates in my life and my training is the antithesis of the consistency that is required to transform one’s body. So it’s become apparent to me that my skinny-fat transformation is synonymous with my OCD recovery.
At the end of the day, I do actually want people to read this shit, and I was initially worried that a combined skinny-fat/OCD transformation might be getting a little too niche. But you know what? Maybe it isn’t. It would not shock me at all if a lot of skinny-fattees are similarly troubled. Not necessarily with OCD, but surely anxiety and depression must be disproportionately prevalent amongst our skinny-fat brethren. And of course OCD is never far away from developing in an anxious mind. It is a subset disorder of anxiety after all.
Why would skinny-fattees be susceptible to mental health issues?
Hormonal imbalance is rife in skinny-fattees. In many ways the effeminate disposition of a skinny-fat body-type (think moobs, love handles, a fat ass, and no muscle!) is the physical manifestation of low testosterone and high estrogen. Speaking of hormones, we can also see elevated cortisol levels and low DHEA manifesting in the skinny-fat physique which are both indicative of chronic stress physiology. I do think that this is both a cause and effect of why we observe poor recovery from resistance training and hard exercise in the skinny-fat condition. And attempts to overtrain our way out of skinny-fat only serve to compound the issue. Similarly hormonal imbalance and chronic stress can both be causes, or symptoms of mental health issues. I would say it stands to reason that many of my fellow skinny-fattees are struggling with their own mental demons that no doubt undermine not just your body transformation attempts, but also your life. I think that for many of us, though we make a lot of mistakes with our training and nutrition, the real reason that we can’t meaningfully change our physiques is because we have yet to adequately change ourselves. But I digress, I’m going off on a philosophical tangent once again.
Point being, I’m not going to fix my body until I fix my OCD and stop changing my routine every fucking week (or day). To that end I have made a commitment to myself to not change my routine again for the rest of the year.
Oh cool, end of story right? It both is and isn’t that simple, but the key is my intention. I have become increasingly aware just how much of who I thought I was, and the ways in which I attempt to optimise my life toward my goals is just my diabolical OCD infecting the mainframe in new and inventive ways. That’s how insidious OCD is, it hijacks your mind and you lose sight of who you are without it. Part of breaking the hypnosis is simply the awareness that you have OCD. Then you need to become adept at recognising it. And no matter how hard it may be when you’re in the midst of a compulsive urge, there really is no sugar-coating the fact that the only way to combat OCD is not to perform the compulsion. It’s frustrating because telling an obsessive compulsive person not to perform their compulsions is akin to telling an anxious person to stop worrying. Or a depressed person to lighten up. But anyway… I’m rambling again.
The reason this time will be different is because I have begun to break the spell in no small part just by realising how cooked I really was. That is step 1. And it has enabled me to build up some momentum to the point that I haven’t changed my routine in 2 weeks. I’m sure that’s blown you away… But if you’re understandably not impressed.. let me tell you that I haven’t achieved that sort of consistency in several years. My last few years of training have been riddled by yo-yoing primarily between powerbuilding – high-volume bro splits – bodyweight training and back again (amongst others). The reason I won’t change my routine until the end of the year (at least) is not because I’ve finally fulfilled my obsessive quest for the ‘perfect routine’, but because I need to fucking stop quite simply.
The routine
As always – simple is best. And I have found solace, consistency and momentum in a good old Push, Pull, Legs split. On the 4th day I rest and then repeat. I won’t bore you with the exact breakdown of exercises and volume because I can’t imagine anyone actually cares about that from someone who is not yet jacked. But in a nutshell, I only do one exercise per muscle group for 3 sets as I think it’s vital to avoid junk volume as a skinny-fat. I am a big advocate of reverse pyramid training (starting with your heaviest set first – after sufficient warmup of course) as it doesn’t make sense to me to do your heaviest set last when you’re already gassed. Especially when the whole point of training should be strength progression.
What about nutrition?
If you can track calories without becoming an obsessive freak (I can’t) and without it ruining your life, then go for it. It works. But for me I needed to find a way to enjoy freedom in my lifestyle without my body charging me for it in the form of more dough on my skinny-fat frame. And I think I have to be honest. There’s nothing revolutionary about it, but I think it is an ideal way to break the skinny-fat rollercoaster of bulking and cutting. Eat whatever you want (within reason, with a view to fuel your body for hard training). And enjoy your training, prioritising progression over time. BUT incorporate occasional fasts. Building up your confidence and discipline toward eventual 48-72 hour fasts to be employed occasionally to cut the fat that may be a natural companion of eating and training freely. That may not work for you, but it works for me. I don’t need to be rigorously disciplined with my diet every day. I just need to dial in occasionally to cut a lot of fat at once, and then go back to muscle building mode which I am able to stay in most of the time. And capping fasts at no more than 72 hours ensures I need not sacrifice my precious gains in the process.
Cheers,
Remy.
Toomanymind 