Read the guide first before starting the plan - specifically the recomposition and nutrition sections. The 4-week plan was designed to work alongside the guide's principles so the two complement each other directly. The plan tells you what to do in the gym. The guide tells you why, and how to eat to make it work. Starting the plan without reading the guide first means you'll be following sessions without understanding the reasoning behind the structure. You'll get some benefit but you'll miss a lot. Read guide first, then start Week 1 of the plan. That's the intended order.

The guide covers this in detail with specific targets based on your body type and goals. The principles without giving everything away: Protein is the most important number. Get this right and everything else becomes easier. Most skinny-fat guys are eating significantly less than they need for muscle building. Moderate carbs are your friend. The fear of carbs is largely misplaced for someone doing resistance training. Carbs fuel your sessions and support recovery. Aggressive calorie deficits are your enemy; a small sustainable deficit is all you need. Big deficits burn muscle alongside fat and leave you smaller but still soft. The exact numbers, how to calculate them and how to adjust them over time are all in the guide.

Hi guys, Work has been a bit of a nightmare lately which has meant the focus has dropped off a bit lately and haven't been able to get as many gym sessions in. Weighed myself yesterday and the number was up a bit (expect the body fat% might be too) - trying to use this as an excuse to give the body a bit of a rest and hoping to get back to it soon! How are you all getting on?

Possibly, but not necessarily from scratch. The issue for most skinny-fat guys isn't effort. It's that the training structure isn't optimised for their body type. Too much cardio, not enough resistance work, wrong rep ranges, no progressive overload — these are the common patterns. The guide and 4-week plan give you a framework built specifically around how your body responds. Whether you need a more wholesale reset or just some adjustments depends on what you're currently doing. If you're unsure, post your current routine in Discussion and I'll give you an honest assessment.

Neither really, but you do want to prioritise losing fat as opposed to packing on muscle. Standard bulk and cut cycles were designed for body types that respond differently to training and nutrition than yours does. Bulking makes skinny-fat guys softer. You don't gain muscle the way an already-lean guy does, you just add more fat to a soft frame. Aggressive cutting makes you smaller but still undefined so you lose muscle alongside fat and end up lighter but the same shape. The answer is a specific recomposition approach built around how your body actually works.