6 Tips To Help You Get Shredded

Here are some tips for all of you wanting to get shredded.

There's much more and I honestly can't be bothered typing more now because I'm busy, but there you go. If this gets a good response and some interest I will come back to it and build on the post. I'll answer all questions within a few hours.

Prioritise Strength Training

Compound movements (deadlifts, squats, overhead press, pull ups, etc...) Yes, everyone knows this. But, so many guys stick to isolation movements. Yes, I know getting a bicep pump is freaking awesome - but you should deadlift and do pull-ups instead. Focus on compound movements and mix up low reps with heavy weight and higher reps with lighter weight for hypertrophy.

Separating hypertrophy and strength training days about 5 days per week, either full body or pull/push works fantastic for the average dude.

There are so many ways to train. But as long as you're getting stronger then you're good. Strength gains likely mean you're either building muscle as you lose fat (only if you're a beginner or have gorilla genetics) or retaining most of it.

Yes, for you picky folks, you can gain strength and no mass, especially if you're doing explosive movements like power cleans for 1-2 reps. I know. But, the average dude is just pumping 80kg on the bench press. But at some point your muscles will adapt and grow to accomodate a greater stimulus.

Minimise but don't eliminate cardio.

Cardio is good for your brain and heart, but focusing on it too much harms your performance in strength training and also increases your resting cortisol rate. You can do it, don't get me wrong, but do it after your weight training or on separate days. Try walking instead to burn excess calories and walking will still burn 300 calories per hour but will decrease cortisol.

Reduce Stress

Reducing cortisol (the hormone in response to stress) helps to to increase testosterone. When your stress is too high, your cortisol shoots up. Cortisol and testosterone are made from cholesterol. So when your cortisol goes up more cholesterol goes towards synthesising cortisol instead of testosterone.

• Yoga/meditation
• Eat 40-45% carbs (unless you do keto)
• Sleep 7-9 hours
• Don't overdo the moderate intensity, long-duration cardio
• Walking
• Try adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha (but don't buy this shit until you nail your basics.
• Don't undereat (stay within at least 750 calories of your maintenance if you're cutting), unless it's a short-term aggressive cut.

Don't Eat Too Much Protein

You don't need 1g/pound of bodyweight. Wait what? The research shows 0.7-0.9 is all you need for maximum protein synthesis (unless you're in a huge caloric deficit). More protein can help decrease your appetite by increasing peptide YY (PYY), GLP-1 & decreasing ghrelin, sure. But, if you increase protein too much then cortisol increases, testosterone decreases, your performance suffers and you leave less room for quality carbs and fats.

• Protein timing can help, but it's not important long-term for body composition
• The type of protein you consume is important. If you're plant-based aim for 10-20% more. For example. If I need 150 g of protein per day and I'm getting animal-based products like eggs and meat then a plant-based person will need about 170g.

Intermittent Fasting

This is not necessary as energy balance is what is going to determine body composition long-term, but fasting has been shown to increase testosterone and androgen sensitivity. It can also make dieting a bit easier. Additionally, you have all the cool benefits like autophagy and mitochondrial biogenesis (fancy words meaning you may live longer and have more energy). Try 16/8 per day (16 hours fasted and 8 fed) that works well for most people. And OMAD if you're a beast.

Fasted Training May Help With Stubborn Belly Fat

Yes, you can't target certain areas of fat, but training in a fasted state can potentially be advantageous.

The research is mixed, but there is some evidence that fasted exercise can help with stubborn belly fat. Why? Because fat cells have alpha and beta receptors. Beta receptors are what "let go" of fat through lipolysis. Belly fat tends to have a higher ratio of alpha to beta, rather than beta to alpha like the face and back. Fasted exercise promotes more blood flow and catecholamines to belly fat and thus may potentially increase lipolysis.

What does all this alpha, beta receptor shit mean? Fasted training may help you lose that last bit of fat around your lower abs.

Again, the research is mixed and many studies show body composition being the same long-term as long as calories and protein are controlled for - but then again some of these studies are badly designed.

To Summarise:

• Strength train and don't endlessly run on a treadmill. When I worked at a gym I used to see so many guys running for 60 minutes every day and not losing fat because they were eating too much. Building muscle makes staying lean much easier over time

• Reduce your stress. Too much stress means less testosterone. That typically means more fat and more fat means less testosterone, etc... Just stay chill and shit - try meditation daily for 10 minutes. If you're consistent it's a game changer.

• Potentially try intermittent fasting if you struggle with overeating. Try fasted training as well if you want for a potential edge, but don't expect a miracle if you're eating junk. If you're worried about muscle loss, don't be. But, if you are still worried then take 10g of BCAAs or better yet HMB prior to training to prevent muscle catabolism. This is probably necessary if you're doing VERY glycolytic workouts (like CrossFit) or long sessions of lifting in the glycolytic range of 4-10 reps (meaning you're using a lot of glucose). Because if you need more and your body uses up its internal stores it will then break down protein and turn it into glucose through gluconeogenisis. But even then that doesn't happen as easy as most bros would think.

• Don't eat too much protein. 0.7-0.9g/pound of bodyweight depending on the significance of your caloric deficit and length of dieting phase is all you need. Increase it if you struggle with your appetite.

I want you to get shredded and healthy at least once in your life. You don't have to stay at 10% year round. 15% boy fat can be a nice resting point. But sticking through with a diet and getting shredded at least once feelsgoodman.

Eric Helms PhD is a well-known expert in the fitness community and a really cool guy (I interviewed him twice on my channel). He has a brilliant "hierarchy of needs" to make changing your body composition simple.

Calories - Macronutrients - Micronutrients - Meal timing - Supplements. From most important to least important (left to right).

Relevant links:

iifym.com (calculate your calories here)

myfitnesspal (track your calories here)

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