How to Get Shredded

Re: How to Get Shredded like a Roman Statue.

It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.

-Socrates

Every man should be shredded at least once in his life.

It’s an experience unlike any other. Not many things are so completely satisfying.

In this article I will show you how to get shredded.

It is split into two Parts:

Part One shows you how to build a foundation of muscle. A muscular foundation is a prerequisite to getting shredded.

Part Two shows you how to ‘cut’ successfully. You will learn how to eat and train to reduce body fat while maintaining muscle mass.

Not long ago I went from pudgy to shredded in about 8 weeks. During that time I lost 30 pounds of fat and went from over 15% body fat to 7.5%.

And here’s how you do it – – –

How to Build a Muscular Foundation

First, and this should go without saying, you must have a foundation of muscle.

If you do not have one, here is what you do.

Muscle Building for Beginners

You build a foundation of muscle with simple bodyweight exercises and compound barbell exercises.

You can use dumbbells and exercise machines too, but a solid foundation of muscle is built primarily with the basic bodyweight and barbell exercises.

Bodyweight Exercises

The basic bodyweight exercises are:

• push-ups
• sit-ups
• leg lifts
• pull-ups
• dips

Work your way up to 10, 20 or 30+ repetitions of each.

Begin training with weights once you can do all the bodyweight exercises for 10+ repetitions in a row.

Pro Tip: Just because you’re lifting weights doesn’t mean that you stop doing bodyweight exercises. You should incorporate push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and dips into your workout routine.

Barbell Exercises

The primary barbell exercises are:

• bench press
• shoulder press
• barbell row
• deadlift
• squats of all kinds

These barbell exercises have no equal and should be the core of your training routine.

Throw in some bicep curls for girls and tricep extensions, also for girls, and you’re on the right track.

Have Goals

It’s important to have goals. Goals keep you focused and give you something to work toward.

You’re goal can be as simple as ‘I want to be in shape for spring break’ or maybe you want to impress girls or I want to be healthy and have more energy.

Whatever it is doesn’t really matter as long as it matters to YOU and drives YOU forward.

That being said, here’s a great strength goal to shoot for which everyone should try to do:

Beginner Goals

Your first gym goal should be to do the follow for one rep each:

• Bench Press your bodyweight.
• Squat 1.5 times your bodyweight.
• Deadlift twice your bodyweight.

Meaning if you weight 150 pounds, your goal is to bench press 150 pounds, squat 225 pounds and deadlift 300 pounds all for one rep a piece.

After you crushed that goal, your next goal should be to do the same amount of weight for 3 reps in one set.

There are tons of workouts you can find right here at Iron & Grit that will get you there.

Try a total body workout routine for three months, training at least 3 days a week.

Increase the weight often to keep getting stronger. And for the love of heyzeus, TRAIN YOUR LEGS.

You want big strong legs to soak up calories to ensure you stay lean and mean. It makes dieting way easier.

We’ll talk more about workouts later, now it’s time to lean up and trim the access fat away.

How to Get Shredded

There two goals for getting shredded:

1. Reduce body fat
2. Maintain muscle mass

Get Shredded Workout Plan

I used a push-pull-legs workout split can trained 6-7 days a week.

I trained each muscle group twice a week, sometimes three times a week. Always with varying intensity.

I always trained each muscle group HARD once a week. You know you trained a muscle hard when you’re still sore the third day after training it.

When I trained the same muscle group within the same week it was usually less intense the second time around. My aim was to stimulate the muscle, pump some blood into it and help in recover, not annihilate it.

For example, If I trained legs on Monday I would lift heavy, lots of volume and with maximal effort (A.K.A. to failure or very close to failure multiple times in one session.)

Then I would train legs again on Thursday but this time with higher reps and less weight to chase a pump and get a slight burn.

Consistency and Variety

I stuck to a consistent schedule but my workouts themselves were very fluid.

Workouts ALWAYS revolved around the big lifts like squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, and rows. I also did a lot of pull ups and leg lifts.

Then I would add in 3-5 supplementary exercises using dumbbells or machines. Each hitting the target muscle group from a different angle. This gives muscles a nice shape.

I’ve been lifting for a long time so my body responds best to a dynamic workout. Every few weeks I ‘shock’ my system with a new workout.

I also did a lot of supersets, tri-sets to have efficient workouts and burn fat.

To ensure constant progress I kept my body guess by challenging it in new ways. I did pyramid sets, rack runs, burn sets, all kinds of set and rep combinations (6×6 and 8×8) and a training method called ‘100-rep sprints’, which is something I made up.

For 100-rep sprints, I picked a weight and performed 100 reps as fast as I could in as few sets as possible. Use a challenging weight.

Challenging in this case is a weight that can be done for 10-12 reps the first set. By the time you get into the 60-70 rep range, you will struggle to get 5-8 reps each set.

The following week I added 10 pounds to the exercises and did another 100-rep sprint. Then did it again the next week, etc.

It was a great workout. I was always sore and felt like I get a fantastic workout.

Getting Lean and Mean

There is no way around being lean if you desire a shredded physique. Muscles cannot show if they are covered in fat.

You can have more muscle than a silverback gorilla but if you have too much fat, you will look fat.

How low does your body fat need to be in order to be shredded?

Certainly below 10% body fat if you want well defined six-pack abs.

Most guys would be extremely happy with 10% body fat. Hell, most guys would be happy at 12-14% body fat with some muscles.

But that’s not good enough for you. You’re not most guys. You want to stand out from the chubby masses. I get it. Here’s how –

Foods to Get Shredded

The right diet is key to get shredded. How many times have you heard, “Abs are made in the kitchen”? It’s absolutely true. Your diet must be dialed in.

Two things to keep in mind about diet:

1. What you eat is important.
2. How much you eat is important.

These two factors will determine the majority of your results and overall shreddedness.

What to Eat to Get Shredded

Eat a high protein, medium fat, low carbohydrate diet.

You need protein to build muscle, fat for sustained energy and optimal health, and just enough carbs to have energy for workouts.

The trick is finding balance – You want enough energy to function daily and train hard, but not too much food that you spillover and gain fat.

How Much to Eat to Get Shredded

This is the process I followed to get shredded and recommend you do the same if you want similar results:

Depending on your size, I recommend eating between 1500-2500 calories a day.

Those calories should consist mostly protein 40%, fat 30-40% and carbs 20-30%. On no carb days, obviously your protein and fat calories will shift upwards.

Get 1.25 – 1.75 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day.

Aim to get the protein from whole food sources. Protein shakes can be used in a pinch to get extra protein when you need it to hit your protein threshold.

Go no carb for a few days a week. The steak and eggs diet is the perfect no carb diet to melt away fat. It works wonders and is delicious.

Foods that Get You Shredded

I ate the following for 80-90% of my diet for 8 weeks. The other 10-20% comprised of meals out with friends, family etc.

• Chicken thigh
• Turkey Breast (ground, 90% lean)
• Ground beef 90% lean
• Whole eggs
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Sweet potato
• Peanut butter

Meal prep is your saving grace here. Make sure you do it.

Occasionally I had rice and oatmeal. Usually no more than twice a week.

I’m not gunna lie, I did have bacon, protein pancakes (with sugar free syrup), and quest bars when I wanted something sweet. Sometimes you just need a treat to keep your sanity.

Tips How to Get Shredded

I recommend you learn about nutrition and calories and macro nutrients. Download the calorie counter app My Fitness Pal and track EVERYTHING you eat there. It will be eye opening. Most people don’t have a clue what they consume. 

Weight Yourself Daily

It’s important to track your bodyweight so you can make adjustments to your diet. Everything that’s measured improves.

So, each morning when you roll out of bed, take your morning piss and step on the scale.

Write down today’s day and your weight next to the date on a piece of paper. Do this every single day without fail. This is valuable data. Tape a notecard and pen to the wall by the scale to make it easy to record your weight daily.

Meal Prep

I meal prep every week. It’s the best way to eat right. I know exactly what I’m eating and I know the exact macros for every meal.

Once you meal prep you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Track Your Macros

I tracked everything I ate. I allowed myself a certain amount of calories each day and that’s how many I ate.

My calorie budget was 50% protein 30% fat and 20% carbs on average.

Cut Out Sugar

Sugar must be eliminated from your diet. It does nothing for you. (Except taste amazing, I’ll admit. I have a wicked sweet tooth.)

Cut out sugar and the pounds will immediately begin to drop.

It Takes Grit

It’s not always easy to get fit. You need the willpower to push through because there will be days you don’t feel like doing it.

Dieting is particularly challenging because temptation is everywhere.

There will be days where you don’t want to train, feel sore and are tired.

It doesn’t matter. Do it anyway. I trained when I was sore, I trained when i was tired. I trained when I was hungry. I trained when I was busy. I went to the gym when the temperature was below zero and there was a blizzard.

You’ll stop being hungry or tired once you focus on what you need to do.  That’s the trick to getting shredded, really. It’s a mindset that you stop worrying about the bullshit, and focus only on the exact activities that will get the results you want. Simple.

Make it easy on yourself by planning ahead. Create an environment that enables you to succeed.

That means, don’t buy junk food. You’ll be too tempted to eat it. Especially when you have a tough day and your willpower battery is run down. Get rid of temptation before it has the opportunity to derail your progress.

What about Cardio?

If you hardcore buckle down you can drop 30 pounds in 8 weeks, like I did. During this time I eat clean and worked out like a maniac. I lifted weights every single day during my 8 week shred session

I did no cardio. None. Zero.

What I did do is hit the gym 7 days a week. Which is what you’ll do too if you’re really serious and want results fast, you’ll workout every day.

“But Jordan, what about rest days – won’t I overtrain!?”

Answer: Rest days are for the rest of the guys who aren’t shredded.

Just hard and heavy lifting. I kept my heartbeat high and sweat a lot each training session.

Sweating is a good barometer of the effectiveness of your workout. The more you sweat, the more results you get.

I followed every workout with a sauna session to sweat some more and stretch. Stretching helps with muscle recovery and limberness, improves blood flow and is all around beneficial for your health. Stretching is important to shape muscles and prevent painful muscle knots.

I may be more extreme than most. If you do 50-75% percent of what I did, you would still see significant results in a matter of weeks.

If you’re still not clear on what to do our you’re stuck in a rut, reach out to me and I’ll help you get shredded faster than you thought possible.

That’s all for now. See ya.

You Might Also Like:

The Ultimate ‘Skinny-Fat’ Workout and Diet Guide (2024 Edition) The Skinny Guy’s Guide to Gaining Weight, Size, and Building Muscle How to Get Ripped Fast (8-week ‘cutting’ diet) Body Fat Percentage Demystified: My Journey from 15 to 7% Body Fat (with photo proof)