How to Get Ripped Fast (8-week ‘cutting’ diet)

Not too long ago I underwent a drastic transformation. I lost over 30 pounds of fat in less than 8 weeks. The best part was that I did it without starving myself. And didn’t run a single mile.

Everyone wants to lose a few pounds. In my case I wanted to lose 30 pounds to look good on stage. Which I did with relative ease.

Do you want to know how I did it?

I’ll let you in a little secret…

Are you ready for it?

Here it is –

The secret is there is no secret.

There’s only information, a plan, and daily execution.

That’s the secret formula to getting fit. Keep reading to learn how to mix those ingredients together for success.

This article shows you how to get shredded using a bodybuilding cutting diet plan. You don’t have to be a bodybuilder to use the plan successfully. It works for anyone. The goal is to maintain as much muscle as possible with losing the fat. So you get that lean athletic look.

There’s a ton of information and a lot of background in this article. This isn’t some superficial blog post to get views like you’ll see on other fitness sites. This is real knowledge you can use in the real world, and I prove it.

Let’s party.

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive a small commission if you click a product/service link and make a purchase.

What is a Cutting Diet?

A cutting diet is a bodybuilding term for losing fat while maintaining as muscle muscle mass as possible. Cutting usually follows a bulking phase. After a bulk you ‘cut’ to lose body fat and maintain muscle mass that you built during the bulking phase.

Cutting fat from your body is the only way to have a trim and lean physique.

Anyone can lose weight – all you do is eat less and your weight drops.

But if you want to look sculpted, you need to maintain muscle mass while shedding body fat. You want your weight loss to be fat loss and not muscles loss.

Maintaining muscle mass while losing body fat requires a different approach.

You need to be calculated in order to keep your hard-earned muscle during a cut phase.

We’ll cover everything you need to cut successfully and keep your muscle mass, including:

• How much food you should consume daily.
• Which foods you should eat to prevent muscle wasting.
• The exact same meal plan and workout routine I used to lose 36 pounds in 10 weeks.

Here’s what we will cover:

• What is a Cutting Diet?
• How to cut fat fast.
• How to maintain muscle while cutting.
• A cutting diet meal plan and meal prep recipes are provided.

We’ll dive into the gritty details needed to understand how to cut fat successfully.

How to Cut Fat and Keep Muscle

A successful ‘cut’ will give you that shredded look women love and men covet.

There are two main factors that make up a cutting diet, and they are:

1. The quantity of your food.
2. The quality of your food.

These appear very straight forward at first glance, however getting the right amount, and kind, of food matters if you want to preserve muscle mass while reducing body fat.

There is actually a third component too which I will discuss later.

Reduce Food Quantity to Lose Body Fat

If you want to lose fat you must be in a calorie deficit. That means you must eat less calories than you burn each day.

A typical cut usually has a 300-800 daily caloric deficit.

You MUST be in a calorie deficit in order to cut. There’s no way around it.

The best approach is to constantly eat fewer calories. This allows you to preserve muscle mass and reduce body fat.

Now, if you want to keep your muscle you need to eat the right stuff.

Even if you’re in a calorie deficit, you can’t just scarf down Twinkies and expect good results.

You need to eat food that gives you energy, strength, health and helps retain muscle tissue.

Increase Food Quality to Preserve Muscle Mass

Eating quality food is CRITICAL to cut successfully. The only way to maintain muscle mass while in a caloric restriction is to eat nutrient dense foods.

My cut diet includes lots of lean protein, moderate fat intake, and low carb intake. That’s the high level overview but it doesn’t tell the whole story. The foods I eat are fresh, natural and wholesome.

The problem with the modern diet is that it’s devoid of nutrients. This leads people to fill up on junk and as a result they look and look and feel like junk.

While cutting you need to eat meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

High protein foods help build muscle and prevent muscles from wasting away.

All natural foods are required and should make up the bulk of your diet. Some carbs are okay like white and brown rice. Fiber rich foods like green vegetables and lentils and barley are healthy sources for carb intake.

No processed foods allowed while cutting. Processed food is packed with extra calories and additives that are hard on your body.

Don’t eat frozen meals or anything packaged. Even if it’s a ‘health’ food. Stay far away from it.

Since you’re in a calorie deficit you MUST eat well. Not only maintain your muscle, but also to stay healthy and energized. If not, you’ll break down and burn out.

If calories are scarce those calories need to be from the best sources. It’s the only way to provide everything your body needs while in a calorie restricted state.

Four Phases of My Cutting Diet

I like to cut in phases. Each phase I’ll add or subtract the amount or type of food I eat.

I hate counting calories and find it easier to just remove certain foods from my diet while cutting.

The first thing I do is cut out sugar. This is the single most effective step to reduce your caloric intake. Then after some time, I stop eating carbohydrates all together to get extra chiseled.

You need to control your carb intake to have a chance at your weight loss efforts. The right carbs do help replenish your body’s glucose stores and hydrate your muscle cells.

Usually that alone will get me where I want to be. But after a certain point you may want to reintroduce carbs to make the diet a little more sustainable and to prevent muscle loss.

At this time I begin counting calories and macronutrients.

And finally, I use meal prep to keep my diet on track. Keep in might I prioritize a high protein diet to I start to reducing fat intake.

Follow these four guidelines and you’re on your way to a successful cut:

1. Eliminate sugar
2. Reduce carbs
3. Know Your Macronutrients
4. Meal Prep

Doing these things turns your body into a fat burning machine.

I followed these rules and lost over 30 pounds in 10 weeks. I was losing weight fast.

And here’s exactly how I did it in full detail:

Cutting Diet Step 1: Zero Sugar

When I decided to cut the first thing I did was stop eating sugar.

I reduced my sugar intake to zero grams per day. I didn’t eat any sugar at all during this time.

It’s no surprise that when I cut sugar out completely, my weight dropped significantly.

I lost 6 pounds of belly fat in the first week after quitting sugar cold-turkey.

The best part is that I didn’t have to count a single calorie. I simply just stopped eating sugar and the fat began to disappear.

After two weeks eating zero sugar I lost 10 pounds. I went from roughly 15% body fat to 12% during that time. (Below are pictures before and after trying a no sugar diet.)

225 Pounds (before giving up sugar)

After a few weeks without sugar. Approx. 215 pounds.

Benefits of a No Sugar Diet

Eating a zero sugar diet made me feel like a new man.

Not only did my belly fat disappear, but my energy was through the roof and stayed up all day.

I didn’t experience any afternoon crash or dip in productivity. My mind was clear and I was in a good mood.

That being said, even with all these benefits, cutting sugar from your diet isn’t always easy.

I have a wicked sweet tooth, and prior to cutting, I ate sugar like a fiend. My nightly ritual was scarfing down two giant Boston Creme donuts before bed.

I was hooked on sugar and I had to take precautions to avoid eating it. Such as never buying products with sugar in them.

You don’t have to completely eliminate sugar to see benefits. But If you want to cut weight quickly, I would eliminate sugar completely.

Once you get a handle on things you can start to slowly reintroduce sugar into your diet.

Low Sugar Diet Benefits

In all honesty, I did start eating sugar again after about five weeks.

I needed a little reward from dieting so intensely. So I re-introduced a tiny amount of honey in my diet.

My bedtime snack became a dish of creamy greek yogurt, sprinkled with chia seeds, and a drizzle of honey over the top.

This can have a tremendous psychological benefit. It was a nice reward for a long day of training, work and clean eating. It helped keep my morale high and gave me something to look forward to at the end of the day.

(Or, I may have had a teeny-tiny slice of protein-packed peanut butter cream pie for dessert, IF I have left over macros for the day. Check this recipe out in the link – It will blow your mind. Plus, it’s actually kind of good for you.)

This can be a slippery slope. Just allow yourself a little bit. DON’T OVER DO IT. Be strong because the urge to pound an entire container of Oreos is powerful. Especially while dieting.

Worth noting that around this time I was still lose weight fast at a clip of around 2-3 pounds per week on average.

No Sugar Diet Health Benefits

On a side note, sugar is the worst thing you can eat. I’m going on a tangent here to show you that sugar destroys your health. It’s easy to tell you what to do.

Hell, everyone ‘knows’ what to do to lose weight. BUT THEY DON’T DO IT.

Why?

Because they don’t make a meaningful connection with what they know.

Once you realize you’re getting fucked by the companies that make these snacks maybe you’ll realize it’s not worth it.

Sugar is Empty Calories

Sugar provides no nutrients. Its only value is the hit of dopamine it provides when you taste it. That feeling is short lived however and only leaves you craving more.

Thus begins the vicious cycle.

You eat sugar, you crave it, then you eat more of it. Then you eat more and more and more.

By reducing sugar from my diet I consumed 800 less calories per day.

And after a few days my sugar cravings went away, since it was out of my system and my body released it wasn’t necessary. I no longer had a chemical ‘dependancy’ on sugar.

Sugar is a Drug and Cheap Filler

EVERYTHING has sugar in it. People have no idea how much sugar they consume on a daily basis.

If there’s added sugar in your food, consider it a warning.

Sugar is added to food to make it taste good. This ‘food’ needs sugar otherwise it tastes like shit.

Companies know you’ll eat something if it’s sweet.

If there’s added sugar, don’t eat it! It’s a trap.

They use sugar as bait to make you buy cheap, shitty foodstuffs. They get your money and you get health problems.

That’s right, sugary foods do nothing but make you fat and sick, and make the company you bought it from rich.

Remember that next time you cave to a craving.

Food Tastes Better when on a Cutting Diet

You’ll notice that food will taste much better when you cut sugar out of your diet.

Flavors will be full and robust. Familiar foods take on a new taste. You’ll notice flavors you’ve never experienced before. Even raw almonds taste sweet when I cut back on sugar.

When you do finally have a little sugary snack it will taste 1000x times better than normal. You’ll savor it. Appreciate it. And won’t destroy your health in the process.

A little bit of sugar is good for the soul but too much is bad for the body. Reduce your sugar intake and your mood, energy and health will be greatly improved.

Sugar

Sugar is a major cause of nearly every preventable illness know to man.

It is absolutely the number one cause of obesity and fat gain. (Ok, soybean and seed oils are a close second, maybe even tied for first.)

It’s an addictive drug that destroys you from the inside out. Anything that burns holes in your teeth and makes your brain swell should be eliminated.

Don’t take my word for it, even the science agrees:

“Chronic ingestion of high-dose sugar has been linked to obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, and cellular aging” (Source: National Library of Medicine; National Center of Biological Information)

Anyway, cutting sugar reduces your calorie intake and improves your overall health, constitution, energy levels, and ability to recover. All good things if you want to lose fat and build muscle to get shredded.

Thus concludes my sugar rant. Moving on to phase 2 of the cutting diet.

Cutting Diet Part 2: Low-Carb

After abstaining from sugar for several weeks, I took it a step further and cut all carbohydrates from my diet.

I stopped eating bread, pasta, potatoes, pizza, etc.

All grains where eliminated. The only carbs I ate were from nuts and vegetables.

I was still making progress by just eliminating sugar, so why did I cut all carbs ?

The simple zero-sugar approach worked for a while, but then I signed up for my first bodybuilding competition, and shit got real.

I was going to be on stage in front of 500 people in less than seven weeks.

Now I had my reputation (and money) on the line.

Now that I had a decline, I had to dial in my diet.

My goal was to be at 8% body fat by show time. And I’ll be damned if I didn’t hit it.

If you really want to dial in your diet, you need to understand your macronutrients (macros).

Cutting Diet Part 3: Tracking Macronutrients

Protein, fat and carbohydrates are the three main macronutrients.

Macronutrients contain calories (nutrition).

Having the right ratio of protein, fat and carb accelerates fat loss. When you drop carbs as a natural athlete you must increase intake of healthy fats.

I was eating zero sugar, cutting carbs and things were going well. However I needed a more controllable approach to manage my weight.

I needed to know exactly what I was eating and how it effected my weight, body composition, energy, mood, and appearance.

By tracking your macros you know exactly where to add or subtract calories to reach your desired weight.

In order to know the right macros for me, I had to figure out two things:

• How many calories to eat each day
• How many calories I burned each day

(If you want to learn everything about macros, read my Flexible Dieting Guide.)

The number of calories burned each day is called Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This number is different for everyone and is based off your activity level and resting metabolic rate.

How to Calculate Total Daily Energy Expenditure

The first thing I did was calculate my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).

TDEE is the amount of energy (calories) you burn daily.

There are calculators online to help you determine your TDEE. (Google ‘TDEE calculator’.)

Basically, TDEE calculators factor your height, weight, age, and activity level to determine your daily calorie requirements.

Which TDEE Calculator Should You Use?

Many TDEE calculator use different methodology for the calculation, so no two calculators give you the same results.

Since I wanted the calculator to reflect me as accurately as possible, I researched the methods used and decided on ones that were most relevant given my conditioning and current body fat.

You don’t have to overthink it, just pick one. They all give you a starting point, which is really all you need. I took this extra step because I need to be as precise as possible to pull off a win with my aggressive timeline.

Once you know how many calories you burn each day, you know how many calories you need to eat in order to maintain your current weight.

How to Determine your Daily Calorie Allowance to Lose Weight

So now you know your daily maintenance calories. Good.

Now you need a target weight by a target date in order to determine how many calories to eat each day.

My original goal was to weigh 200 pounds by showtime. In order to do this I needed to drastically reduce my calorie intake and kick my weight loss into high gear .

Based on my total daily energy expenditure calculation, I need to eat 3,502 calories everyday to maintain my weight.

By the time I calculated my maintenance calories, it was February 4th, 2018. My contest day was March 24th.

I had a lot of work to do and time was running out.

Here I am sitting at 216 pounds and want to drop 16 pounds of fat.

Now I need to know how many calories I can eat per day to reach my target weight and look amazing on stage. The math follows:

A pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories.

Since I want to drop 16 pounds of fat, I need to a 56,000 calorie deficit over the next seven weeks.

That means, I need to burn 56,000 calories MORE than I consume over the next seven weeks.

I figure I can shed two pounds of fat each week with an aggressive cut.

Cutting daily total calories to 2,500 puts me in a 1000 calorie deficit for the day. This is an AGGRESSIVE cut. And I don’t recommend it for anyone doing natural bodybuilding contest preparation, or any type of cutting for that matter.

It’s best to consistently eat fewer calories over time. Maybe cut back 200 calories per week until you find your sweet spot. But hey, I had to lose weight faster than the average Joe.

When cutting you must consume enough dietary protein to keep your lean muscle mass. You can look into all the evidence based nutrition strategies, but it boils down to this:

You need a protein rich diet, first and foremost. Maybe a whey protein shake post workout after hard and heavy resistance training, and another whey protein shake before bed.

This is the best time to consume a shake to maximize muscle protein synthesis. You won’t gain weight or see much muscle growth but if you want to keep as much muscle mass as possible this is how you do it.

Nutrient timing can give you an edge if done consistently over time. And I needed any help I could get. Also you don’t want your diet to be low fat. You need fat for energy and hormone maintenance to keep your testosterone high. 

Determine Your Daily Macros

Now that I know my calorie limit, I need to select my macronutrients.

I know I want to maintain muscle so I’m going to load up on protein.

I also know I need to keep my hormones healthy to maintain high testosterone. So I need to eat enough fat.

I function well on low carbohydrate diet so the balance of calories left over after protein and fat are accounted for are my carb allowance.

I settle on the following macros to begin with:

My macros are 313 grams of protein, 63 grams of carbs, and 111 grams of fat. This adds up to a total daily calorie allowance = 2,503

I didn’t want to lose any muscle so I focused primarily on protein intake. I figured I’d start with 1.5 grams of protein per body weight. Which ended up being about 50% of my calories.

Then I split the remaining calories 40/10% between fat and carbs. Don’t worry about eating too much fat. You need it if your carb intakes low.

My plan was to try these macros for a week and adjust if needed.

Critical Measurements to Keep Making Progress

I measured my food and my weight. These are bare minimum measurements you need to track. Since I had something at stake, I took it a step further and measured my body fat percentage.

I measured everything I ate with a food scale, and weighed myself every morning on a digital scale as soon as I woke up.

I tracked everything I ate in the My Fitness Pal app, so I knew exactly what I was eating and how it impacted me.

Don’t skip this step!

You need to know what you’re eating and how it effects you. It’s the only way to make meaningful improvements at will.

Weighing and measuring food can be a chore. But once I signed up and had money on the line, it was actually kind of fun. Now it was like a puzzle I had to solve.

If you’ve never measure your food or tracked calories you should do it once in your life. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.

Cutting Diet Results and Progress

I reached my target weight early and hit my goal weight of 200 pounds a full month before my competition!

But, I was still above my target body fat percentage.

On February 22, I weight 203 pounds with 10.2% body fat. That shakes out to 182.2 pounds of lean mass and 20.78 pounds of body fat. Calculated by a certified trainer using calipers.

You can watch my first body fat measurement video here:

I still had time to cut more fat and get even more shredded. It was time to adjust my calories and macros again.

This is an example of why it’s very important to track your macros.

If I didn’t track macros I would have been in trouble. If I hadn’t measured macros, I would have got to 200 pounds and said ‘Oh shit. Now what?’

I could have just kept reducing calories but that would have been miserable. I would have been shooting in the dark and restricting the foods I could eat even more. Finding the right balance is key.

Before I started this weight loss journey, I assumed that if I weighed 200 pounds I would be at 8% body fat. I was wrong. 200 pounds got me to 10% body fat. It wasn’t until I was 193 pounds that I was under 8% body fat.

Luckily, I had enough time to reach my goal of achieving 8% body fat.

How Much Fat can You Loose in a Month? (My Body Fat Percentage Measurements)

I got my body fat percentage measured three times within a six week period.

Each measurements was taken by a certified personal trainer using the skin-fold method.

Body Fat Percentage Measurement 1

• Date: February 8th
• Body weight: 210 pounds
• Body Fat Percentage: 12.1%
• Lean Mass: 184.83 pounds
• Body Fat: 25.665 pounds

Body Fat Percentage Measurement 2

• Date: February 22nd
• Body weight: 203 pounds
• Body Fat Percentage: 10.2%
• Lean Mass: 182.2 pounds
• Body Fat: 20.78 pounds

Body Fat Percentage Measurement 3

• Date: March 22nd
• Body weight: 193 pounds
• Body Fat Percentage: 7.75%
• Lean Mass: 178 pounds
• Body Fat: 14.95 pounds

As you can see, the lower my body fat percentage, the more muscle mass I lost compared to fat.

This is because muscle is metabolic. Meaning muscle burns calories. Your body wants to conserve energy and calories so it starts burning muscle as fuel in an effort to slow down energy consumption as fat reserves get low.

This is why you need to eat your protein, healthy fat, pump iron while cutting.

Pumping iron tells your body that you need the muscle because you’re using it. That makes it less likely to use muscle as fuel.

This is another important reason you need to have your macros dialed in. You need to fuel your muscles to the max without spilling over.

Cutting Diet Part 4: Meal Prep

Sticking to a diet is hard. You need a strategy to stay on track.

That’s where meal prep comes in. If you’ve read me before, you know I’m a big fan of meal prep.

Meal prep is a mandatory part of my routine.

You’re going to be hungry when dieting. There’s no way around it.

Meal prep is great because it gives me the energy and nutrition I need to perform optimally, and it ensures I eat well by having healthy meals ready at all times.

With meal prep I know exactly what I’m eating. And I know I’m nailing my macros every day.

Be prepared. Have a plan. Then just follow through with it.

Meal Prep for Fat Loss

Meal prep playing a critical role in my weight loss success.

It ensures you hit your nutritional requirements and don’t fall off the wagon.

The section below covers what to eat to lose weight.

Bodybuilding Cutting Diet Plan and Meal Prep

Meal prep for fat loss starts with meat and lots of fresh produce

Meal prep is a must to stay on track with any diet.

I ate three meals a day. 1-2 protein shakes and maybe enjoy a small snack.

On Sunday I’ll cook beef patties, steam vegetables, bake chicken breast, boil eggs and make a big crock-pot of stew.

Then I’ll portion these items out into meals for the day.

Cutting Diet Breakfast – Meal #1

Breakfast is always the same thing – 6oz lean beef patty with the hard boiled eggs.

Take 90-95% lean ground beef and make five patties that I cook on the stove top with a frying pan. I don’t add any butter or oil, just toss the meat in a non-stick pan and cook it to your desired doneness.

Then just boil, peel and pack 10 eggs and you’re set:

breakfast – 6oz lean beef patty with two hardboiled eggs.

I use 3-cup glass containers because they are sturdy, microwavable and meal size. I hate the idea of eating out of plastic, even if it says “Microwave Safe”.

Cutting Diet Lunch – Meal #2

My lunch is usually 8oz of chicken breast with 150g each of broccoli and cauliflower.

Lunch – 8oz baked chicken breast with 150g each of broccoli and cauliflower

I cook 4-5 chicken breasts each Sunday. Bake them in the oven on 400 degrees for about 45 minutes until it’s cooked thoroughly. Make sure the meat has no pink or you will eat it and die (probably).

Channel your inner Gordon Ramsey and season the chicken deliciously, or by pre-seasoned, pre-marinated chicken from your friendly supermarket.

(A word of caution, these marinades usually have a lot of usage an salt so keep that in mind.)

I steam the cauliflower and broccoli because it’s the easiest and tastes the best.

Cutting Diet Dinner – Meal #3

Dinner is beef and vegetable stew, steak and eggs, fish and salad, chicken with broccoli, or stir fry without the rice.

I’ll cook food for five days worth of meals, Monday-Friday. On the weekends I usually go out to eat once or twice and cook some sort of meal that fits my diet plan.

This gives me some variety and flexibility so I can get a little more flavor in my diet.

One Day of Eating on a Cutting Diet

One day of eating for me looks something like the picture below.

This is enough food to keep me satisfied all day. Plus it hits my macros.

One day of eating for bodybuilding.

Above I have 3 steaks, 300g broccoli, 150g cauliflower, a 6 ounce lean beef patty, two hard boiled eggs, and two scoops of whey protein isolate in a protein shake.

That’s one full day of food.

Cutting Diet Meal Prep Recipes to Get You Shredded

Obviously eating the same thing all the time gets old.

Here are some of my favorite recipes to get you started. I encourage you to try new things when meal prepping. The possibilities are literally endless.

My meal prep had to be simple. Complicated recipes mean more time to prepare and more time to calculate macros.

Everything I meal prep is simple to prepare and is something I really enjoy eating. I make stuff I know I’ll eat again so once I calculate macros for a meal I can use those same numbers forever.

Here are some of my goto meal prep recipes. Each one is lean, clean and full of protein.

Beefy Bodybuilding Stew

Beefy Bodybuilding Stew

It’s beefy, it’s tasty and takes almost no time to make.

If you don’t have a crock-pot already buy one right now. It will change your life. Get a big one. You’ll need it.

Ingredients:

• 3 Pounds Beef Tips
• 1 Bag mini carrots
• 8 large stalks Celery
• 1 large onion
• Half head of red cabbage
• A box of low sodium beef broth
• A punch of minced garlic
• oregano, salt, pepper and turmeric to taste.

Chop up the vegetables into chunks, pour in some low-sodium beef broth, toss in the meat and turn on the crock-pot. Let it cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8-10 hours.

Low-Carb Stir Fry

chicken and steak with stir fry veggies, with (breakfast) lean beef patties.

Low Carb Stir Fry

I love stir fry because you can make it many different ways.

Add a little bit of teriyaki sauce or ginger basil for some extra flavor.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds Beef steak cut in strips
• 3 Large bell peppers
• 2 cups Spinach
• 1 large Onion
• 1/2 head Red cabbage
• 1 large crown Cauliflower
• 1 large crown Broccoli
• A bag baby carrots

Use whichever ratio of vegetables that suites your taste. The quantities above are my preference. You can substitute chicken for steak if you want something leaner.

Put garlic and olive oil in two big frying pans and cook all the vegetables at once over medium heat until tender.

MORE MEAL PREP RECIPES TO COME SOON –

In the mean time, check out my meal prep videos for more ideas:

Weekly Bodybuilding Meal Prep –  Episode 7

Bodybuilding Meal Prep – Episode 6

Supplements for Getting Shredded

As far as supplements go, I’ll have a whey protein isolate shake (low carb) or two each day, and I’ll take fish oil capsules and a Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc, and Vitamin D tablet each day.

Fish oil provides good fats that protect cell membranes, ligaments, and keeps joints healthy.

Magnesium, Calcium and Zinc + Vitamin D are a mineral super-cocktail for health.

The best protein is from Transparent Labs. It’s the most wholesome and nutritionally complete. Plus you actually know what’s in it. Not many companies tell you exactly what you’re getting.

And sip on some BCAAs to protect your muscle mass while training in a calorie deficit.

Another supplement I love and can’t say enough good things about are Desiccated Beef Liver Tablets.

Liver tabs boost your strength, endurance and energy. They are especially helpful when cutting to energize you for tough workouts. Plus, they help with recovery as

8-Week Workout Routine to Get Shredded

This section contains the exact workout routine I followed that got me shredded in the picture at the beginning of this post.

Although you can lose weight and burn fat solely by being in a calorie deficit, training is a must to maintain strength and muscle mass.

The cutting phase coupled with a solid weight train routine is the perfect way to get chiseled muscles.

My training routine is a combination of high volume and heavy weights.

The high volume workouts are great for conditioning and burning fat. The heavy workouts maintain muscle size and strength.

It’s normal to train using lighter weight when cutting fat. This is because your energy is lower.

Don’t get sloppy with your reps. be militant. Strict form is required to keep tension on the muscles and make the most of the lighter weight. Handle lighter weight with slow, hyper-focused repetitions.

My workout routine is a modified version of the old school workout. It boils down to a total-body workout split with a workout performed six days a week.

Monday – Leg and Abs Workout

• Back Squat – 5×10
• Leg Press / Calf Press Superset – 6 sets of each 10-25 reps each set.
• Lunges – 3×10 holding dumbbells
• Leg Extensions – 3×10
• Hanging Leg Raises 3xAMRAP
• Cable Crunches – 3×10

Tuesday – Chest and Back Workout

• Incline Barbell Bench Press / Pull Ups superset – 5×10,8,6,4,2 for bench and 5x as many reps as possible (AMRAP) for pull-ups
• Incline Dumbbell Bench / Bent Over Barbell Rows superset – 5×10,8,6,4,2 for Incline dumbbell bench press and 5×10,8,8,6,6 for rows
• Guillotine Press / Cable Rows – 4×10,8,8,6 for both
• Incline Dumbbell Flyes – 4×10,8,6,6 (slight incline)
• Cable Crossovers / Pull Downs superset – 5×10 for both

Wednesday – Arm and Shoulder Workout

• Military Press / Lateral Raises superset – 5×10,8,6,4,3 for Military press and 5×12 for lateral raises.
• Upright Rows / Rear Delt Flyes superset- 5×10,8,6,4,3 for Upright ros and 5×10 for rear delt flyes.
• Hammer Curls / Overhead Extension superset- 5×8 for both
• Dumbbell Curls / Skull Crushers superset- 5×8 for both
• Reverse Grip Drag Curls / Tricep Push Down superset – 5×8 for both
• Concentration Curls / French Press / Wrist Curls megaset – 5×8 for all three

Thursday – Leg and Ab Workout

• Back Squat – 5×10,8,6,4,3
• Leg Press / Calf Press – 6 sets of each. Start with two 45-pound plates on each side and do as many reps as possible each set. Add a 45-pound plate to each side for each set.
• Romanian Deadlift – 5×12,10,8,8,8 holding dumbbells. Prop toes up on a 45-pound plate.
• Leg Extensions – 5×10
• Hanging Leg Raises – 4xAMRAP
• Cable Crunches – 4×8

Friday – Chest and Back Workout

• Incline Barbell Bench / Pull Ups – 5×8,6,4,4,2 for bench and AMRAP for pull-ups.
• Incline Dumbbell Bench / Bent Over Rows – 5×10,8,6,4,4 for incline bench. Change bench angle from upright to more horizontal each set. 5×8,8,8,6,6 for Barbell rows.
• Guillotine Press / Cable Rows – 4×8 for both.
• Dumbbell Flyes – 5×10
• Cable Crossovers / Pull Downs – 5×12 (hold bottom of each rep for two seconds for both exercises.)

Saturday – Arm and Shoulder Workout

• Military Press / Lateral Raises
• Upright Rows / Rear Delt Flyes
• Hammer Curls / Overhead Extension
• Dumbbell Curls / Skull Crushers
• Reverse Grip Drag Curls / Tricep Push Down
• Concentration Curls / French Press / Wrist Curls

Sunday – Rest

Eat an extra 300-500 calories and chill.

Now you know everything needed to get shredded. All that’s left now is to DO IT.

The sooner you start the sooner you get what you want.

Check back later as I’m putting together a 12 week bodybuilding prep diet. You don’t need to be a bodybuilder to benefit from it. You will get shredded regardless of if you are an athlete or not.

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