Suddenly it’s July and everyone is going to the pool or beach; consequently, people are scrambling to get shredded and beach ready. No, ‘shredding it’ isn’t a surf term! Figuring out fitness and how to shred fat can be a daunting experience, but it doesn’t have to be. Just follow a few steps to get your mindset right to begin shredding.
What Does Shredding Muscles Mean?
A shredding exercise is a movement that makes your body burn fat. Although focused on exercise, shredding is a combination of diet and workouts consisting of cardio and weight-lifting. It allows you to step into a whole other level of muscularity and definition.
What is Shredding Season?
Shredding season is slang referring to shredding exercise or shredding bodybuilding to prepare for either a bodybuilding contest or for the general warm months. It refers to cutting down to a low percentage of body fat while maintaining muscle mass aka get shredded.
Fitness: How To Shred:
Hydrate- The body is 70% water, so it is important to make sure you are fueling your engine. A body can survive 7 days with food, it can only survive 3 days without water. Dehydration slows the fat-burning process and has negative effects on your muscles and joints. Therefore, water is the best weight loss asset out there.
Eat frequently- Yes you heard that right. Eat. Frequently. Also drink water often (see above). But the trick is to be careful what you eat; you would think that splitting up your food into smaller meals would help and that is correct. Additionally, you want to think about spreading your calories across meals so you feed your body throughout the entire day. You also can’t eat just any food, but food that is good for you. Think along the lines of lean proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbs; if you space these evenly throughout the day it will help your metabolism stay constant promoting fat loss.
Nutrition- Although it sounds boring, what you eat as well as when you eat makes a difference; if you stick to plenty of protein your will lower your hunger while maintaining lean tissue. Instead of frying, stick to steaming or sautéing food in a little oil; find flavor by adding spices, herbs, and kinds of vinegar and steering clear of any creamy or fatty sauces or dressings. Heavy or sugary desserts and alcohol tend to hide a lot of calories; you can always read the menu at a restaurant or do a quick Google on your phone to figure out the best choices on the menu.
Use Good Form– Weight-lifting as a fat burning work out is fantastic, but if you are using bad form plus going too fast this can end in hurting yourself. Correct form is essential to gaining the most from exercise as well as protecting your body from injury. Check yourself in the mirror or partner up with a workout buddy to help.
Strategic Cardio– Just getting on a bike or treadmill and starting the machine is not enough to get what you need out of cardio. For the best shred results there are many cardio programs; try “Fasted Cardio” when you do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach 4-5 times a week. HIIT that stands for High-Intensity-Interval-Training is also a popular strategic cardio method as it combines sprints with walks as break periods designed to push the body to the peak. Post-workout cardio is another cardio method to fatigue already tired muscles and burn through those glycerin stores to get shredded.
Less Sitting/More Moving– The human body was not designed to sit for extended periods of time; in response, the body has weakened butt muscles and consequently lower back pain. The key is to break up long periods of sitting down with short periods of standing or walking; every hour try standing up either when you are on the phone or the commercials or on tv. Walk around to refill your water cup (when was the last time you drank water?). Remember that consistent movement shreds fat even if you are making small progress.
Sleep More- In sounds contrary to what you think you should be doing, but sleep is an essential part of the body’s process of rebuilding and replenishing to do more work. Little sleep, broken sleep, or even light sleep can hinder your metabolism rate.
BONUS
Stress Less– When the body is stressed, it retains cortisol that hinders fat breakdown by encouraging the body to hold on to fat and breaking down muscle instead. So take a deep breath, square your shoulders, you can handle this!
Be realistic without yourself about your goals; there is only so much you can change in a week. However, if you can turn these tips into habits, the structure for a better performing body with cardio and nutrition will pay off over time.
What is Shredded Academy?
Check out Shredded Academy for fat-loss workouts and nutrition plans at all levels. The free articles on ShreddedAcademy.com also have a ton of information and motivation.
Losing body fat to get shredded may not always be easy, but it’s always worth it. Keep your eyes on the prize!
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