Shredded, lean, cut, ripped, jacked. There are multiple ways to describe one’s fitness look and most people believe the terms to be the same. We will be using the first term to exemplify someone with little body fat percentage. Welcome to your ultimate guide on how to get shredded.
There is one important note that you should be aware of before discovering how to get shredded. Getting shredded will not be the same as being healthy. In fact, maintaining a shredding physique for a long period of time (a year or longer) will possibly be detrimental to your health.
This is similar to a previous take we wrote about how to eat for performance, for aesthetics or for health. There is no one size fits all and to get shredded will definitely mean you are not going to be as strong as you possibly can be as you will need to cut your body fat percentage to very low numbers.
Related: How to Eat for Performance vs Health vs Looks
How to Measure Body Fat Percentage
Before we begin detailing how to get shredded, you need to know your body fat percentage. And this already can be a challenge.
The most accurate way to do it is hydrostatic weighting and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA or DEXA). However, they are both too expensive to do it regularly.
Cheaper options are to simply have a smart scale at home that would display your body fat percentage after you step on it. This, on the other hand, is not very accurate.
You can also try to use online tools such as this one or resort to taking measurements yourself with skinfold calipers or body circumference. For the latter, take note of these:
For women:
- Neck – measured below the voicebox and rounded up.
- Waist – measured at the natural waistline or the smallest waist circumference and rounded down.
- Hips – measured at the largest protrusion of the buttocks.
Men:
- Neck – measured below the voicebox and rounded up.
- Waist – measured at the navel and rounded down.
With these numbers in hand, put them in the equation below.
For women:
- % body fat = 163.205 x (waist + hip – neck) – 97.684 x (height) – 78.387
For men:
- % body fat = 86.010 x (waist – neck) – 70.041 x (height) + 36.76
Know that you will have to continuously discover your new body fat percentage throughout the weeks as you learn how to get shredded.
How to Get Shredded
Now that you know your body fat percentage, you can begin to understand how to get shredded. First, the term shredded will mean a different body fat percentage for different people. It can vary on sex and age.
According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the table below shows a healthy body fat percentage depending on a person’s age.
| Rating | 20-39 years | 40-59 years | 60-79 years |
| Low | < 8% | < 11% | < 13% |
| Healthy | 8-20% | 11-22% | 13-25% |
| Raised | 20-25% | 22-28% | 25-30% |
| High | > 25% | > 28% | > 30% |
ACE also explains the amount of body fat percentage a person must have to be considered an athlete, obese, or somewhere in between.
| Men | Women | |
| Essential Fat | 2-5% | 10-13% |
| Athletes | 6-13% | 14-20% |
| Fitness | 14-17% | 21-24% |
| Average | 18-24% | 25-31% |
| Obese | > 25% | > 32% |
Below you will learn how to get shredded – tips and tricks on nutrition and exercises to keep lowering your body fat percentage until you can be seen as having a shredded physique.
For the purpose of this article, shredded here will mean that you will have a single-digit body fat percentage if you are male, and below 15% of body fat if you are female. We will also be focusing more on people in the age group of 20 to 39 years old.
How to Get Shredded Based on Your Current Body Fat Percentage
Men
Above 30 Per Cent Body Fat
If you have above 30 per cent of body fat, you should talk to your doctor to understand better ways to lose weight. There is a possibility that your genetics are not in favour, or perhaps an illness that got you to where you are.
Nevertheless, there are two things you can do to begin lowering your body fat percentage. And the best part is that you will lose weight quite fast compared to people who are already lean. The faster and more results you see, the more you get hyped to continue losing fat.
Start walking more regularly.
That is the golden rule for anyone to lose weight, regardless of their fitness level. Walking is considered a low-impact exercise, which means most people can do it for a long time without having to rest the following day feeling sore. Which means you can do it consistently every day.
The magic number we want to hit here is 10,000 steps, or around 8 kilometres or 5 miles per day. Might sound like a lot, but if you are serious about getting shredded, you need to make this drastic change.
You can also begin doing some lower body exercises such as lunges or squats utilising a chair to balance you during the movement.
We don’t want to make too drastic changes in your nutrition at the moment. One easy way to eat less is to eat vegetables before any meal you have. Also, begin by putting down your fork every time you put something in your mouth, as it will prolong your meal time and send the information to your brain that you are full – this can help against eating more than you should.
Between 20-30 Per Cent Body Fat
You’re not bad in terms of body fat percentage, but it could be better. You feel healthy and have the energy to do long walks without making too many stops to catch your breath.
Your nutrition needs to be in check from this moment on if you want to get closer to seeing your abs. A diet where a majority of your nutrients come from vegetables and fruits will help you in the long run.
Also, make sure you are in a caloric deficit. Find out how many calories you need by discovering your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which indicates how many calories your body burns every day to keep functioning at rest. From that number, subtract between 1,000 to 500 calories and eat that many every day to lose weight.
When it comes to exercising, you want to focus on compound movements as they burn more calories compared to isolation exercises. Try to do bodyweight exercises first that are not too taxing on the body such as pull-ups, push-ups, squats, hollow rock, glute bridges, and squats.
We have separated two for you to try as well:
10-Minute Full-Body Workout for Beginners
Best Full-Body Workouts: Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced
Between 15-20 Per Cent Body Fat
You’re getting to where you want in terms of physique. Chances are you don’t have a big belly, but are still not able to see your abs. Let’s change that now.
Maintaining your caloric deficit might begin to be difficult, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
- Swap higher calorie-density foods for low-calorie-density foods that deliver a higher amount of volume & fibre for fewer amount of calories. This will enable you to stay full and satisfied with less calories.
- Be mindful of your fat intake and try keeping it relatively low/moderate. Using these calories for carbs/protein in your fat-loss meal plan instead can help with fullness.
- Limit liquid calories (smoothies, shakes, juices, etc.) when dieting. If needed, drink diet sodas to cut down on calories. Solid foods generally provide a greater effect on fullness and blunt hunger for longer.
You should know your way inside a gym by now and be a master of basic compound exercises such as bench presses, deadlifts, and pull-ups. To lose more body fat percentage, you need to begin going to the gym more often and apply progressive overload to your training, which basically means you will constantly try to lift heavier weights every now and then.
Since you will be hitting the gym more often, you need to be clever about your training routine. You cannot do full-body workouts two days in a row, as you need to rest at least 24 hours for each targeted muscle group for it to grow. Now you begin your workout split.
Explaining Workout Split for Maximum Muscle Gain
Depending on how you are with your training, you can choose between an upper/lower body split program or the common push/pull/legs split program. They are both effective ways and it depends on how much time you have to go to the gym.
Check out these workouts below for you:
Upper Lower Workout – 3 Days a Week
Upper Lower Workout – 4 Days a Week
4-Day Split Program to Build Muscle
Choose one of the workouts above and go all in, but keep your nutrition in check because that is what will define from now on if you get shredded or not.
Related: How Long Will it Take to See Your Six-Pack?
Between 10-15 Per Cent Body Fat
Below 15% of body fat you can begin to see your abs, but they are still covered by a little bit of fat. Having between 10-15 per cent of body fat will make most people happy with their results and you can choose to stop here if you want to.
However, this is “how to get shredded,” and not “how to get lean” so you have more work to do, and possibly this will be the hardest part of your fitness journey so far.
Nutrition and exercise become even more important. You are allowed to have “cheat meals,” but remember to burn more calories the following day or eat less caloric food to maintain your losing fat.
Another important change you need to make in your nutrition is to increase the amount of protein you eat. The less body fat you have, the more likely you are to lose weight and not the good kind – we are talking about losing muscle mass here.
By eating more protein (we recommend above 2 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight) to ensure you are keeping the muscles you fought so hard to get. Eat lots of vegetables, watermelon and soup to keep your calorie intake to a minimum.
When it comes to training, you need to be even smarter than before. Workout splits are still a must as you will be going to the gym at least 4 times a week, possibly 6. This is when you need to make a few tweaks to your training to get even more results, build muscle, and burn calories in the process.
Progressive overload is key to keep building muscle at such a low body fat percentage. This can be done by increasing weight, reps, sets, intensity, time under tension, or also by decreasing the resting period between sets.
You may try incorporating overcoming isometrics into your workouts when you try to move the unmovable.
You can also utilise some progressive overload in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to get the best out of your cardio workout. This will burn more fat and for longer.
It might take a while until you get to 10% or lower of body fat, but this is the sure plan on how to get shredded.
Women – How to Get Shredded
For women, the tips are very similar to men’s, but their body fat percentage threshold is different.
Above 30 Per Cent Body Fat
Check with your doctor if you have above 30 per cent of body fat. To lower it, the best advice is to be active as much as possible. That doesn’t mean you have to run every single day – actually, that could make you give up on your plans to get shredded. So do any movement activity that you enjoy the most.
The best tip to increase how many calories your burn daily is to walk as much as possible – especially if your job is sitting at a desk. Take the stairs instead of using the elevator, walk to work, or walk around the block. Aim for 10,000 steps every day or around 8 kilometres (5 miles).
Between 20-30 Per Cent Body Fat
You are healthy, but you want to get leaner. As many people would say, your transformation begins in the kitchen and with what you put in your mouth. You are what you eat.
Eat more vegetables to feel fuller while eating fewer calories. If you love carbonated drinks, begin switching to a no-sugar version of it, as cutting these calories will help you lose weight faster. You need to make sure you are in a caloric deficit.
Aim to eat between 500 to 1,000 fewer calories than what your body needs to keep functioning at rest. Add that with exercises and you should be burning calories like a machine. At this point it is not strictly necessary to count calories, so you can also follow these 7 steps to lose weight without counting calories.
If you want bodyweight exercises, you can think of glute bridges, push-ups, squats and crunches.
We have separated two for you to try as well:
10-Minute Full-Body Workout for Beginners
Best Full-Body Workouts: Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced
Between 15-20 Per Cent Body Fat
A flat belly is right around the corner. For most women, getting close to 15 per cent body fat is already good enough, but you are here to learn how to get shredded and push it beyond that point. The rule now is not only to train hard but to train smart.
Nutrition wise, you need to continue your caloric deficit and stay a minimum of 500 calories below your BMR (basal metabolic rate).
One of the easiest diets I have done so far is the Volumetrics Diet, but you don’t need to follow it through. Just know the foundation of it, which is that you need to eat food that is rich in water so that you feel full while ingesting fewer calories. I lost 4 kilos and 1% of body fat in 30 days.
Here are some tips that could help you out:
- Swap higher calorie-density foods for low-calorie-density foods that deliver a higher amount of volume & fibre for fewer amount of calories. This will enable you to stay full and satisfied with fewer calories.
- Be mindful of your fat intake and try keeping it relatively low/moderate. Using these calories for carbs/protein in your fat-loss meal plan instead can help with fullness.
- Limit liquid calories (smoothies, shakes, juices, etc.) when dieting. If needed, drink diet sodas to cut down on calories. Solid foods generally provide a greater effect on fullness and blunt hunger for longer.
Your training days will be more intense and more frequent. To lose more body fat and understand how to get shredded, you need to combine different forms of cardio workouts to get the best out of it.
Know the difference between LISS, MISS, and HIIT and use it to your advantage to burn more fat. If you are short on time, go for HIIT, if you need to recover from a previous hard day at the gym, choose LISS, and so on.
How to Combine HIIT and LISS to Lose Fat Faster
You may also need to change your training plan to something more specific to each muscle group, such as upper lower body split, or the push/pull/legs training plan.
Check out these workouts below for you:
Upper Lower Workout – 3 Days a Week
Upper Lower Workout – 4 Days a Week
4-Day Split Program to Build Muscle
Top Training Programs to Gain Size and Mass
Less Than 15 Per Cent Body Fat
You got where you need to be, but if you want to maintain that look or push a bit harder for 10% of body fat, then your next few weeks (or months) are going to be full-on dedication.
You need to focus on pretty much every aspect of losing weight and building muscle at the same time. Prioritise sleep to recover properly from working so hard inside the gym.
If you push hard enough in the gym, you could begin maintaining a caloric balance instead of a deficit in your nutrition to keep building muscles and, therefore, getting rid of the fat in between them. Make sure you are eating enough protein as well.
From this moment forward, the best thing you can do inside the gym is progressive overload. And we are not only talking about adding a plate weight to your bench press. You can add reps, sets, intensity, time under tension, exercise variation, or also decrease the resting period between sets – think of supersets, drop sets or pyramid sets as well.
You may try incorporating overcoming isometrics into your workouts when you try to move the unmovable.
You can also utilise some progressive overload in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to get the best out of your cardio workout. This will burn more fat and for longer.
As with most things in life that are worth it, you need patience, time, and dedication. This is the underlying truth of how to get shredded.
Read More: How to Keep Making Gains in the Gym as a Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced Lifter
