As summertime approaches, there is a BIG trend in the fitness world to get SHREDDED.
For those that aren’t aware of what that is, it’s getting lean, sexy, cut, diced, razored, road mapped, walking anatomy chart, etc.
In other words, low body fat levels.
Now one of the biggest questions that come up from ‘normal’ people is “why?” Why diet so strictly to get your body fat so low? Are you competing? Isn’t it unhealthy?
Below are five reasons WHY you should get shredded at least once in your life:
1) To have something else to work for.
Sure it’s great to get crazy strong, compete in adventure runs or just keep in good general health, but after a while that gets easy (subjectively) and routine. There isn’t anything else in particular that you have to strive for; nothing that requires an out of this world challenge like your first fitness goals did.
Getting shredded is one of the few goals in the fitness industry that far supersedes the realms of the gym and goes into everyday life.
Not only do you have to work out smarter, but you have to eat cleaner, have your mentality tested on a daily basis to refrain from the temptation of bad foods, & you’ll need to be regimented in your sleep and manage stress levels.
So this is just isn’t the gym that we are talking about here, we are talking about a complete change in your lifestyle.
It’s a 24hr a day goal, not just a 30-90min workout three times a week.
MANY don’t have the discipline that it takes to get to the sub 8% fat zone, but for those that do, you truly get a whole new appreciation of work ethic.
2) Increase health.
I can hear it now… “But Travis, isn’t a body fat level TOO low bad for your health?”
Hey, I’m not saying get down to 5% for the rest of your life, but getting there and maintaining it for a few weeks is very healthy.
It gives your body a chance to work on itself DURING those times and not having to worry about ALWAYS digesting bad hormone and chemical laden foods.
Besides I’ve seen more issues with people having body fat levels too HIGH than too LOW.
Afterward when you reach and feel that you have maintained a low level long enough you can work your way back up to a healthy body fat level, which in this trainers opinion includes still having abs, and maintain that level a LOT easier than before.
3) Detoxing
Fat tissues are one of the major storage tissues in the body. In fact, it has been documented that when people have gone on fat loss diets there have been reports of pesticides released in the bloodstream that were used in crops 30+ years ago. Yikes!
Adipose tissue holds traces of nearly every chemical that you have consumed in your lifetime so you getting down to VERY low body fat levels is essentially the equivalent of squeezing all the dirty water out of the sponge.
If you want the best detox method, skip over the crazy lemon and cayenne pepper water tricks and get SHREDDED.
4) Vanity
Hey come on, if you’re reading this blog then you obviously have an interest in having your body looking great and for most of these readers, having low body fat levels fits into that.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good – if your definition of looking good is low body fat levels – and it’s perfectly acceptable to want to look your best.
Vanity has such a negative connotation to it but we have to remember that if we wanted to match our work clothes together, brush our hair, or even get a haircut, those are examples of vanity.
I’ve never had a person get upset with me when they started getting abs.
5) Getting leaner gets easier
I’ll admit that I don’t have any scientific backing to support this (rare for me I know) but from personal experience and anecdotal evidence, I have seen that the getting lean process becomes a bit easier for those that have been down that road before.
You know what to expect and you know what your body is going to feel like & when you already have that in place, it makes the process MUCH easier in that you and your body can anticipate the changes to come.
Conclusion
There is just something about a shredded person that you can’t help but look at. It’s not every day that we see someone so lean, especially in today’s world where it’s more common to see a person with 30% body fat than with abs.
I’m not going to lie and say that it’s easy, because it’s not; BUT when you see the results of fat just falling off and you are seeing muscles and definition that you have never seen before you can’t help but be proud of your accomplishment.
Plus one last thing you’ll notice IF you chose to start this journey is that during this process you’ll feel healthier than ever before; if you don’t believe me, give it a shot. All you have is fat to lose 😉
In Health and Awesomeness,
Travis Merritt, BS, CPT, (and other letters behind the name) is the Owner of Rowlett Transformation Center in Rowlett, TX.
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