How to prep for a shred
Set goals
Start with the end in mind. A shred is all about you and exactly what you want to achieve. Nothing will set you up better for a life changing challenge than being crystal clear on what you want, and having tunnel vision focus. The goal needs to be yours and you need to own it. Visualise the end result — flaunt your new body, wearing those new clothes, walking with that confidence.
Measure up
In order to ensure your goals are relevant, having a starting point and knowing where you are currently at, helps to create clarity, direction and something tangible to accomplish. It’s all about the journey and the before vs after! Get an Evolt scan. It’s a 60 second scan that passes a safe electrical current through your body taking over 40 measurements thats then analysed by a trainer to let you know if your body is responding to what you're doing, if it's working, and if not, so then you can adjust your program to make sure you are reaching your goals. Evolt also provides a platform for you to track your health and wellness journey.
Know your macros
There’s a reason why health and fitness professionals always talk about diet, it’s because nutrition is 80% of the result. A big part of your success will come down to knowing a few numbers. Macronutrients are your carbohydrates, proteins and fats, which are fuel sources that play a role in increasing or decreasing your overall body composition. When you’re on a fat loss program, you will be on a calorie deficit, and those calories will be calculated into a portion of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. The goal is to be within 10 grams of your daily macronutrient target at the end of each day. Everyone will have a different macronutrient target based on your current muscle mass, fat mass and activity level, in order to determine what your macronutrients are you need to do an evolt scan, then your trainer can analyse these numbers to help you achieve your shred goals.
Plan your nutrition
Ok, so now you’ve set your goals, have done your evolt scan and know your macronutrients. Now we need to get the nutrition organised to succeed. Staying on track with your macros and being within 10 grams daily isn’t something you can guess-timate. You need to be deliberate with your daily nutrition plan and have a calculated approach to each meal you have. This involves investing in some kitchen scales, portioning out your meals and calculating the value of each food into your daily planner. Don’t stress, I'm not saying you need to get a calculator out to add up all the food values — apps like myfitnesspal comes in real handy here as it does all the counting for you. All you need to know is what food you are having and the weight of that food, and myfitnesspal will calculate the food values for you. You just need to ensure the daily total is within 10 grams of each macronutrient.
Plan your training
Training is still a big part of your results, but nothing will change without a proper diet. Much like the nutrition part of planning for success, you need to ensure you have an organised schedule for each week of exercise to ensure you are getting in your weights and cardiovascular training sessions. For beginners I would recommend at least 2 weights sessions a week and cardiovascular exercise on most days (70% low-moderate intensity and 30% hard intensity). For those who are more intermediate or advanced I’d recommend speaking to one of our trainers about a more specific plan depending on your experience level and existing fitness.
Take a look at your circle of influence
Now this is a touchy type of subject but we need to discuss this. We all love those that are close to us, but sometimes those we love can in fact be a big reason behind our success or failure in a body transformation. This Is mainly because those we are hanging around mostly are either with you or against you. They will either support your choices or rebel against your choices. Now sometimes it might be a tough conversation to have with your Friday night drinking crew that you won’t be around for a while, but trust me you will be better off without it. Partners pose the biggest potential issue or people you live with. It tends to be people you live with that can either propel you forward or hold you back. Now at the end of the day it is always your choice, but if nutrition and mindset is something that you struggle to be consistant with (and the main reason you are doing this challenge in the first place) then you need to address this with those people, you need to get them on board. This will increase the likelihood of success by 50%! Get your friends or family involved, make it part of the daily/weekly routines to eat healthy and exercise, make it fun and engaging for everyone and cut out all deterrents. Unfortunately sometimes you might need to avoid some people or events.
Keep yourself accountable
You need to hold yourself accountable when you fall off the path to reaching your goals. Telling loved ones can help keep you from cutting corners like skipping meals and avoiding workouts. A personal trainer or training buddy will pull you up when they see that you're missing sessions, and can provide you with motivation when you’re running low. Tell the world if you have to, if it helps to keep you motivated!
Barriers and relapses
Even the most experienced and disciplined of athletes face barriers and relapses. You simply cannot expect success to be one straight line from start to finish. You need to start thinking about your lifestyle and making realistic adjustments to slowly transform your existing into your new life. What you do during a body transformation isn’t something you are going to do forever, so you need to ensure you create sustainable lifestyle choices and habits to accommodate that new body, doing so will ensure you don’t have a bad relapse and spiral out of control. Bad moments or choices don’t need to last forever, we all eat the occasional bad food, and there are times we don’t follow the plan, but it doesn’t mean we undo all the hard work. Look at potential barriers in your life but don’t confuse them with excuses. Barriers can include managing parenting duties, work/career expectations, health or fitness considerations/limitations and managing social duties. Life can be a juggling act, but in the modern world we need to balance our lives to ensure we are in good check. Now it isn’t my place to tell anyone how to live their life, but I’m about health and fitness and everyone needs it so don’t neglect it. Everyone has time and everyone can do it, you just need to prioritise. It isn’t a matter of if you fall off the wagon, but when you do it’s important to have a strong mindset and support around you to pull you back to reality and get on with it. Happy shredding everyone and remember, it’s all about the journey so have fun, always Thrive and push yourself. You will be surprised where you end up!
Also in The F Word
The importance of sleep
Keep motivated during the holidays
Summer is here. The weather has changed, the sun is out for longer, party planning is in full swing, and we are excited for the holiday season to begin. It’s very easy during the last few months of the year to fall into the mistake of neglecting your training and healthy eating habits because there is alot going on. You still need to worry about you and how you manage your time, training and eating habits during this time.
Steven D'Onofrio
Author