Mission: Aesthetics - 10 Week Defined & Shredded Workout

Aesthetics has seem to become THE goal for everyone regardless of what time of year it is.

For the longest time people wanted to become mass monsters.

Then, everyone wanted to put on lean mass.

Now, a lot of people focus on fat loss.

And even more people focus on body recomposition.

Recomp is essentially maintaining your muscle mass while losing body fat (or doing both simultaneously for those who are genetically gifted, beginner, or enhanced).

So, that’s the goal of the following program. We’ll start off by giving you some general dieting advice to lose fat without losing lean muscle tissue. Then we’ll get into the workout routine you’ll do for the next 10 weeks.

Follow it to the best of your abilities and if all goes well (and you’re not starting from a high body fat percentage), you’ll finish the program looking both defined and shredded.

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Quick Nutritional Help to Get Defined & Shredded

When it comes to fat loss nutrition, people tend to overcomplicate things. A lot of it has to do with the fact that if you make it seem more complicated than it actually is, you can brand something as a “special fat loss diet”, sell it and make a lot of money in the process.

It’s a shame because proper nutrition, paired obviously with lifestyle/stress management and sleep, are foundational pieces of the hormonal regulation puzzle that attributes so much to fat loss.

From my experience (and everything I've ever heard from bro-lore to the hardcore science), fat loss comes down to being in a caloric deficit. Maintaining lean muscle results from having an adequate protein intake. And being consistent is filling in the rest of your macros with whatever breakdown aligns with a diet style that you can be consistent with.

1. Figure Out How Many Calories You Need to Lose Fat

The first step in creating a successful fat loss diet is determining how many calories you need each day. A lot of people ask for diet plans, but it simply isn’t that simple. Everyone’s dietary needs are highly individualized and it all starts with individual calorie needs.

There are a number of resources you can utilize to help you do this. Although, a lot of them provide different calorie amounts, so it may be in your best interest to take a couple of weeks to establish a baseline calorie amount if you haven’t done so already.

One of the more accurate ones I’ve personally used is the calorie calculator tool we have on Muscle & Strength.

Once you have your caloric needs figured out, you’ll want to create a calorie deficit by subtracting ~250-500 calories. This slight deficit is plenty to elicit fat loss at a rate that won’t promote too much muscle loss.

For this program, start with ~250 calorie deficit for the first 4 weeks after establishing a baseline (~2 weeks). Then, finish the program with 4 weeks of an additional ~250 calorie deficit (500 calorie deficit total).

2. Calculate an Adequate Protein Intake

The next step in designing a fat loss diet is figuring out how many grams of protein you’ll need daily to maintain your lean muscle mass and promote satiety during a deficit.

For years, the industry promoted a minimum of 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight (and even higher during a fat loss phase). Then that number shifted to 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass where it’s remained fairly consistent.

In my experience, people who are most successful with their fat loss diets typically consume 0.7-1.2g of protein per lb of bodyweight. The reason being, total bodyweight is a way easier number to calculate on than lean body mass.

0.7 grams is typically plenty to maintain lean muscle mass. However, for those looking to experience the satiety benefits from a high protein consumption, you may want to calculate on 1-1.2g depending on your appetite, the forms of protein you consume, and the total amount of meals you’re eating each day.

3. Fill Remaining Macros as Desired

Finally, fill in the rest of your macros as desired. Also, pick a form of dieting you can stick with. If you want to do Keto, and it works for you and you can be consistent go for it. If you want to Intermittent Fast because it aligns with your daily schedule, go for it. Or, be like most and simply try to get your calories in however you can throughout the day as healthily as possible.

It all works. So long as you are consistent, enjoy the diet, and remain in a calorie deficit.

10 Week Defined & Shredded Workout

Alright, now that we’ve got some diet recommendations to help get you shredded, let’s discuss the workout you’ll be performing over the next 10 weeks.

The workouts will be consistent each of the 10 weeks. The goal is to focus on key compound movement patterns. These movements will burn the most calories as you perform them since they require the most muscles to perform.

You can try to increase the weight used as you go through the program’s duration, however, the key component is burning more calories. Lifting heavier will help you burn more calories, but in times of a deficit, it is harder to improve on your lifts. Do what you can, but stay injury free and remain consistent.

Rest duration for the larger movements will be approximately 3 minutes. For all other exercise, keep rest to about 60 seconds.

Day 1: Full Body Fat Loss Workout

Day 2: Rest/Active Recovery Cardio

On rest days you have the option to take the day completely off or perform some form of active recovery. If you’re the type of person who goes stir-crazy without a workout during the day, it is recommended to do some light recovery walking and at-home core work on this day.

Day 3: Upper Body Fat Loss Workout

Day 4: Lower Body Fat Loss Workout

Day 5: Rest/Active Recovery Day

On rest days you have the option to take the day completely off or perform some form of active recovery. If you’re the type of person who goes stir-crazy without a workout during the day, it is recommended to do some light recovery walking and at-home core work on this day.

Day 6: Full Body Fat Loss Workout

Day 7: Rest/Active Recovery Day

On rest days you have the option to take the day completely off or perform some form of active recovery. If you’re the type of person who goes stir-crazy without a workout during the day, it is recommended to do some light recovery walking and at-home core work on this day.

Conclusion

Body recompositions is a daunting goal. But it is achievable.

Start by modifying your diet. From there, you’ll want to keep your training relatively similar as it would be throughout the year focusing on strength based compound movements to burn the most calories and maintain lean muscle mass.

Aside from that, ensure you are doing your best to recover outside of the gym – whether that be active or managing the many stressors of life.

If you have any questions about the program, be sure to leave a comment below.