Probably not. Gaining muscle and size requires more calories. On average it takes another 3500 calories to gain one pound. And gaining a pound of muscle is hard because it requires multiple sessions of training to get the muscles to grow. For example, if I have 25% body fat, every time I gain 4 pounds, about 3 will be muscle and 1 will be fat. I simply continue to add more work and training, food and supplements, and sleep, and I’ll keep growing. Repeat until you are where you want to be.
To get “shredded” means to lose body fat to define your body further. Typically, this means you want to keep your muscle along the way. How? Keep your training “as is”, some form of strength training and conditioning. Try to include some form of resistance in your conditioning as well. Then “move the needle” by adjusting your diet. Reduce calories by 3500 (roughly) over a week, and then you’ll lose a pound of fat. Ultimately try to maintain your overall strength numbers while restricting calories. Then if you want to cut all the water out of your system for a contest or body building show, then that’s a topic of a different discussion. Get as lean as you want until you decide to maintain it or evolve in a different direction.
What should you do? Simple. Define what you want. Understand why you want it. Get coaching on how to do it. Surround yourself with a support team. Change your habits incrementally until you are where you want to be. Continue to evolve.
-JIM
