Brian Shaw has revealed the impressive results of his 10-week transformation challenge, with the four-time World’s Strongest Man cutting his body fat almost in half after shedding more than 44 pounds.
After documenting his progress throughout the challenge on the Shaw Elite app, Shaw underwent two separate body composition tests to see exactly how his body had changed. While the results sparked some unexpected questions about muscle loss, the overall transformation left him encouraged.
Heading into testing, Shaw admitted he had no idea what the numbers would show despite hitting one of his key goals.
“I genuinely don’t know how this is going to go. It’ll be interesting. Very interesting,” he said.
The first assessment came through hydrostatic weighing, a method Shaw admitted he found uncomfortable. The test showed his body fat percentage had dropped from 17.4% to 14.3%, although it also suggested he had lost a significant amount of lean body mass.
Rather than taking the figures at face value, Shaw explained there were several factors that could have influenced the reading, including a demanding photoshoot, an aggressive diet and dehydration leading into the test.
“I did do a little bit of research on this because I was just curious,” he said.
“We did do a hard photo shoot the last two days going into this, and I have been dieting very hard. Your hydration level a little bit, but mainly it would be the glycogen and water. Glycogen and water can represent a lot of this, and that would all fall into the lean body mass category.”
He added: “Really in reality, did I drop some lean body mass? Probably yes. But it only makes sense that you would have dropped some.”
The second test painted an even more dramatic picture.
Using a SECA body composition scan, Shaw’s weight had fallen from 386.9 pounds to 342.4 pounds, while his body fat percentage dropped from 18.6% to an impressive 10.8%.
“So 18.6 to 10.8 is what it had as the body fat percentage,” he said.
The scan also estimated that Shaw had lost around 10 pounds of skeletal muscle while reducing his overall body fat by roughly 44 pounds.
Despite the muscle loss, Shaw was pleased with the bigger picture.
“I was pleased to get this back. It’s very interesting though to get different scores and to be able to go through it like we’re doing right now,” he said.
Rather than focusing solely on the numbers, Shaw believes the biggest success came from the discipline required to complete the challenge.
“I think truly at the end of it, in my mind, what it is about is the discipline to take action and to make a change. That’s really what it comes down to,” he said.
He also encouraged others not to let body composition scores define how they feel about themselves.
“It’s a tool. We’re going to keep it as a tool… it’s not going to dictate happiness. Just like anybody’s opinion out there of you doesn’t really matter. What you think of yourself is what matters,” he said.
Although the 10-week challenge has now concluded, Shaw insists it is only the beginning of his latest fitness journey.
“I really look at this as a starting point. Now it’s maintaining and even improving from here. So, I’m excited about that,” he said.
Shaw also confirmed that his next step will be a full-body MRI scan, allowing him to compare another set of body composition data as he continues tracking his progress.
Featured image credit: Brian Shaw / YouTube
