Brian Shaw has revealed just how important his wife, Keri, was during his impressive 10-week body transformation, admitting she helped keep him accountable every step of the way.
The four-time World’s Strongest Man recently returned for a series of body composition tests after completing the Shaw Elite transformation challenge, where he lost around 44lbs while dramatically reducing his body fat.
Before either of them knew the results, Shaw reflected on the work they had both put in.
“I’m proud of myself. I’m proud of Keri. And that’s being said before the test is done, numbers, whatever. But there was a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work that went into this,” he said.
Although the challenge was built around Shaw’s own goals, Keri joined him throughout the process. Shaw joked that her motivation went beyond simply offering support.
“Keri didn’t really need to do the challenge, but Keri is also very competitive,” he said.
Keri replied: “I wasn’t being competitive. I was being supportive.”
Shaw wasn’t convinced.
“Supportive slash competitive,” he said.
Keri admitted she had been there to keep him on track, saying: “I was trying to support you in doing this and also remind you… who you married. Got to keep you reminded a little bit.”
Shaw’s response summed up the friendly rivalry between the pair.
“I don’t mind the competitors,” he said.
The couple completed both hydrostatic body fat testing and a SECA body composition scan, with the results producing some surprises.
Shaw admitted he was most concerned about preserving muscle throughout the transformation.
“I genuinely don’t know how this is going to go. So it’ll be interesting,” he said before the testing.
While one test suggested a larger drop in lean body mass than expected, Shaw explained that weeks of strict dieting, dehydration from a photoshoot and depleted glycogen stores likely affected the numbers.
“Did I drop some lean body mass? Probably yes. But it only makes sense that you would have dropped some. Trying to maintain that is where my head was at for sure during this transformation challenge,” he said.
Despite that, he focused on the bigger picture.
“The positive change is a reduction in body fat… going from a 17.4 to a 14.3. That’s what the test showed,” he said.
The SECA scan painted an even stronger picture, showing Shaw’s weight had fallen from 386.9lbs to 342.4lbs, while his body fat dropped from 18.6% to 10.8%.
Reflecting on the journey, Shaw said the biggest achievement had little to do with any number on a screen.
“Truly at the end of it, in my mind, what it is about is the discipline to take action and to make a change,” he said.
“It’s fun to analyse the results, but the reality is the work has to be put in to get to this point. I’m very proud of that.”
For Shaw, having Keri complete the challenge alongside him made that discipline easier to maintain, with the pair pushing each other throughout the 10 weeks while proving that a little healthy competition can go a long way.
Featured image credit: Brian Shaw / Instagram
