Maintain a body fat rate of 4 % for 2 years? Mission impossible for the average person. Yet this is the feat accomplished by Tristyn Leean American fitness influencer of barely 20 years. But it is also a feat that has not been without consequences for the physical and mental health of the young bodybuilder ...
Tristyn Lee, a soccer player with a passion for weight training
Tristyn Lee is a bodybuilder now in his early twenties.
Born on August 20, 2002 in the United States, he became known on social networks by posting photos and videos of himself playing soccer. He was only 15 years old at the time and dreamed of becoming a professional footballer.
But more than his technical skills in soccer, it is his musculature which impresses the Internet users.
Often shirtless, Tristyn Lee displayed abs perfectly shaped and with bulging muscles. An unusual physique and level of dryness for a man so young.
Over the months, he has built a huge community of followers, with more than 2 million followers on his Instagram account and nearly 1.8 million on its YouTube channel.
Originally, the teenage bodybuilder was doing weight training to become a better soccer player. But he gradually put football aside to focus on fitness and bodybuilding.
I would like to take this opportunity to come back to a controversial subject. I have already written a complete article on weight training in adolescenceBut I think it is important to remind you of this.
We've all heard that working out can slow down the growth.
Before the age of 18, it is true that regular training with heavy loads can cause irreversible damage to the body of a child or teenager. On the other hand, a practice supervised by a sports coach is quite possible. It is advisable to choose a weight-training program with body weight or with elastics, like the one you can find on my website.
What are Tristyn Lee's measurements?
Coming back to Tristyn Lee, he had a spectacular physical evolution.
I actually met him by chance in 2018 at Lift Factory, a famous gym in Las Vegas. He was only 16 years old. I was intrigued by this youthful face in a body so muscular. Very accessible, he had then confided to me that he dreamed of doing bodybuilding.
The least we can say is that this small man of 1,60 meter for 57 kilos impresses by his dry level extreme. He managed to maintain a body fat percentage of only 4 %, which certainly made him the driest teenager in the world.
For comparison, professional bodybuilders go down to 5 % during competitions. But they only maintain this level for a few days, a few weeks at most.
Tristyn Lee, on the other hand, stayed at this level of body fat for over 2 years!
To achieve this, he trained 2 to 3 times a day, 7 days a week. He also forced himself to walk 20,000 steps per day.
As for his diet, the young athlete was just as rigorous. With 3 meals a day, his diet consisted only of eggs, meat and fish, with a low intake of 1800 calories (whereas it had gone up to 3,000).
The dangers of extreme dryness
Tristyn Lee recently released a video in which he admits he went too far.
Having experienced it many times when I was competing in bodybuilding competitions, following an advanced dry is difficult, both physically and mentally.
This is a real vicious circle. Deprived of what it needs to function properly, the body goes into energy-saving mode. As Tristyn Lee says, the sleep is upset (he woke up around 2 am).
As a result, you are tiredirritable and stressed. Professional athletes experience this feeling for a few weeks a year. Tristyn Lee has lived this lifestyle for over 2 years, at an age when the body needs to develop.
A cult of the body that has unfortunately turned into an obsession. Indeed, staying at such a low body fat level for so long is dangerous to health. Without even mentioning the consequences on his social lifeTristyn Lee did not allow herself any deviation.
Basically, such an extreme lifestyle routine is pointless. Even for professional athletes, it makes no sense to try to maintain a body fat percentage of less than 8 % all year round.
Fortunately, Tristyn Lee realized his mistake. He gradually brought his caloric intake back up to 2,800 calories, which is fine considering his physics. He has also reduced his weekly workouts and now sports a more massive body.
In conclusion
If Tristyn Lee has become known for her astounding level of dryness, I can only tell you that she is do not recommend to try to reproduce it. It is not useful and has only disadvantages, both for health and social life.
