There are many people that want to learn how to get ripped and fail constantly at achieving their goals. I was one of them. I tried everything I heard until I finally managed to understand what I was doing wrong. There were so many questions that were running through my mind. In the end I ended up getting big, putting on a lot of muscle mass. After that I managed to learn exactly what to do to get ripped and I did so in 3.5 months.
The most important thing that I learned is that you need to pay attention to 4 factors when you want to get ripped:
- Your diet
- Your weight lifting program
- Your cardio workouts
- How much you rest and sleep
Let us talk about all of them.
Dieting to get ripped
Most people will tell you that your diet is the most important factor that you have to take into account and they are 100% true. You should never believe that there is just one diet plan that will offer you the results that you need. In fact, there are many. Some are easier to respect for some people when compared with others. This basically means that the diet I used might be too tough for you to respect and the one that works for you might not be one that I could use.
What is important is to always consume fewer calories when compared with the amounts needed to maintain weight. Losing weight truly is a mathematical equation and you have to know how to properly do the math. It is the same as learning how to gain weight but in reverse since when your only goal is to put on muscles, you will have to eat a lot more than when getting ripped.
Although diets might be different from one person to the other, there is also one constant factor that we have to mention. I am referring to protein intake. You do have to consume more than 1 gram per body mass pound. This prevents muscle loss. You surely do not want to end up losing muscle mass instead of fat.
It needs to be added that you should take in carbs and protein around your workout time since this allows glycogen replenishment while also offering the energy needed to have a very good session.
Your workout
It might seem odd at a first glance but the workout is definitely not playing a huge role in getting ripped. You will find it easy to maintain muscle mass unless you are currently doing a volume overload training routine.
Whenever creating a workout to get ripped, it is crucial that you do fewer sets and reps than normal as the body will not have too much fuel to recover after a really strong workout. However, this does not mean that you need to reduce intensity too. This is a really common mistake that people do.
Another thing that has to be understood is that it is crucial to cut out isolation exercises from the workout designed to get you ripped. That basically means no more leg extensions, bicep curls, lateral raises, triceps isolation exercises and so on. All the muscle groups can easily be trained by using common exercises that work several muscle groups. I recommend that you stick to just one type of ab exercise, the shoulder press, deadlifts, squats, rows, calf raises and bench presses.
When getting ripped, it is enough to go through 3 workout sessions per week and if you want to maintain glycogen, a shake filled with carbohydrates before the workout is great.
Cardio exercises
Cardio workouts add to what you to do get ripped and will help you to get closer to your goals. The problem is that you do not have to overdo it. If you use intense weight lifting workouts, try to put in just as much cardio as to offer you gains while not creating damage. When you do a cardio session of 1 hour and combine it with strength training, you can easily end up overtrained.
When you do long cardio workouts at a moderate pace, it is really easy to end up faced with a fat loss plateau. This basically means that you have two choices available. You either do more cardio or reduce your calorie intake. When you are on your quest to get ripped, it is a guarantee that you already consume fewer calories than normal so your body cannot react properly to the extra stress. A couple of cardio sprint sessions weekly are great for burning fat when you also want to maintain muscle mass.
It should also be noted that you have to use common sense here. For instance, try doing leg workouts when you do the sprints. This basically increases weekly rest days. Analyze how you are losing weight and if you feel that you need more, just try to do a little more cardio. Nobody can tell you exactly how much to do but your body will let you know.
Rest and sleep
I am sure that you already understood some facts about rest. The human body is by no means flawless. It has to recover. If you do not allow the muscles to get back to 100%, you will eventually end up with many problems. Also, your fat loss will not be maximized. This is something that you need when you want to get ripped. My recommendation is to simply skip a workout if you feel that the body is telling you that this is necessary.
Listen to your body when you want to get ripped and observe all the changes that happen. Analyze your progress and keep track of everything that you do! Read all the articles that you can about this topic and when you do all these things, your results are going to be so much better than you first envisioned.