3 Steps To Get Ripped
As the summer comes around, everyone starts wanting to get ready for the beach. We’ve all heard of the crazy things we need to do to get a ripped body, haven’t we? What if I told you that it isn’t that hard after all? I’m writing this post for those of you who JUST want to lose some fat and look the best you ever have. Hopefully, this will be easy to follow for most people. It does not matter if you're a girl or a guy, just follow the following three steps and achieve the body you want.
*I am not a medical professional and hence you should take these as a general guideline. Consult a medical professional if you wish to decide whether the information given below is appropriate for you.
Step 1: Get To The Gym 3 Times A Week
When I say get to the gym, it doesn’t mean getting there and hopping on to the cardio equipment. You have to lift weights to your goal is to look good on the beach. Everyone knows that going to the gym is a key part of achieving a good body. But there’s always confusion regarding whether you should lift light weights for higher reps or heavy weights for lighter reps if your goal is to get lean. Let me tell you if you’re planning to lift light weights while trying to reach the lowest body fat percentage you’ve ever been at, you’re setting yourself for disappointment. I feel that this is where most of the people mess up. Especially women! Firstly not many women train for strength, and those who start, usually never progress to lifting heavy enough. It doesn’t matter what your trainer tells you, as long as you’re a natural, you need to lift as heavy as you can to maintain or try to gain muscle when you’re cutting. This has been agreed upon by experts all over the world. In a calorie deficit, your body will want to use up the existing muscle tissue it has for energy and you have to fight to keep your muscle by lifting heavy. Your goal in the gym is to get stronger, or at least to maintain your strength.
Workout Plan
Any program would work. As long as you have a decent frequency, volume and exercise selection, you would be fine as your main focus should be progressive overload anyway. Read more about progressive overload HERE.
You can get a decent program off the internet for no charge. That being said, for those of you having difficulty with selecting a program, I’ve laid down a SAMPLE workout below which you can customize or use as it is based on your personal preferences.
Upper
(Horizontal Push) Bench Press 3x5
(Horizontal Pull) Barbell Row 3x5
(Vertical Push) Overhead Press 3x5
(Vertical Pull) Lat Pulldown 3x8-12
Lateral Raises 3x8-12
Bicep 2x8-10
Tricep 2x8-10
Lower
(Squat Pattern) Squat 3x5
(Hip Hinge Pattern) Deadlift 1x5
Lunges 3x8-12
Hamstring Curl 3x8-12
Calf Raises 3x12-15
Abs 3 sets
-> Skip to step 2 if you are planning to use a different workout program.
You will perform this routine three times a week every other day in the following order;
Week 1 Monday Upper
Week 1 Wednesday Lower
Week 1 Friday Upper
Week 2 Monday Lower
Week 2 Wednesday Upper
Week 2 Friday Lower
In this way, over a two week period, you will perform each workout 3 times. You can continue performing this routine for a period of 12-16 weeks.
Customization
As for customization, you can use the following exercises if you’d like to. I prefer the ones I’ve listed in the sample above but if you are not able to perform those, you could definitely switch between some of the others listed below. That being said, don’t just replace an exercise because it’s difficult. Don’t be lazy. For example, if you find yourself not able to execute the barbell squat, you could utilize a variation such as the goblet squat but make sure that at the same time you practice the technique for the barbell squat. Practice without adding any weight and only add weight once you learn the proper technique. You aren’t going to learn the movement until you spend time practicing it.
Here are some of the variations:
Horizontal push can be bench press, dumbbell bench press, close grip bench press, etc.
Horizontal pull can be barbell rows, dumbbell rows, seated cable rows, etc.
Vertical push can be overhead press, seated shoulder press, Arnold press, etc.
Vertical pulls can be pull ups, chin ups, Lat pulldown machines, etc.
Squat pattern can be a barbell back squat, goblet squat, box squat, etc.
Hip hinge pattern can be conventional deadlift, Romanian deadlift, Dumbbell deadlift, etc.
As for bicep and triceps, select an exercise that you like. Preferably some form of bicep curl and some form triceps push down or a tricep extension.
For abs, you could perform 3 sets of any exercise you like. It could be 3 sets of a plank for 1 minute or it could be 3 sets of leg raises for 20 reps. Whatever you choose, make sure you progressively overload the same way as you would in the other exercises.
NOTE.
Do not switch exercises very frequently! You don’t need to shock the muscles. That’s a myth. Focus on progression. When you do make a change, stick to it for at least a few weeks so as to know if it actually works in your favor or not.
NOTE.
Don’t just add 10 more sets of biceps or 10 more sets of chest work to the sample above. Be smart while adding volume because the more sets you perform after a certain limit, the less likely you’ll recover by your next session.
Progression
Keep in mind that your goal is to get stronger. You aren’t focusing on the pump or on making the muscle feel sore. I say it again. Focus. On. Progression. For the exercises labeled as 3 sets of 5, move up in weight the next workout when you complete 3 sets of 5 reps with the same weight. For example, your bench press could look like;
Week1- 40kgs 5,5,3
Week2- 40kgs 5,5,3
Week3- 40kgs 5,5,5 Add weight next workout
Keep continuing and adding weight in this way. If you find yourself stuck and not able to move up in weight, you could drop the weight by 10% and rebuild from there. Only do this if you haven’t been able to add reps for 2 or more weeks.
For exercises which have a rep range as 8-12 or 8-10, you will move up in weight when you hit the upper limit of the rep range. For example, lateral raises with 3 sets of 8-12 could look like this;
Week 1- 5kgs 12,10,9
Week 2- 5kgs 12,12,9
Week 3- 5kgs 12,12,11
Week 4- 5kgs 12,12,12 Add weight next workout
Week 5- 7.5kgs 9,8,8
You will continue to build these up over time. These numbers are just an example but hope this makes it a bit more clear!
NOTE.
These are just examples. Maybe your strength won’t go up every week since you are eating in a deficit. All you can do is push yourself and try to progress on the exercises.
NOTE.
You are supposed to perform the reps on your own. You stop when you feel you won’t be able to perform the next rep by yourself with proper form. There is no use of letting the spotter lift the weight for you. As a novice, you have to focus on getting stronger and on progressively increasing the tension placed on your muscles. If you let a spotter move the weight for you, you will not have a clear idea of how much of the work you have been doing by yourself. Also, in my opinion, pushing yourself past failure will hamper central nervous system recovery to a certain extent so you’re better off not incorporating intense drop-sets or partials, especially not when you’re in a deficit.
Rest Time
Rest for 3-4 minutes between sets for the exercises labeled as 3x5.
Rest for 2-3 minutes between sets for other exercises.
Rest for 60-90 seconds between sets on ab work.
Warm Up
As for your warm up, I’d recommend starting with ramping sets on your heavy compound movements. So if you are going to lift 50kgs, you could do just the bar for a few reps, then do 20 kgs for a few reps, then do 40kgs for a few reps, and then finally move on to your working sets which will be 3 sets of 5. For the deadlift, ramp up in weight the same way performing around 5 reps on the warm-up sets, and then perform the one main set of 5 reps.
You could add in some foam rolling or dynamic stretching before your session if you feel that your body is too stiff. Just make sure that you aren’t performing intense cardio before you lift weights and it will affect your performance.
Step 2. Go For A Brisk Walk On Off Days
On the days you aren’t going to the gym, go for a 45-60 minute long brisk walk. Not only will this help you burn some more calories, but it can also help you reduce stiffness and increase blood flow. This can lead to improved recovery. If you are already playing some sort of sport or performing any physical activity such as dancing or swimming on off days for about 45-60 minutes, you can skip this step! Add in more cardio only when you need to!
To read more about cardio, in particular, click HERE.
Step 3. Get Your Diet In Check
The last and most important step. We all know that it's impossible to get ripped without paying attention to our nutrition. I’ll start off by saying that you don’t need to completely cut out carbs or sugar or any such thing from your diet. You should aim to eat in a calorie deficit and hit your protein target. That’s all you have to do. To approximate the calories at which you maintain your weight, just multiply your body weight in pounds by 15. For example, if you weigh 80 kgs, this number would be 80kgs x 2.2 x 15 = 2640 calories. You can create a 25% calorie deficit at max. That means you will be eating 75% of these calories which give you 2640 x 0.75 = 1980 calories per day. Round this up to 2000 calories. Your next step is to consume sufficient protein. This is a debatable topic and some research shows that as little as 0.64 grams per pound of bodyweight will work whereas other research shows that you need to consume over a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. I’d suggest hitting a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. In this example, your minimum protein intake would be equal to 80 x 2.2 x 0.8 = 140 grams of protein daily. As for carbs and fats, make sure you consume both in moderate amounts as both are important for health and performance. You don’t need to cut out carbs and you don’t need to cut out fats. As long as you hit your calorie target with the protein intake, you will see results. That being said, focus on eating healthy foods and incorporate fruits and vegetables into your diet to hit your micronutrient targets such as your vitamin and mineral needs.
If you find these calculations a bit too intimidating, you can use this calculator I’ve created until the link expires - https://jscalc.io/calc/gAkoF5HiS6ivOlJv
If you wish to learn more about how to set your calories and macros for fat loss, click HERE.
Conclusion
To summarize this post, here are the 3 steps that will get you to your goal body in no time.
Do some form of resistance training 3 times a week.
Get in 45-60 mins of physical activity on off days.
Eat in a calorie deficit and hit your protein target.
Follow the 3 steps and you will surely see the results you want. After this, it’s all about consistency and patience.
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