How can I get ripped?

The idea of building muscle and gaining mass has been covered for the most part and workouts for both the upper and lower body have been explained. However, maybe you don't want to gain a lot of muscle mass or build large quantities of muscle. Instead you want to get 'ripped' and gain definition brining out the ‘cuts’ in your arms or your chest or where ever else you desire. If you are aiming for definition rather than building mass, then this post is for you. It will contain information on how to get defined and what weight training routine would need to be done.



I’m not going to post a mini series on this like I did with the building muscle and gaining mass posts because the exercises would be the same and the sets would also be the same. The only thing different would be the reps. I will however give a couple of examples in terms of workout routines. In relation to this, the two I will use as examples will be the arms and the chest as these are worked on the most.

When it comes to gaining definition or getting 'ripped' as some people would say, the key isn't in doing as little reps as possible like with gaining muscle and building mass. The key in succeeding and getting ripped/defined lies in using a light weight in order to perform a high number of reps and in some cases more sets. For gaining mass and building muscle, you would normally do 3 sets of an exercise with say no more than 8-10 reps. With gaining definition though, the scenario is completely different. You need to do around 20 to 25 reps with a light weight. An example of an arm and a chest workout can be seen below.

What should my arm workout look like?

3 sets of tricep extensions = 4kg, 6kg, 8kg (25, 20, 15)
3 sets of tricep kickbacks = 6kg, 8kg, 10kg (20, 18, 15)
3 sets of dumbbell curls = 6kg, 8kg, 10kg (20, 18, 15)
3 sets of barbell curls = 10kg, 12kg, 15kg (30, 25, 20)

As you can see the above is a mixture of both bicep and tricep exercises. This should also give you a general idea of how many reps you would need to do for the other exercises.



What should my chest workout look like?

3 sets of dumbbell flys = 4kg, 6kg, 8kg (25, 20, 15)
3 sets of bench press = 12kg, 15kg, 20kg (30, 25, 20)
3 sets of dumbbell flys (incline) = 4kg, 6kg, 8kg (25, 20, 15)
3 sets of bench press (incline) = 12kg, 15kg, 20kg (30, 25, 20)

That’s all there is to it guys. You need to ensure that you are performing more reps but with a lighter dumbbell or barbell weight. Training like this is also good because it tests your endurance and stamina giving you a chance to see just how fit you really are. Everything else remains the same when it comes to weight training and working to gain that ripped, chiselled look. I hope this post helped some of you out (especially the beginners who are looking for advice and have just started lifting weights) and that you will use the information provided to you to achieve success in your training routines and getting that body that you’ve always wanted.