Get Ripped Workout – How to Lose Fat and Keep It off!

Whether you’re coming off a bulk, want to get in shape for a big social event, or want to get lean for the summer, there is a right way and a wrong way to get ripped.

The wrong way involves hours of boring cardio and a diet so strict that you’ll be hungry all the time. The result? You end up losing as much muscle as fat and may even give up on your quest to get ripped long before you reach your goal.

The right way produces the fat loss you want while preserving your hard-won muscle and without having to starve yourself.

In this article, we provide you with a workout designed to burn fat, maintain muscle mass, and get you ripped.

Getting Ripped – Nutrition Rules

Before getting into the best workout for getting ripped, we need to talk about nutrition. Ultimately, no matter how hard you train, if your diet sucks, you won’t lose fat and get lean. Simply put, you can’t out-train a lousy diet.

It’s beyond the scope of this article to provide you with a get ripped diet to follow. After all, we all have different food preferences, grocery budgets, and culinary skills. However, if you plan your meals according to the following rules, you should have no problem creating a diet that’s right for you.

Rule # 1 – Create a calorie Deficit

If you only adhere to one rule for getting ripped, this is the one to focus on. Fat is stored energy, and to burn that energy, you need to consume fewer calories. This is called a calorie deficit.

In short, you need to consume 500 calories less per day than your current TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). This deficit will force your body to start burning fat for fuel. Combined with your workouts, this will produce a fat loss of around 1-2 pounds per week. That might not sound a lot, but in 8-12 weeks, it will completely transform how you look.

Use this calculator to determine how many calories you need to eat to get ripped.

Rule # 2 – Pump up the protein

While all the macro or food groups are important, when it comes to getting ripped, protein is the king of the hill. Protein will help preserve your existing muscle mass, ensure you recover quickly between workouts, is also highly satiating, and also provides your metabolism with a small but beneficial boost.

Experts generally agree that, during a fat loss diet, you need about one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Alternatively, you can determine your precise protein needs using this calculator.

Build your meals around high-protein foods like meat, fish, and eggs, and consider adding high-protein snacks to your diet, too.

Rule # 3 – Fill up on veggies

Most vegetables are low in calories, high in fiber and water, and contain an abundance of vitamins and minerals. As such, you should do your best to eat at least five portions of vegetables per day. These can be raw or cooked as you prefer, and you can even juice them if that makes it easier to hit this goal.

Limit your intake of all types of potatoes as they tend to be higher in calories than most other veggies. That said, the occasional serving of potatoes won’t hurt you, especially after a workout, when your body is more likely to use the carbs they contain to restock your depleted glycogen stores.

Read more about the best vegetables for bodybuilding here.

Rule # 4 – Cut down on sugar and junk food

Sugar and junk food are very high in calories but aren’t especially filling. That means they probably won’t help you get ripped. You can still enjoy the occasional treat, but 90% of your food should be healthy and natural. That way, you can eat a greater volume of food while controlling your calorie intake.

For example, an apple and a cookie contain roughly the same number of calories. But, where you probably won’t want to eat more than one apple, you’ll easily be able to eat four or more cookies.

Eating less junk food is an easy way to avoid consuming too many calories.

Rule # 5 – Supplement wisely

Supplements could help you get ripped faster, but you need to use the right products. For example, this is NOT the time to use a high-calorie mass gainer!

Useful supplements for shedding unwanted body fat while preserving muscle include:

Creatine

Creatine is a popular supplement. It can help build muscle and, just as importantly, prevent muscle breakdown or catabolism. As such, it could make your goal of getting ripped a little easier to achieve. Creatine is safe to use, cheap, and readily available.

Use our creatine calculator to determine how much creatine you need to use for optimal results.

Protein powder

We’ve already discussed how important protein is for fat loss and muscle preservation. However, most protein sources are also high in fat and, therefore, calories. Protein powder is almost pure protein. Using it can save you a lot of calories, making it easier to maintain your calorie deficit. Try replacing one meal a day, such as breakfast, with two scoops of your favorite protein powder mixed with water.

Use our protein calculator to find how much protein you need to use for optimal results.

ZMA

This popular supplement is reported to increase anabolic hormone production and enhance sleep. These two effects mean that ZMA could help you get ripped faster.

Thermogenic pre-workout

Thermogenic pre-workouts boost your energy so you can work out harder and longer than usual. Some also contain ingredients designed to enhance your pump. But, thermogenic pre-workouts are designed to do all these things AND improve fat burning. As such, they may be helpful in your quest to get lean.

Fat burners

Like thermogenic pre-workouts, fat burners are formulated to enhance fat loss. Some also contain ingredients to help ward off hunger. While the effect of these supplements is relatively mild, they can still be helpful when you’re trying to get ripped.

Rule # 6 – Enjoy what you eat

Eating healthily and getting ripped does not have to be unpleasant. In fact, if you take the time to plan your meals in advance and seek out some straightforward low-calorie recipes, you should be able to create meals you actually enjoy eating.

So, forget restrictive, unpleasant diets like the Cabbage Soup Diet, Code Red diet, Keto, or Boiled Egg diet. While such strict eating plans CAN work, they’re usually so unpleasant that you’ll quit long before reaching your leanness goal.

The best diet for getting ripped is the one you can stick to for as long as it takes to hit your fat loss target.

Rule # 7 – Track your progress

Make sure that your workout and diet are producing the results you want by tracking your progress. If you aren’t seeing changes, you may need to increase your calorie deficit.

Practical tracking methods include:

• Progress photos
• Girth measurements
• Body weight
• Body fat percentage
• How your clothes fit

Get Ripped Workout Plan

Nutrition is a big part of getting ripped, but you’ll make faster progress if you follow a workout that matches your goal.

The aim of this get ripped workout plan is two-fold:

1. Maintain your current muscle mass
2. Increase your caloric expenditure for faster fat loss

This two-pronged approach will ensure you reach your goal of getting ripped in weeks rather than years.

This is your plan for the next couple of months or until you reach your desired level of leanness.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Legs	Cardio & Core	Back & Chest	Rest	Cardio & Core	Shoulders & Arms	Rest
Walk 10,000 steps	Walk 10,000 steps	Walk 10,000 steps	Walk 10,000 steps	Walk 10,000 steps	Walk 10,000 steps	Walk 10,000 steps

As you can see, each day includes walking 10,000 steps. This equates to roughly five miles or eight kilometers and should take about an hour or so. However, you don’t need to walk all your steps in one go.

Instead, spread the walking throughout your day to make it more manageable. For example, walk for 30 minutes before breakfast, 20 minutes at lunchtime, and then make up the difference after dinner at night.

Walking is an easy way to increase your caloric expenditure without wearing yourself out. In fact, it could even help speed up your recovery between workouts.

Monday – Legs

Leg training is critical for burning fat and getting lean. Your lower body makes up about 40% of your total body mass, so leg training burns a lot of calories. This is arguably the most challenging workout of the week, which is they it’s on Monday, when your energy levels should be at their highest.

Get Ripped Workout – Legs

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Squat	4	6-8	120 seconds
2	Romanian deadlift	3	8-10	90 seconds
3	Step-through lunge	3	10-12	60 seconds
4a	Leg extensions	3	12-15	60 seconds
4b	Leg curls
6	Seated calf raise	3	8-12	60 seconds
7	Standing calf raise	3	8-12	60 seconds

Exercises 4a and 4b are to be done as a superset. Do 12-15 leg extensions immediately followed by 12-15 leg curls. Rest one minute, and then repeat this pairing. Do three supersets in total.

 

Tuesday – Cardio & Core

While you can get ripped without cardio, there is no denying that it can help. The trick is to do enough cardio to shift some extra calories without doing so much that you start to lose muscle. The best type of cardio for this goal is HIIT, short for high-intensity interval training.

HIIT workouts are short and challenging, but because they involve your type II fast-twitch muscle fibers, they are much less likely to cause muscle atrophy.

Complete the following HIIT workout and then move on to the core workout:

1. A 5-minute easy jog to warm up
2. Run 400 meters as fast as you can
3. Walk for 90 seconds
4. Repeat six times
5. A 5-minute easy jog to cool down

Core Workout

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Hanging knee raise	3 laps	12-20	60 seconds between laps
2	Oblique crunches		12-20
3	Cable crunches		12-20
4	Cable woodchop		12-20

This is a core circuit. Do each exercise in turn for the prescribed number of reps. Move quickly from one exercise to the next. Rest one minute between laps, and do three laps in total.

 

Wednesday – Chest and Back

Today is all about working the large upper body muscles. This workout uses push-pull supersets to make the most of your training time and increase your calorie expenditure.

Do the first exercise (a) and then immediately do the second exercise (b). Rest for the prescribed period and then repeat the pairing.

Get Ripped Workout – Chest & Back

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1a	Bench press	4	6-8	2 minutes
1b	Pull-up/chin-up
2a	Incline dumbbell press	3	8-10	90 seconds
2b	Seated row
3a	Pec deck	3	10-12	60 seconds
3b	Lat pulldown
4a	Incline row	2	AMRAP	60 seconds
4b	Push-up

AMRAP = as many reps as possible. Continue pumping out the reps until you hit failure.

 

Friday – Cardio & Core

Today is cardio and core day again! Push yourself hard; tomorrow’s workout is the easiest of the week!

Complete the following HIIT workout and then move on to the core workout:

1. 5-minute easy row to warm up
2. Row 2,000 meters as fast as you can
3. Rest 2 minutes
4. Row 1,500 meters as fast as you can
5. Rest 90 seconds
6. Row 1,000 meters as fast as you can
7. Rest 60 seconds
8. Row 500 meters as fast as you can
9. Finished!
10. 5-minute easy row to cool down

Core Workout

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Weighted crunch	3 laps	12-20	60 seconds between laps
2	Dumbbell side bend		12-20
3	Butt-up		12-20
4	Russian twist		12-20

This is a core circuit. Do each exercise in turn for the prescribed number of reps. Move quickly from one exercise to the next. Rest one minute between laps, and do three laps in total.

 

Saturday – Shoulders & Arms

Today’s workout is arguably the easiest of the week, so enjoy it! That said, you still need to push yourself to trigger the “use it or lose it” response necessary to maintain your muscle mass during your get ripped diet.

Get Ripped Workout – Shoulders & Arms

#	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Recovery
1	Seated dumbbell press	3	8-20	90 seconds
2	Cable lateral raise	3	10-12	60 seconds
3	Face pull	3	12-15	60 seconds
4a	Triceps dip	3	8-10	60 seconds
4b	Barbell curl	3	8-10	60 seconds
5a	Triceps pushdown	3	10-12	60 seconds
5b	Concentration curl	3	10-12	60 seconds

Exercises 4a and 4b and 5a and 5b are to be done as supersets. For example, do exercise 4a and then immediately do 4b. Rest a moment and then repeat the pairing. Do all three supersets before moving onto the next paired exercises (5a and 5b).

 

Get Ripped Workout FAQ

Do you have questions about getting ripped? We’ve got the answers!

1. Are two cardio workouts a week really enough to get ripped?

If you feel you need to do more cardio to get ripped, you are probably eating too much. Doing more cardio could speed up fat loss but could also lead to muscle atrophy. Losing muscle is the LAST thing you want.

So, don’t be tempted to do more cardio to lose weight faster. Instead, if you feel you need to do more, increase your walking or tighten up your diet.

2. Can I change the workout days?

By all means, switch the training days around to suit your schedule better. But, make sure you keep a rest day between the upper body workouts to allow enough time for recovery.

Also, don’t be tempted to add extra workouts – those rest days are crucial. Five workouts per week are plenty. If you feel you aren’t doing enough, you need to train harder, not longer or more often.

3. Can I change some of the exercises?

If you are unable to do any of the exercises, feel free to replace them with something else. For example, if you don’t have a barbell, you can use dumbbells instead. But, don’t look for ways to make the workouts easier. That would be self-defeating. And, chances are that the exercises you find hardest are the ones actually doing you the most good!

4. I’m not losing fat. What am I doing wrong?

Invariably, not losing fat is a dietary issue. Simple put, you are consuming too many calories. Remember, you need a calorie deficit to make your body burn fat for fuel. No deficit means no fat loss, and you could even find yourself gaining fat.

So, revisit your diet and look for the hidden calories that are undermining your progress. Also, check out this article to discover the other reasons you may not be losing fat.

5. What else can I do to speed up fat loss?

Losing fat and getting ripped is a process, and rushing that process could actually undermine your progress. For example, more workouts could leave you too tired to train as hard as you need to, and eating less could rob you of vital energy.

That said, there are a few things that you can do that may enhance your efforts. Read all about these fat loss boosters in this article.

6. Does sweating more speed up weight loss?

While sweating does lead to weight loss, it might not speed up fat loss. Even if you sweat a lot, you’ll replace that water when you have a drink. As a result, any weight loss will quickly be reversed.

So, don’t worry too much about how much or how little you sweat during your workouts. That’s not an indicator that you are burning fat.

You can read more about sweating and fat loss here.

7. How long will it take to get ripped?

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to say how long it’ll take you to get ripped because things like age, gender, training motivation, and dietary compliance all affect your progress. That said, the harder you work, the faster it should happen.

Learn more about how long it takes to lose fat here.

Get Ripped Workout – Wrapping Up

While bulking its place, almost everyone who lifts will, at some point, want to get rid of the fat obscuring their muscles and get ripped.

Doing a lot of cardio and going on a strict diet could get the job done, but it could also end up costing you time and muscle mass.

Stack the odds of success in your favor by following a better approach. Use the nutritional rules and workout in this article to get ripped faster without starving yourself or losing your hard-won muscle.