How to Get Ripped: The Blueprint Part 1
If you’re looking to torch body fat off your body so you can see your lean muscle hidden underneath it, you first need a plan. There’s more to getting ripped than eating “right” and “exercising”, whatever that means.
So if you want to know how to get ripped, read on. But don’t just read this information, use it! It does no good if you read this, nod your head in agreement, and then don’t make any changes to your lifestyle or current training program.
Remember, knowledge isn’t power, applied knowledge is power. You have to take action on the right knowledge if you want results.
You’re not going to build lean muscle, flatten your stomach, or drop 30 pounds of ugly fat just by reading about how to get ripped and lean.
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Know Where You’re Starting (Measure, Measure, Measure)
On you’re way to getting lean, you need to know where you’re starting. You can’t get ‘there’ if you don’t know where ‘here’ is.
At the very least, record your measurements and use Body Fat Calipers to record your body fat percentage and take pictures!
With the electronic calipers from FatTrack GOLD
Body fat percentage can vary a lot depending on the method used. So forget about the percentage number and focus on your improvements. The key to accuracy is to use the same method in the same way, each time.
Remember, the scales lies. People of the same height and same weight can look completely different.
If you added ten pounds of muscle and lost ten pounds of fat, don’t you think you’d look different? But the weight on the scale wouldn’t have changed at all!
The scale is a tool you can lose along with the body fat calipers.
And ladies, a pound of muscle is smaller than a pound of fat.
Guys, you may not like that but keep this in mind. The leaner and more ripped you are, the bigger you look!
That’s right, more muscle and less fat is a win win for the guys and girls!
Put one of the pictures somewhere you will see it everyday, such as the fridge or the mirror in the bathroom.
You may even want take pictures periodically, say every two weeks so you can see the difference. We don’t always see our improvements in the mirror.
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Put A Fitness and Nutrition Plan In Place
It amazes me when people say they don’t have time to eat healthy or to workout on a regular basis.
It’s not about time, it’s about priorities. We all have twenty four hours in a day. It’s how you use them.
Your nutrition and your fitness routine have to be a high enough priority that you get them done.
Besides, if you’re fit and healthy and exercising on a regular basis, you’ll have far more energy than most people do, making you more productive and actually giving you more time than you had before you were in shape.
Think of all the time people spend in front of the television, or planning a vacation.
Are you telling me you can’t find the time to eat well and exercise for 3 hours a week? Your health means so little? Come on!
Track, Track, Track
Once you have your numbers and a plan in place, you MUST track your progress and results! This means having a workout journal and recording your exercises and poundages so you can see the improvements over time.
Most of us hate counting calories and keeping a food journal (me, too!) but it goes a long way toward your weight loss success.
But here’s another great tip when it comes to your food. A study done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, by Dr. David Deal and Dr. Lydia Zepeda was pretty interesting.
Instead of having people keep a food journal, they had them take a picture of their food BEFORE they ate it (there were 43 people in this study).
This allowed people to take note of their mistakes before it happened and the doctors concluded that taking a picture of your food before you ate it provided even better results than a food diary.
I found out about this study in The 4-Hour Body
I would recommend both a food journal and taking pictures but if you just can’t do the food diary (very easy with sites like www.fitday.com ) at least snap digital pictures of your meals.
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How To Get Ripped: Simple Nutrition
1. Eliminate Processed Foods
If man made it, don’t eat it. Stop putting all those chemicals in your body!
2. Avoid Carbohydrates (Sort of)
Here’s the No No List
- Bread
- Potatoes
- Pasta
- Pizza
- Tortillas
- Rice (even brown)
3. Eat Quality Protein
- Eggs
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Beef
- Fish
- Pork
4. Eat Vegetables (go crazy!) and Fruits (in moderation)
We’re not eliminating carbohydrates, in case you got that impression from #2 above. But we are limiting our carb intake to fruits and vegetables.
5. Eat and Repeat
What does that mean? It means stick to the same basic meals. I know this is one of the big complaints a lot of people have with eating ‘healthy’ so let me address that excuse now.
Most of us vastly over estimate the variety we get when it comes to food.
For the most part, we eat the same meals, with little variation, day after day, especially breakfast and lunch, usually with a limited number of rotating dinners. And this is when we’re not trying to stick to a nutrition plan.
I think the real complaint, disguised as not enough variety, is what that variety is that people are eliminating…. yummy, unhealthy junk food! They miss the snacks like ice cream, candy, chips and hoagies.
But also, an important part of limiting your variety is that it makes it easier on you. You’re not constantly trying to come up with the next healthy meal.
Once you have a meal plan in place, a lot of confusion is taken away by sticking to a limited plan.
Besides, the whole variety thing will be taken care of by the next step.
6. Take A Day Off Once Per Week
Yes, once per week, eat whatever you want. Call it a cheat day, treat day, reward day, whatever you want.
An uptick in calories once in a while can increase fat loss and boost your metabolism, allowing you to lose even more fat. We’ll talk more about this in a future article.
There are a number of other easy nutrition tips that will really help out as well, and we’ll talk about them in future articles, but I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, while still giving you great results.
In part two of How to Get Ripped Fast we’ll take a look at some motivational strategies you can use as well as your workout routine.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
We cant even have brown rice?shouldn’t we limit out carbohydrates to morning and lunch time? Then progress to our protein based meals afternoon evening? Carbohydrates are our main source of energy after all, wouldn’t it be worse to starve our body of it?
Hey Joel! Good questions! As far as starving your body of carbohydrates, you aren’t going to do that if you’re having fruits and vegetables. Second, of the three main macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) carbohydrate is the only one of the three that our body does not need to survive. It’s good protein and healthy fats that we need. I’m not saying to completely eliminate carbs as they definitely can serve their purpose, such as post workout, especially if you want to add muscle mass.
Carbs can definitely help for performance. But, like you said, if you are going to have them, the best time is either in the morning or pre/post workout. If you’re looking to get ripped, you can even cut back on post workout carb consumption as well. This is when I’ll have my fruit, by getting frozen fruit and making a fat burning smoothie
As far as carb consumption long term, once you hit a body fat level and overall weight that you are comfortable, you can begin adding carbs back into your diet, until you find the amount whereby more carbs starts adding body fat.
Your goals are going to dictate nutrition adjustments. If you’re looking to drop fat and don’t want to get overwhelmed with a ton of nutrition rules, this is a great way to do it. I didn’t put in all the tweaks that can make a difference (such as getting 35 grams of fiber every day, taking a good EFA Supplement, etc.
And don’t forget you can get plenty of carbs one day a week.
If you’re looking to lose weight with some simple nutrition rules, this is a good way to go.
Gregg
Thanks for simplifying this so well Greatly appreciated!! And keep up the good work Gregg its making a difference for a lot of people out there!!
M
Hey Mark! Thanks! Glad it helped! Nutrition can get overwhelming but there are a number of simple things that people can do to get results.
Thanks for reading!
Gregg
thanks gregg for doing your own part of the work,please pray for us to do ours.
Thanks, Dan! I’m thinking good thoughts!
Gregg
What about corn tortillas? I know it says no tortillas, but I assume you mean the ones made from flour. Are corn tortillas ok? The only ingredient in there is milled corn. Thanks!
Hey Dana! Obviously, this article doesn’t cover everything. I wanted to simplify the rules and get rid of the overwhelm and paralysis by analysis that so many people run into when trying to lose weight. As Bill Phillips used to say, don’t get stuck on things like whether or not turkey or chicken is a better protein source. Focus on the important rules that will make the most difference.
Everyone is slightly different. While we all fall into general categories as far as our reaction to things like penicillin, we do have extremes. This is also true as to how we react to carbs. What I would do if I were you, is follow the rules as is for a couple of weeks, track how you look and feel, then add corn tortillas back into your diet and continue to monitor how you look and feel.
Some people need to keep their carb intake minimized. Others can increase carb intake much more without piling on the body fat. Follow the rules, make (and track) small adjustments, and find out what works for you.
Hope this helps!
Gregg
Hey Greg, i truly enjoy reading your emails and gaining the necessary knowledge that you bring to the table as far as eating and working out properly goes.
A quick question for you, I was wondering if you had other ideas for a good quality, high in protein snack, which I could start using. Currently I rotate between cottage cheese as one, or celery sticks and peanut butter and protein bars. Do you have any other options or good ideas on this at all??
I appreciate any input. Thanks in advance, Rob.
Dear Gregg
Thank you for the consistent brilliant advice.
Question from South Africa. I struggle to sweat, but recently my pilates instructor advised me to try two tablespoons of brown rice and three egg whites before exercise. I have never seen so much sweat and energy, its wonderful! Must I stop this pre exercise routine? I train at 7am daily?
Rob,
Thanks for the kind words! As to your question, it really depends what you mean by snacks. If you’re talking about being on the go and need to keep something with you, that’s a lot more limited and my favorite choices are nuts like almonds, peanuts and cashews, protein bars, or a protein shake (I have a good thermos to keep it cold).
If you can prepare something and just want it to be quick, peanut butter and cottage cheese are two good options. Some others include oatmeal (try sprinkling a little cinnamon and protein powder on it, too), protein shakes, lentils (not so great alone but good in a soup), eggs, tuna, and jerky (beef, turkey or ostrich!).
Those are some of my favorites that are quick to prepare. Obviously, your choices in there are more limited if you’re in a phase where you’re following the nutrition info above very strictly.
Gregg
Hey Zanelle,
Thanks, I appreciate that! If it’s working for you and you’re getting results by doing that, by all means stick with it. As far as following the above article to the letter, see my above response to Dana!
Oh and Zanelle, if you want to add to the sweating, energy and boost your metabolism, add a little red pepper to that rice and egg white combo.
Gregg
For a guy that has hit a solid wall and can not seem to bulk up or even gain weight for that matter would you consider eliminating the breads and pastas? I think in order for me to even bulk up it would be impossible for me to gain weight unless I ate a truck load of vegetables. I’m not sure if you are familiar with Vince Delmonte’s diet plan. But I calculated using his method of even my resting metabolic rate and it ended up being close to 1,800 calories just resting. I know I have to have at least around 9%-10% body fat perhaps, so taking that into consideration that’s what I came up with. So I would need to eat like 2,500 calories per day alone. I know a calorie is not a calorie, but giving up whole grains? Really? I try to get the best bread in store that has whole grains, but it’s tough because everything is so enriched and full of additives and garbage. Vince Delmonte’s diet consists of massive amount of vegetables and fruits that would be way too costly to even be able to handle especially at this time of the year with prices soaring due to lack of vegetation. I do not care if I have to eat the same thing just to generate results. At least I would be going into a positive direction and that’s all I care about.
Hey Gregg-
question for you in regards to someone who is 48 years old. I am a natural bodybuilder and now that I am older……I have a harder time trying to keep bodyfat off mostly the stomach. I am in GREAT shape (hell, I still have my hair) LOL!! My question is now that I am older, even when I eat great I find that creating a six pack seems almost impossible without burning into muscle or losing some size in my glutes. Does getting older mean that I even have to reduce my protein co?sumption just to cut some calories? I want my six pac again but in order to keep muscle size, I feel as though I need extra calories to support lifting heavier and heavier to produce muscle mass. Sometimes I feel as though I cant get any more size with out compromising my joints and injury. In other words, can I continue to produce muscle at my age or do I really just go into a maintence phase? Can I, at my age still make significant gains.?
Devon, Gregg – good questions, guys! I’ll be back in here sometime tomorrow to answer them. With that detail and the fact that a lot of people that way, I must just write articles.
Gregg
Hey Gregg,
I have been reading your emails and blog. I appreciate the advice. What do you suggest to add lean muscle mass in addition to sculpting my body. I have always had difficultly gaining muscle mass or any weight. I have a small frame and participate in high cardio sport (soccer and basketball) 2-3x a week. Is the diet you suggest in addition to hitting the gym 5x a week good enough for me, or is their something else is the something more I should be doing?
@Devon,
Remember, the above blueprint is for leaning out more so than for muscle building. You can definitely add other healthy carbs to your program if you’re trying to pack on muscle and are currently pretty lean (which 9 – 10 % body fat is). For some it can take a lot more calories, at least in the short term, to get you growing. When I was younger, I had to take in a TON of calories for a while to start adding body weight. I’m talking 4,000, 5,000 plus calories per day.
For starters, consider getting powdered milk for more calories and protein (cheaper than regular milk and protein powder). Also, get a good healthy fat oil like Udo’s Oil Blend which has 140 calories in a tablespoon (and the late Dan Duchaine called essential fatty acids the most anabolic legal substance around).
At least in the short term, eat calorically dense but relatively healthy foods like whole eggs (omelets can pack in the calories and protein), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and good shakes. A simple shake of two cups of whole milk, a tablespoon of Udo’s Oil Blend, a scoop of powdered milk and a scoop of whey protein will give you about 640 calories and 48 grams of protein, along with they good fats. You could even add peanut butter, a banana, etc.
Gregg
The Skinny Guy’s Guide to Building Mass Fast/a>
@Greg,
While everybody’s a little different and we don’t know how much you’ve maximized your potential, going just by your age, yes, you can definitely still make gains. Take a look at Dave Goodin, over 50, competed most of his life in drug tested contests, still competes and looks better than 99.9% of 25 year olds out there. It doesn’t mean you might not need to change a few things.
As far as your joints, injuries and building or maintaining muscle mass, heavier weights aren’t necessary to build muscle. I highly recommend you go read about the 8 x 8 system by Vince Gironda at my other site – Build Muscle Fast with the 8 x 8 system A couple of other great variations are the 4 x 10 (30 seconds rest between sets, same weight all four sets) and the 10 x 5 (1 minute between sets).
You’ll use much lighter weights but you’ll really up the intensity and density of your workouts, trigger serious growth hormone release and build muscle.
Gregg
@ Pete,
Thanks for the kind words! First, I can tell you from painful experience that when you are naturally skinny with a revving metabolism, putting on lean muscle while participating in cardio sports like basketball and soccer (both sports I played), is very difficult!
I wouldn’t recommend the diet in this article as is. See some of my above responses as to why. Second, I also wouldn’t be hitting the weights 5times per week! With your skinny frame and cardio sports that’s way too many. I’d hit the weights, twice per week, three times MAX! And my workouts wouldn’t last longer than 45 minutes, either. And I’d only hit compound exercises, like squats, deadlifts, pull ups, dips and military presses.
I’m finished up a mass building report. I’ll put the link to it in these comments in the next day or so.
Gregg