Getting a ripped body means decreasing your body fat percentage to improve muscular definition and conditioning. Diet makes up a large part of your strategy for getting ripped. However, you can add some targeted training techniques to your current program that help to accelerate your fat loss and get you ripped faster than with diet and exercise alone. Follow a few basic tips to get ripped to shreds in no time.
Training Frequency
Increasing training frequency can help you to burn more calories and get ripped quicker. Do resistance training five or six days per week. Don't train every day, because this does not allow your body enough time to recover. Always take one day off from all formal training.
Rest Periods
Decreasing your rest periods to 30 seconds or less between sets can increase your workout intensity and burn more fat. As you progress toward your peak conditioning, decrease rest periods incrementally. For example, start with 60 seconds between sets, then drop to 45 and finally use 30-second rest periods or just enough time to catch your breath.
Slow Negatives
Using super slow negatives causes micro-tears in muscle tissues, which take up to 72 hours to repair, burning more fat and elevating metabolic rate. You do this by slowly lowering the weight on every repetition while counting out six seconds. Add one set of slow negative training to each exercise and do it last. Use a lighter weight than usual to account for the increased time under tension.
Drop Sets
Adding drop sets helps you get ripped in many ways. It can increase lactic acid buildup in muscle tissue, which triggers growth hormone release in the body. HGH, or human growth hormone, acts as a potent natural fat burner. To do a drop set perform one set of an exercise, then drop or decrease the weight and immediately do another set.
Intensity
Keep your workout intensity high by continuing to lift challenging weights. Dieting can zap your energy, causing strength to temporarily decrease. However, you must continue to lift as heavy as possible to challenge your muscles and force your body to burn fat for energy. Train to positive failure, meaning that you stop each set when you can no longer perform another controlled repetition.
Cardio
Do cardiovascular training five or six days per week. You can even increase your cardio to a two-a-day strategy, with one session upon waking on an empty stomach and another following your resistance training workout. Use a low to medium intensity to maintain as much muscle as possible. Once or twice a week you can do high-intensity cardio, as long as you follow the workout with a post-workout meal of both protein and carbohydrates for muscle recovery.
References
- "Xtreme Lean", Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman; 2006
- "Combat the Fat"; Jeff Anderson; 2008
- "The Abs Diet"; David Zinczenko; 2004
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