Getting ripped and finding effective workouts to get ripped are probably the most common goals among serious gym goers. Yes, some are still going to the gym to build as much muscle as humanly possible and don’t really care about getting great muscle definition, but I would imagine (and hope) that the majority would rather look defined, fit, healthy and ripped than just plain big.
In order to do this, you’ve got to not only have your diet down but you should also be following a specific workout program to get ripped. A workout that simply builds mass without regard to the amount of fat you gain in the process is not a good one.
I remember when I used to think that lifting lighter weights at higher reps would make me ripped. I worked my butt off and while I did make progress I never really got ripped or even super defined. I was fairly toned at best.
With hours of research and even more hours working out I finally stumbled upon a “missing link” in my training.
Basically I realized that I was training like a bodybuilder who either had Wolverine-like repairing power or was on steroids. Also, that bodybuilder’s main goal would’ve been to bulk up, not get ripped.
After I changed the type of workouts as well as my resting time in the gym and at home I finally started to see results. So before we get into what good workouts to get ripped look like, lets take a look at what they do not look like.
What Do Workouts To Get Ripped Not Look Like?
The difference between workouts designed to get you ripped and workouts designed to build mass are actually pretty drastic. Your muscles respond quite differently when training to get ripped vs training to build muscle mass.
When you train for overall muscle size the type of growth you experience is known as Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy. This type of hypertrophy (increase in volume) is due to the increase in fluid in the muscle cell, hence sarcoplasmic.
The reason this does not generate a ripped looking muscle is because it is the fluid in the muscle that makes the muscle larger, not the actual muscle fibers.
The most common and effective workouts to generate this type of muscle growth involve a high volume of reps. When you train in the 10-15 rep range and you feel that pump — you are filling your muscles with this fluid.
Note: a huge game changer for me was when I learned that training for the pump is NOT the way to get ripped. Sure your muscles look awesome immediately after you’re done but after the initial swelling dissipates you are usually left over with a soft look.
What Should Workouts To Get Ripped Look Like?
Since lifting in the higher rep range (even with lighter weights) is more targeted towards building overall muscle mass, it only makes sense that lifting in a lower rep range will create more of a dense and solid muscle.
These workouts should focus on building the actual fibers in the muscle, not just adding fluid to them. This type of growth is known as Myofibrillar Hypertrophy.
Since filling your muscles with fluid is the best way to increase their overall size, your size gains will be fairly limited when you are focusing on doing workouts to get ripped.
Anywhere from 1-5 reps will focus more on the density of the muscle than the size of the muscle. If you are not concerned with adding size then train doing the lower end of the rep range. If you want to add some size (although much less than a mass workout) then train doing the upper end of the 1-5 reps.
That is one of the reasons that the 5×5 workout routine is so popular. You get some of the density (defined/ripped look) and strength training benefits as well as some overall muscle size. But if you want to get ripped then you need to focus on the lower end of the rep range.
Best Workout Program To Get Ripped
As you can see the type of workouts to get ripped are quite different than the types of workouts to build muscle mass. There are undoubtedly pros and cons to both.
If you focus purely on building muscle mass then you’re going to be big but you’ll probably have a fairly soft and round look since your muscles are basically just filled with fluid.
If you focus only on getting ripped and working only in the 1-3 rep range your actual muscle fibers will be dense and very defined but you may look a little light.
Really, the best route to take is to combine the two. The workout that does this best is Visual Impact Muscle Building. This workout takes you through these three main phases of muscle building:
- Phase 1 – Quick muscle gains
- Phase 2 – Hardening the muscle
- Phase 3 – Pure density (definition) training
After that you can finish off with a bonus phase called the Shrink Wrap Effect (for details on this checkout video 3) where your skin is basically shrink wrapped around your muscles. Honestly, this rates at the top for workouts to get ripped and for workouts to build a decent amount of muscle.
You don’t want to be ripped if you don’t have enough size and you don’t want to be big if you don’t have enough muscle definition. Focus on building a decent, not ridiculous, amount of size and then work on shaping and defining that muscle.
Kevin,
Nicely done. Great content and the graphics are perfect.
Go LOW to Get BIG! Bring on the “Myofibrillar Hypertrophy”.
Keep it up!
-Troy
Thanks for the comment Troy. I do agree that in the end myofibrillar growth looks better and is definitely stronger muscle. Sometimes though, sarcoplasmic is the answer for getting a bit bigger and fuller … that’s why a mix of both is ideal.
Your article here is an excellent example of the kind of information that needs to be presented to kill the common myths such as the high rep one you presented above.
Thanks Ahmed, I remember the days of high reps to get ripped … very glad I’m STILL trying that method to get muscle definition
I can definitely vouch for the Visual Impact program, I’m in phase I myself and already seeing awesome results. Can’t wait to start phase II in about a week and looking forward to going into the lower rep range.
Awesome photos here btw, the black and white thing is really cool.
Thanks Kris! I know that not everybody is crazy about phase II. Seems most prefer I or III but I personally like II the most. It’s cool that there’s a little bit of something for everyone … and that you can tailor the workout to your liking.
I totally agree when I started doing low volume heavy weight training I noticed my muscles started to look hard and defined.
A lot of people mistakenly think it’s only for powerlifters but the secret is in the eating that compliments the training.
Eat too much and you will look big, bulky and powerful .. keep the calories low and you will definitely get shredded, hard and muscular.
Raymond
So true Raymond. It doesn’t really matter how you workout if you aren’t eating correctly. In order to truly get ripped you HAVE to workout and eat right … not one or the other.
So I understand the logic you’ve explained (in a few of your articles actually) about why the low-weight high-reps approach doesn’t actually help to create the definition many people think it does, but what if you’re really concerned with performance- muscular endurance- more pushups, more pullups, better running, better swimming? It would definitely seem you’d need to do more reps in practice to be able to do more in competition- similar to running lots of miles.
You’re absolutely right. The low-weight / high-reps approach is purely for muscle mass — not even strength.
As far as performance goes it just depends on what you’re training for. For example, endurance training is completely different than strength training. If you train to do more pull ups or more pushups then you’ll want to train in the high rep range. If you want to get stronger so that you can bench press more or do heavier, weighted pull ups then you’d want to focus on lower reps and heavier weights … in the end, it just depends on what type of competition you’re training for.
What’s cool about doing workouts to get ripped is that they are generally strength training workouts that focus on building muscle density. These types of workouts will make you stronger — they’re not just for looks.
Sounds like you’ve got it.
One thing I wonder about is the level of effect this change would make.
If we were to take two examples;
1: Medium to high reps
2: Low reps
And put a bunch of people on these two programs, both with calorie targets tuned to give the same bodyfat loss, my guess is that the difference would be pretty small.
But pretty small still means the difference would be there! And in that case it’s still worth ensuring that the final phase of a program that’s designed to get you ripped is also one that creates the most dense muscle look.
The other benefit of doing low rep training during periods of calorie deficit is that you don’t tend to waste as much muscle, due to the workouts being less metabolically stressful. I remember Pavel Tsatsouline talking about this many years ago in an interview with Bill Phillips, and thinking it made outstanding logic, especially when pretty much every other bodybuilding coach would get you to do ‘high reps for cutting’.
Having said that, the real key to getting ripped is always going to be diet. Your training contributes a much smaller percentage of results than diet (with some people saying diet is 95% of your results).
Keep up the good work,
George Super Boot Camps
I do agree that getting ripped is more of a matter of diet than of working out. But yeah, you do need to workout and this is the type I recommend for it.