R.I.P.P.E.D Weight Training Blog

One of the main things you need to strive for whenyou are at the gym is proportionality. Many times I will see guys walking around with a chest and arms that are huge, but they wear sweat pants because they don’t want you to see how they ignore their leg workouts. Give me a break with that stuff; you need to work out so your body is a matching set.

There are questions about the best way to accomplish this goal. Nearly everyone you see has some part that is out of proportion. Even some of the top dogs in the business have aspects that are slightly out of proportion. The trick to getting your body into top shape is staying with a strategic steady schedule. It’s not really a trick, but more like common sense, but you wouldn’t think so if you look around the gym.

There are a few different ways to accomplish this goal, but I think that I have found the best way. Dividing your time between your different parts is a must. When I am talking about ‘different parts’ I am meaning one day you concentrate on chest, one day legs, etc. Rotation of exercise is also key factor to keeping your body guessing at what is coming up next. For example, if you are doing bicep exercises you don’t want to do hammer curls day after day and think that your biceps are going to have the best shape ever!

You have to mix it up in various fashions. To start with, staying with the same example, hammer curls are a compound exercise, involving many more muscles than just the bicep. So, you want to do some isolation exercises to shock the muscle; jump on the preacher curls, or crank up the weight or turn your sets upside down. There are lots of ways to get that shock to your system that is going to promote maximum growth and sculpt the muscle the way you want it to be. Of course, I go into this in much more detail in my RIPPED Weight Training book.

That sort of shock to your muscles promotes better development of the muscles, but an even bigger part of the proportionality is making sure your body parts match. Do you have one bicep bigger than the other? Do you have the toothpick legs? Be honest with yourself. If you think other people are so struck with your arms that they don’t notice your legs (or your long sweat pants in the middle of summer) you are wrong. The greatest structures on earth have the best foundations. Your legs are your foundation; you need to make them strong and solid, like the base of a pyramid.

Give yourself an honest assessment and have a friend critique you. Tell them to be brutally honest and then don’t get all defensive. At least don’t let them know you are unhappy about what they say. They are doing you a favor, so be a man about it and thank them.

The thing I am really trying to emphasize here is that you are making the best you; if you are doing the right things at the gym. If you are not doing the right things, hey, if you are satisfied with looking out of balance, maybe you should find another discipline than bodybuilding. This sport is about building the perfect body. Don’t get me wrong, all bodies aren’t going to look the same. Your perfect body won’t look exactly like anyone else’s, but it will be the right one for you, if you pay attention to your proportions and make them right.

Proportionality is one of the pillars of the ripped system because I think it is a foundation of bodybuilding. Next time you are in the gym take a look around and I am sure you will agree; the best physiques are proportional.

(c) Copyright 2007 by Steve Gwillim

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Ripped Weight Training

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 I read the RIPPED Weight Training e-book and all I can say is WOW! I thought this was going to be another one of those “all-hype, no information” type of book, but that wasn’t the case at all. Steve’s e-book contained a lot of information I never heard before, along with a clear-cut method of applying the knowledge. Combined with the concise workout routines on the website, this makes a dynamite contribution to my quest for a R.I.P.P.E.D. physique.

        There are many books out there on the internet and in my local bookstore, but I have to say the information contained in the RIPPED Weight Training e-book has an in-your-face, here are the facts approach that is refreshing. It doesn’t try to tell you that you’re going to gain 20 pounds of muscle and cut your fat percentage to 10% overnight or anything like that; it’s the real deal.

 Steve’s take-no-prisoners attitude has me in the gym working harder probably than ever before in my life, but I am finally getting the results I’ve always wanted. There is no magic pill or supplement that can replace getting in the gym and moving iron. The secret here is making the best use of your time by having the right mind-set and the right exercises to do. RIPPED Weight Training combines that with the right diet and cardio program; it is a total package. I have to say I am totally happy with the results I am getting.Steve has a unique way of expressing himself, and the points he makes are like nothing I’ve ever read before. His no-nonsense approach combined with a touch of humor made reading the book and getting into the guts of bodybuilding a snap. The testimonials on the web site  show the results from his methods are real, and that has me hitting the gym with a new intensity. I know that I can get the body I want from using this cutting-edge information.

Thanks Steve for showing me the most effective way to fast results!

Dan Fellowes Sydney

http://majorleaguehealth.com/free-stuff.html http://www.FatLossLifeStyle.com http://www.IntervalCardio.com The Dumbbell Punch Pull Core Exercise is a great exercise. It is an awesome functional, athletic movement for you athletes. It will not only give you the ripped Abs you have been looking for, but it will make you spine more pain free. The main reason to workout abs is because strong abs will stabilize your lower back and prevent you from an injury; but as a side benefit a 6-pack looks great! Anyone can be healthier, have more energy, sleep better, and feel better about themselves through bodybuilding. Bodybuilding doesn’t have to be expensive or take a lot of time, gyms are great but home workouts can save you time and money. A couple of rubber bands & some good exercises is all it takes to get started with your home workouts. You do not need any equipment. In fact most of the clubs are wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment that is making peoples bodies less functional and worse off. The Dumbbell Punch Pull Core Exercise is a vital part of shocking your mid-section. This movement really allowed me to build a strong base and get the midsection I had always dreamed about. At the age of 43 years old, I am in the best shape of my life. And I know that you can do it to. All the time it takes is 4-5 hours per week, with a well thought out plan of action. You can work-out till your blue in the face but if you do not incorporate Interval Cardio (done first thing in the morning in a fasted state), intense functional multi-joint, compound exercises, small healthy meals often with protein and carbs combined together, positive mindset, goal setting & social support (you will turn into who you hang around) you will not change your body much. But if you do focus on the 3 pillars of fitness & health, you will radically change your waistline, your lifestyle, and your life. For more incredible before and after testimonials; Real People, With Real Results in my private Chicago studio, go to http://www.fatlosslifestyle.com YOUR ATTITUDE WILL DETERMINE YOUR ALTITUDE (how high you go in life) YOUR WAISTLINE DETERMINES YOU ATTITUDE GET A BETTER BODY; GET A BETTER LIFE!! If you sign up for my free “Reach Your True Potential” Newsletter at http://www.fatlosslifestyle.com you will have free access to 10 things that will blowtorch your fat away. You will get all kinds of bonus’s like the “No Equipment Needed Exercise of The Month”, and “Prepared in 3 Minutes - Fat loss Meal of The Month” every month. Some of the people that I respect are Tom Venuto & Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle, Craig Ballantyne & Turbulence Training, Mike Geary & Six Pack Abdominal Program, Dr. Al Sears & his Pace cardio program, Dr. Mercola, & Depoch Chopra and his spirituality teachings Just Do It!!

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Below is an interview about cardio workouts done by Craig Ballantyne. This presents a great example of how cardio workouts are typically misused by exercise enthusiasts in their attempts to lose body fat. You’ll never get those six pack abs if all you keep doing are the same boring cardio routines over and over. Expand your thinking, and shrink your waistline!

Everybody assumes that you must do endless hours of cardio workouts to get ripped six pack abs. But this is simply not true. In fact, if you quit wasting so much time with boring slow cardio routines and change your workouts much more strategically, you will get those six pack abs much faster than you thought was possible!

Let’s look into how one female cardio workout fanatic finally lost her excess belly fat and revealed her six pack abs with the help of the innovative Turbulence-Training workouts!

Craig: C-J, let’s start with a bit of background on yourself and what your goals were when you discovered interval-training and strength training.

C-J:
Ok, I’m a female in my middle 30’s and your typical office professional who spends many long hours in front of the computer.

With regards to fitness and nutrition, I grew up realizing the importance of being active and staying healthy. So while I’ve stayed active for most of my life, I recently realized that I still had a lot to learn about both training and nutrition.

When I first discovered the Turbulence-Training Workouts, I was looking for an improvement in body composition. I had been introduced to weight training a year or so earlier and had made some really good progress, but had gone past that “new stimulus” effect, and really needed something different to kick my results up again and break the plateau.

Craig: How were you doing before?

C-J:
Well, during grad school and working full-time I let my fitness slip for the days and evenings tied to a computer, and the joys of eating at restaurants once or twice a day. I had gained about twenty pounds and was at my heaviest weight ever at about 160 pounds. Once I finished night school, I added exercise and nutrition back to my priority list and lost those twenty pounds, mostly from running five days a week.

The 2nd stage started when I discovered weight training. I was at about 142 pounds at the time and about 28% body fat. After about six months I lost another 8-10 pounds and 7% body fat.

So when I started the Turbulence-Training program, I had already made decent progress as I was down to about 133 pounds and 21-22% bodyfat.

Craig: What were your workouts like before Turbulence Training? Why did they not work as well? How have you since improved upon those workouts?

C-J:
Before Turbulence Training, I was a “same-pace” cardio fanatic, and I ran 3-5 miles three times a week and strength trained using a four day body part split routine. This plan worked ok for about six months or so, but then I just stalled out and the plateau set in. I’m not exactly sure what the culprit was, but I just knew that I needed a different type of workout program to try.

So when I first started strength training and interval workouts I was skeptical that such a short workout only three times per week would be good enough. I soon realized that strength training and intervals kept the intensity levels higher during EVERY workout, so the 3 days and 2 super sets were actually much more efficient than my four day body part split and three days of running. I also got on an interval training program and reduced my slower “same pace” cardio runs to about one day a week.

Craig: How have the interval workouts and strength training helped you improve your shape? What benefits and results have you achieved? What are your improvements compared to your before stats?

C-J:
I am definitely stronger, leaner, and faster than before.

Strength wise, I can finally do chin-ups and pull-ups, something I’ve always wanted to be able to achieve. I have also improved my 5k time by two minutes. I also finally have the muscle tone and athletic body shape that I have always wanted.

When compared to my before stats, I have had to throw the scales out the window and use the mirror and compliments I’ve received as my guide since I have gained a few pounds of lean (but sexy) muscle so the scale weight hasn’t changed much even though my body composition has improved. Also, my clothes have gotten looser and smaller and I’m also making fairly significant strength and speed gains. I can also actually see a visible six pack of abs now, which has always eluded me!

Craig: How do you feel in terms of energy and strength?

C-J:
My strength gains are most exciting to me, since I typically have high energy/endurance. I particularly like how my strength gains have transferred to improved running and biking.

The amount I can lift in the gym just sort of evolves, but when I can climb hills on my bike that I used to be foreced to walk, and finish 5k runs in times that were once way out of my reach, it feels pretty damn good!

Craig: What features do you like about TT-style strength and intervals?

C-J:
It is fun, time efficient, and intense. Plus it works like crazy! When I am in the gym, I know that I am making the most efficient use of my time.

Craig: Did you change your eating plan with the guidelines?

C-J:
Not a whole lot, but some. I was on a pretty good eating plan when I started TT strength and intervals, but I am constantly learning about making better food choices and looking to change things slightly here and there. Incorporating a post-workout recovery shake and getting as much variety as possible have been the biggest changes in my nutrition habits since I started the program.

Craig: What would you say to others that ask you about your workouts? Do you get a lot of comments from people?

C-J:
When people ask me about my workouts, I try to hold back some excitement so I don’t come off as a wild fanatic and overwhelm them.

I have had quite a few comments from others in my gym, either noticing how hard and smart that I am working out, or complimenting me on my progress. One woman even pointed me out and said “I want thighs like that!” to her friend. How cool is that!

It is always enjoyable to see friends or family or even co-workers that I haven’t seen in a while because they always remind me of the great progress I have made. It’s also exciting that I can show off my flat stomach now too with the sexy little six pack!

The best compliment I get now is in the form of imitation. Others want to know exactly what I do and ask me for tips to help them. They see that it works, want to know how I have done it, so they can try to apply it to themselves.

Craig: Thanks C-J! Keep up the great work with your time-saving Turbulence Training fat-loss workouts.

See below for a special free report on more effective cardio workout alternatives that will have you losing body fat much faster from now on.

Mike Geary
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/your-cardio-workout-routines-are-wrong-86940.html

Ripped Workout

Most people believe that exercising with light weights with high repetition will tone and define your muscles to get that rock hard ripped muscular body. Since so many fitness personal trainers teach their clients that, so it must be true?

As summer approaches, many fitness enthusiasts will switch from muscle building routine to doing light weight high reps routine to cut away their body fat and to reveal their ripped muscular body. After all, it is shirt off time for the beach and poolside parties, isn’t it?

Well, I am about to bust this popular light weight high rep to tone muscle myth. Did I hear you gasp? Good. This is because the myth is so well entrenched and a lie being told too often will generally be accepted as the truth.

To get toned and well defined muscles, you need to lose body fat covering the muscles. Period. When you get rid of your body fat, your muscles will show through. You will look sinewy and muscular. Of course, that is provided that you have built muscles below those fats.

Let me ask you, how could light weight high repetition exercises build muscles or melt away fat? There is no logic in this.

To build muscle mass, you have to do heavy weight low rep compound exercises, exactly the opposite of light weight high rep routine. To lose body fat, you have to do intensive cardiovascular exercises and eating correctly.

There is no such thing as spot reduction short of invasive medical procedures such as liposuction. That means no matter how many crunches and side bends you do, the fat isn’t going to come off your belly and neither will your love handles melt away.

So if you want to reveal your well toned and defined musculature, you have firstly to build bigger muscles and then subsequently cut your body fat. Medium weight high repetition compound giant set exercises may help you burn more calories if the exercises keep your heart rate up and get you panting and sweating throughout the entire exercise workout session. However, this will already be a cardiovascular workout session and not a weight lifting workout session.

So next time when some smart aleck advises you that to get a well toned muscular body, you must workout with light weight and with high repetition, just ask him to explain the logic behind his statement and have a good laugh when you see him fumbling for a logical answer.

Chris Chew
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/light-weight-high-repetition-exercises-to-define-tone-and-get-ripped-muscles-33652.html

Ripped Workout

Are Your Workout Routines Right for You?

So you’re pushing up 200lbs over your head during a military press and this young little hottie jamming with her video ipod walks by and gives you the once over. You notice her eyes kind of “stall” at your mid-section. You want to smile and say hello but you’d probably drop that weight on your head and put yourself in the hospital……so you try to squeak out a “hi” but it just turns out to be a REALLY LOUD grunt. Damn, better luck next time.

What if that girl was the one that was going to bring you happiness and joy. You know, the one who wanted to wash your skid-mark underwear? The one who likes it when you come home REALLY late from a night with your “drinking buddies” and throw up in bed. The one who thinks it’s cute when you stare at other women? How could you avoid these types of problems?

Well, let’s start with the obvious….is that workout routine the right one for you? What if it’s not…..you just grunted at your best friend’s future sex puppet and you weren’t even doing anything good for yourself! Oh, I didn’t tell you that he started to crack jokes about your loud grunt to her, one thing leads to the next and now he is getting more exercise inside the house than outside? Yea, forgot that little tid-bit. What’s up with that! So, obviously, having the proper workout for your specific goals is VERY important. How do you know your workout is on track with your goals? Well, first of all you’ve got to have a goal. Second you’ve got to find some workout routines. Yes, I said workout routines…that’s plural. You can’t just have one workout routine from the time you’re 20 until the time you’re 80……you’ll be lifting the same weight everyday and never change a damn thing.

Let’s start with a goal. Since most guys want to get bigger, I’ll slap out a couple of simple rules for that. The simple rules are: low reps, high weights to build size. That’s great, you hear that everywhere, but what the hell does that mean? That means if you want to build the size of the muscle, you should be lifting weight that is REALLY tough that last THREE reps. Make those last three impossible. Muhammad Ali once was asked “How many sit-ups do you do in a day?” His response was “I don’t know, I only start counting when it hurts”. What he is trying to say is, you are breaking down muscle when you are feeling it. You are making progress when you can’t make any more progress! Make it hurt. Make the last three hurt. By the way, low reps means you stay in a range from 6-10. Some say never go over 8, but if you are having trouble getting to 6, and the next weight is too light, make 10 hurt.

Sweet, we have the reps down, how about the sets? How many times should you do the same exercise? Three to four sets is a good amount. I recommend doing two sets, then switching exercises to get in three-four difference exercises each workout. Hit the muscle from all different angles. Narrow, regular, wide and super-wide grips….on whatever you are doing. Find different angles for whatever you are doing.

How about the length of time in between the workouts? Well, if you’re looking to put some muscle on, you should be waiting AT LEAST 7-8 days in between workout routines for a specific body part. Some suggest even longer like 10-12 days. The reason for this is, if you are working the muscle again too soon, you will be trying to break it down when it’s trying to build back up.

What about getting lean? So you’re a bit on the chunky side. You like to roll up your hot dog with a meat-bun. You’re thinking you can’t really see Mr. Johnson all that well anymore? Well, my friend, you are at the opposite end of the spectrum, and you’re going to need to start lowering the weight, and increasing your reps. If you REALLY can’t see Mr. Johnson anymore, you’re going to have to do more than just workout. So, you still want to make those last three reps burn. Make them hurt. Make them make YOU scream for Mama. Get the pain, get the gain. Low weight, high reps, and you’ll get that definition like Brad Pitt.

How about the length of time in between workout routines to get ripped and super-fit? Every other day. Do a “whole-body” workout three days per week. You’ll be sore, on Wednesday from Monday’s workout, but you’ll be burning major calories and keeping those muscles lean and mean. No bulking here. You’ll be breaking the muscle down before it has time to build back up.

So, I know what you’re asking. “Where do I get workout routines!” Well, you go to a gym and ask all the guys with big muscles and little packages to “Give me your workout routines or the protein shake gets it!”, or, you could go to the library (I know, why the hell would you do that when you have Google and http://Digg.com?) and check out a bunch of “bodybuilding” books and articles OR you could just check out http://SUPER-FIT.COM and get an endless supply of workout routines that you can download onto your MP3 player, Ipod or Video Ipod, that way you don’t have to do any of the work, and you know that you are getting quality workout routines that are doing the job that you want them to do. Now you have time to get your own sex-puppet.

Al Parker, MD
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/workout-routines-105797.html

Weight Training Workout

I think i overworked my stomach muscle because it’s been really sore for the past 5 days and i wanted to know if it is bad to workout a ripped muscle. bc i went to the gym yesterday and was doing stomach exercises and it still hurt so i don’t think it healed completely and i was just wondering if it is bad to keep working out my stomach even though its still healing?
you need to get some rest from that. i was just the same, i would work out on my stomach until i felt a real bad pain around there bit i figured i need to get rest in between workouts. you just need to tone it down a bit and stretch before you do any type of workout so that your body can get warmed up.

Ripped Workout