What's on my mind today?
Today was cardio day and I completed a 5 mile run outside. I am really enjoying the weather here lately and it inspires me to do my cardio outdoors. It also saves me a trip to the gym when I can just walk outside and run.
As you see in today's picture, my Quad Blaster arrived today! I was so excited to see it. I gave it a try and I can truly say that it is a pretty good workout. I think I'm going to need to add a light dumbbell when I use it, but I can definitely see a great future with this thing!
Today was my last chess class with the kids. They were really uptight, but we had fun anyway. I really enjoyed teaching them the past few months.
I am off to bed, so stay tuned this weekend for some more fun commentary. Here is the article I promised.
How To Get Ripped Fast!
By Vince DelMonte
To have a world class fitness body, you must be muscular of course, symmetrical and balanced, have a well defined six-pack but most importantly, you must be ripped and shredded to the bone! If you do not know how to get ripped fast than we are about to discuss how weight training, proper nutrition and aerobic exercise will assist in getting a ripped, beach worthy body by next summer.
Determine Where You Are Starting Before You Start To Get Ripped
If you do not have the ripped body of your dreams than
you are either one of two people:
1. The 'big guy' at the gym who looks huge in clothes but has no muscle definition when the shirt comes off. You are training like a bodybuilder, eating in a caloric surplus, getting stronger and bigger each week but would never win a fitness model show because of your excess body fat.
2. Or, are you the 'skinny guy' who thinks he is ripped because your veins are popping out of your tank top, but have no muscle mass to support your frame. Sure, your veins make you look 'ripped' to the bike club but this false sense of 'big' would only get you laughed off a bodybuilding stage.
To get ripped, you must determine whether you need to start leaning down through a fat loss program or else add muscle mass with a bulking program. You can not be ripped if you are lacking muscle mass or lacking muscle defintion. Don't chase both goals at once. I will address how both categories can learn how to get ripped fast with weight training, nutrition and cardio.
How To Get Ripped With Weight Training
Skinny guys should train less than 45 minutes each workout.
Skinny guys should focus on only compound movements and no isolated movements.
Skinny guys should focus on getting stronger by 5% every two weeks.
Skinny guys should do no more than 1-2 forced reps to avoid wasted energy.
Skinny guys should have there body parts split up into a maximum three day program.
Bulky guys can train from 1 hour to 1 and ½ hours for the extra caloric expenditure.
Bulky guys can incorporate more isolated movements for caloric expenditure.
Bulky guys should still maintain there strength which will ensure no muslce loss.
Bulky guys can include drop sets and pre-exhaust sets for the extra energy expenditure.
Bulky guys can spend more time per muscle group and split there body parts over 5 days.
How To Get Ripped With Nutrition
Skinny guys should be eating about 15 x there current body weight in calories for muscle mass.
Skinny guys should eat at least 1- 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean muscle mass.
Skinny guys should be eating at least 2x as many carbs as proteins.
Skinny guys should be getting high quality fats with each meal.
Skinny guys should be getting extra calories through workout nutrition drinks.
Skinny guys should have there largest meals at breakfast, pre-workout and post-workout.
Skinny guys should be eating large quantities of oatmeal, whole grains, potatoes and rice.
Bulky guys should be eating about 10 x there current body weight, in calories, for fat loss.
Bulky guys should eat at least 1 - 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean muscle mass.
Bulky guys should eat a 1:1 ratio of proteins to carbs in the day.
Bulky guys should only eat healthy fats like flax oil, olive oil, nuts and avocado's.
Bulky guys should only consume liquid carbs during the workout.
Bulky guys should consume carbs only in the form of veggies and fruits.
How To Get Ripped With Cardio
Skinny guys should only do cardio if there caloric intake is in a 1000 calorie surplus.
Skinny guys should keep there cardio workouts as far away as possible from there weights.
Skinny guy should keep there cardio workouts less then 20-30 minutes.
Skinny guys should do cardio no more than 2 - 4 x a week.
Skinny guys should perform cardio on a full stomach.
Skinny guys should have a protein-carb workout drink ready after the workout.
Skinny guys should avoid long, endurance style training.
Bulky guys should do there cardio immediately after weights.
Bulky guys should do a mixture of long, slow cardio and interval cardio.
Bulky guys can do cardio up to 7-10 x a week in extreme cases.
Bulky guys should do cardio on a empty stomach for quicker fat loss.
Bulky guys should sip on a protein drink to avoid muscle loss.
There you have it. Now you know how to get ripped fast, whether you are a skinny or bulky.
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About the Author:
Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com/
He specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before.
© 2006-2008, Vince DelMonte Fitness. All rights in all media reserved. You may reprint this article so long as the article and author bio are reprinted intake and all links are made live. This article may never be sold individually or as part of a package.
Nice looking apparatus you got there Mike. and yes, So Cal weather was awesome today.
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Andy, where in So Cal are you bud? Yes, the Quad Blaster is an awesome device. I can't wait to inject it into my training this week.
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San Diego! Living in the suburbs of Chula Vista. You're from OC right?
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Yes, I live in North OC and work in South OC. I remember now reading about your search for kettle balls and it was in the SD area.
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Hi Mike,
Thanks for your reply in regard to your diet, makes good sense.
I'm about to start working out after a 17 YEAR layoff but one thing I used to do if I noticed a sticking point or a lack of intensity creeping into my weight routine was the 100 Rep Set.
I've tried to find a decent article about the subject but no luck. From my experience it did 2 things:
1. Post 100 Rep Set week (only one week needed) my intensity was out of this world, which I believed was psychological as after that regime, nothing seemed impossible.
2. My energy levels and strength showed an instant and very impressive improvement.
The method is simple if you haven't heard of it, simply lift 35% - 40% of your maximum one lift weight 100 times straight. Better to use machines for stability, keep away from squats as the balance may become an issue and carb up during that week. Keep the speed of repetitions the same as if you were lifting normally and don't forget to keep the fluids up.
This method is widely used by the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) when athletes show low motivation, sticking points or not lifting with the intensity needed due to mental barriers. Check out Australia's recent results in the Olympics and keep the population of that country in mind.
Sorry for the diatribe but I recommend you give it a shot one day, after all, it's only for 1 week.
Cheers
Stefan
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Stefan,
You are awesome! Thanks for the great response as well. I am definitely going to try the 100 reps method when I'm hitting a plateau. It reminds me of what I read in Arnold's autobiography. He says that back in the day they didn't know how an exercise really hit a muscle, so they would do extremely high volume with that exercise and then see where the DOMs hit the next day or two. Quite a brilliant idea.
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