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There’s a common misconception in the fitness industry that to get ripped without weights, you need to…
- Adopt some sort of high rep circuit training.
- Eat nothing more than salad and veg.
- Live in the gym to get anywhere near the chiseled look you want to achieve.
Now, just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with high rep training. And hammering out endless pushups and pullups till you puke up a lung is still gonna provide its share of benefits.
But just because this works. Doesn’t mean it’s always the best way to do things.
For instance, when done correctly, both progressive and weighted calisthenics can be the ultimate game-changer when it comes to getting seriously shredded without weights.
And the fact that you’re building hardcore, functional strength makes it a complete no brainer when it comes to torching fat and revealing the hard, dense muscle that lies underneath.
So in today’s blog post, I’m gonna be bringing you the lowdown on how to…
…Get ripped
…Build strength
But more importantly, develop a functional, athletic body that even the most elite gym junkie would envy.
WATCH VIDEO: Discover How To Get Ripped Without Weights Using Nothing But A Bar, Your Bodyweight, And The Iron Will Of A Spartan Warrior…
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Table of Contents
How To Get Ripped Without Weights
Now, when it comes to getting ripped, there are only 3 things you need to consider to get the best results.
These are…
- Progressive overload (challenging the muscles)
- Exercise intensity
- Strategic Cardio
Now, each one of these elements alone probably won’t be enough to get you in tip-top shape. Because to get the most bang for your buck, you want to not only lose fat. But also have the muscularity beneath it to show for all your hard work.
I mean, you’ve probably heard the quote, “You can’t out-train a bad diet.”
It’s also true that you can’t get ripped doing endless amounts of cardio and restricting your diet either.
At least not for me anyway.
But if you change your approach to progressively overloading your muscles, working hard, and giving your body the right fuel to do its job. Then your body WILL respond the way you want it to.
Progressive Overload
So, this is the concept of gradually increasing the demand on your muscles when you workout. And I’m not talking specifically about weight training either.
I’m talking about any type of resistance training (calisthenics included) that forces your body to work harder so that it responds to the stimulus you’re giving it.
Again, you can do this by increasing the load on your muscles, reducing rest periods between sets. Or simply slowing down each repetition to increase the time under tension.
Exercise Intensity
When it comes to exercise intensity, it goes without saying that give and you will receive.
Basically, the more you put into your workout, the more you’re ultimately going to get out of it.
Now, in some ways, this kind of ties in with progressive overload. Because the intensity of your workout is always going to be determined by the effort your putting in, right?
And things like reducing rest periods are not only going to increase the demand on your muscles. They’re also going to spike your heart rate into oblivion, giving you a knockout combination for promoting effective fat loss.
Combine this with multi-joint compound exercises, full-body training, and incorporating things like supersets and dropsets into your routine.
Then you’ve essentially got a killer workout that’s gonna supercharge your fat-burning potential into maximum overdrive.
Strategic Cardio
When I talk about cardio, I’m not talking about a long run on the treadmill that takes an hour or more.
Oh-no Sherlock.
I’m talking about quickfire, heart-pounding, can’t think, let alone even move type of cardio. That, when done correctly, will leave you flat out on the floor, wondering where your life went wrong.
For instance, if you’ve ever compared the physique of a marathon runner compared to a 100-meter sprinter, you’ll be able to see in a second that the sprinter has a more ripped and muscular body.
Why?
Four words…
…High-intensity interval training.
Or “HIIT” for short.
Now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you’ll have probably heard the term HIIT thrown around casually between avid gym-goers and the like.
But in case you haven’t. HIIT (as the name suggests) is an interval-based training style that has you performing short bursts of exercise using maximum effort. Followed by brief periods of rest.
Basically, it’s a balls to the wall, no-nonsense approach to torching fat.
Things like…
- Hill sprints
- Heavy bag punchout drills
- Battle rope training
These are all examples of specific exercises that, when done right, skyrocket your heart rate to the point where your cardiovascular system is constantly having to play catch up to meet the demands of your workout.
And the great thing about this style of training is that it’s relatively short.
But what’s more, it increases your fat-burning potential way after your workout is over.
I won’t lie. When done correctly, HIIT has the capability to put you out for the count in less than 5 minutes, provided you hit it hard enough.
But the results you’ll get from this brief, yet extremely taxing workout should be more than enough to hit your training goals.
Using Calisthenics To Get Ripped Without Weights
So now you have a basic understanding of what you need to do. Let’s put together a plan of action to get things moving forward.
Now, since I don’t know you or have any idea about your current strength and fitness level, I’m going to take you through the entire process of using basic, progressive, and weighted calisthenics to take your physique from zero to hero in the shortest time possible.
So here’s what you need to know…
Calisthenics, bodyweight training, or whatever you want to call it, can produce incredible results provided you follow a progressive system.
But unlike weight lifting. Where you simply add weight to the bar to get more muscular (and ripped).
With calisthenics, there are 2 specific approaches you can follow.
Weighted Calisthenics
The first way is to implement weighted calisthenics.
You can do this by performing basic bodyweight exercises with the addition of a dip belt, weighted vest, or anything else capable of adding extra weight to your body.
See, to build the type of hard, dense muscle that makes you look truly ripped. You need to keep the reps low and perform multiple sets of heavy compound exercises like pullups, dips, pushups, and squats.
And by adding weight to each of these fundamental movement patterns, you’re not only going to build that muscle…
…But you’re also going to strengthen your core to near-elite levels of physical perfection. Which, in turn, will reveal the strong and sexy set of abs you’ve been dreaming about since you were a youngster.
I speak from personal experience when I say that this is a fundamentally sound way to get strong and ripped fast.
Because there’s honestly nothing quite like hammering out pushups and dips with over 100-pounds strapped to your body to make you feel like the ultimate badass.
Progressive Calisthenics
The second thing you can do is to use progressive calisthenics.
Now, if you’re unfamiliar with the term progressive calisthenics, it’s basically the process of leveraging your own body weight to increase the load on specific muscles.
And the great thing is this can be used for each of the major compound movements to get you torching a lot quicker.
Take the pushups, for instance…
Now, the pushup in its most basic form has you distributing your weight evenly across your chest.
You simply get into a standard pushup position, bend your elbows until your chest is a few inches from the floor, and then push yourself back up using the muscles in your chest and triceps.
But if you’re smart about it, there’s actually dozens of ways to make this seemingly effortless exercise a lot harder.
To give you a few examples… (see image)
Again, these types of progressions can be applied to pullups, dips, squats, and most other calisthenics exercises.
And you can see great examples of this in action when you go through the Bar Brothers Program.
They have an entire section devoted to weighted calisthenics…
…Skills training
And better still, a community of hardcore calisthenics junkies should you have any burning questions.
Hit the video link below to check it out…
WATCH VIDEO: Discover How To Get Ripped Without Weights Using Nothing But A Bar, Your Bodyweight, And The Iron Will Of A Spartan Warrior…
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My Own Personal Get Ripped Workout
Instead of just talking the talk, I also want to give you a brief insight into one of the workouts I personally use to keep myself in half-decent shape.
Now, I’m not gonna lie and tell you that all my workouts are purely calisthenics based.
In fact, I often like to incorporate things like deadlifting and overhead pressing into my workouts. Because they tick all the boxes when it comes to stripping huge amounts of fat from my frame.
But other than these two exercises, I’m pretty much a calisthenics freak who avoids the weight section of the gym like the plague.
So here’s the strength workout I do 2-3 times a week.
It’s primarily a weighted calisthenics workout with you performing 6 sets of 6 reps with 30 seconds rest between each set.
It goes a little something like this…
Superset 1:
- Weighted Pullups
- Weighted Parallel Bar Dips
Superset 2:
- Deadlift
- Overhead Press
Superset 3:
- Weighted Inverted Rows
- Weighted Pushups
Superset 4:
- Weighted Split Squats or Pistol Squats
- Weighted Ab Wheel Rollouts or L-sits
Now, the reason this workout is great at getting you ripped is that it…
- Utilizes all the major compound movements
- Keeps the rest periods short (30- 60 seconds max)
- Incorporates supersets to keep the intensity high
- The reps are relevantly low (great for building dense muscle), but there is also enough volume to pack on a little bit of size.
A few things to remember…
Rule 1:
Because the rest periods are short, you’ll want to load the exercises up with a weight that you can perform around 10 clean reps with on your first set.
If you don’t, you’ll burn out to quickly and be unable to complete all 6 sets with good form.
Rule 2:
Take a decent amount of rest (4-5 minutes) before moving on to the next superset. Six supersets with little rest are very taxing. And you’ll need to fully recover before attempting the next brutal pair.
Rule 3:
If you manage to complete all 6 reps on every set, up the weight in the next workout to continue to progressively overload the muscles.
Also, in case you’re wondering how I specifically load the workout…
For the pullups and dips superset, I use a dip belt for the pullups and then add a weighted backpack to the mix when I’m performing my set of dips.
For the inverted rows and pushup, I use a weighted vest for the rows and then throw on the weighted backpack again to add more weight to the pushups.
With the split squats and ab wheel rollouts, I’ll just generally stick with a weighted vest.
Depending on how spent I am towards the end, I might do more than the traditional 6 reps per set. But this is mainly down to how I’m feeling on the day.
Now, you might consider this workout overkill, and in some cases, you’d be completely right.
But for me, it’s something that works well because I’m the type of guy who wants to get in, get done, and get out, leaving nothing left in the tank until my next brutal workout.
This might not be how you like to do things, and that’s cool. But if you’ve got the stones to at least give this workout a try, then I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results you can get.
Quick disclaimer: The above workout isn’t entirely beginner-friendly. So if you’re a calisthenics newbie, I’d recommend scaling back the intensity and regressing the workout to suit your individual needs.
The Ultimate Calisthenics Program To Take Your Workout To The Next Level
So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. A full proof, hardcore workout to get you epic results in a flash.
Now, this is only the bare bones basics when it comes to getting ripped without weights (or almost no weights in my case).
But I guarantee that if you’re consistent, work hard, and apply everything you’ve read above. I predict you’ll be well on your way to getting the results you want from your training sooner rather than later.
However, I’m also aware that this isn’t for everybody. And you might want to take a completely different approach to your training.
If this is you, then I’ve got something that’s going to rock your world.
It’s called Bar Brothers The System.
And it’s a 12-week calisthenics program designed for one thing and one thing alone…
…To get you strong and ripped using nothing more than a bar and your own bodyweight.
Now, I’m not going to reel off a list of all the awesome reasons you should invest in this program because, at the end of the day, you’re a grown-up with the power to make your own decisions.
But what I will say is this…
If you buy this program, implement it’s teaching, and follow-through with the training. You’ll cut out weeks, possibly even months of wasted time and effort trying to figure out how to do everything yourself.
So before I wrap this blog post up and leave you to your own devices, I’ll just leave a quick video link to the program below.
Here’s it is for your viewing pleasure…
WATCH VIDEO: Discover How To Get Ripped Without Weights Using Nothing But A Bar, Your Bodyweight, And The Iron Will Of A Spartan Warrior…
(Video Will Open In A New Window)