Looking to get that ripped muscle look so that it actually looks like you work out? Sure it's great to bulk up and get bigger but if you don't just want to look husky and you want to look defined and ripped, you will have to change up your routine a little. This article will attempt to shine the light on some common misconceptions and get you on the path to getting ripped as quickly as possible.

One of the biggest misconceptions going around is that if you want to get that ripped muscle look, you have to use lighter weights with more reps. The story is that heavy weights with lower reps increase size but lighter weights with higher reps somehow shape the muscle and give it that ripped look. This ridiculous. The only change you can make to a muscle with any routine is make it grow so it can be stronger. You can't shape the muscle. It either gets bigger or it doesn't. And lifting lighter weights will not accomplish this. It just feels like it is because you feel the lactic acid build up in the muscle and you get a burning sensation but this does not stimulate growth or definition. If you want to get that ripped muscle look, you have to get rid of the fat that is covering it up. You accomplish this with a combination of cardio exercise and eating less. And how many calories you take in is more important than the cardio when it comes to losing fat. Because another big fallacy going around is that if you work out, you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want. You just burn it off at the gym. This is nonsense. Many people overestimate how many calories they burn off with a workout. Your average 30-minute cardio workout burns off about 300 calories max while your average double-patty fast food burger just by itself is over 900. You're just not going to melt that fat away by doing cardio unless you are willing to spend hours doing it.

What you need to do is find out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is. This is the amount of calories you burn at rest. There is a free BMR calculator on my website that you can try out from the link below. It is on the left hand column. Just put in the requested information and it will tell you how many calories you have to consume to maintain your present weight. The basic idea, if you want to lose weight, is to consume at least five hundred calories less than this but not more than one-thousand less. If you reduce your intake more than that, your body will be forced into starvation mode which will slow down your metabolism. Keep in mind though that the numbers given by a BMR calculator are only an estimate and you have to make changes to your diet so that you are not losing more than two pounds a week. You want to lose fat and not muscle along with it. If you keep this routine up, you will soon see the fat burn off and uncover the ripped muscle look that you are after.