How To Get Ripped - How To Build Muscle and Stay Lean

Author: Jonathan Castor

Before anything else, let me tell you about the different body types. In medical terms, people come in three body types -- ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph. Now, your ability to build muscle and stay lean (i.e., how fast you can build muscle and how easily you can lose fat) depends quite largely on your body type.
People with the ectomorph body type typically appear skinny. These are the people that are being categorically referred to as "hard gainers" in the world of bodybuilding. They have a fragile and delicate physique--they have light bones, small joints, and very little muscle. Ectomorphs are generally not naturally powerful and, as such, they need to work extra hard (much harder than endomorphs and mesomorphs) to be able to build muscle and gain strength.
The only advantage that ectomorphs have over the two other body types is that they have the least amount of fat in their body and they can stay that way without putting much of any effort in it. Ectomorphs can practically eat anything they want and as much as they want and do not have to worry about gaining a single ounce of fat. Even if an ectomorph does gain any fat at all, he/she wouldn't have to work as hard as endomorphs and mesopmorphs to shed the fat he/she has gained.
Mesomorphs generally have a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique. People with this body type are the ones that are considered to be gifted with the "good" kind of genes (as far as body/muscle building is concerned) because they are naturally strong and they find it quite easy to gain and lose weight and to build muscle. In case you didn't know, a great majority of Mr. Universe winners are mesomorphs.
As for people with the third body type, the endomorph, their physique is generally round and soft and presents the illusion that much of their body mass is concentrated in the abdominal area. A very good advantage of endomorphs over ectomorphs is that they can build muscle as easily as the mesomorphs. The problem is that they are also easy to gain fat which is very difficult for them to shed.
The main reason why I'm telling you this is because, depending on your body type, you may find it really hard to reduce your body fat (if you are an endomorph), or you may feel that it is taking you forever to see any muscle gain on your body. Keep in mind that it can be done, whether it's to lose fat or to put on some muscle mass. Everyone can get ripped regardless of their body type and I will be talking here about the things that will allow you to achieve your goal in the shortest possible time.
But before that, I'd like to clarify what I meant by "shortest possible time". Please don't mistake it for "a very short time" because that's definitely not what I meant by that. The thing is, people (ectomorphs in particular) can gain only up to 5 pounds of muscle in a year considering that they are doing everything right (from their workout, to their diet, to their lifestyle). Mesomorphs can achieve a bit more than that, but let's just focus on the majority for the meantime. Now, by "shortest possible time" I don't mean that you can pack on 5 pounds of muscle in less than a year. What I'm saying is if your body is capable of gaining 5 pounds of muscle in a year, you will gain all that 5 pounds of muscle in a year and not a month longer.
Anyway, if you want to build muscle and stay lean, diet is very important. If you want to reduce your body fat and really lean down you have to pay close attention to what you are eating. If you are somebody who tends to put on weight easier you would want to reduce the wheat, get rid of the refined sugars, and focus more on raw foods and vegetables and some good quality protein.
From a workout perspective you need to be doing full body exercises and you need to train with heavier weights. Some of the exercises that you would want to do are squats, pull-ups, dead lifts, push presses, military press, and all sorts of full body compound exercises that get a lot of muscle involved using heavier weights.
If you really want to pack on the muscle, you need to be able to do 5 or 6 sets of 10 to 12 reps of these exercises, doing a lot of work on your large muscle groups.
This type of workouts are metabolic meaning that it gets your heart rate up and gets you breathing heavily. Getting a lot of muscle involved is great for burning fat because they force a lot of muscle fibers. The heavier the weight you use, the more muscles need to be engaged to lift it, and that's a really good thing.
On top of that, you need to do a little bit of integral cardio. Cardio is very beneficial if you are looking to really take the fat level down. You would want to do 15 to 20 minutes of cardio workout about 3 times a week either after your strength training workouts or on their own.
Now, there's nothing wrong about doing long version cardio. People have been talking about it as just a waste of time. But the thing is, you can't do integrals all the time. You need something to balance out and allow your body to recover a little bit better and a longer duration and lighter intensity cardio can be helpful in burning fat and, at the same time, allowing your body to recuperate from the workouts.
So, if you really build muscle and stay lean, just follow those guidelines. They're a great way to start you off. Another thing to keep in mind is that determination and discipline are also important if you really want to achieve your goals. You can't expect to get ripped just by working out for a few months. You can't expect yourself to shed fat and keep it away if you are just going to gorge on junk foods after you slim down.
I don't know if this is good news to you but building muscle and staying lean is a lifetime commitment.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/mens-health-articles/how-to-get-ripped-how-to-build-muscle-and-stay-lean-4525645.html
About the Author

This article is written by Jonathan Castor. Castor enjoys writing and educating people about matters related to health and fitness. He has written many articles that focus primarily on the topic of muscle building. If you want to learn how to get ripped fast, visit http://www.gainmusclebuildmuscle.com/.