How To Get Ripped Without Weights – Anywhere!

Learning how to get ripped without weights can be a daunting task.

Let’s be straight, if you want to get ripped without weights – you’re choosing the hard path!

Getting ripped without weights requires dedication and discipline without much margin for error.

Choosing the best bodyweight exercises to perform in order to build lean muscle isn’t easy.

That is why I have written this guide. I’m going to show you:

Exactly what to takes to get ripped without weights
The 5 exercises you need to get ripped without weights
The BEST piece of equipment for bodyweight training

Let’s begin.

What It Takes To Get Ripped Without Weights

If you want to get ripped without weights, you must:

Lower your body fat percentage – Watch what you eat
You must add muscle to your frame – Give your muscles a reason to grow

Luckily, bodyweight training can help you achieve the latter.

It is important to understand that building muscle and burning fat at the same time are two opposing goals.

This is because to get big and strong, you must:

1. Place increasing levels on stress on your muscles – Progressive Overload
2. Be in a caloric surplus – Eat more food.

And in order to lose fat, you should:

Continue placing increasing levels of stress on your muscles -Progressive Overload
Be in a caloric deficit – Eat less food.

But, studies have shown that if you are new to working out, it is possible to lose fat and build muscle at the same time!

But the common denominator here is Progressive Overload.

Making your workouts harder and harder whenever possible is the key to gaining muscle.

But, maybe you don’t want to get “big”. Maybe you just want to look lean and ripped – “shredded”.

Most people who want to get “shredded” are afraid they’ll look like bulky bodybuilders.

But, if it were that easy, I’d be looking like the hulk by now!

The truth is, putting on muscle mass is a slow and lengthy process.

Fat loss on the other hand can happen more rapidly.

But trying to lose fat without building muscle, will leave you looking skinny-fat!

Being skinny-fat means; you’re now both thin and fat at the same time.

You’ll look soft, because you have no muscle mass and thus no muscle definition.

Imagine losing a bunch of weight only to look thin and soft!

That’s a huge missed opportunity!

That is why this guide focuses on building muscle mass.

And choosing the right exercises will help you get there faster!

The Top 5 Exercise To Get Ripped Without Weights

If you think you need a hundred exercises to get ripped without weights, think again.

Doing a hundred exercises that “look cool” but have no significant muscle building capacity will have you spinning your wheels forever.

You’re then more likely to lose motivation and quit!

Bodyweight calisthenics is full of this garbage.

You’ll see athletes with impressive physiques, flying through the air, doing multiple somersaults on the pull up bar and think – that’s how they built their muscle.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth!

The truth is that calisthenics athletes take years to build their base of muscle and strength before attempting gravity defying stunts.

Don’t get distracted by the shiny lights.

If you want to build significant amounts of muscle, you have to master the basics first!

I have carefully selected the top 5 bodyweight calisthenics exercises that will put the most amount of muscle on you in the least amount of time!

You don’t need any other exercise other than the ones on this list to become a lean-mean athletic machine!

These 5 bodyweight exercises will help you build:

A Cobra Back and Python Arms
A Rock Hard Chest, Boulder Shoulders and Horseshoe Triceps
Ungodly Hamstrings
Quads For The Gods
Abs Of Steel

The 5 primary exercises mentioned below have a lot of overlap with regards to the muscle groups they work.

Let’s begin.

Building A Cobra Back And Python Arms

If you’re looking to build an aesthetic physique, attaining the coveted V-taper is non-negotiable.

The v-taper comes from building a back that’s wide like the hood of a cobra! And the exercise to do this is not the chin up!

If I could only choose 2 upper body exercises to perform for the rest of my life, they would be chin ups and dips.

These 2 exercises develop the majority of the muscles in the upper body and will reward you with a ripped athletic physique!

When it comes to upper body pulling exercises, the chin up is my favorite!

There’s something cool about lifting your entire body through space with just your two hands!

Chin ups are basically pull ups with your palms facing toward you. They are better than pull ups in several different ways.

Chins ups use more muscle mass in the movement than pull ups.

Facing your palms toward you, engages the biceps more than regular pull ups.

In fact, chins don’t just allow you to build huge arms and a wide back in just one exercise! Chin ups also work the abs extremely well!

Chin ups will be your primary back and biceps exercise.

For those of you who can’t do chin ups yet, inverted rows work well!

Inverted rows are the perfect starter bodyweight pulling exercise.

Chin ups and bodyweight rows work the same muscles of the back and biceps (depending on your grip).

Rows work more of the mid back, like the rhomboids and mid/upper traps. While chin ups work the lats and lower traps.

But just because you can do chin ups, doesn’t mean you give up on rows.

Combining both these exercises together will build you python arms and a cobra back!

Building Boulder Shoulders, A Rock Hard Chest, and Horseshoe Triceps

For the chest, shoulders and triceps, your go to exercise will be the dip.

Dips require you to push your entire body through space with just your hands.

Depending on your lean angle, you can emphasize working the chest or the triceps.

The more you lean forward, (which is the way I suggest doing it) the more you’ll work the chest, while still heavily involving the shoulders and triceps.

A more upright posture will work the triceps more along with the shoulders, while working the chest to a lesser degree.

Apart from building the chest, shoulders, and triceps, dips also build the serratus anterior.

The serratus anterior is a muscle that is important for aesthetics as well as shoulder health.

But, if you cannot do dips, you will have to work your way up by doing push ups!

Just like dips, depending on the variation used, push ups will also work the chest, shoulders and triceps.

The push up progressions mentioned in the article below will allow you to build enough strength to do dips.

The moment you progress to doing dips, push ups become your secondary chest, shoulders, and triceps building exercise.

Dips are harder than push ups due of the amount of load that is placed on the working muscles.

This is because dips place your entire bodyweight on your hands. Whereas during push ups your weight is distributed between your hands and feet!

Thus, dips move more of your bodyweight through space than push ups.

But, there is one exercise that hits the shoulders and triceps harder than dips – the handstand push up.

Handstand push ups place your entire bodyweight on the shoulders, triceps, upper chest and traps as well!

Progressing with your push ups will eventually lead you to proficiency with handstand push ups.

While dips will remain your primary upper body pushing exercise, substituting your push ups with handstand push ups will make you a bodyweight beast!

Building Quads Of The Gods

Unfortunately, it is in the leg department that bodyweight calisthenics truly disappoints.

It is extremely hard to build strong legs with bodyweight calisthenics.

In fact, I will go out on a limb here (pun intended) and say that it is impossible to build strong legs with your bodyweight when compared to lifting weights!

This is because our legs were meant to be strong enough to carry more than just our bodyweight for miles.

Bodyweight calisthenics just doesn’t have the material to build a solid base.

You will have to resort to lengthy, high volume, unilateral training when training your legs with just your bodyweight.

There are different exercises that can and must be used when it comes to bodyweight leg training.

But the deep step up, when done with strict form is one of the best.

Single leg squats, shrimp squats and the like work well if you have the mobility, flexibility and balance to perform these exercises.

Deep step ups don’t require high levels of balance, mobility and flexibility to perform.

Thus deep step ups are more accessible than single leg squats and will provide the same stimulus to your quads.

If you can’t do deep step ups, use a lower step and work your way up from there!

Single leg squats are cool and all, but they limit your gains instead of aiding them.

Building Ungodly Hamstrings

Bodyweight calisthenics athletes are limited when it comes to development of the posterior chain.

But there are some excellent exercises that can build you a strong base with your bodyweight only.

Nordic curls hold their own against the best weighted hamstring exercises!

In fact, most of your leg growth will come from this particular movement.

Nordic curls are especially good at hamstring injury prevention for any athlete that performs explosive sprints!

But, nordic curls are hard to do, so if you’re struggling to do them, use ring hamstring curls instead.

Both, ring hamstring curls as well as nordic curls will also build your lower back and abs!

Building Abs Of Steel

If you want an exercise that can will build your abs like no other, then look no further than ring ab rollouts.

Ring rollouts also build the lower back, glutes, shoulders, and chest at the same time.

This exercise is by far one of the toughest bodyweight ab exercises to perform.

What’s great about the ring ab rollout is that anyone can do it!

Depending on your strength level, the rings can be set to different heights, allowing you to make progress.

Doing regular ab rollouts will work your abs and lower back just fine, but why stop there.

Moving your arms out to the sides when doing ring ab rollouts will also build your chest as well!

What’s more? You can even transition to single arm ring ab rollouts if you want to take things up a notch!

This exercise is all you need to get your 6 pack!

The [BEST] Piece Of Equipment To Get Ripped Without Weights

If you’re serious about getting ripped without weights, then you’ll need a pair of gymnastics rings.

The majority of the exercises mentioned above can be done on gymnastics rings.

Gymnastics rings are gym in your backpack. The amount of exercises you can do on rings is limited only by your imagination.

Get yourself a pair of good gymnastics rings, you’ll have a gym with you everywhere you go!

Conclusion:

Getting ripped without weights is not easy, but it is achievable.

The 5 exercises listed below will help you build 90% of the muscle on your body by using only your bodyweight.

1. Chin Ups
2. Dips
3. Deep Step Ups
4. Nordic Curls
5. Ring Ab Rollouts

These 5 exercises are your bread and butter when it comes to getting ripped without weights, master them!

Just make sure you’re using the right calisthenics progression systems with these exercises.

How To Get Ripped Without Weights – The [ULTIMATE] Guide