There are a lot of guys in college who get by on their brains and their charm. You might even be one of these students? Even if you are, how much better would your life be if you were Totally Ripped to complement all of that?

The Getting Ripped Steps for Hooking Up:

It's true; men who lift weights have an easier time socially. They have an easier time meeting women. People just plain seem to like them more. Rather than rebel against this truth, why not embrace it?

• Step 1: More physical strength
• Step 2: More strength means more confidence
• Step 3: More confidence means you'll be more outgoing
• Step 4: Being more outgoing means you'll have an easier time meeting girls
• Step 5: Being built like a brick house will mean those girls will be more attracted to YOU.
• Bonus: Becoming a "Campus Man" allows you to organize all these crazy women into your own personal Fan Club.

Dedicate yourself to getting your body ripped, and take your whole life to an entirely different level of success.

Get Started

The only question left to ask yourself is how best to get your muscles ripped. It's alright if you don't know that much about how to get totally ripped, because there are weightlifting experts who where in your shoes years ago, and they have put all their knowledge into awesome books and DVDs that reveal all the "secrets" to getting ripped.

If you've ever wanted to be a leader instead of a follower, ordering one of our recommended books or DVDs is the way to start. If you've ever wanted girls and skinnier guys to admire and follow you, instead of the other way around, this is your chance. Following the advice of weightlifting experts we're going to discuss below will give you the ripped body you've always wanted. After that, you'll have a chance to get fans and followers like other students have done by signing up to become a Campus Man. With that, you can have your own personal fan club that's able to follow you as you progress toward more and more ripped-ness.

What Our Recommended Books and DVDs Will Tell You About How to Get Ripped

(Here is what the books we have recommended will tell you)

In concept, getting ripped to show off your muscular physique is simple. When you are ripped, you have extremely low levels of bodyfat, and  to lose bodyfat you eat less... duh. But wait, if it were that damn simple, you wouldn't be reading this article right now, - and every average guy would be walking around with big muscular arms, six-pack abs, and a fitness model at his side.

In practice, getting ripped takes hard work, discipline, and know-how. Without a road-map, you might spend years of trial and error only to end up getting nowhere. That-being said, there is lots to learn from those who have been there. There are a number of books and DVDs written by experts on the subject that can give you the "roadmap" to getting the kind of ripped and muscular body that drives hot women crazy... And fast.

There are no magical secrets in the world of transforming yourself; only hard work. Getting truly ripped is usually a two stage process. It would be completely unfair to you for us to simplify all of the necessary details in such a short article. You need to order a book or DVD and dedicate some time to your transformation.

How to Get Ripped Fast & Quick

Naturally most guys want to get ripped quickly. Makes sense... only thing better than getting ripped is getting ripped quick... right?  Problem is any couch-potato can diet off every ounce of fat from that soft-droopy ass of theirs; but they will end up anything but ripped and muscular, looking more like a deflated donut instead. For certain, to be ripped you have to be MUSCULAR, and to be muscular you will need to build lots of muscle. You need not spend years in your effort, but your will not look totally ripped in 4 weeks without having some underlying muscle first.

This is why most books recommend that you get ripped in 2 phases: first a muscle building phase, then a fat loss/dieting phase.

Muscle building/ mass gain phase

Make no mistake, this is key to getting ripped.  To have a ripped and muscular physique you will need to increase your muscle mass. Fat loss by itself just makes you skinny... well developed muscles are a requirement of being ripped.

The books say the only problem with all of this is that with gaining muscle mass you will need to eat extra calories, so you will gain a little fat also. This is where the second phase comes in:

Cutting Fat Phase

This is where you go from "huge" to being truly "ripped." When you're burning more calories than you're taking in each day, you'll lose some muscle mass along with fat. The trick is to burn off as much fat as possible while retaining all of the raw muscle you can.

How to do this? Different trainers advocate different methods. To get their personal training clients ripped, professional fitness trainers make the following decisions:

• Bulking up vs lean mass gain.
• High carb muscle building diets vs. high fat/low carb diets for muscle gain
• High volume weight training vs. high intensity weight training.
• Free weights vs. machines.

But how can you accomplish all of this with all of these choices? Even the best trainers in the business debate about this. The common things to all of the different types of training programs used by top trainers are that they work..

There are dozens of different workout strategies to accomplish these two phases, but they have to be planned and executed with precision..... otherwise you are just spinning your wheels. Dozens of different trainers will try to tell you theirs is the best way to get ripped. The truth is they all do....for certain people and you won't know what works for you without the books and DVDs that explain how these programs work and how to apply them. The only way you will be successful is to jump in both feet first and make a commitment to order a book or DVD and follow it when it arrives. 

We have listed the most popular books and DVDs you can follow. These items are popular with guys who already have become ripped, so the advice contains in them must be golden!

Our Two Recommended Books on Getting Ripped

Built for Show: Four Body-Changing Workouts for Building Muscle, Losing Fat, and Looking Good Enough to Hook Up $7.98, 256-page paperback. 25 out of 29 reviews on Amazon were very positive. The appeal to a book like this is that it was written by a bachelor, for bachelors. There's a lot less exact science than usual, and a lot more practical instruction. You'll learn what about the male body women find attractive, and how to maximize those features on yourself.

Ripped: The Sensible Way to Achieve Ultimate Muscularity $8.16, 88-page paperback. Published nearly 30 years ago, the thing that sets this book apart from the rest of the pack is that it's not a fad, like some other fitness guides. Anything that's able to stand the test of time that this book has while remaining popular has got to be worth something. 5 out of 8 who reviewed this book found it to be excellent for emphasizing how to build symmetrical, lean muscle mass, as opposed to just mass. This author also publishes Ripped2: Lose Fat! Stay Lean! and Gain Muscle and Ripped 3: The Recipes, The Routines and The Reasons - so if you can buy all three at one time, it is a good bet.

Best DVD for learning How to Get Ripped

Jay Cutler: Ripped to Shreds $35.99, 210-minutes DVD. Out of 6 customer reviews, all were at least 3 out of 5 stars. If you've ever wondered how the professionals go through a day of getting themselves ripped up for a competition, look no further. While there are some slow points, such as during Cutler's treadmill routine, there's still a lot to learn from this very accomplished man of muscle.

TaeBo II: Get Ripped Basic Workout and TaeBo II: Get Ripped Advanced Workout. Both of these DVDs are hard to find, but well worth the effort. They include hard and fast advice that other trainers use on their clients, too.

Preview: What Books and DVDs Will Tell You About How to Get Ripped

The books and the DVDs listed above will cover the topics that are important to you as a guy seeking to get ripped as hell better than we ever could in the breadth of an article like this. You'll learn about:

• High-protein, low-fat dieting.
• Lifting to preserve muscle during cutting.
• Core fitness, and how to protect yourself from injury in the gym.
• How to make yourself more attractive to the opposite sex through proper grooming.
• What separates physically fit guys from the men that are truly ripped!

How to Get a Ripped Chest

The pectorals need to be developed enough to show visible muscle striations after you get lean from your cutting diet. Unfortunately, this is often the first muscle group to lose size with dieting, so extra attention needs to be paid to your chest training program.

These books will tell you to start with a heavy compound movement such as the bench press or incline press and be sure to train to failure. Also remember there are no "middle pecs", to train the upper chest with some sort of incline press exercise and use bench presses and dips for overall chest development. Decline barbell presses are also a good chest exercise. Finish with an isolation exercise such as incline dumbbell flies to finish off the upper pecs and get a good stretch.

How to Get a Ripped Back

There are two aspects to good back development... width and thickness. Both are needed to have a ripped and muscular back. The books we recommended will show you that the best way to develop lat-width hands-down is chin-ups on a chin-up bar. Cable pulldowns (also called lat pulldowns) are also a good way to increase back width, and make a nice transition from chin-ups.

The V-bar attachment on the lat pulldown machine is an excellent way to develop the lower lat and really bring out those ripped striations.  To build back thickness, stick with the basics: heavy barbell rows or T-bar rows and deadlifts. Don't be overly concerned with isolating every muscle in your back. Big muscles are built by heavy weight on "big exercises" such as deadlifts and rows. Muscle Definition is a function of low body fat and having lots of muscle mass. Heavy deadlifts, barbell rows, chin-ups and pulldowns will build a hell of a lot more muscle mass than any type of cable or dumbbell pullover or other back machine. These exercises have their place, but you have to build muscle mas before you can sculpt it with "shaping" exercises. (unless that is you want to look like heavy training to you is doing Pilates once a month)

How to get Ripped Calves

Getting ripped calves are tough and do not occur over night. Calves are a challenge because the calve muscles contains fast twitch AND slow twitch muscle filbers which are very stubborn for most people.

Our recommended books tell you that calves are the one bodypart that it may be nearly impossible to overtrain. Train calves frequently- 4-5 days per week with 5 or more sets  per workout of seated calf raises and standing calf raises. It is important to know what reps to use. While your upper calf muscle (gastrocnemius) is mostly fast-twitch muscle fiber  and needs lower reps (10-12)  the lower portion of the calf (soleus) has slower twitch muscle fiber, which means it responds to higher reps, from 20-30 per set.  

Secret Tip: This $26 device will help you build calves effortlessly: Stroops Explosive Calves by Stroops. You can use it around the house or during other normal sports activities.

How to Get Ripped Shoulders

The deltoids contain individual parts called "heads" that must be worked separately. Our recommended books and DVD will tell you that working the anterior head will create the look of separation in your deltoids and pecs, making you look more ripped.  Just remember the anterior deltoids are worked very hard with bench presses- so you may or may not need a specific anterior deltoid exercise in your training program. The side deltoids and rear deltoids need to be balanced with the front deltoids, so be sure to do lots of upright rows, side lateral raises, and bent-over lateral raises for the rear deltoids. A perfectly balanced deltoid makes you shoulders to appear very rounded and ripped up when you are lean. 

How to Get Ripped Forearms

Forearms are a special case because they basically get worked all the time when you are weight training. Books tell you that the best forearm builder is the reverse barbell curl, which will also hit the biceps hard also. The forearms will grow just from holding onto progressively heavier weights in the rest of your training program. To really get that ripped forearm look at the end of your cutting cycle, throw in a few sets of barbell wrist curls for good measure and a gripper exercise also to build forearms and grip strength. Also check out this gear. Cheap and effective at building forearms:

Gripmaster Hand Exerciser

Marcy Wedge For Forearm and Wrist

Sunny Health & Fitness Hand Grip

How to Get Ripped Triceps

If you want big arms, build the triceps. Ripped triceps look especially impressive when the medial, lateral, and long heads are developed to their fullest, giving the arms that super-ripped "horseshoe" shape. Books will tell you to do heavy close grip bench presses for overall tricep development. Skull crushers will really hit the long head, giving those arms a nice downward sweep when you flex your biceps. One-arm cable tricep extensions or rope pushdowns will really target the lateral head. 

Getting Ripped at Home

A lot of guys who want to get a ripped body may be too busy or too constrained by a school schedule to be able to do it in a gym three or four times a week. Fortunately for you, you can do most of the exercises covered in the above instructional books and DVDs at home. All you need is the right equipment: So, here is what we recommend.

Bowflex SelectTech 552 (5 to 52 pound) Dumbbells $349.00 Bowflex has combined flexibility with convenience with this adjustable weight set. This will give you the scalability of having an entire rack of weights in your living room or college dorm, without having to take up an entire wall. After 84 customer reviews on Amazon, 60 rated these dumb bells at 5 out of 5 stars.

Horizon Fitness T91 Treadmill $599.00 - The same continuous-duty 2.0 HP motor that powers treadmills in gyms and health clubs across America powers this treadmill, too. You can choose any one of a number of pre-programmed workouts, whether it be simulated hill climbing or endurance intervals, all managed by an easy-to-read electronic display right in front of you. It folds up neatly for convenient storage, whether that be under a bed, in a closet, or anywhere else you can think of!

Diet For Getting Ripped

The biggest fear of so many men who lift weights is what happens to all that muscle they worked so hard to build up - once they decide to go on a diet. Everyone who goes through that "cutting" phase we discussed earlier is going to lose a little muscle, but the loss can be minimized- if not completely eliminated - with the right diet and supplement program.

Our recommended books and DVDs will show you how to cut your calories and carbs back, and increase your healthy fats overall. Aim for a calorie deficit of around 400 calories /week from your maintenance level to keep the fat burning to a max and to minimize muscle loss. Low carb diets are great for getting ripped, but don't let those muscle flatten out too much- otherwise you will start losing valuable muscle protein. Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) taken throughout the day on low carb days and before your workout will really help keep the muscle on. BCAAs and glutamine become very important for keeping muscle mass gains, and should be taken before and after every workout. Don't cheat on your diet if you want to get truly ripped. Nobody ever said getting ripped was going to be easy! The benefits far outweigh the trouble though- and you will literally transform your body.

Some good diet books to help you get ripped and stay that way are:

Underground Bodyopus: Militant Weight Loss & Recomposition by Dan Duchane and also The Anabolic Diet (Mauro Di Pasquale) are great books that really help to minimize or eliminate muscle loss when getting ripped. Also check out Fats the Heal, Fats that Kill (Dr. Udo Erasmus) for a primer on healthy fats. The importance of healthy fat intake such as omega 3 and others is huge. You will be bigger, leaner, and stronger if you learn about healthy fats and how to work them into your diet.

The Best Fat Burning Supplement for Getting Ripped

Yes, you have heard of Ripped Fuel, but one Fat Burner we recommend is NxLabs Methyl Ripped Hardcore $25.95. It is a strong formula that initiates activation in 3.1 seconds and helps you better forcus on your lifting.

If you pay close attention to all of the advice you've been given in these books or DVDs, you'll notice that there's more to being appealing to others than just an attractive body. What comes along with becoming a Campus Man is nothing short of a whole new mentality.

There's a certain confidence you'll gain from having Fans. This confidence will grow along with the rest of your body. You'll pick up much more than just workout tips. You'll pick up women. You'll learn how to dress better, how to walk taller, and how to speak with more confidence. You'll understand how to groom yourself in ways that will make you more attractive literally overnight. Learning how to get ripped in the gym in the months to follow will just be the icing on the cake!

Other people will notice these changes in your personality, and quickly. By branding yourself as a Campus Man, you'll give them a chance to peek into your new life at the new you that you've created by becoming your "Fan" on CampusMen.com. There's nothing left to wait for. Start your personal transformation today! Begin to get ripped.