Most naturally skinny guys think they need a weight room and compound exercises to build lean muscle mass, but with some creativity and advanced training strategies, you can get ripped in the comfort of your own home.
I have been a big fan of bodyweight workouts because you can do them anywhere. I love to travel, and many days I am away from a traditional gym. Instead of just taking the day off, I will perform highly intense muscle-building bodyweight workouts. Bodyweight training can be very challenging if you do the right routine.
There are so many more muscle-building bodyweight exercises than just push-ups and sit-ups. This bodyweight workout routine designed to give you a ripped chest and ripped abs can be done anywhere and will be more effective than many of your traditional weight room workouts.
How can a bodyweight workout help you gain muscle better than lifting weights? One of the best things you can do for building lean muscle mass is muscle confusion. Working out your muscles in a different way than they are used to will yield tremendous gains!
This bodyweight workout will get you ripped pectoral muscles and ripped abs because it will work the muscles in three different ways. You will be working your muscles in the concentric, eccentric, and isometric ways, which will strengthen, lengthen, and build your muscles. Most naturally skinny guys only work their muscles in one way – concentric. By working your muscle fibers in three different ways, your body will be forced to adapt to this extra demand and build lean muscle while burning body fat. This is one of the best things you can do to get ripped and build rock-solid lean muscle mass.
Body-Weight Training: The Ripped Chest and Abs Workout
1. Slow Motion Push-Ups
Slow motion push-ups are much more effective for building lean muscle mass than regular push-ups because they put a huge emphasis on the negative, or eccentric,portion of the exercise. This will build mass and define your pectoral muscles. You should aim to go down as slow as possible to emphasize your negative rep.
Contrary to popular belief, you actually cause more muscle damage during the negative portion of the lift. This is why most bodybuilders train with slow and controlled repetitions. The more muscle damage that occurs the more micro tears you will have to rebuild bigger and stronger. This is what builds lean muscle mass!
Try three sets of slow motion push-ups until failure for a crazy pectoral muscle workout!
2. Ankle Biters (obliques and abdominals)
Ankle biters are an awesome exercise to keep your abdominals and obliques under tension with no rest. Many traditional exercises cause you to rest at the top and bottom of the movement, but with ankle biters, you will be under tension the entire time. My goal is usually about one minute under tension. This will be a great oblique and abdominal shaper that targets belly fat and gets you ripped abs.
To perform ankle biters, you will set up in the traditional sit-up position and hold your arms down on the ground comfortably about shoulder-width apart. Lift your chest and upper body off the ground with your abs and obliques and rotate from side to side, touching your ankles. Perform this until complete muscle failure for three sets with two minutes rest in between.
3. Decline Diamond Push-Ups
Decline diamond push-ups are one of the best exercises for targeting the upper chest and giving you those impressive looking pecs. To perform the decline diamond push-up, you need to elevate your feet and put your hands in the diamond push-up position. This will force all of the tension on your upper chest and be an incredible sculpting exercise. The decline diamond push-ups will emphasize the concentric lifting strategy (contracting the muscle) and give you a nice chest pump. If you want a ripped upper chest, this should be your new favorite exercise.
4. Push-Up Position: Knee to Elbow
The knee-to-elbow exercise will be an awesome abdominal contraction that will also target your obliques and v-shaped torso. This is going to give you those aesthetically pleasing abdominals that will turn heads at the beach!
Get in push-up position and drive your opposite elbow to opposite knee while in a standard push-up position. This should give you a great abdominal workout. Perform at least 15 repetitions on each side.
5. Clapper Push-Ups and Isometric Chest Flex
Time to cap off the get ripped chest and abs bodyweight workout with an incredibly challenging superset. This superset will combine explosive contractions with isometric flexing. The end result is shredded pectoral muscles!
The first part of the superset is to perform clapper push-ups until failure. You will do clapper push-ups by performing a regular push-up, except you explode off the ground with your hands as fast as you can and clap your hands together in mid air. If you have a strong chest, you should be able to do at least 10 of these in a row. Go until complete failure, and after the clapper push-ups, perform an isometric chest flex for at least 30 seconds. This should give you the biggest chest pump you have ever had and give you a surge of blood rushing into your pecs. Check out the video to learn how to do an easy isometric chest flex!
Add comment