Why can’t I achieve that ripped look to my body?

Hi I’m a 28 yr old female who has been working out for 10 yrs. I’m in pretty good shape at 5’4 124 lbs. The only problem is I’m slender yet I can’t seem to get that ripped look to my body. One day I do cardio for 60 mins and the next day I do light weights high reps for another 60 mins. I actually do a workout dvd series by a woman named Jari Love. The workouts are great and her and her entire cast have that six pack stomach and ripped arms like Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston. Why is it even though I exercise 5-6 days a week, that I cant achieve that look? Does a lot of it come to diet. I definitely have a HUGE appetite.. (my favorite food is Mexican) .probably because I workout so much and burn a lot of calories. But is the secret to getting that ripped look to eat nothing but chicken breasts, salmon, and egg whites. Serious answers only. Thank you.

That cast on the DVD may be genetically gifted, or using performance enhancing drugs or applying the proper diet. They didn’t use that dvd to achieve their look. You have to realize that whoever created that DVD is trying to sell a product. Of course they will put cut, in shape folks in it. To imply that you too can look like that by following the DVD. Marketing tricks.

Here’s the truth. It takes 3 things to acheive low body levels:

1) A properly designed diet (this is 80% of it). Key words are “properly designed”.
2) Lifting weights (this is 10-15% of it)
3) Cardio (this is 5-10% of it)

Yes, the diet, if designed correctly, will transform your body. Food is pretty amazing once you learn how to use it.

Lift HEAVY weights during a cutting phase. Not the myth of “higher reps burns more fat”. That is 1950 nonsense. The reason you lift as heavy as YOU can, is because you want your body to maintain your existing muscle. You’re not trying to gain any muscle during a cutting phase. Yes, beginners can, but you’re not a beginner any more. You got 10 years of experience. Now, being that you have never applied the right kind of diet, you may still get some of those beginner gains. You’ll never know until you try it. So, yeah, you lift heavy weights to ensure you don’t lose any muscle along with the fat. The biggest problem natural (non steroid taking) people have while trying to achieve that ripped look, is keeping their muscle. The less fat we have to lose, the easier it is to burn muscle.

Cardio. Well, I’d 86 that dvd and stick with what female figure athletes do for cardio. What female bodybuilders do. Steady state cardio. On a stationary bike. On the elliptical machine. Get your heart rate up till you can barely keep a conversation. Heart rate around 130-140 beats per minute or so. For you, at your stage, do 30 mins EVERY DAY. Not every other day.

Then, since your diet will be perfect (if you want, I can tell you how to structure it), you just let the diet do its thing. If and when you hit a plateau, you adjust your cardio – NOT the diet. Bump the 30 mins to 40 mins each session. Keep it there until fat loss stalls again. Then, you add another 10 mins to your cardio etc etc. Sometimes, to get to peak condition, figure athletes have to do this until they reach 2 hours per day of cardio. But since you aren’t going on stage, I don’t think you are anyway, you won’t have to get that crazy.

let me know if you’d like me to work on your diet… Good luck!

Jennifer Aniston’s Diet Secrets!


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