How to Get Ripped and Build Muscle in 6 Months

A six-month workout program gives you plenty of time to set and reach muscle building goals and major exercise milestones. With hard work and discipline, you can make significant muscle gains while getting ripped.

Set weekly goals, track your progress and adjust your approach to exercise and eating accordingly.

Creating a 6-Month Workout Plan

Walking into the gym blind makes it difficult to focus and stay on course. A strict training program, however, uses pre-defined workouts with the number of reps, weight goals and all of the specific exercises laid out in advance. Carry your daily training sheet and follow the instructions to complete the workout.

The exact methodology and training program will depend on your personal preferences. Getting ripped and building muscle is possible through a bodybuilding approach, a well-rounded athletic approach or a program like CrossFit. Each program is very different, but all have a similar result on the aesthetic side of things.

A bodybuilding approach typically focuses on muscle size, strength and fat loss. The athletic and CrossFit approaches are more about building explosive strength, speed and endurance.

Choose a methodology that feels right and find a trainer, gym or workout schedule that fits your lifestyle and fitness goals. Once you choose a program, sticking to the workouts and dedicating yourself to the six-month workout program is imperative.

Set Specific Goals

Although building muscle is the desired outcome, specific goals will help to reach that ultimate milestone. Goals are a means of predetermining outcomes and they help set a path for consistency and motivation. Setting weekly and monthly targets will lead you in the right direction.

Set goals related to the frequency of attendance, amount of weight lifted and repetitions for important exercises as well as for your diet and cardio benchmarks. Cardio is not a top priority for building muscle, but it will help you reduce body fat and improve your overall fitness.

The American Council on Exercise recommends setting realistic and attainable goals to stay on track. For example, setting a goal to bench press 250 pounds for five reps when you have not yet benched 200 pounds is unreasonable. If you benched 180 pounds last week, shoot for 185 pounds the following week. That is attainable, realistic and relative to your current strength level.

Essential Dietary Requirements

The overarching dietary process is designed to feed the muscles with nutrients while burning off fat. You will burn calories naturally through workouts, and managing the diet will help restore your energy while keeping your body healthy and strong.

One possible start to building a nutrition plan is finding ways to eliminate processed or fried foods, or added sugars. Focus on fresh, wholesome foods like vegetables and fruits. Lean proteins like tuna and chicken are also excellent choices for muscle growth — research shows that slightly increasing protein intake for several months in a dose-dependent manner may increase or maintain lean body mass.

It’s also important to build healthy muscles, not just big ones. Research shows that a traditional dietary pattern and anti-inflammatory diets high in whole-grain cereals, animal protein, and vegetables yields greater skeletal muscle mass. Anti-inflammatory diets were also associated with better muscle function over 15 years.

Stay Hydrated

Hydration is important not just for muscle growth — it also contributes to a healthy body. Research suggests that acute dehydration inhibits maximal force production in the lower body at low velocities, making it an important consideration when trying to maximize muscular performance.

A state of dehydration means your body will actually store fluid and your muscles may lose aesthetic definition. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated and perform at your peak. Carrying a water bottle throughout the day may be helpful.

Stay Extra Motivated

Six months is a long time, and motivation is a critical factor. Losing motivation during this period will lead to missed workouts and subpar efforts. It can also change the course of progress and hinder your ability to reach your goals.

You may see big gains early in the program, but at some point, your body will peak and the gains will diminish as you reach maximum capacity. New personal records will happen in increments of mere pounds rather than 5 or 10 pounds on lifts, and that's ultimately a good thing.

While the goal-setting process is useful for building motivation, your workouts and diet are essential too. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends evaluating your priorities and tracking your results to stay on course. It also suggests working out with a friend or gym buddy to motivate each other and create a system of accountability.

Another way of maintaining motivation is through cross-training. When your regular workout routine becomes a struggle, take a day or two off and use other activities to continue training while shifting perspective.

Play football or other team sports, head out hiking or do something else fun and active. You can do this as needed or make it a weekly event to break up the weight lifting sessions with something engaging.

Sleeping Habits Matter

You are working hard, putting in time at the gym and making strides towards building muscle. While hard work is essential, rest is equally important. Your muscles require time to recover and grow after workouts. A good chunk of this happens during sleep.

Research shows that changes in the quality and duration of sleep have an impact on muscle and fat mass. Maintaining a good sleep quality, even if it’s for shorter periods of time, can help preserve muscle mass.

Make sure you get at least seven to eight hours of rest per night in a comfortable environment where you hit the deep sleep cycles. Rotate your training sessions to avoid working the same muscle groups on consecutive days. Building muscle is a process that requires both lifting and recovery.

This means that an occasional rest day is vital and should be scheduled into your six-month workout program. Many workout plans include a full day of rest each week. Even ultra-intensive workouts incorporate rest days. Use these breaks to the fullest and allow your body to recover before jumping into a new week of training.

Go High Intensity

Static lifts like curls and deadlifts are important for building raw muscle and strength, but high-intensity sessions with intervals and burnouts can help. Research shows that high-intensity interval training promotes lean mass, maximal strength, and lower-limb muscle power.

High-intensity workouts apply to the cardio and strength training sides of your program.

For cardio, training sessions that involve all-out sprints, running stairs, and pushing hard in short bursts with short breaks between each burst will push the limits of your cardio while burning calories rapidly. The elevated heart rate and anaerobic type of training that come with high-intensity workouts help create muscle definition.

When it comes to weight training, high-intensity sessions are also valuable. Rather than aiming for the highest possible amount of weight on the bar, choose a mid-range amount and do repetitions to the point of burnout. Burnouts are when you push the muscles in a different way than lifting solely for maximum weight gains, and they create great muscle definition.

Also, use resistance to press the limits. For example, do a bench press with a partner spotting the bar. Push toward burnout, then have the partner place pressure on the bar to create the ultimate burnout. These workouts can feel extremely challenging, but still may have their place in your routine.