Get Ripped With Resistance Bands: Beginners Guide On How To Do It (Includes Workout)

Resistance bands are one of the cheapest and simplest ways to train. But can they actually build muscle and improve your physique? You bet they can! This post explains how to get ripped using resistance bands.

High-intensity resistance band workouts can be used to get ripped at home. The full body should be worked with compound exercises that activate large muscle groups and burn lots of calories. This should be combined with a high-protein fat loss nutrition plan.

Resistance band workouts helped me to cut down my body fat, maintain my muscle, and develop a ripped physique.

Below, I’ll show you exactly how I did it!

What You’ll Need To Get Ripped With Resistance Bands

The first, and the most obvious, thing you’ll need to get ripped with resistance bands is…

You guessed it; a good set of bands!

But not just any old set will do the job.

A good set of resistance bands for getting ripped should be:

• Heavy enough to give you an intense workout.
• Durable enough to undergo high-stretch exercises like the squat.
• A set of bands (as opposed to a single band) that allow you to effectively train large muscles like the chest, as well as smaller muscles like the abs.
• Have different weight increments to give you options to progress as you get stronger.

I use and recommend the Undersun FItness bands (you can find the cheapest price here).

Not only do they fill all 4 of the above criteria, but they also come with a lifetime warranty which is unheard of in any other brand as far as I know.

Secondly, you’ll need to know about the right training and nutrition plan to build muscle and keep body fat low. That’s what this article will help you with.

And thirdly, you’ll need grit and determination. Only you can provide that!

Why You Can Get Ripped With Just Resistance Bands

It is entirely possible to get ripped with just resistance bands. A shredded appearance is primarily achieved by reaching a low body fat percentage to reveal underlying musculature. Resistance bands are an effective way to build muscle and lose fat.

In fact, there are multiple ways to get ripped.

Generally speaking, the lower your body fat and larger your muscles, the more ripped you will look.

So the key is to adopt an effective workout and nutrition program to lower your body fat and increase muscle size.

And as it turns out, this 2019 study demonstrated that bands can be just as effective as weights for building muscle size and tone.

Furthermore, numerous studies like this 2022 study have proposed resistance bands to be an effective way to lose fat.

So the scientific literature suggests you CAN get ripped with just resistance bands.

Now, let’s explore some real-life examples of people using bands to get ripped.

Reddit Poll: Can You Get Ripped With Only Bands?

I took to the Reddit community to find out what the average person thinks about using resistance bands to get ripped.

I sampled the following threads:

• “Can I get ripped using only resistance bands?”
• “Can resistance bands be used to gain muscle?”
• “How to get ripped with resistance band training?”

100% of Reddit respondents agreed that it’s entirely possible to get ripped with nothing but resistance bands.

However, you need to make sure the resistance is heavy enough to work your muscles.

You also need to control your nutrition to maintain low body fat.

That’s what I’ll cover next!

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If you’re wondering how long it takes to get ripped with bands, you can check out my other post which shares examples of resistance band transformations!

How To Get Ripped With Resistance Bands At Home

So you’ve got your bands; now you need to find an effective workout program and nutrition plan.

Tips For An Effective Resistance Band Workout Program To Get Ripped:

• Have an optimized training volume. This refers to the workout frequency, reps, and sets. I aim to use resistance bands 3-6 times per week. Additionally, I found that doing 6-15 reps and 3-4 sets per resistance band exercise per workout is ideal.

• Focus on compound movements. These work multiple muscles in a single movement. Examples include pressing, rowing, squatting, and deadlifting. In contrast, isolation movements focus on single muscles. Examples include the bicep curl. Compound exercises activate the most muscles, allow you to lift the heaviest weights, and burn the most calories. This helps you to maximize muscle growth and burn the most fat for a ripped physique. Isolation movements can be used to define specific muscles.

• Lift heavy resistances. This facilitates the muscle growth process and burns more calories and fat. The larger your muscles and the lower your body fat percentage, the more ripped you will be!

• Allow your muscles enough rest to recover. Avoid using resistance bands every day. As a beginner, I found that 3 resistance band workouts per week are sufficient to get ripped.

• Apply progressive overload. Increase exercise intensity as you become stronger. I found the easiest ways to overload are to increase weight (use heavier bands) or increase reps.

Tips For An Effective Nutrition Plan To Get Ripped:

• Optimize calories. Skinny people should consume maintenance or a mild 5-10% surplus calories. Skinny-fat people should consume maintenance or a mild 5-10% deficit calories. And overweight people should consume deficit calories. This can help you to build muscle and keep body fat low. You can use TDEE calculator to determine your maintenance calories.

• Balance macronutrient intake. Make sure you eat enough protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats in your daily meals. Avoid being deficient in one or more macronutrients to shred fat fast!

• Eat plenty of protein. The consensus is ~1g of protein per lb of body weight per day. So a 140lb person should consume around 140g of protein per day!

Next, you should know what exactly constitutes a ripped physique.

Knowing this can help you succeed in using your resistance bands to get ripped!

Requirements For A Ripped Physique

Generally speaking, a ripped physique should have:

• Low body fat. This is the primary requirement to be ripped. Remember your body fat sits on top of your muscle and covers it. A low body fat percentage (around 13% or less) allows your muscle definition to show. The lower your body fat the more ripped you’ll be!

• Large muscular size. This is the second requirement to be ripped. It’s not essential to have large muscles to look ripped. But it helps a lot. Some people have relatively small muscles but they just look bigger because they are more defined (due to low body fat %).

Resistance Band Workout To Get Ripped

Below, you’ll a basic full-body resistance band workout to get ripped at home.

It’s an adaptation of my resistance band strength workout which can also be used to get ripped.

But this workout has a higher training volume which is better for building muscle size and losing fat.

Program Overview:

It’s a 3-day training split.

Each day works your entire body with a ~1-hour workout.

The focus is on compound lifts to activate as many muscles possible as fast as possible to get ripped FAST!

But isolation lifts are also there to define specific mirror muscles like the abs, chest, shoulders, and arms.

The workout includes at least 24 hours of rest in between workouts to allow full muscle recovery.

Day 1:

Resistance Band Exercise	Sets	Repetitions	Starting Band Weight	Rest Between Set
Push-Up With Bands	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Back Row With Resistance Band	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Overhead Shoulder Press	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Banded Ab Crunch	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins
Front Squat With Resistance Bands	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Bicep Curls With Resistance Bands	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins

Day 2:

Resistance Band Exercise	Sets	Repetitions	Starting Band Weight	Rest Between Set
Banded Chest Press	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Reverse Fly With Bands	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins
Banded Lateral Raise	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins
Core Rotation With Bands	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins
Deadlift With Resistance Band	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Banded Tricep Pull-Down	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins

Day 3:

Resistance Band Exercise	Sets	Repetitions	Starting Band Weight	Rest Between Set
Pec Fly With Resistance Band	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins
Back Row With Resistance Band	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Overhead Shoulder Press	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Banded Ab Crunch	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins
Front Squat With Resistance Bands	4	8-12	30-60lbs	2 mins
Bicep Curls With Resistance Bands	4	12-15	15-25lbs	2 mins

Rep, Sets, And Weight:

Do 12-15 reps per set for isolation-type movements. These work smaller muscles like the biceps which typically respond better to higher reps using a lighter weight. Beginners can start with a light resistance band for these exercises (15-25lbs).

Do 8-12 reps per set for compound-type movements. These work larger muscles like the chest which are ideal for loading with heavier weight and using lower reps. Beginners can start with a medium resistance band for these exercises (30-60lbs).

Start on the lower end of each rep spectrum and work your way up as you overload (see next section).

Speaking from personal experience, 4 sets per exercise per workout is ideal for building muscle and losing fat.

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Unsure what is meant by the weight of a resistance band? You can check out my other post to find out how much weight a light, medium, and heavy resistance band is.

How To Progress:

The recommended starting band weights are exactly that; general recommendations.

You should experiment and find a weight that challenges you for the allotted reps.

As a general rule, each set should induce muscular fatigue within the last 1-3 reps. If you don’t feel the burn, then increase the band weight. And if the band is too heavy to complete all your reps with good form, then reduce weight accordingly!

It’s also important to apply progressive overload to maximize your chances of getting ripped with your resistance bands.

Overloading keeps your muscles challenged for growth as you get stronger. It also helps you to burn fat faster.

You can apply progressive overload by:

• Increasing weight. Aim to move up the weight increments in your set of bands.
• Increasing reps. Aim to move up the recommended rep spectrum over time.
• Reducing rest time. This will be hard but it will really turbocharge your fat-loss results and really get you shredded. Go down to a 1.5 and 1-minute rest when you are ready.

I would advise applying one overload method at a time.

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If you’re using colored bands with handles, you can go to my other post to find out what color resistance band you should use for this workout!

Additional Band Exercises To Get Ripped

Here’s a complete list of my favorite resistance band exercises to get ripped.

Try these resistance band exercises to get a ripped and cut chest:

• Flat banded push-ups.
• Incline banded push-ups.
• Flat chest press with bands.
• Incline chest press with bands.
• Decline chest press with bands.
• Banded pec fly.
• Crossover with bands.

Best resistance band exercises to get ripped and defined shoulders:

• Shoulder press with bands.
• Hammer press with bands.
• Banded lateral raise.
• Banded front raise.
• Reverse delt fly with bands.
• Resistance band upright row.
• Banded face-pull.

Give these resistance band exercises a go to get ripped and toned back:

• Seated band row.
• Standing incline band row.
• Lat pull-down with bands.
• Band-assisted pull-ups.
• Reverse fly with bands.

Best resistance band exercises to build ripped and shredded abs:

• Ab crunch with bands.
• Core rotation using resistance bands.
• Banded woodchopper.
• Banded golf swing.
• Bicycle crunch with bands.
• Lying leg raise with bands.

My favorite resistance band exercises to build big and ripped arms:

• Bicep curl using bands.
• Hammer curls with bands.
• Overhand reverse curl with bands.
• Assisted band pull-ups.
• Banded tricep pull-down.
• Overhead tricep band extension.
• Tricep kickback using bands.

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If you’re unsure why resistance bands are so effective for building muscle and getting ripped, you can check out my other post which explains how resistance bands work!

Where To Buy The Bands I Used To Get Ripped

The resistance bands I used to get ripped at home are the Undersun set.

Having been using them for over 2 years now, I highly recommend them.

Unlike the budget brands I’ve tried in the past (which all snapped at me), I found the Undersuns to be very durable.

Additionally, you get a lifetime warranty which no other company offers (that I know about!).

You can get them on the Undersun website.

But I found Amazon to offer faster delivery.

You can find the cheapest Undersun price here.

Conclusion

I’ve shared scientific and case studies that show it is entirely possible to get ripped using just resistance bands.

Additionally, I’ve given you a beginner’s workout to get ripped with your resistance bands.

The important thing is to lift heavy with progressive overload and to focus on the compound movements.

Additionally, don’t forget that nutrition is essential to building muscle and losing fat.

You should adjust your calorie intake depending on whether you are skinny, skinny-fat, or overweight (high-protein intake is essential regardless).

What resistance band exercises will you be using to get ripped?

Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions! You can find my details on the “contact us” page.

You may also be interested in the downloadable Kalibre Blueprint PDF which details exactly how I gained 40lbs of lean muscle (it’s 100% free!). It details the exact exercises and nutrition (with printable worksheets) I used to go from skinny to ripped!

Thanks for reading guys!

Peace Out,

Kal

(Biochemistry BSc, Biomedical Sciences MSc, Ex-Skinny Guy)