Building muscle mass is hard; even with regular workouts sessions, trying different exercises and supplements. I feel your pain. I'm what you would call a hard gainer. I had been struggling to gain muscle mass for most of my life. Through speaking with several personal trainers and just trying things on my own I uncovered some important strategies that have helped make major muscle gains achievable.

I'm going to save you time and energy by giving you these 3 simple and easy tips on how to get a ripped body. These tips are so good they even work for hard gainers.

Tip #1: Whether your ambition is to build muscle or to lose fat, multi-joint compound exercises should make up roughly 95 percent of your workout. Trust me, do these exercises and you will be on a fast track to getting lean, cut, and strong. 95 percent of your workout should be concentrated on:

• Bench Press (Variants include Push Ups and/or Dips)
• Any type of Row exercise, including Dumbbell, Cable, or the Barbell Rows
• Lat Pulldowns (Variants include Pull Ups and Chin Ups)
• Any type of Overhead Press exercise, including Dumbbells, Barbells, Or Kettlebells
• Any type of Squat exercise, including Regular, Front, and Body-Weight Squats
• Deadlifts, either Regular, Wide Grip, or Sumo.
• Lunges, Step ups, Jumping Lunges, etc.
• Light Abs training

Don't worry too much about your abs and core. They are not a priority solely because they will be worked from most of the exercises listed above. The remaining 5 percent of your workout should consist of single joint (isolation) exercises:

• Bicep Curls
• Tricep Presses
• Calf Raises
• Trap Shrugs
• Shoulder Raises, including Front, Lateral, and Reverse Lateral
• Chest Flyes, either Flat, Inclined, or Declined
• etc.

Tip #2. You want to get a ripped body? You need to train your body hard enough to generate muscle growth. To do this, workout 3 to 4 days a week for no longer than 60 minutes; workouts should be tough and intense, so training beyond an hour could activate catabolism.

Create your own workout routine that combines opposing upper and lower body movement patterns that don't get in the way of each other. For example, you could group squats with pullups, or bench press grouped with deadlifts.

I used to be in your shoes. I was skeptical at first; but there is no denying the success of these types of workouts especially with heavy weights combined with high intensity. I can still remember, as if it were yesterday, the first time I saw significant muscle mass gains. I just followed the plan above consistently and if you do the same you'll see results too.

Tip #3. Eat delicious, real whole foods and stay away from processed supplement bars and powder. The nutrients from quality, real foods such as eggs, meats, dairy, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts are best absorbed by our bodies. It's not true of all of the processed protein bars, powders, and meal replacements.

Muscle magazines always picture professional body builders using overhyped workout exercises that only seem to work for them. Disregard the hype. Unless you're blessed with amazing genetics or your on steroids, following their advice is not how to get a ripped body. Instead, use these 3 tips as the foundation of your fitness plan and achieve the ripped, muscular body you have always wanted.