Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up.

I'm Ben Greenfield, the Get Fit Guy, and in part one of this special series on how to get ripped,

I gave you my first five quick and dirty tips for getting ripped.

So I'd recommend you go back and listen to

episode 131 if you haven't yet. Now, if you want the next five tips to build muscle, burn fat,

and tone your body as fast as possible, we're going to jump right in. So here is my next tip on how to

get ripped, and it is to lower stress.

Remember, it's important to realize that most people are already relatively ripped,

but that ripped muscle is just covered up by a layer of fat,

and nowhere is this truer than in the abdominal section.

Now, my fellow Quick and Dirty Tips podcaster, Nutrition Diva, Monica

Reinagle, described in her recent episode about getting rid of belly fat, how cortisol levels

affect body fat. Now, cortisol is a hormone released in response to stress and chronically

high cortisol levels have been linked to more belly fat. Monica recommends in that episode getting more sleep,

and that is definitely one potent way to reduce stress. I actually have an entire article on how

to enhance sleep, which I'll link to over at the show notes for this episode at quick and dirty tips.com.

Other favorite stress reduction techniques that I have are deep breathing exercises, yoga,

and even simply planning your day ahead and creating checklist.

Anyways, lowering stress may not seem like much when it comes to exercising or putting on muscle

or burning fat, but it makes a significant difference, especially if your fat is related to fluid retention and cortisol.

Now, number seven is to not overdue supplements.

Back when I was a bodybuilder, and I'll put a link to a photo of myself as a bodybuilder in the show notes,

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