EXERCISES When you’ve read enough workouts (good ones, anyway), one thing becomes clear: the exercises are always basically the same. Presses, rows, squats, and deadlifts, and all their variations, are forever going to be the foundation of any programme—and if they aren’t, be sceptical. They’re the most effective and efficient muscle-builders, so we’re having you draw from this list when you choose your main lift for each workout, regardless of your goal. This first exercise is your focus for the session—if you should have to cut things short in the gym that day after you do your work on the main lift, you should still be able to leave and say you got a great workout. So this primary exercise has to be challenging and recruit the most possible muscle fibres. After that, you’ll move on to assistance, or accessory, lifts. If it’s a leg day and you did deadlifts first, you need to follow them with another lower-body exercise that works the muscles a little differently. We like to follow a hip-dominant lift (where the muscles of the hips are the prime movers) like the deadlift with a quad-dominant exercise, such as the front squat, which focuses more on the
DAY 1 Hip-dominant main lift
DEADLIFT SUMO DEADLIFT TRAP-BAR DEADLIFT
Quad-dominant accessory FRONT SQUAT HACK SQUAT
Hip-dominant, knee flexion GLUTE-HAM RAISE SWISS BALL LEG CURL
SUSPENDED TRX LEG CURL MACHINE LEG CURL
Single-leg, split-stance BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUAT SPLIT SQUAT
Core isolation, anti-extension SWISS BALL ROLLOUT AB WHEEL ROLLOUT SUSPENSION STRAP FALLOUT
Cardio
DUMBBELL (DB)/ KETTLEBELL (KB) SWING
54 MUSCLE&FITNESS
SIZE: 202 FAT LOSS: 202 STRENGTH: 101
201 OR 301
SIZE: 3X8–10 FAT LOSS: 3X8–12 STRENGTH: 3X6–8
3X8–12
SIZE: 60–90 SEC FAT LOSS: 60 SEC STRENGTH: 90–120 SEC
60 SEC
SIZE: 301 FAT LOSS: 201 STRENGTH: 101
SIZE: 301 FAT LOSS: 201 STRENGTH: 101
TEMPO N/A
muscles that extend the knee. There will be some single-leg moves as well, and core training. You’ll find this attention to balance on both lower- and upper-body days, ensuring that your body stays in a healthy alignment, primed for the best results possible no matter what your goal.
TEMPO
Also called time under tension, the speed at which you perform your reps can influence the adaptations your body makes. To maximise muscle size, you can benefit from performing your reps more slowly to induce greater fatigue. Depending on the exercise, you might take two or three full seconds to complete the lowering phase of a rep and another two seconds to raise the weight. For pure strength, you need only concern yourself with lifting and lowering the weights safely and under control. To encourage fat loss, a smooth, rhythmic tempo will suffice.
SETS AND REPS For the sake of simplicity, we’re giving you almost the same number of exercises each day. So to keep the volume under control, you’ll do three or four sets for most of them. The reps, however, can
SETS/REPS
SIZE: 3X6–8 FAT LOSS: 3X8–10 STRENGTH: 3X3–5
SIZE: 3X8–10 FAT LOSS: 3X8–12 STRENGTH: 3X6–8
SIZE: 3X8–10 FAT LOSS: 3X8–12 STRENGTH: 3X6–8
vary widely. Muscle size gains come from a blend of heavy- and higher-rep work, so you’ll do six to eight reps on your main lifts and eight to 10 for most of your assistance work. For strength, you have to lift heavy so you won’t see anything higher than six reps prescribed on any main lift. For fat loss, sets of eight to 12 reps will support muscle through any kind of diet and help burn extra calories.
REST
Sometimes it's what you don't do that makes the difference. You’ll have to be judicious with your downtime if you want to pack on size. One to two minutes should be enough to let you recover without relaxing, but take more time on your heavy main lift of the day if you need to. To gain strength, simply take your time between sets. The nervous system takes five to six times longer to recover than the muscular system does, so while your shoulders might feel ready to press again after a minute or so, you risk missing the lift if you don’t take longer. Err on the side of resting more. For fat loss, the prescrip- tion is just the opposite—keep the rests brief so your heart rate stays up.
REST PERIOD SIZE: 2–3 MIN
FAT LOSS: 60–90 SEC STRENGTH: 3–5 MIN
SIZE: 90–120 SEC FAT LOSS: 60–90 SEC STRENGTH: 2–3 MIN
SIZE: 60–90 SEC FAT LOSS: 60 SEC STRENGTH: 90–120 SEC
DIRECTIONS
SPLIT: Perform each workout (Day 1, 2, 3, and 4) once a week.
HOW TO DO IT: The tempo for each lift is expressed in three digits. The first number indicates how many seconds you should take to lower the weight, the second is the length of the pause, and the third is the time you should spend lifting the weight. Note that a “0” means to move directly on to the next number.
SIZE: N/A FAT LOSS: 10 SWINGS, 40 SECONDS OFF, REPEAT FOR 10–15 ROUNDS STRENGTH: 10 SECONDS ON, 60 SECONDS OFF, 10–15 ROUNDS
Choose one of the exercises from each category (hip-dominant main lift, quad-dominant accessory, etc.) and stick with it for at least four to six weeks. Find the prescriptions for tempo, sets and reps, and rest periods that correspond to your personal goals, and follow those only. Do not mix them up—if your goal is fat loss, you must use the fat loss prescriptions for every variable. (You must also watch your diet, although that should go without saying.)
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