Muscle Build

4-Week Muscle Plan - Part 2

To get muscles that wouldn’t look out of place on the cover of Men's Fitness, you have to do more than just crank out endless bicep curls and bench presses. For these ‘glory muscles’ to get bigger, the muscles that support them and mirror their actions also have to get bigger and stronger. Our four-week workout targets just about every muscle in your body, whether it’s at the top of the bill or just a supporting player.

The exercises have been chosen because they involve the largest number of muscles, and the high rep count will ensure that you give them a proper workout. The vital support muscles, which make sure you don’t collapse in a heap when you place heavy loads on the major muscle groups, get their own exercises to keep them up to speed.

Because this four-day-a-week regime will see you burning a lot of calories, you will need to keep packing in the food so that all your hard work is translated into muscle gains that you can see and feel. The balanced approach of this programme will protect you from injury, and by the end you should be in no doubt about the results.

How to do the 4-week workout

See parts 1, 3, and 4 in our Workouts section for your complete programme. Do each workout (1, 2, 3 and 4) once a week for four weeks. Once you've done workout 4 at the end of each week, rest for two days before doing workout 1 again. Do each of the exercises as straight sets, completing all the reps with a weight that is light enough for you to lift, but heavy enough for you to be at the limit of your exertion by the last set. Take a one-minute rest between each set and two minutes' rest between each exercise. Make sure you warm up for ten to 15 minutes before each workout.

This workout:

Part 2

1 Dumb-bell External Rotation - Sets: 2 Reps: 15

2 Bent-over Row - Sets: 1 Reps: 10

3 Chin-up - Sets: 3 Reps: as many as you can

4 Barbell Biceps Curl - Sets: 2 Reps: 12

5 Swiss Ball Extension - Sets: 2 Reps: 10

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