Muscle Build

12-week New Body Plan - Phase 1

When January creeps around, not everyone wants to see headlines proclaiming ‘Lose weight!’, ‘Get slimmer!’ or ‘Shed those pounds!’. If you want to put on weight – as hard muscle rather than as a cushion of blubber around your waist – you’ve come to the right place.

This workout is the first phase of our 12-week muscle-packing plan. When used in conjunction with our weight-gain menu, this is guaranteed to give you a bigger, more muscular physique.

There are no miracles involved, just hard work in the gym three days a week and smart nutrition to boost your energy levels before a workout and keep your muscles growing afterwards. Phase 1 has lots of full-body movements to target as many muscles as possible. You’ll also do a lot of unstable and bodyweight movements to strengthen your core stabilising muscles and build a platform for the heavyweight bulking exercises that come in the next phase.

If you’re new to weight training, get checked by your GP before starting any exercise regime, and be sure to start slowly, using weights that you can control comfortably. Pay close attention to the form for each exercise, and if you feel pain at any time, stop. Don’t be tempted to work through the pain or you could do yourself a serious mischief.

How to do this workout

Do workouts A, B and C once a week each, with at least a day’s rest between each one. Warm up on a cardio machine for a few minutes and then do some squats and lunges to get your muscles firing.

Each pair of exercises is a superset, so do one set of exercise 1A and then do one set of 1B without resting in between. That counts as one superset. You can then rest for 90 seconds before repeating the superset one or two more times (if you start by doing two supersets in the first week, try to build up to doing three by the fourth week). Then move on to superset 2A/2B, and so on until you have completed two to three sets of each exercise.

Use a weight that allows you to complete all the reps without breaking form. If you cannot complete a move perfectly, you have hit failure and should move on to the next exercise. Keep your abs and surrounding muscles tight to support your body during lifts and prevent lower back pain. Breathe in on the lowering phase of a move and out on the exertion phase.