Summer’s finally on its way and now is the perfect time to start our three-part, 12-week musclebuilding programme that – given a little luck with the weather – will soon see you sunning yourself with pride, whether you’re walking down the beach or just loafing about in your back garden.

We’re often asked why most of our training programmes end after four weeks. It’s not because MF is a monthly magazine but because the human body adapts to a new training regime after a month or so. You can use this principle to build new muscle in three four-week stages.

This month’s first stage will strengthen your stabilising muscles, which hold your joints in place and assist the body’s bigger muscles. The second phase targets these bigger muscles to make them grow and the final stage makes your muscles work in short, sharp bursts to increase their strength, burn stubborn body fat and boost your metabolism to keep fat off. As long as you eat a high-protein meal (20-30g protein) within two hours of working out your body will respond, repairing your muscles and building them at the same time.

The workout over the following two pages tackles the first stage of this muscle-building process. It uses exercises in an unstable environment to lay down a strong foundation on which you can build a brand new body. The second phase of this programme will appear in the next issue of MF so subscribe now to make sure you don’t miss out.

How to do this workout
Do workout A on Monday and workout B on Tuesday before resting for one day. Then do workout C on Thursday and workout D on Friday. For the exercises that use only bodyweight resistance you will increase the reps by one each week. For the exercises that use dumbbells or medicine balls you should use the heaviest weight that still allows you to complete all the reps without breaking form, and you should aim to increase the weight used each week. Rest for 90 seconds between each set and two minutes between each exercise.