Everyone wants to look their best for the summer. The Men’s Fitness three-phase programme for a new, more muscular body can help you achieve that goal.

If you started Part 1 of this programme you will have strengthened your stabilising muscles, which hold your joints in place and assist your bigger muscles. But don’t worry if you missed last month’s issue; as long as you’re a regular gym-goer you should be able to start the programme at this stage. Just use lighter weights than normal for the first week.

Where Phase 1 targeted the supporting cast, Phase 2 will hit the A-list headline muscles over a progressive four-week workout programme. The workouts here employ big, powerful muscle groups to perform calorie-busting movements. These recruit as many muscle fibres as possible and maximise the growth potential of the muscle you already have. Some people can build muscle more readily than others but everyone can put on lean muscle mass if they work at it.

Eat a high-protein meal (20-30g protein) within two hours of working out so that your body can repair the micro-tears in your muscles and grow them at the same time. You’ll become stronger, faster and get a brand new body just in time for this year’s sunny season.

The third and final phase of your summer workout programme will appear in the next issue of MF.

How to do this workout
Do workout A on Monday, then 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 bodyweight resistance, you will increase the reps by one each week. For the exercises that use dumb-bells or barbells you should slightly increase the weight used each week. Rest for 60 seconds between each set and for two minutes between each exercise.