In the second phase of our 12-week muscle-building programme, get ready to hit the free weights with a new focus. The goal for the next four weeks is to complete three workouts every seven days to give your muscles the stimulus they need to grow bigger than ever before.

The great thing about dumb-bells and barbells is that they can recruit several muscle groups at once, so you can lift more weight, pump more blood around your muscles and trigger a growth hormone surge. When you lift extra weight, you exhaust your muscles faster and more thoroughly, which unlocks your body’s maximum muscle growth potential.

The workouts here are designed to stimulate your muscles in a balanced and proportional way so that you avoid overdeveloping some muscles at the expense of others. By the end of the four weeks you’ll have a stronger, more muscular body, and one that’s also protected against injury.

The first workout targets your upper body, with the first exercise a whole-body move that will fire up all your major muscle groups and get them working as a team before you move on to specific areas. The second workout targets the lower body and the third focuses on the core and multi-muscle moves that are designed to balance out your strength gains.

Remember to eat 1.5-2g of protein per kilo of bodyweight every day and within a month you’ll have packed on more muscle mass and become functionally strong. With all that eating you’ll inevitably put on a bit of body fat too, but don’t worry – the final phase of the programme is designed to burn off fat while maintaining your new muscle.

How to do this workout
Do all three workouts once a week each, leaving at least one day’s rest between each. Drink some carbohydrate or eat a banana 30 minutes before each workout to fuel your effort. Warm up by doing five minutes on a cardio machine, then light sets of press-ups and bodyweight squats to raise your heart rate and get your muscles working. Leave one minute’s rest between sets and two to three minutes between exercises.