Innehållsförteckning för Men's Health: Training Guide från Men's Health South Africa

Chiseled pecs, sleeve-busting arms, abs that cast shadows; you can have it all – if you train smart. This training guide will help you do just that. The total-body workouts on these pages mix cardio and strength moves to stoke your fat burners and reprogram your metabolism while building solid muscle. (Plus, we’ve included the best routines that target areas you want to improve most.) But you’ll do more than sculpt an incredible body; you’ll also gain the functional strength, speed, power and stamina you need to be the most athletic version of yourself. Let’s go.…

LOSING FAT AND BUILDING A BETTER PHYSIQUE doesn’t have to be expensive or complex. In fact, you can gain muscle using only your body. That’s why we asked two top trainers to come up with total-body workouts that you can do anywhere – whether you’re at home in front of the TV, outside at the park or in a hotel while traveling for work. Plus, these three-move routines are versatile, so you can tailor them to your most pressing goal. 1 SINGLE-LEG PUSHUP Assume a pushup position with your arms straight and hands below and slightly wider than your shoulders. Raise your left foot (A). Bend your elbows and lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor (B). Pause, and push your body back up. Do all your…

IF YOU WANT TO SHED KILOS, YOU’VE GOT TO INCREASE your workout intensity, says Robert dos Remedios, a professor of kinesiology at California’s College of the Canyons, who created the two circuits on the next pages. Doing the exercises at maximum effort revs your metabolism for up to 36 hours. Fitness experts call it the afterburn effect; you can just call it smart training. CIRCUIT A 1 EXPLOSIVE PUSHUP Assume a pushup position with your hands slightly beyond shoulder width and your body in a straight line from head to ankles (A). Bend your elbows and lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor (B); then push up with enough force that your hands leave the floor (C). 2 JUMP SQUAT Stand with your hands on the back…

THE EIGHT MOVES IN THIS PLAN HIT EVERY AREA. They’re designed to build a lean body, burn stubborn fat and improve your fitness across the board. Plus, we give you five different fat-blasting combinations, so you can choose the one that works best for you. Turn the page to muscle up. 1 DEAD-STOP PUSHUP Assume a pushup position with your feet together, your body straight, and your hands below but slightly wider than your shoulders. Lower your body all the way to the floor. Lift your hands, pause and then place them back on the floor and push up explosively. 2 GOBLET SQUAT Hold a dumbbell in front of your chest, cupping the top end with both hands. Push your hips back and bend your knees, performing a squat. Pause;…

WANT A CHISELED MIDDLE? THINK GLOBAL, NOT local, says Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Eric Cressey the creator of this training program. “Washboard abs don’t come from countless situps – they’re sculpted with athletic, high-intensity exercises that rev your metabolism and work your entire body.” Follow his plan for 28 days for amazing results. WORKOUT A 1A BAND-RESISTED SKATER HOP Attach a resistance band to a pole and, with the pole on your left, loop the band around your waist. Push your hips back as you prepare to bound to the right (A); then do so (B). Do 5 reps, turn around, and repeat, this time bounding left. 1B AB WHEEL ROLLOUT Kneel on the floor and grab the handles of an ab wheel (A). Roll it forward as far…

YOU’LL OFTEN HEAR PEOPLE REFER TO THE CORE AS the body’s powerhouse, but the truth is there’s an even more powerful muscle group in your possession: your glutes. They control your hips and power your motion. Yet these muscles hardly get the attention they deserve. The majority of us spend our days plonked down in a chair, so our glutes get weaker and less responsive. But the good news is that it’s easy to wake up your sleepy glutes. The following exercises will hammer your lower-body muscles to help you build a solid foundation – and keep you injury-free. 1 BARBELL RACK PULL Set up blocks or a power rack so the bar is at mid-shin to knee height (or higher). Bend at your hips and knees and grab the…

PARKING YOUR BUTT IN A CHAIR ALL DAY LONG CAN wreak havoc on your gym routine. Your glutes, hips and quads can tighten up from working at a desk for hours at a time, making you weak during your workout and slowing your results. The good news is that you can bounce back from all that sitting. To build even more functional muscle, you have to put down the weights. These simple moves help you loosen up and get ready to lift. 1 FLEXION GAPPING Kneel with your hands on the floor. Place your left ankle behind your right knee. Sit as low as you can, and move your hips side to side very slightly. Do this for 1 minute; switch legs and repeat. 2 LOW LUNGE Put your left…

IF YOU WANT TO BULK UP EVERYWHERE, YOU’LL WANT to try this total-body workout that specifically hammers your arms and abs, designed by Special Forces trainer Jason Walsh. With Walsh’s hard-core plan, you can pack on 15kg of solid muscle (Bradley Cooper did when he trained with Walsh for American Sniper). Turn the page to build the body of a hero. CIRCUIT A 1 FARMER’S WALK Grab a pair of heavy dumbbells; each one should equal about half your body weight. Let the weights hang naturally at your sides. Turn your wrists forward slightly so your shoulders are rotated down and back. Walk at a slow, controlled pace, taking regular-length steps. Avoid slumping your shoulders and extending your back. Walk for 30 seconds. 2 SINGLE-LEG SLIDE PIKE Assume a pushup…

IF YOU WANT TO BUILD ROCK-SOLID MUSCLE, YOU’VE got to crank up the intensity. This cutting-edge training regimen is designed to torch kilojoules at a blistering pace, demolish belly fat and sculpt every muscle in your body. You’ll be dripping in sweat by the end of the workout, but the payoff of a ripped body will be worth it. WORKOUT A 1 DUMBBELL SPLIT SQUAT Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them at your sides, palms in; stand in a staggered stance, your left foot in front of your right (A). Slowly lower your body as far as you can (B). Pause, and push yourself back up to the starting position as quickly as possible. Complete the prescribed number of reps, switch legs and repeat. 2 DUMBBELL SINGLE-ARM SNATCH…

WHEN IT COMES TO WEIGHT TRAINING, YOUR GO-TO movements may be frying fat and building muscle, but they aren’t doing much to improve your performance and athleticism. Boost your workout with the moves on pages 44 and 45 – they not only make you grow bigger but also help you build injury resistance, get faster and max out your fitness gains. 1 BOX JUMP Stand facing a box and assume a quarter squat (A); then jump up. Land softly on the box with bent knees (B). Step down and repeat. PRO TIP Start with a 600mm box. Increase the height as you get better. 2 REVERSE LUNGE TO STEPUP Stand facing a bench (or box). Step back with your right leg and lower your right knee until it nearly touches…

A MUSCULAR CHEST IS POWERFUL. AND IF YOU WANT to gain mass and round out your pecs, you have to work them from every angle. Rest assured, our workout on pages 68 and 69 will help you do just that, using only basic exercises. The added bonus: it’ll strengthen your shoulders and biceps, too! 1 BENCH PRESS Hold a bar above your chest using an overhand, shoulder-width grip (A). Lower it to your chest (B), and press it back up. Do 3 warmup sets of 5 reps using 75 percent of your estimated max. Then do 4 sets of 5 reps using 85 percent of your max. 2 CHINUP Hang at arm’s length from a chinup bar using an underhand, shoulder width grip. This is the starting position (A). Pull…

IN ADDITION TO CHOOSING MOVES THAT BLAST FLAB all over and hammer every muscle, we made each exercise – or “station”– in this workout 60 seconds, so you can challenge your heart and lungs, too. The final product is a high-intensity circuit designed to torch fat; define your chest, abs and arms; and send your fitness level soaring. Stick with it to sculpt a lean, athletic-looking body. STATION 1 GOBLET SQUAT With both hands, grab one end of a dumbbell to hold it vertically in front of your chest and stand with your feet slightly beyond shoulder width (A). Keeping your back naturally arched, push your hips back, bend your knees and lower your body until the tops of your thighs are at least parallel to the floor (B). Pause,…

MOST CIRCUITS KEEP REST TO A MINIMUM TO MAXIMISE your metabolism. “But without rest there’s no recovery, so you can’t keep pushing yourself,” says Robert dos Remedios, a professor of kinesiology at California’s College of the Canyons. That’s why for each of the exercises that follow you’ll work for 20 seconds and rest for 40. But don’t think you’re getting off easy. “Empty the tank during those 20 seconds,” says dos Remedios. “The rest is your reward, so earn it.” WORKOUT A 1 BURPEE WITH JUMP Stand with your feet slightly beyond shoulder width and your arms hanging naturally by your sides (A). Push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body into a squat until you can place both hands on the floor (B). Kick your legs…

NOTHING SAYS “FIT” LIKE HAVING SHREDDED ABS. And nothing makes achieving them harder than having extra kilos hanging out in your midsection. That’s where this quick finisher comes in. These four moves target and challenge your core to sculpt your abs fast (yes, situps are still a power move for more-defined abs). Prepare to be sore for days! 1 SITUP Lie on your back with your heels firm and knees bent 90 degrees. Keep your hands in fists in front of your chest (A). Now raise your torso to meet your upper legs, keeping your back straight throughout (B). Lower your torso back to the floor. 2 FLUTTER KICK Lie on your back with your arms by your sides, palms down. Lift your feet and shoulders slightly off the floor.…

YOU’VE PROBABLY DONE THOUSANDS OF BICEPS curls in your lifetime. But if you want your arms to grow and develop quickly, you need to make some tweaks to your usual workout. This routine from Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Tony Gentilcore uses mechanical drop sets to hit every muscle in your arms from every angle. 1 PRIME YOUR PUMP Hold the dumbbells at your sides with your palms facing in (A). Curl the dumbbells toward your chest, twisting your palms so they face away from your body (B). Pause, and slowly lower the weights to the starting position. That’s 1 rep. WHY IT WORKS It targets the lower portion of your biceps. That helps push the peak of your biceps higher. 2 FEEL THE BURN Hold the dumbbells at your sides…

EVERY DAY IS SHOULDER DAY. YOUR SHOULDERS PLAY a huge role in every upper-body lift – for real, they engage every time you hold a weight. That’s why the following moves are so important. They’ll help you get the broad-shouldered look you want and reach peak performance – all while protecting your joints. (And if your regular lifts are destroying your shoulders, it’s essential to make these moves part of your ongoing routine.) SIDE-LYING EXTERNAL ROTATION With a light dumbbell or weight (2,5kg is ideal) in your left hand, lie on your right side with a rolled towel under your left elbow. Bend your right arm and rest your head on your right hand or a pad. Bend your left elbow 90 degrees and rest the weight in front of…

GETTING A MORE SHREDDED BODY DOESN’T HAVE to mean hours in the gym with heavy weights. This short gut-busting workout is as simple as it gets. It consists of only nine moves, but they’ll test your endurance while spiking your metabolism and torching fat to finally uncover your hard-earned muscles. Plus, you don’t even need to leave your house to make it happen. 1 DOUBLE KETTLEBELL SWING Place two kettlebells on the floor in front of you. Stand with your feet slightly beyond shoulder width, push your hips back and grab the kettlebells’ handles. “Hike” the kettlebells between your legs, and then thrust your hips forward as you swing both kettlebells up to chest level. Swing them back between your legs. That’s 1 rep; continue without pausing. Do 20 reps.…

LOOKING TO OVERHAUL YOUR ROUTINE IN A RADICAL new way? This programme is more than just a muscle-building workout plan; it’s a revolutionary fitness system designed to make every minute of your training session more metabolic. Turn the page for your kilojoule-killing, body-shredding plan. WORKOUT A LOWER-BODY LIGHTNING 1 MINI-BAND SINGLE-LEG HIP THRUST Sit on the floor with your back resting on a bench, a band around your knees. Now press into your right heel (A) and elevate your hips as you bring your left leg up, flexing your right hamstring and glutes at the top (B). Reverse and repeat. Switch legs each set. 2 BOX SQUAT JUMP Stand with a box or bench directly behind you. Push your hips back, bend your knees, and squat onto the box or bench…

SOME GUYS TRAIN ALL WRONG. AND THEN THEY HIT a plateau. They get stuck and frustrated and start to regress. But you can avoid this fate with the following programme created by trainer Alex Viada, owner of Complete Human Performance. Viada’s no-nonsense, science-heavy approach to fitness will help you bust out of any rut and pack on more muscle. Follow the programme for up to eight weeks. 1 PULLUP Hang from a bar using an overhand, shoulder-width grip (A). Pull your chest up to the bar and squeeze your shoulder blades together (B). Pause, and slowly lower your body back to the start. 2 BARBELL SQUAT Hold a bar across your upper back (A). Push your hips back and squat until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor…

ONE OF THE BIGGEST benefits of picking up a weight and carrying it for a set distance is that it presents a serious challenge for your core muscles. And a stronger, tighter core gives your arms and legs a more powerful base for performing heavy lifts. But the benefits aren’t limited to individual muscles. “Loaded carries build work capacity,” says Dan John, who invented the exercise. So you can do more gym work and do it better (and stay safe!). “It’s really hard to hurt yourself when you’re walking around,” he says. Do carries at any point in your workout – they’re especially great at the end, when you’re fatigued and your balance and coordination are hindered. But no matter when you do them, the payoff is the same: a…