BUILD A BETTER BODY

Add lean muscle mass across your torso to transform your physique faster with our four-week better-body training programme

If you have tried and failed in the past to make major changes to how you look with your top off, now is the time to make some major changes to the way you train. And making the requisite changes to your weights workouts couldn’t be easier thanks to this four-week workout that – if followed to the letter – will help add serious size and strength across your torso while also stripping away excess body fat to transform what you see in the mirror. The beauty of this plan is that you’ll train all the major upper-body muscles – chest, shoulders, arms and back – twice a week. That means the sessions are going to be tough, but with focus and dedication you’ll see your body change shape fast.

HERE’S HOW THE PLAN WORKS

This month’s four-week workout is made up of four sessions a week. Workout one targets your chest and back; workout two, your legs and shoulders; workout three, your chest and triceps; and workout four, your back and biceps. If that sounds like a lot of training time dedicated to your major upper-body muscles, that’s because it is. Training these important muscle groups either directly or indirectly twice a week is likely to be a significant increase in the amount of work you are asking them to do – and it’s this increase in training volume that will propel your body out of its comfort zone so that it is stimulated to add lean muscle mass quickly, while the extra demands will target your fat stores to burn them for energy.

Each workout is made up of five lifts which you will perform as straight sets. This means you do all the sets of the first lift, rest and then move on to the second lift and so on. Simply do the workouts in order, sticking to the sets, reps, tempo and rest periods detailed. Each week try to lift slightly heavier than before, but make sure that you prioritise maintaining good form for every rep of every set.

TEMPO TRAINING

To get the full effect from these workouts, you need to stick to the four-digit tempo code for each exercise. The first digit indicates how long in seconds you take to lower the weight, the second how long you pause at the bottom of the move, the third how long you take to lift the weight, and the final digit how long you pause at the top. The accumulated time under tension increases your heart rate to burn body fat and break down muscle tissue so it’s rebuilt bigger and stronger. Keep each rep smooth and controlled so your muscles – not momentum – do the work, and move through a full range of motion.