Muscle With Staying Power
From his time as a professional egg chaser to maintaining a cover-model rig, there’s barely a style of training that Evans hasn’t experimented with. Today, his approach is more holistic. Here are three of his favourite workouts
01 Push
Squats and bench presses are staples, delivering a full-body pump. Evans supplements this workout with additional supersets, when he has the time.
1/ BACK SQUAT 4 SETS OF 10 REPS
With your feet at shoulder width, secure a barbell across your shoulders (A). Maintain an upright torso and push your hips back, bending your knees until the crease of your hips passes below your knees (B). Stand up explosively.
2/ BENCH PRESS 4 SETS OF 10 REPS
With a grip slightly wider than shoulder width, take a bar out of the rack and lock out your elbows (A). Lower slowly until the bar touches your chest (B). Keep your elbows bent 45 degrees and pause before explosively pressing the bar up.
3/ SEATED SHOULDER PRESS 3 SETS OF 10 REPS
Sit on a bench set to a 90-degree angle. Clean a pair of dumbbells on to your shoulders. Take a breath and tense your core (A). Drive your feet into the ground and press both ’bells overhead (B). Lower slowly to your shoulders.
4A/ DUMBBELL STEP-UP 3 SETS OF 12 EACH SIDE
Stand in front of a box (A). Step one foot up on top and drive your foot into the box to stand (B). Once at the top, stand up fully by extending your knees and hips. Slowly step off the box and repeat. Do 12 on each side and move on to the goblet squats.
4B/ GOBLET SQUAT 3 SETS OF 12 REPS
Hold a dumbbell to your chest (A). Sink your hips back and bend your knees, dropping into a deep squat (B); your elbows should be almost between your knees. Drive up explosively. Do 12 reps then return to the step-ups for set 2.
02 Pull
Want to build a dense physique like Evans’ that looks good from all angles, with some serious strength to boot? These are the moves you need.
1A/ PULL-UP 3 SETS TO FAILURE
Hang from a pull-up bar with a wide, overhand grip (A). Pull up, flexing your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down and back, as if driving your elbows into your pockets. When your chin passes the bar, pause (B) before lowering slowly.
1B/ SINGLE-ARM ROW 3 SETS OF 12
Hold a dumbbell in one arm and hinge at the hips, letting the dumbbell hang; place your empty hand on a bench for support (A). Shift your weight to your supported hand and row the dumbbell into your hip (B). Pause, then lower under control.
2/ DEADLIFT 4 SETS OF 10 REPS
Hinge down and grip a barbell with a flat back (A). Take a deep breath, create tension in your entire body and push the ground away with your feet as you stand; don’t let your hips shoot up too early (B). Lower back to the ground and repeat.
3/ BARBELL ROW 3 SETS OF 10 REPS
Hinge at the hips to grasp a barbell with an overhand grip (A). Keeping your torso parallel to the ground, row the bar up and into your hips (B), squeeze your shoulder blades together and lower to the start before repeating.
03 Conditioning
As a well-rounded athlete, Evans knows that you need to do more than just sling tin. He heads to (the intimidatingly steep) Primrose Hill in London on weekends to keep his feet fast and his metabolism faster.
1/ HILL SPRINTS 10 SETS OF 70M
Find a long, steep hill – aim for 50m to 100m. Run up it as fast as you can, lifting your knees high and driving with your arms. Rest for double the time each climb takes and repeat.
2/ AGILITY DRILLS 20 MINS
Cones, ladders, shuttles, lateral shuffles, jumps, hops, bounds – anything goes. Mix it up and spend 20 mins building agility, explosive power and reactivity, all while blasting your lungs and spiking your heart rate.