Your perfect workout

Don’t waste time and energy with unstructured workouts. Use this session plan

• Minutes 0 to 3 / preparation:

Use your time getting changed to focus on the workout ahead and what you want to achieve from the session. Also think about how good you’re going to feel once you hit the showers.

• Minutes 4 to 7 / muscle loosening:

Once you get into the gym, spend a few minutes releasing tension in your muscles with a foam roller () . Target notoriously tight areas, such as the chest, quads, lats and lower back, where tension could impair performance.

• Minutes 8 to 12 / warm-up:

To fully warm up your muscles and connective tissue spend five minutes going through a series of mobility movements that work the whole body, gradually increasing the range of motion. Pick movement that mimic what you will do during the main part of the session, so include torso rotations, squats, lunges, pushes and pulls.

• Minutes 13 to 43 / big lifts:

This is the heart of the session. Use these 30 minutes to perform a series of moves that work every major muscle group in the body. Alternate between lower-body and upper-body moves to allow one half to recover while the other is working to cut down on rest time and make the session more time-efficient. A good programme would be squats, bench press, deadlifts, pull-ups, lunges and then rows. Aim for three sets of each exercise. These multi-joint, compound moves target the most muscle in the least time so your body responds by releasing more growth hormones so that your muscles grow back stronger.

• Minutes 44 to 48 / isolation moves:

Use the next five minutes to focus on isolation moves to really fatigue key muscle groups. Biceps curls, triceps presses and hamstring curls should all feature to blitz the muscles into exhaustion.

• Minutes 49 to 53 / abs exercises:

Time to hit the abs hard. By this stage of the workout your core will have done a lot of work in stabilising you during the compound lifts so spending a few minutes on a variety of crunches, reverse curls and side planks will really stress these muscles and force them to come back bigger and stronger.

• Minutes 54 to 56 / stretching:

Well done. You’re almost there. Your muscles will be hurting but it’s important to spend a few minutes stretching them all. Specifically target the muscles you have used and pay extra attention to the tight areas (Pecs, lats, quads, hamstrings and calves). Hold each muscle stretch for three sets of ten seconds to regain their elasticity and help flush out lactic acid.

• Minutes 57 to 58 / recovery nutrition:

With the hard work behind you, now comes the most important part of the session. Drink a protein shake so that your muscles can begin the recovery process. The post-workout period is vital for getting in high-quality protein so that you can start your next session stronger.

• Minutes 59 to 60 / shower:

Hit the showers, alternating between hot and cold blasts to help flood the muscles with nutrient-rich blood and flush out the remaining lactic acid. Use this time to reflect on how the session went. What did you do well? What do you need to work on? Were you using the correct weights for each exercise? And are you ready to go heavier on some moves next time?

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