Men's Fitness Guide Issue 11

This invaluable special edition from Kelsey’s extensive range of men’s fitness guides is dedicated to the humble dumbbell. This essential bit of kit works to shred fat and build muscle throughout your whole body – all you need is this guide, a set of dumbbells (for as little as £20) and you can achieve your best ever body from the sanctuary of your own home. The guide includes: ● The essentials of how dumbbell training works ● How to design your workout for your personal gains ● The ultimate simple warm-up and effective cool-down ● Body-specific exercises for tight abs, powerful glutes, a big chest and more ● Combo moves to get you lean and ripped ● Sports-specific workouts to get you excelling in your chosen field ● A 12-week programme to help you build your ultimate…

Without knowing your workout goals, which moves to do, and how to do them, you won’t get optimum results. To achieve your aims, you need understand the key variables involved in performing different moves so you can design – and stick to – a specific programme. The main variables are reps, sets, tempo, rest and frequency. Here’s how they affect your training… REPETITIONS Also known as reps, the number of these you do will affect all the other variables. It’s also the variable with the biggest effect on whether aim to develop strength, size or endurance. A low number of reps – in the one to seven range – is best for building strength; eight to 12 reps is best for muscle mass; and 13-20 reps develops endurance. But they’re on a…

PECTORALS ● 1 Pectoralis minor (under pectoralis major) ● 2 Pectoralis major ● 3 Serratus anterior ABDOMINALS ● 4 Rectus abdominis ● 5 External obliques ● 6 Transverse abdominis (under internal obliques) ● 6 Internal obliques (under external obliques) FOREARMS ● 7 Brachioradialis ● 8 Flexor carpi radialis QUADRICEPS ● 9 Vastus lateralis ● 10 Abdominis Rectus femoris ● 11 Vastus intermedius (under rectus femoris) ● 12 Vastus medialis DELTOIDS ● 13 Anterior deltoid (front) ● 14 Medial deltoid (middle) BICEPS ● 15 Biceps brachii ● 16 Brachialis TRAPS ● 1 Trapezius BACK ● 2 Teres major ● 3 Rhomboid (under trapezius) DELTOIDS ● 4 Rotator cuff (under deltoids) ● 5 Posterior deltoid (back) LATS ● 6 Latissimus dorsi TRICEPS ● 7 Triceps brachii long head ● 8 Triceps brachii lateral head ● 7 Triceps brachii medial head LOWER BACK ● 10 Erector spinae GLUTES ● 11 Gluteus maximus HAMSTRINGS ● 12 Biceps femoris ● 13 Semitendinosus ● 14 Semimembranosus CALVES ● 15 Gastrocnemius ● 16 Soleus JARGON BUSTER CONCENTRIC CONTRACTION This is a controlled shortening of your muscle, such…

The warm-up is the part of a workout most men are likely to overlook. Some people think it’s dull or wasting time but the benefits make it well worth doing. The purpose of a warm-up is simple: to raise your core temperature and prepare your muscles for the work to come. Dynamic stretches (described below) will target the muscles you’re going to use during the workout so they’re ready for lifting. Dynamic stretches involve moving continuously, placing the muscle under tension a little bit more with each repetition, which prepares your muscle joints and nerves for the actions they’re about to perform. They differ from static stretches (see pages 8-9), which, according to the latest exercise science research, shouldn’t be done before a workout. A study published in the Journal Of…

After you’ve finished your workout spend five minutes doing some gentle cardio, such as jogging, to bring your heart rate down. Then perform the following stretches, paying particular attention to those that target the muscles you worked during your session. Get into one of the stretch positions below and allow your muscle to relax. As you place pressure on a muscle you should be able to feel it relaxing and lengthening. You can slowly increase the pressure on the muscle throughout the duration of the stretch but you should never force or ‘bounce’ it because that can damage the muscle. Hold each stretch for between 15 and 30 seconds but if you feel any pain, stop immediately. 1 CALVES Take a step forward and press your back heel down to feel the stretch…

DO THIS Do the exercises for each body part workout in order (e.g 1-3) Rest for 1 minute between sets 3)Rest for 2 minutes between exercises Repeat the above once more, before moving on to a different workout – and remember your stretches from p8 at the end. WORKOUTS PART1 ARMS WORKOUT WHY DO IT? Build big arms to fi ll up those T-shirt sleeves The fastest way to build big arms isn’t to crank out as many biceps curls as you can. True, that type of move is included in this workout, but it’s only one part of the plan. To increase the size and strength of your arms you need to work your biceps from a variety of different angles. The hammer curl changes your grip and challenges your forearms. The Zottman curl targets your biceps in…