Mat Fraser is the fittest man in history, having won the CrossFit Games more than any other male athlete. My highest accolade to date is being the top goal-scorer for my under-12 soccer team. 

Put simply, the two of us are on very different levels. But that doesn’t mean I can’t learn a thing or two from his famously hardcore training routine. 

Fraser’s signature workout is a 40-minute EMOM—four moves, each performed every minute, on the minute for 10 rounds. 

If it’s good enough for the fittest man in history, it’s good enough for me, so I decided to give it a go. 

How To Do Mat Fraser’s 40-Minute EMOM

Every minute, on the minute, for 40 minutes:

• Minute one: Row x 15cal
• Minute two: Toes-to-bar x 15
• Minute three: Air bike x 15cal
• Minute four: D-ball over shoulder x 6 (150lb / 70kg)

In an interview with YouTube fitness content creator Zack Telander, Fraser described the EMOM above as “a typical, middle-of-the-road workout” he would use in his training. 

He says he did at least one 40-minute EMOM per week throughout his career and adjusted the intensity depending on at what point in the CrossFit season he was performing it. 

At the beginning of the season, he would incorporate shorter, higher-output efforts that left him more rest at the end of each minute. From here, he gradually increased the volume of work in each minute until he was close to “working for 40 minutes straight”, before tapering it back down right before the CrossFit Games.

My Takeaways From Mat Fraser’s 40-Minute Emom Workout

As we’ve already established, Mat Fraser and I are cut from very different cloth. And, while I’m a fixture at my local CrossFit box, I know the numbers above aren’t achievable for me.  

That’s why I scaled the workout down to 12 calories on the rower and the air bike, 10 toes-to-bar and five sandbag-over-shoulders. 

And for the first four rounds, I thought maybe I’d made a mistake. I felt good, finishing each exercise with time to take a decent breather before moving on. My toes-to-bar felt snappy and the sandbag moved smoothly. 

But this blissful start wasn’t to last. At the midpoint of the workout, my core and legs began to feel the effects of 390 reps, and my breaks at the end of each minute started to shrink. And it wasn’t just my muscles that were ready to pack it in.

“You’re only halfway, and you’re already struggling,” an unhelpful inner voice jibed. “Call it quits at the 24-minute mark and be done with it.” 

It was tempting and, while I was determined to reach the finish line, the next few rounds turned into a serious slog. My movement quality wasn’t what it had been 10 minutes before but after finishing the seventh round something funny happened. 

It was like my mind saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and a second wind helped me complete the workout without letting any of the exercises overrun their prescribed minute. 

Overall, I got lucky and picked numbers that provided a solid test for my fitness level, but Fraser says this type of workout takes some tweaking to get it right. 

“I did [40-minute EMOMs] so often, and so many times,” he tells Telander. “I did workouts that were too easy, I did EMOMs that were too hard; you have to f*** up to find out what’s right and find where those limits are.”

I’ve since made 40-minute EMOMs a weekly part of my training, experimenting with different exercises and targets in each minute. 

Admittedly, 40 minutes is a decent chunk of my total daily session to devote to a single training piece, but I’ve found the format can be adapted to help hit multiple goals. 

For example, you can make one of the minutes a higher-skill gymnastic exercise to practice technique and develop capacity in this movement. Or you could slip some bodybuilding in there to add a side-order of hypertrophy to the main course of conditioning. 

This way, the 40-minute EMOM becomes a time-savvy addition to your training, serving up skill, strength, muscle and endurance perks depending on how you structure it. 

I wanted to be a soccer player growing up, as did most people at my English school. I didn’t have the talent—few do—but some of those who have the requisite natural gifts still fly under the radar. 

That’s why the Under Armour Next Academy was created—to identify sports stars of the future with six simple athletic tests, open to all-comers aged between 16 and 20. And as a one-time aspiring athlete, I couldn’t resist giving them a go. 

My only expectation going in was that I would have a good time. But the tests actually revealed some weaknesses which have helped inform my training going forward.

What Is The Under Armour Next Academy?

The Under Armour Next Academy has been set up inside London’s Battersea Power Station, and assesses endurance, strength, speed, agility, power and athletic intelligence through six separate tests. 

Anyone aged 16-20 can apply online to take the tests for free, with top performers earning the chance to compete for one of 12 year-long Under Armour sponsorships.

Under Armour Next Academy Fitness Tests

Athletic Intelligence Test

 Many of the Under Armour Next Academy tests are ones you can try at home. This first one, not so much. 

I was faced with a wide panel containing thousands of LED lights. Green squares would flash up in front of me, turn red after a second or two then explode—my mission was to diffuse them with a simple tap, but it was harder than it sounded. 

After three goes, I’d hit a high score of 80, which I was fairly happy with. 

“Not to make you feel bad, but there’s one guy who came in and hit about 280,” the trainers taking me through the tests told me. I was just below average too—86 for males and 94 for females.

Strength Test

After hanging up my soccer cleats, I turned to CrossFit to satisfy my competitive streak. As a result, I thought the strength test might be right up my alley, but it wound up being my worst score. 

With my biceps by my side and my elbow at a right angle, I had to squeeze a grip dynamometer machine as hard as I could for a couple of seconds.

I tapped out just over 50kg—a little over half what a teenage aspiring American football player had hit recently, according to the Academy team. It was also slightly below the male average of 53kg.

I already knew grip strength isn’t a strength for me, but up to this point I’ve never given it the time of day in my training. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to improve your grip strength.

Power Test

When I think of a powerful athlete, my mind turns to World’s Strongest Man competitors shifting huge weights. What I often forget to consider is the speed element—power equals force times velocity, after all.

That’s why the Academy’s power test is a max vertical jump, and it’s as straightforward as it sounds. From a standing start, jump as high as you can. The only conditions are that your hands have to stay on your hips and your legs must stay straight during the jump. 

The Under Armour team had a digital sensor to measure scores. You’re not going to find this at your average gym, but you could replicate it by jumping next to a wall while a partner marks the height your feet reach. 

Going in, I was told that anything over 50cm was good, average for men was 43cm and average for women was 33cm. I managed 45cm.

Apparently the record holder on this test was a teen, not much taller than five foot, who blitzed the competition with a jump nearly double mine. 

Speed Test

The speed test is a 15m sprint, with the Under Armour Next Academy’s sensors on hand to give me my time to a fraction of a second. 

I had been expecting this and after giving my hamstrings a very thorough warm-up I was excited to give it a try. 

The trainers on hand set a goal of 2.5 seconds and my initial attempts sat just below this at between 2.3 and 2.4 seconds. 

I was satisfied with that, with the average male and female times sitting at 2.42 and 2.7 seconds respectively. Then one freak score around the 2.2 second mark, which I’m choosing not to question, gave me my best result of the assessment as a whole.

Agility Test

The 5-10-5 drill tests agility by challenging you to move fast through a couple of changes of direction.

When I did it, there were three parallel lines each five yards apart—you can mark these distances out with cones if you’re doing it elsewhere. 

Start by standing at the middle line, facing along it, then turn 90° and sprint to one of the lines on either side of you. Touch your foot on the line, make an about turn, then sprint to the line furthest from you. 

Again, touch it with one foot as you turn back on yourself, then hare back to the central line to finish. 

This was the test where my former soccer obsession really came to the fore, and while I failed to note my exact time I know I managed to beat the averages of 4.95 and 5.4 seconds for male and female participants. 

Endurance Test

Whether you call it the bleep test, the multi-stage fitness test or hell on earth, chances are you’re familiar with this shuttle run test. 

Under Armour uses a variation. Start running on beep one, make it to a 15m marker before beep two, turn and return to the start point ahead of beep three, then rest for 10 seconds before going again. 

The interval between the beeps gets shorter as you progress through the levels. “Level 17 is good, level 19 is really good,” the trainers tell me. 

There’s a reason they leave this one till last. It feels like a walk in the park at first, but it quickly ramps up. 

I hit a wall at level 18, with my legs turning to lead and refusing to cooperate as I urged them to move faster.

What I Learned

After the last test, the Under Armour Next Academy team issued me with a scorecard showing my results. Rather than giving me my times and figures, it showed a score out of 100 for each one, as well as an overall result: 62.56. 

The trainers then showed me the leaderboard, with top performers achieving 80 and above. No late Paris 2024 push for me, then. 

But I did really enjoy myself. I’ve also been able to change my training since to address my weaknesses in strength, grip and power. 

I’m hoping my tweaked take on the 5x5 workout, plenty of loaded carries and a healthy dose of contrast training should do the trick. 

Kettlebell training is rarely given the credit it deserves. Unless you’re speaking to iFit trainer Hannah Eden, that is. 

“Kettlebells are my favorite training tool,” she says. “They’re so fun to use, and they’re a great way to build strength, develop power and work the cardiovascular system.”

Eden also likes how you can’t go through the motions when training with a kettlebell. 

Or in her words: “You have to be dialed in and focused on what you’re doing, otherwise you’re going to drop a weight on your head.”

To help you avoid that fate, she’s shared six of her favorite foundational kettlebell moves in this video for the Onnit Academy, describing in detail how to execute them with immaculate form. 

The kettlebell deadlift and squat in Eden’s video can be performed as standard muscle-building exercises where the weight is moved at a fairly consistent speed. 

Whereas the kettlebell swing and clean require explosive power to move the kettlebell. 

When performing these exercises, the location of the kettlebell’s handle means you’re rarely holding the weight at its center of mass. It’s continually pulling your body off balance, forcing stabilizing muscles in your core and around your joints to put in a shift as they work to maintain optimal body positions. 

That’s why Eden describes working with kettlebells as an “unconventional, ballistic” form of training. It will develop your stability, coordination and power, strengthening your muscles and joints to create a more robust, athletic body. 

So, next time you’re in the gym, consider giving the squat racks the cold shoulder as you make a beeline for the kettlebells in the corner. You can put what you learn in the video into practice with this beginner kettlebell workout or one Coach’s many kettlebell workouts.

If you find doing endless crunches particularly torturous, you’ll be pleased to hear there are alternative exercises that will build core strength without being nearly as unpleasant. Meet the Pilates roll-up. It may not be as well-known as the crunch, but the roll-up is arguably even better at building strength in your core.

In the roll-up, you gradually move from lying on your back to sitting with your spine curved forward and your arms reaching forward. It’s performed slowly and with control, meaning there’s no momentum and you can’t help your abs by pulling on your head or neck. 

Although it’s hard work, I find the mindful movement can make it feel almost meditative, as you focus on peeling your spine off the mat. 

The slow and steady pace required in this exercise means your core muscles spend more time under tension. Studies such as this one published in the Journal of Physiology suggest that the more a muscle is loaded with tension to the point of fatigue the greater the protein synthesis, which can lead to muscle growth.

“The roll-up is one of my favorite exercises to do and to teach,” says Pilates instructor Millie Shiers, who teaches mat and reformer classes at Core LDN. “Practicing the roll-up can improve the flexibility of your spine and increase your abdominal strength. The roll-up also teaches your body how to control spinal articulation.”

How To Do The Pilates Roll-Up

Lie on your back with your legs extended and together, and feet flexed (toes pointing up to the ceiling). Extend your arms up with your palms facing your feet. As you exhale, lift your head and chest, slowly peeling your spine off the mat and reaching your arms forward. As you do so, slowly peel your spine off the mat. Once you’re reaching as far forward as you can, take an inhale to pause, then exhale and use your abs to gently roll down again, articulating your spine back onto the mat.

“Focus on squeezing your legs together and sliding your ribs towards your hips as you roll up,” says Shiers.

Roll-Up Modifications

If the full roll-up is too intense, there are plenty of ways to make it easier as you develop the strength to do the whole movement. “You can modify the roll-up with props to make it more accessible,” says Shiers. “One way to do this is to wrap a band around your feet and hold either end of the band—the band acts as an extra abdominal muscle. Another prop you can use is ankle weights to give you a bit more support in anchoring your lower body to the mat.”

“I also like to teach modified versions of the roll-up without props,” says Shiers. “For example, I will get clients to practice both halves of the roll-up separately—the forward flexion and then rolling down—until they can smoothly lift their body with no momentum.”

To fully master the roll-up, there are clever cues to help you do it as effectively as possible. “In Pilates, we love to make exercises as challenging as they can be by ensuring you properly connect to your muscles,” says Shiers. “To really feel the roll-up, think of pushing your heels away from you and drawing your ribs back in the opposite direction. This opposition will help you connect to your abs.”

Burpees aren’t the be-all and end-all of conditioning moves. There are plenty of ways to test your muscular endurance and cardio capacity without repeatedly dropping your chest to the floor. 

“My absolute favorite thing that I do with all of my athletes is something called a leg circuit,” says Wendy Batts, a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) master instructor and assistant professor in exercise science at PennWest California. 

It’s a combination of four different leg exercises performed as a circuit without any rest. 

“It will increase your heart rate, it will make your legs burn, and if you can do it without any rest it will absolutely crush you. You can thank me for that later.” 

How To Do This Leg Circuit

Three rounds of:

1. Prisoner squat x20
2. Alternating lunge x10 on each leg
3. Power step-up x10 on each leg
4. Tuck jump x10

Perform the exercises above as a circuit as quickly as you can without sacrificing good form. 

If you’re new to Batts’ variation of prisoner squats, it’s worth noting that you need to keep your hands on your head throughout and come up on to your toes at the top of each rep to activate your calf muscles. 

As demonstrated in the video above, you can also vary each exercise in this workout to train different planes of motion: sagittal (moving up, down, forward and backward), frontal (moving from side to side) and transverse (rotational movements). This will more accurately mirror both everyday and sporting movements, helping you develop functional strength and athleticism. 

To prioritize the frontal plane, keep the rep scheme the same and perform side-to-side squats, lateral lunges, sideways box step-overs and skater jumps. For a transverse plane workout, add a rotational element at the top of each movement.

Tips For Tackling This Workout 

This workout is a race against the clock. It challenges you to complete a high volume of work with minimal rest, putting your heart and lungs to work while testing the muscular endurance of your legs. But you should never sacrifice technique for speed.

“You’re doing it as fast as you can control, not as fast as you can,” says Batts. “I think that’s super important, because anybody can do something, but are you doing it correctly? You need to be very intentional with your movement patterns.”

Batts also advises ensuring you can perform each of the individual components of this routine with perfect form before bringing them together for an added challenge.

“It’s definitely a more advanced workout,” says Batts. “You want to make sure you can go piece by piece first. This is a very advanced leg circuit that you can do at home, but even advanced athletes need to be prepared for being a little sore the next day.”

There are a dizzying number of arm workouts out there for you to try, which can feel intimidating when you’re just starting out. Fortunately, there’s no need for beginners to overcomplicate things and the best, most effective workouts for them will be very simple.

“Beginners should avoid starting with very heavy weights and overly complex movements,” says Jayke Izli, personal trainer at The Body Lab London. “It’s crucial to build a solid foundation with basic exercises and gradually increase the difficulty with range, tempo and weight.”

That’s what our beginner gym workout does, suggesting you start with one exercise per body part, doing one set of 20 and building up from there. But if you’d like to give your arms more attention, Izli isn’t going to stop you.

“Strengthening the arms is not just about aesthetics. It’s crucial for enhancing overall upper-body strength, improving joint health and performing daily activities more efficiently,” says Izli. “Strong arms also contribute to better posture and reduce the risk of injuries.”

To get you started, Izli recommends this four-move beginner arm workout which alternates between a biceps exercise and triceps exercise.

How To Do This Beginner Arms Workout

To do this workout you’ll need dumbbells and a weights bench or other stable knee-high platform. (If you don’t have any dumbbells, try this no-equipment upper-body workout instead).

Izli has given a range of reps to do for each set. The first time you perform the workout choose the lowest number of reps using a dumbbell weight that makes the last few reps of each set a challenge. Rest as needed between sets.

The next time you perform the workout, add one rep to each set, using the same weight. Once you’ve hit the top of the rep range, go back to the beginning and increase the weight of the dumbbell.

Once you feel ready to move on from this session, try this superset dumbbell arms workout and keep training until you feel ready for this all-in arms workout plan. 

Beginner Arms Workout Overview

1. Biceps curl 3 x 8-12
2. Triceps dip 3 x 8-12
3. Hammer curl 3 x 8-12
4. Overhead triceps extension 3 x 8-10

Beginner Arms Workout Form Guides

1 Biceps curl

Sets 3 Reps 8-12

Stand with feet shoulder-width apart holding dumbbells in front of your thighs, your elbows touching the sides of your torso and palms facing forward. Inhale, then exhale as you contract your biceps to bend your elbows and lift the dumbbells to your shoulders. Your upper arms should remain in place next to your torso. Pause and squeeze your biceps hard, then lower the dumbbells under control.

2 Triceps dip

Sets 3 Reps 8-12

Sit on a weights bench or chair with your palms flat on the bench either side of you. Extend your legs so your heels are on the floor. Move your butt off the bench, then bend your elbows to lower until your elbows are at 90°. Push down on the bench and extend your arms to raise your body to the start. To make the exercise easier, bend your knees and bring your feet closer to you. The closer your feet, the easier it will be.

3 Hammer curl

Sets 3 Reps 8-12

This exercise is very similar to the biceps curl. Instead of beginning with your palms facing forward, your palms should be facing and remain facing throughout. 

Stand with feet shoulder-width apart holding dumbbells in front of your thighs, your elbows touching the sides of your torso and palms facing. Inhale, then exhale as you contract your biceps to bend your elbows and lift the dumbbells to your shoulders. Your upper arms should remain in place next to your torso. Pause and squeeze your biceps hard, then lower the dumbbells under control.

4 Overhead triceps extension

Sets 3 Reps 8-10

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the end of one dumbbell above your head with your palms facing up and your elbows pointing forward. Keeping your upper arms still, bend your elbows to lower the dumbbell behind your head. Extend your arms to lift the dumbbell back to the start.

Mat Fraser has been named the fittest man on earth five times—more than any other male CrossFitter. As a competing athlete he kept his cards close to his chest, but since retiring he’s let slip some of the secrets of his success. 

In a recent interview with YouTube content creator Zack Telander, Fraser gave my favorite insight into his training methods yet—three fitness tests he used to make sure he was ready to reclaim the CrossFit Games crown.

The best bit is that anyone can use these CrossFit workouts (with some sensible adjustments) to deliver strength and fitness gains galore, as long as you follow Fraser’s advice for how to progress the workouts over time.

So if you ever wanted to try training like the fittest man on earth, now’s your chance. Just don’t try and match his numbers—take a look at our scaled recommendations and start from there. 

Mat Fraser’s Fitness Tests

1. Rowing Intervals

Sets 5 Time 1min 40sec Rest 20sec

Rest 1min

Sets 4 Time 1min 40sec Rest 20sec

The aim for this workout is to hold a target pace through all nine rounds. For example, Fraser’s end goal was to row at an average pace of 1min 40sec/500m. 

He describes it as a mental test, saying he would do it in his parent's shiplap-lined basement. For the whole thing, Fraser tried to stare at a single knot in the wood in front of him.

“If I could stare at that knot for the entire 20 minutes, I knew I was in a good place,” says Fraser.

I wouldn’t recommend trying to match Fraser’s pace straight out of the gate. Instead, pick a goal that’s challenging for you and make this progressively more difficult as your fitness improves. 

This goal doesn’t have to be pace-specific either, according to Fraser. 

“You’re always trying to progress,” he says. “[And you might] have to use a different metric, because going from 1min 40sec/500m to 1min 39sec/500m is a pretty aggressive jump. 

“But I know that a 1min 40sec split when I measure it in watts gives me this X value, so I’ll try and bump that metric up a little bit, and then I’ll jump over to calories and try to bump that up.”

Over time, these incremental gains helped him chip away at his overall pace. Another way to master rowing for CrossFit is with these expert tips.

2. 40-Minute EMOM

EMOM for 40 minutes:

• Row x 15cal
• Toes-to-bar x 15
• Air bike x 15cal
• D-ball over shoulder x 6 (150lb / 70kg)

Fraser says he did at least one 40-minute EMOM each week throughout pretty much his entire career. 

This helped him get a feel for how he moved and the paces he was able to hold, both fresh and under fatigue. So, when competition time rolled around, he was ready for anything. 

He would also vary the content of the EMOMs throughout the year to help him peak for the CrossFit season. 

“At the beginning of the season you have these quick bursts of high output work [in each minute] and lots of rest,” says Fraser. “As you get closer and closer to the season, I tried to move that time domain so it’s almost like I’m just working for 40 minutes straight. 

“And then, right before the competition, I’d tailor it all back to the sprints to get that fast-reflex [stimulus].”

Again, I’m not going to hold you to Fraser’s standards. If you want to give this a go, pick a lower-calorie target on the rower and bike that you can hold for all 10 rounds. From my experience of 40-minute EMOMs, the first four rounds should feel fairly routine. The rest, not so much. 

You can also lower the number of toes-to-bar reps, or substitute them for V-ups or butterfly sit-ups. 

Finally, if you don’t have a D-ball, use a lighter sandbag or perform dual dumbbell cleans instead. 

3. Back Squat EMOM

EMOM for six minutes: 

• Back squat x 6 (315lb / 143kg)

If you want to develop your squat endurance, this is the test for you. Fraser would progress it over time by playing with the variables of time, weight and reps. 

This began with adding an extra minute to the workout. When he could complete the prescribed work for eight minutes he’d strip it back down to six minutes and increase the number of reps he was doing to seven. When he could do this comfortably, he started adding weight.  

“By the end of it you’re doing six sets of eight reps on the minute at 335lb,” he says 

If I was giving this a go, suffice to say I wouldn’t have 315lb on the bar. Instead, start with 60% of your one-rep max and build from there.

A lot of people deal with aches and pains in their back, and the time spent hunched over desks, and mobile phones, as well as lounging on the sofa for box-set marathons only exacerbates the issue.

Incorporating mobility and strengthening back exercises into your routine is one of the best ways to support a healthier spine. Daily stretches can also help keep your spine mobile, as well as provide relief if you're experiencing tightness or tension. 

If you’re in need of some go-to stretches to mobilize your back muscles, try the five level 3 personal trainer and yoga instructor Emily Mouu shared in her Instagram Reel. Mouu also provided some extra form tips exclusively with Coach, so you can get the most out of each exercise.

A few of the stretches in this routine are twists and rotations, which encourage the spine's natural range of motion, according to Mouu. This includes the first stretch in the routine, the seated reach-over. “Sitting comfortably, with one knee bent and one leg extended, take your opposite arm to the knee that’s bent then reach your other arm over to the side. Take it to wherever feels good,” says Mouu.

Exercises like the down dog chest to thighs are great for stretching and strengthening the muscles in the back, and opening up the chest, shoulders and back, helping to ease aches and pains. Mouu recommends thinking of a downward dog as moving your body into “an upside down V shape”. Then, to do the exercise, “lift up onto your toes, bend your knees and squeeze your chest to your thighs,” she says.

Puppy pose is another yoga exercise in this routine that you might not have tried before, but it’s great for releasing the muscles in the back. “Begin in tabletop on your hands and knees with the palms of your hands underneath your shoulder blades and your knees underneath your hips,” says Mouu. “Walk your hands as far forward as you can, keeping your hips over your knees. When you can’t walk your hands any further forward, exhale and take your head and chest towards your mat."

Try to do these exercises a few times a week to increase your mobility, maybe at the start of the day or after working out. You can also try these back stretches and these exercises to relive back pain.

You go to the gym for a reason, and if that reason is to build muscle we’re sorry to say you’re going to have to push yourself. If it’s not challenging, there’s no reason for your muscles to adapt. 

If you finish your next leg workout with more to give, wrap things up with this finisher from personal trainer Alex Rice, which is made up of three dumbbell leg exercises. It perhaps has more in common with a short strength training routine than a workout finisher, which tends to include a conditioning component, but the addition of isometric holds is a surefire way to finish your legs off.  

Take a look at Rice’s Instagram Reel to see what’s in store.

The routine consists of goblet squats, followed by single-leg hip thrusts and conventional hip thrusts. Performing an exercise with proper form is always important to gain the most from the movement and avoid injury, but it’s always harder at the end of a workout when you’re fatigued, so here are some helpful cues to keep in mind if you try this session. 

In our guide to goblet squat form, functional fitness and nutritional coach Karl Bratland shares a helpful technique tip: “Hold the dumbbell by one end as close to your chest as you can,” he says. “If you hold it away from the body you won’t be able to support as much weight, so keep it close to the chest under your chin.” 

Bratland also advises keeping your chest facing forward and your heels flat on the floor so your weight is evenly distributed.

This routine also involves single-leg hip thrusts and regular hip thrusts. For more form tips, you can take a look at our guide on how to do the hip thrust, where strength and conditioning coach Andrew Reay shares some expert advice.

One of Reay's top tips helps you avoid putting too much pressure on the lower back, which is common if you overextend at the top of the lift. “Tuck your chin down to your chest. This keeps you in a position where you can’t overextend,” says Reay.

The push-up is one of the most common bodyweight exercises programmed into full-body and upper-body workouts, but it’s not a movement most people can do without building up strength first.

Thankfully, this is relatively straightforward to do once you know how. “Building up the muscles necessary for a push-up involves targeting the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core,” says Amanda Place, personal trainer and founder of Sculptrition.

You can do this by using other exercises to develop the muscles used to perform the movement combined with practicing easier push-up variations, such as a negative push-up where you only perform the lowering portion of the movement as slowly as you can, an incline push-up where you place your hands on a raised platform, or a push-up on your knees.

“Aim to practice push-up variations and related exercises at least three to four times per week,” says Place. “Consistency is key to building strength and muscle endurance. Track your progress and gradually increase the number of repetitions or the difficulty of the exercises as you get stronger.”

Here are four strength exercises Place recommends to improve your ability to perform push-ups or help you achieve your first one. It’s also worth familiarising yourself with our expert guide to proper push-up form.

1 Plank

“Planks help strengthen the core muscles, which are crucial for maintaining stability during a push-up,” says Place.

Lie on your front, brace your abs and lift your body off the floor, supporting yourself on your forearms and the balls of your feet, with your elbows under your shoulders. Keep your body in a straight line from your shoulders to your heels.

2 Dumbbell bench press

Lie on your back either on the floor or on a bench, with your feet on the floor, holding dumbbells by your chest, with your upper arms at a 30°-45°angle to your torso. Extend your arms to press the weights up, then lower under control to the start.

3 Overhead triceps extension

Stand or sit on the end of a bench holding the head of a dumbbell in both hands above your head with your arms fully extended. Keeping your elbows pointing forward and your upper arms still, bend your elbows to lower the dumbbell behind your head, then extend your arms to return to the start.

4 Cable flye

Attach D-handles to the high anchor points on a cable machine and stand in the middle of the weight stacks. Move forward until there is tension in the cables and your hands are out to the sides at shoulder height with a slight bend in your elbows. Adopt a staggered stance and engage your core, then bring the handles in front of you. Pause, squeeze your chest muscles, then return to the start under control.

Any five-minute workout is better than no workout at all, but there’s one way to get more out of short sessions—go hard. That’s what you get with Tabata training, a favorite of iFit trainer Hannah Eden. 

“This workout and I go way back,” says Eden. “We used to have a gym for a long time and we had a theme for each day.

“Tabata Tuesday was the most popular day and it’s one of my favorite intervals to work with, especially for high-intensity interval training. It’s hard to stay in those high heart rate zones where you’re at an RPE nine or 10, which is true interval training, but this format allows you to do it.”

How To Do Hannah Eden’s Five-Minute HIIT Workout

1A Russian kettlebell swing

Sets 4 Work 20sec Rest 10sec 

1B Alternating kettlebell snatch 

Sets 4 Work 20sec Rest 10sec 

“It’s 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off,” say Eden. “We couple two exercises together, alternating between them for four minutes with a 60-second rest afterward.”

There’s only one catch: If you want to reap the rewards of this workout, you have to step on the gas. 

“HIIT is about a burst of exertion,” says Eden. “Technically speaking, high-intensity interval training should be done at about 90% of your max heart rate, which is impossible to keep up for more than 20 seconds, maybe 30 seconds if you’re a killer athlete.”

If you’re going to work that hard, it’s more essential than ever to make sure you’ve warmed up properly before starting this workout. Begin with gentle cardio that gradually increases in intensity, then perform this gym warm-up routine. It’s also worth honing your kettlebell swing form and kettlebell snatch form with a few sets using a light weight. If you haven’t mastered the snatch yet—for instance if you bang your wrist with the kettlebell as you press—you can sub in kettlebell cleans instead.

Ready to go? Press play on this video of Tabata timings.

Benefits Of This Five-Minute HIIT Workout

The best thing about this format is that it naturally scales to any fitness level, because you’re working for a set amount of time, rather than a prescribed weight or number of reps. As long as you work hard, you’ll hit the stimulus. 

“I always say that you can do anything for 20 seconds,” says Eden. “It’s not a minute. You can easily just chomp off little bites as you go. It’s doable, it’s digestible and it’s for anyone.”

Eden’s choice of free-weight—kettlebells—also brings a unique combination of benefits. “It’s unconventional because kettlebells are an explosive, ballistic form of training,” she says. “It’s going to spike your heart rate, but that’s not all it’s doing. It’s a mixture of strength and conditioning, so you’re working both systems.”

Doing some kind of strength training is one of the best ways for runners to improve their performance and injury resilience, and Pilates is a fantastic low-impact way to cross-train and support your running.

For more information on how to best incorporate Pilates for runners into your training routine, we spoke to Liz Patient, certified Pilates instructor and founder of the Pilates for Runners app.

What’s a good way for runners to start Pilates?

“The low-impact nature of Pilates means it can be done anytime without impacting your running training,” says Patient. “You can get started with short but regular and consistent sessions tagged onto your runs or existing strength sessions. Start with just 10 minutes 3-4 times a week to see results, and from there you can scale and adapt your sessions around your running.”

Beginner Pilates Workout For Runners

1 Swimming 

Sets 1 Reps 12-15 each side

On all fours, extend your opposite arm and leg away from the body as far as you can. Lift them, pause, and then return to the start position. Repeat on the other side, alternating sides with each rep. Imagine you have a tray of very full drinks balanced on your back, so when you move you keep your torso as still as possible and don’t let your belly drop as you lift the arm and leg.

Progression: Once you’ve extended and lifted your arm and leg, move them out to the side away from the body, still trying to keep your torso as still as possible.

2 Round the world

Set 2-3 Time 1-2min each side

Stand and lift your arms out to the sides to shoulder height to help you balance. Lift one leg and bend the knee of the standing leg to lower into a single-leg squat, tapping the floor with your other foot as far in front of you as you can. Straighten your standing leg, then repeat the movement tapping the foot to the side. On the next squat tap your foot behind you, then finally move your leg across and behind you on the other side of the body. Keep your torso as stable as you can over your standing leg as you do this exercise.

Progression: Interlace your fingers in front of your chest so you don’t use your arms to help you balance.

3 Leg pull

Sets 3 Time 30-45sec

On all fours, tuck your toes then lift your knees just off the floor, keeping them as low as you can. Lift one foot at a time off the floor keeping your knees and torso as still as possible. Lower your foot back to the floor and repeat on the other side. Imagine that full tray of drinks balanced on your back again.

Progression: Lift the opposite hand at the same time as you lift the foot and tap the opposite shoulder.

4 Single-leg hip hinge

Sets 2-3 Time 1-2min on each leg

Stand and lift your arms out to the sides to shoulder height. Hinge forward the hips, tipping your chest forward so it faces the floor and raising one leg behind you as high as you can. Pause, then return to the start. Try to move as smoothly as possible.

Progression: Bring your arms over your head at the start to increase the challenge to your balance. 

5 Side kick

Sets 1 Time 1-2min on each side

Lie on your side with your knees bent and your body resting on your lower arm. Lift your hips so your body forms a straight line from knees to shoulders, and extend your top leg. Lift the top leg to hip height to start. Lift it as high as you can while maintaining the position of your hips then lower under control. Try to keep the knee and foot of the moving leg facing forward, or slightly turned down, rather than turning towards the ceiling. This is to target the lateral hip muscles.

Progression: Try doing this same leg movement from a kneeling position with a straight, rather than bent, arm.

As you gain training experience, it’s only natural to experiment with more advanced muscle-building techniques and challenging variations. But recently performance coach Bobby Rich, who trains David and Victoria Beckham, posted a reminder that even those at the top of their game aren’t above a straightforward dumbbell session.

“I had twenty minutes max for a simple little press and pull upper body”, his Instagram Reel reads. 

So he picked three strength-boosting staples. The raw ingredients are the dumbbell bench press, seated dumbbell shoulder press and one-arm dumbbell row. He performed each dumbbell exercise for four sets of 10 reps, resting for 60 seconds between each set, then hit the showers. 

With just three moves, Rich recruits the entire upper body and covers three of the body’s fundamental movement patterns, building functional strength.

He plumps for a pushing movement in the bench press, a pulling movement in the dumbbell row and a pressing exercise in the shoulder press.

The bench press will work your chest muscles, front delt and triceps, the row hits the back muscles as well as your biceps, and the shoulder press targets the medial delt (one of the three delt muscles in your shoulder) while also engaging the front delt, upper pec and triceps.

The sum of these parts is a time-savvy session that delivers a comprehensive pump for your top half, as well as the strength and muscle gains you’d expect from a spot of weight training.

So next time you’re in a rush, grab a couple of dumbbells and get to work. Got a little more time to play with? Try this seven-move dumbbell upper-body workout.

With the right combination of isolation exercises, you don’t need to spend long in the gym to build muscle in your arms. This dumbbell arms workout from personal trainer Adam Enaz pairs triceps and biceps exercises in antagonistic supersets to maximize efficiency and intensity.

“An antagonist superset is a strength training technique where you perform two exercises back-to-back that target opposing muscle groups, known as antagonistic muscle pairs,” says Enaz. “This approach allows you to work different muscles while giving the opposing muscle group a chance to rest between sets, maximizing efficiency and intensity in your workout.”

How To Do This Dumbbell Arms Workout

Work through the three supersets below, taking minimal rest. Enaz suggests that you aim to build up the weight you use by 1-2kg every six weeks to progressively overload the muscle and stimulate growth.

1A Dumbbell biceps curl

Reps 10-12

“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms fully extended,” says Enaz.“Bend your elbows to lift the dumbbells towards your shoulders, keeping your elbows close to your body. Squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement, then slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.”

2A Dumbbell lying triceps extension

Reps 10-12 

“Lie on a bench [or the floor] with a dumbbell in each hand and your arms extended straight up,” says Enaz. “Keeping your upper arms stationary, bend your elbows to lower the dumbbells towards your forehead. Extend your arms back up to the start, squeezing your triceps at the top.”

2A Dumbbell hammer curl

Reps 10-12 

“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing,” says Enaz. “Bend your elbows to lift the dumbbells towards your shoulders, keeping your palms facing each other throughout the movement. Slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.”

2B Dumbbell overhead triceps extension

Reps 10-12 reps

“Stand or sit with a dumbbell held overhead in both hands and your arms fully extended,” says Enaz. “Lower the dumbbell behind your head by bending your elbows. Extend your arms to lift the dumbbell back to the start, fully engaging your triceps.”

3A Alternating dumbbell curl

Reps 10-12 each side 

“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand, with your palms facing forward,” says Enaz. “Bend your elbow to lift one dumbbell towards your shoulder while keeping the other arm stationary. Alternate arms with each repetition, focusing on controlled movement and keeping tension in the biceps.”

3B Dumbbell triceps kick-back

Reps 10-12 

“Hold a dumbbell in each hand and hinge forward at your hips, keeping your back flat,” says Enaz. “Bend your elbows to bring the dumbbells towards your chest. Extend your arms straight back, squeezing your triceps at the top of the movement. Slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.”

About Our Expert

Need help choosing which weight to buy? Check out our selection of the best dumbbells.

How’s your posture? Did you catch yourself slouching as you read that? If there’s room for improvement you should try barre. Barre is a challenging style of workout that combines ballet-inspired movements with Pilates-style strength work. It’s a tried-and-tested combination for improving your posture.

Qualified barre instructor Gen Greensted runs online barre program The Barre Coach and offers classes from her studio in Cobham in the UK. As well as explaining how barre can help with posture, she has also shared a five-move barre workout with Coach so we can all work on improving our posture.

“Barre workouts focus on alignment, balance and core strength, all of which play important roles in improving posture,” says Greensted. “The emphasis on controlled movements and maintaining a neutral spine helps strengthen these muscles while also promoting flexibility and mobility—all components of good posture.”

Five Barre Exercises For Posture

If you want to see changes, you’ll need to do workouts like this one regularly. “I’d aim to incorporate posture-focused workouts like Barre classes into your routine two to three times a week,” says Greensted. “With this level of consistency, you’ll start to notice you are standing taller and moving with more ease in day-to-day life in as little as four weeks. Beyond the physical benefits, improved posture can have an amazing impact on your mental and emotional well-being, giving you a greater sense of confidence.”

1 Barre-style bent-over row

Reps 10-12 each side

Stand with your feet hip-width apart holding a pair of light dumbbells (1-3kg). Step one foot back to adopt a staggered stance for a little extra glute work in this exercise. Hinge at your hips to bring your chest forward, keeping your back flat and core engaged. Bend your elbows and pull the dumbbells towards your ribcage, squeezing your shoulder blades down and in towards your spine. Lower the weights with control and repeat. Make sure you switch legs and repeat the exercise if you opt for the staggered stance.

“This is great for targeting your upper back and core while working on shoulder blade stability,” says Greensted. “It helps counteract the effects of sitting for extended periods.”

2 Barre-inspired Superman variations

Reps 10-12

Lie face down on a mat with your legs straight and arms stretched out in front. 

Keeping your neck in a neutral position (chin very slightly tucked, looking down at the floor), slowly lift your arms and legs a few inches off the floor, engaging your back, glutes and core. Hold at the top, squeeze your shoulder blades down and in towards your spine as you bend your elbows and pull them towards your feet, your hands passing the top of your head. Extend your arms in front and lower your arms and legs to the mat. You can progress this exercise by holding a resistance band, held shoulder-width apart in your hands.

Come up onto all fours and perform a few cat/cows (spinal extension and flexion) after you’ve finished this exercise to get some movement back into your spine.

“This exercise is all about strengthening your lower back, core and glutes, all key muscle groups in improving posture,” says Greensted.

3 Static lunge with chest opening

Reps 10-12 each side

Kneel on your mat then place one foot on the floor in front of you and your weight slightly shifted forward so your front knee is over your ankle. Hinge forward from your hips so your chest moves closer to your front thigh and tuck the toes of your back foot under. Bring both hands to the side of your head with your elbows pointing forward and round your shoulders slightly.

Take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, push up through your front leg until your back knee comes off the floor into a lunge and open up across your chest by pulling your elbows wide. Return to the start with your knee on the mat and repeat, moving slowly and with intention.

“This exercise is amazing for building total-body stability as you’ll have to work hard to find your balance,” says Greensted. “You’ll build glute strength, core stability and work on opening across your chest and reducing any forward rounding of your shoulders.”

4 Four-point leg extensions with resistance band

Reps 10-12, then 10-12 with reduced range, each side

Begin on all fours with your shoulders over your wrists, hips over your knees and your pelvis in a neutral position. Secure your long resistance band to the floor under both hands and loop the middle part around the back of one flexed foot. Inhale as you hover your knee off the mat. Exhale, engaging your core and squeezing your glute as you extend your leg back, finishing with your heel in line with your hip.

Repeat this exercise for the 10-12 reps, then perform the same movement but reduce the range of movement by half, so you’re extending your leg, then bringing it only halfway back, completing another 10-12 reps. Then switch legs.

“This exercise is great for shoulder and core strength and stability while building glute strength and working on hamstring flexibility, all of which are important for improving overall posture,” says Greensted.

5 Four-point arm and leg extension

Reps 10-12

Start on all fours with your shoulders over your wrists, hips over your knees and your pelvis in a neutral position. Place one hand on the side of your head with your elbow out to the side and slide the opposite leg back until it’s extended with your toes pointed, touching the floor.

Take a deep breath in and lift your back leg while drawing the opposite elbow a little higher towards the ceiling. As you exhale, slightly round your back and pull your knee and elbow in towards your core, engaging your core muscles as you do so. Inhale to return to your extension.

“This exercise is all about stability,” says Greensted. “It helps build core and glute strength, while opening your chest and helping reduce forward rounding of your shoulders.”

We hope you never experience knee pain, because it can not only stop you from working out, it can feel so uncomfortable it disrupts your everyday activities.

It’s always worth seeking help from a qualified practitioner if you have acute knee pain, but if you have low-level aches, one of the best ways to reduce your knee pain, or to avoid it altogether, is to strengthen the muscles that support the joint.

Physical therapist and run coach Bonnie Wilder recently shared an Instagram Reel with three exercises she prescribes for knee pain and I got in touch with her to find out more.

“These exercises are best for muscular associated knee pain, which is usually an achy or dull pain, arthritis and any type of sports injury such as ligament sprains,” says Wilder.

To perform these exercises, you’ll need a kettlebell or another type of free-weight, something to elevate your heels on such as a weight plate, and a short resistance band.

Wilder recommends performing three sets of 10 reps for each exercise, but you’ll need to repeat these exercises regularly and increase the difficulty by using a heavier weight or completing more reps to see a reduction in knee pain.

Take a look at Wilder’s Instagram Reel where she demonstrates each of the exercises.

The exercises in this routine will target the quadriceps, the muscles located at the front of your thighs, and the glutes—the large muscles in your buttocks.

“Bulgarian split squats and heel-elevated squats target the quads which are a critical component for reducing knee pain,” says Wilder. “This is because the quads attach to the patella [the kneecap] and help improve stability and reduce unwanted movement.”

The final exercise is a hip clock, which targets a specific part of the gluteus muscles. "The hip clocks work by improving the side glute—the glute medius—which stabilizes the knees and reduces translation [movement] of the knees inwards,” Wilder says. “This improves stability as well and keeping the knees in alignment.”

Try incorporating these movements into your routine a few times a week, and once you’ve built strength with these exercises, move on to these knee-strengthening exercises and these preventive runner’s knee exercises.

Effective strength workouts don’t have to be complicated, especially if you’re relatively new to resistance training. Incorporating a few compound exercises that target a range of muscles with a weight that challenges you is one of the best ways to increase your muscle mass, particularly if you follow the progressive overload method by making one variable harder each time you repeat the workout.

Health and fitness coach Chris Hover recently shared a workout in that mold. It's made up of four kettlebell exercises but targets the quads and glutes in your legs, the lats in your back, and your shoulders.

It's an EMOM-style workout, which stands for every minute on the minute. This means you have one minute to complete the reps required for one exercise, resting for any remaining time, before moving on to the next exercise.

Hover recommends aiming for three or four rounds in total, which makes for a quick but effective workout that should take between 12 and 16 minutes.

Watch Hover's Instagram Reel where he walks through each of the moves in the workout.

Ideally, you’ll have access to a kettlebell rack or an adjustable kettlebell (you can also use dumbbells if you have them), because to build muscle you want to choose a weight that makes the final few reps of each set a challenge. And, if you’re like most people, your legs will be able to comfortably squat more weight than your shoulders can press.

Coach has exercise guides that explain each movement in more detail. The crucial thing to remember with the Romanian deadlift is that you should only lower as far as your hip hinge allows without rounding your back. Focus on keeping your chest up during the goblet squat, and lifting the weight straight up, not letting it drift to the side, during the kettlebell press. Finally, the key to a successful one-arm kettlebell row is a stable starting position

If you’re after more short workouts, try this 10-minute kettlebell workout next.

Use our guide to the best kettlebells to choose the right weight for you.

I’m usually pretty active with running, cycling and strength training generally featuring in my week. However, pregnancy changed things somewhat. I took it very easy for my first trimester—mostly because I felt nauseous unless I was eating toast.

By my second trimester the nausea had passed and I wanted to do more exercise, but didn’t know where to start. Without guidance from a qualified prenatal fitness expert, it’s hard to know what’s safe in pregnancy and what could potentially injure you (simply coughing while lying in the wrong position would send me into spasms of round ligament pain). I scoured the timetable at my gym but there were no pregnancy-specific fitness classes. I began weekly pregnancy yoga at my favorite yoga studio, started swimming once a week and occasionally doing some very gentle running. But most days I didn’t move much, and I still felt pretty sedentary.

So when I had the opportunity to test and review online fitness program The Bump Plan I was keen to give it a go. Offering a combination of Pilates-style strength training and cardio workouts, the subscription-based fitness platform caters to those trying to conceive, as well as those who are pregnant and postpartum. You can join at any point, even late in your pregnancy or after having your baby.

How Much Does The Bump Plan Cost?

Membership costs £35 per month, with a discount if you pay for six months (£180) or a year (£240) upfront. When you sign up you have the option to buy a £15 starter pack that includes a Pilates ball and resistance band—other than a mat, that’s all the equipment you need for the classes.

What Do You Get With The Bump Plan?

The Bump Plan gives you six workout videos to complete in a week, with the same videos to repeat weekly before you get a new set of videos (these currently change at weeks 12, 18, 24 and 30). Six workouts per week may sound like a lot, but they are all 20 to 30 minutes long, so I found them easy enough to slot into my day, and together they add up to the 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week recommended for pregnant women (and indeed all adults aged 19-64) by the UK government.

All the videos are created and led by Hollie Grant, an award-winning Pilates instructor and personal trainer, and were recorded while she was pregnant. In each of the videos, she is at more or less the same stage of pregnancy as the viewer. I found this immensely helpful—everything felt all the more achievable and encouraging thanks to a feeling of being in the same boat, plus Grant’s down-to-earth teaching style and her frank discussions of the physical challenges of pregnancy were very welcome.

Weeks 18-24 of the program gave me access to two 20-minute Pilates sessions, three cardio-Pilates sessions and a 10-minute stretching session. Each workout also contains a short pelvic floor exercise session at the end. I know how important it is to do pelvic floor exercises but (confession) I never actually do them unless I’m being told to, so having them scheduled into my workouts was ideal.

There’s also a weekly live class, led by Grant, that you can join as part of the program. It was nice to catch a glimpse of some of the other prenatal mamas following along, and it was also good to be able to connect with Grant before and after the class and ask any pressing questions. These workouts are recorded (minus the chit-chat) and become bonus workouts available alongside your weekly workouts.

The Bump Plan also offers more than just workouts. In the education hub section of the website, subscribers also get access to a library of articles by qualified health experts, as well as video interviews and recorded webinars on topics ranging from pelvic girdle pain and sciatica to hypnobirthing, cesarean sections, and baby and toddler first aid. I found it an informative and helpful place to explore and learn more about issues that are often little discussed—there’s even an expert interview that tackles “the post-birth poo”!

Members can also access weekly live clinics with experts including a women’s health physio and a lactation consultant, where you can ask questions.

What Are The Bump Plan Workouts Like?

By the time I began the program during my 19th week of pregnancy, I was doing a small amount of mostly low-impact exercise. Plus I was dealing with the demands of work and family life, with a six-year-old keeping me on my toes. But, I still felt like I was missing some form of more structured exercise that raised my heart rate, and I felt rather feeble and got tired easily. Usually I felt shattered in the evenings, even when I’d barely left the house.

When I began the workouts, I found them very manageable—they’re not too long and there’s an emphasis on keeping effort levels moderate and not getting too out of breath. The videos I followed had no dynamic movements: all cardio was low impact.

There were a lot of squats though—at my stage in the second trimester the program focuses on strengthening your legs and glutes to help with proper posture and support for your back, as well as preparing you for an active labor. I really felt it in my quads and hamstrings after the first couple of workouts. But when I returned to those same videos in the second week, my muscles coped fine and I had no soreness afterward. By the third week I was progressing as suggested by holding a light pair of dumbbells for many of the exercises.

The six workouts for the week felt well-planned, targeting different areas of the body in the safest possible way. There are lots of modifications on offer for those experiencing symptoms such as pelvic girdle pain, or ways to take it down a notch if you’re getting too out of breath.

I found the live workouts a particularly worthwhile addition. Having got to know Grant through the videos it was motivating to interact with her live and do some different exercises. In the live sessions I attended there were options for more dynamic movement if you wanted it.

I asked Grant why the live classes involved dynamic exercises, while the recorded classes do not. “Version one of the Bump Plan was filmed five years ago while I was pregnant with my daughter and back then the guidance was that you should avoid impact while pregnant,” says Grant. “But since then there has been so much research done and new guidance published. And awareness of the fact that actually impact is fine during pregnancy as long as your pelvic floor is comfortable with it, and you're comfortable with it. Baby is completely cushioned and safe.”

“I refilmed the Bump Plan while I was pregnant with my son [who is now one year old], and it's just about to go live in a few weeks,” says Grant. “You’ll get more workouts, they change more regularly and they’re more challenging. I do encourage you to jump and bounce around as long as it's comfortable for you. And there’s loads of information about pelvic floor strength. Things like pressure management in the core, all sorts of things like that. So if you want to be challenged, you can be.”

Is The Bump Plan Worth It?

Within a week of starting the plan I felt stronger and more energetic. I could go on a long walk without feeling heavy and exhausted by the end, and I could carry my bike up the steep front steps to my house with confidence. Three weeks into the plan (and halfway through my pregnancy) my glutes, legs, core, chest, arms and shoulders feel stronger, and even as my bump seems to expand by the day I feel better equipped for the movements and challenges of daily life. I’m getting fewer back twinges and I’d even say my mood is more stable.

I’ve found that having a schedule of six short workouts a week is really helping me stay more active. It’s a challenge to get them all done but because each one is only 20 or 30 minutes long, fitting one in nearly every day feels achievable, and I don’t beat myself up if I miss a couple of sessions here and there. The workouts themselves feel like they’re making a difference and yet they’re never too taxing.

The videos do get slightly repetitive after a while and I would prefer to have a wider range of videos to choose from or for the videos to change more often, and I’d like the option to include more dynamic moves in the workouts, but these changes are on their way, with the Bump Plan update planned for mid April 2024.

Grant herself is very available and responsive to subscribers, encouraging people to email with questions, or stay and chat at the end of live sessions. There’s also an active closed Facebook group where she’ll respond to comments. With her enthusiasm and openness, it’s like having your own cheering squat rooting for you.

I think it’s absolutely worth paying the monthly subscription, and I’m intending to keep following the program for the rest of my pregnancy and beyond—the postnatal program sounds excellent too, with different videos depending on whether you had a vaginal birth or C-section. Progression to the next phase is entirely dependent on when you feel ready.

There’s a week’s free trial to see if The Bump Plan is right for you before committing. But if you don’t fancy paying a monthly subscription and you’d rather devise your own workouts along the same lines, it’s worth reading Grant’s book, The Bump Plan, (£16.99 / $22.99) published in 2023. It equips you with the knowledge of what kind of exercise is safe and most beneficial at every stage of pregnancy and why, and has examples of suitable workouts.

As always when trying something new, especially when pregnant, it’s important to check with your healthcare professional to be sure that this kind of exercise is safe for you.

Sign up for a free trial of The Bump Plan on the website.

Whether or not you’ve tried yoga, you’ve probably come across a move known as downward-facing dog. It’s often used in the warm-up before fitness classes and it’s one of the best movements for stretching and strengthening your hamstrings, hips and shoulders.

To do a downward dog, begin on your hands and knees, then move your hips up and back, and extend your legs to form an inverted V with your body. 

It seems simple, but it’s a pose that requires flexibility and mobility. Some people will find it uncomfortable to begin with while others will be unable to bring their heels to the floor. 

I asked Helen O’Leary, physiotherapist and clinical director at Complete Pilates, what you can do to improve your range of motion and make the movement more comfortable.

“It is important to realize that it may not be possible for everyone to touch their heels to the floor simply due to their own genetic makeup and what range they have within their skeleton,” says O’Leary.

Even if you’re one of those people, moving your feet closer to the floor in the downward dog pose is a good goal to set yourself, in order to get the most out of the exercise.

“Generally to improve your downward dog, you need to do mobility work around your calves, the backs of your legs and the lower back,” says O'Leary.

O'Leary recommends dynamic exercises instead of static stretching to strengthen and lengthen the muscles in the back of your body. Here are three to get you started.

1 Romanian deadlift

Reps 8-12

Hold a barbell or two heavy dumbbells in front of your thighs and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Keeping a slight bend in your knees, a straight back and the weight close to your body throughout, push your hips back to lower the weight until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, then push through your feet to return to the start. Aim to lower slowly and return to the start powerfully. 

2 Thread the needle

Reps 4-5 each side

Start on your hands and knees. Thread your right arm between your left arm and leg, rotating your torso to reach as far to the left as you can. Bend your left elbow so that your right shoulder reaches as close to the floor as possible. Return to the start then repeat on the other side, alternating sides with each rep.

3 Lateral lunge

Reps 8-12

Stand with your legs wider than shoulder-width apart. Bend your right knee and sit your hips back as you lower to the right, while keeping your left leg extended. Push through your right foot to return to the start and repeat on the other side, alternating sides with each rep. 

Building muscle isn’t easy. If it was, a lot more people would look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. But there are techniques you can use to make the most of the time you spend in the weights room. 

Take myo-reps, for example. It’s an approach created by top trainer Borge Fagerli and it delivers the same gains as a lengthy lifting session in a fraction of the time. 

Myo-reps can be used by anyone, Fagerli tells me. He’s seen success with bodybuilders, powerlifters, everyday gym-goers and himself, with all parties reporting improved strength and muscle mass. But it’s a particularly handy tactic for busy people to have in their back pocket. 

“It will have people in and out of the gym in 15-20 minutes,” Fagerli says. “I’ve had personal training clients who would come in for a lunch training session and get a good workout in. And they kept gaining and gaining off just two workouts per week. 

“Whereas before they were doing three to four workouts per week, lasting 60 to 90 minutes each, and not getting the same gains.”

But for myo-reps to be effective, you have to push yourself.

“Some people spend a long time in the gym without pushing themselves,” Fagerli says. “If they’re doing a 20-minute workout that’s really tough, much harder than they’re used to, then they will make great gains from it.”

How To Do Borge Fagerli’s Myo-Reps Workout

Complete one myo-reps set of each exercise below, resting two minutes between moves.

1. Leg press
2. Leg curl
3. Incline bench press
4. Dumbbell shoulder press
5. Lat pull-down

A myo-reps set involves multiple sets. Begin with an activation set of eight to 15 reps, using a weight that leaves you with two reps in reserve. After this, put down the weight and take three to five deep breaths.

Now choose a target number of reps from three to five. Fagerli says getting the right number of target reps here can take some trial and error, but as a rule of thumb, strength-oriented lifters tend to favor three reps while muscular endurance-minded athletes prefer five. After you complete the deep breaths, pick the weight back up and complete a set with your chosen number of reps. 

Put the weight down again, take another three to five deep breaths, then attempt another set of three to five reps. Once you can no longer complete a set of yours  target number of reps, the myo-reps set is done. Rest for two minutes and move on to the next exercise. 

How To Train Using Myo-Reps

Fagerli says your training frequency will determine how you should use them as they can be demanding on the body. 

“If you’re doing two workouts per week, I would do full-body sessions,” he says. “If you’re doing three or four, you’re more likely looking at some sort of alternating upper/lower or push/pull split. This would have a slightly lower training frequency [per muscle group] so you have a better chance of recovering.”

If you want to follow a two-day workout split and you’re on the hunt for a second weekly myo-reps workout to cycle with the one above, Fagerli has some suggestions there too.

“To train the legs, you pair either a compound exercise for quads and an isolation for the hamstrings, or the opposite,” says Fagerli. “So another combination is a straight-leg deadlift, or other deadlift, and a leg extension.”

He also suggests including a row variation, like a seated cable row, as well as one chest exercise and one shoulder exercise. 

“If you wanted to, you could also add in a biceps and triceps exercise, but at that point you’re already training those muscles indirectly with the compound lifts,” says Fagerli.

See more tried-and-tested options in my guide to the best protein powder.

Finding time to train can be tricky, but beginners in particular can get a lot of bang for their buck from just two trips to the gym every week. 

These sessions don’t have to take an age either. Top trainer Luka Hocevar has created a two-day workout split with just three moves per workout. With a warm-up and warm-down each one will take less than 30 minutes. 

“These exercises cover the main movement patterns that we need to build as humans and they involve using a lot of muscle,” says Hocevar, who’s also a brand partner for booking service Vagaro.

“This means they'll help you build strength and lean muscle, while also improving your movement within daily life activities."

How To Do Luka Hocevar’s Two-Day Workout Split

Do each workout below once a week, leaving at least one day between them to allow your body to recover. 

For the final exercise of each workout, Hocevar lets you choose between any variation of the lunge and single-leg Romanian deadlift. 

This gives you the flexibility to use whatever equipment is free and available. You can also incorporate different planes of motion in the first exercise by opting for a lateral/side lunge or curtsy lunge. 

Two-Day Workout Split: Day One

Click or press the exercise name for how to do each exercise.

1 Trap bar deadlift

Sets 3 Reps 5-6 Rest 2min

2 Push-up

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 Rest 60sec

3 Lunge variation

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 on each side Rest 60sec

Two-Day Workout Split: Day Two

1 Goblet squat

Sets 3 Reps 5-6 Rest 2min

2 One-arm dumbbell row

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 Rest 60sec

3 Single-leg Romanian deadlift variation

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 on each side Rest 60sec

How To Progress These Workouts For An Eight-Week Two-Day Workout Split

If you want to build muscle, you need to repeat workouts and make them progressively harder over time. Hocevar has also provided the optimal way to progress this two-day workout split over eight weeks. 

For the first exercise in each workout, which focuses on building strength, he recommends lifting slightly more weight each week. 

With the second and third exercises, he takes a slightly different tact. 

“Add a rep a week for four weeks, then drop back down to the number of reps you did in week one and add weight. 

“For example, if week one was eight reps, add a rep a week until you get to 11 reps in week four, then drop back down to eight reps in week five while increasing the weight.”

Why Are These The Best Exercises For A Beginner Two-Day Workout Split?

Hocevar selected these exercises because they cover most major movement patterns, but that wasn’t the only factor at play when choosing the moves.

“These exercises are not necessarily that complicated, which means that a person can learn them quickly,” says Hocevare. 

“From this starting point, the goal is to work on progressing load by using heavier weights and adding reps or sets. These are necessary building blocks for the body to adapt and begin to increase strength and build muscle. This process is called progressive overload.”

However, he recommends making sure your form is flawless (“without letting your ego get in the way”) before adding more weight. 

What Are The Limitations Of A Two-Day Workout Split? 

A two-day workout split is ideal for beginners, because it supplies enough stimulus to develop muscle while at the same time the schedule doesn’t feeling overwhelming or unsustainable. 

It can also be a great approach for athletes from other sports looking for a minimalist strength training program to supplement their favored activity—a one-stop shop for reduced injury rates and improved performance among runners and others. 

But there are some drawbacks to this training split, particularly when it contains shorter workouts. 

“Limiting oneself to just three exercises is not necessarily an ideal program,” says Hocevar. 

On top of this, a two-day split of this sort may not provide the volume, variety or frequency to stimulate further strength and muscle gains among seasoned lifters. 

The agony on the faces of rowers at the end of The Boat Race let you know just how hard it is to maintain the effort they put in through the event. That performance is built on months of demanding training.

If you want a little taste of that training, then try this progressive rowing workout from Patrick Ryan, chief coach of Cambridge University Boat Club’s Women’s Programme, which builds in intensity over three 10-minute blocks.

“The 3 x 10-minute session is a key part of our athletes’ development and one that we revisit throughout the season,” says Ryan. “It targets aerobic training, the base of any great Boat Race performance, and focuses athletes on building an aerobic base and making sure that their speed increases with each increase in [stroke] rate.”

Warm-up

“We warm up for half an hour, starting with some stretching and mobility exercises for 10 minutes, getting the blood flowing before athletes get on the ergo [rowing machine],” says Ryan. “Once you get on the ergo, work through the stroke, addressing both technique and intensity as you move through the warm-up.  

“Start by using arms only. Weight on the back of the seat, reaching out to straight arms and drawing back to your xiphoid process [the bottom of your sternum]. You’re looking to increase the handle’s speed through the stroke without snatching. Do this for about a minute.

“Next it’s arms and body. Once your arms are straight, rock your hips forward and transfer your weight onto the front of the seat and feel a little stretch in your hamstrings, but not too much. This sets your body position for when you move out to the full rowing stroke. Start the drive by swinging back with straight arms, using your arms to keep accelerating the handle into your body. Do a minute or two of this, at a 3-4/10 intensity, then we start to bring in the legs.”

From there, Ryan suggests working through a quarter slide, half slide, three-quarter slide and then into a full slide, as detailed below. The catch is the position you adopt before you drive back with your legs.

“Quarter slide: From the arms and body movement above, let your knees come up a few inches and roll into the catch,” says Ryan. “Drive with your legs and arms straight, then swing into the finish.

“Half slide: The next few positions are building on the quarter slide position and compressing the legs more and more into the catch so that the stroke can get longer and stronger.

“Three-quarter slide: keeping your body at the same angle, and very nearly coming forward until your shins are upright.

“Full slide: this is at the length you’re going to do the workout.”

Finish off your warm-up with some higher-intensity intervals based on your stroke rate (strokes per minute, which Ryan refers to as simply rate), and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) to get yourself ready for the workout proper.

“Once you’ve been rowing at full slide at low intensity for a few minutes, open up a bit by rowing at a higher intensity and rate for a minute,” says Ryan. “Row at rate 24 for a minute at about 8/10 intensity, then row at your easier aerobic pace for a minute. Then it’s time to open up again, rating 28 at about 8/10 intensity for 30 seconds and recovering at your easier aerobic pace for 90 seconds. Finish your warm-up by rowing for 15 seconds at rate 32 at a high intensity.”

30-Minute Rowing Workout

The workout is broken up into three 10-minute blocks (or “pieces” as they are called in rowing circles) with 90 seconds of rest in between them. For each piece, Ryan has given a stroke rate to hit, along with a target intensity based on RPE, plus guidelines for the power (in watts) you’ll put out if you’re used to using those.

Ryan suggests that for each 10-minute piece try and record your average watts and heart rate. Then when you next do the session you’ll be able to track your improved fitness.

“When you revisit the session later, remember your watts from the last time you did this session, and keep the stroke rate the same as previously,” says Ryan. “If your training is working, you’ll see your heart rate drop and perceived exertion drop if you keep the watts the same, or if you go by perceived exertion and heart rate, you’ll see your watts increase significantly!”

Piece 1

Time 10min Rest 90sec

“If you know the watts you would normally pull rating 18, you’re looking to pull about 20 watts more and rate 22 for this 10-minute piece,” says Ryan. “If you don’t know what your pace should be, I’d want you to do this first piece at an RPE of 5/10. Use this piece to establish consistency— no great peaks or troughs in output.

“Take 90 seconds rest. You should finish this piece ready to go for the next piece—bank it when you can, this workout will bite later.”

Piece 2

Time 10min Rest 90sec

“Take it up two rating points for the second 10 minutes, so you’ll be rating 24 for this section of the workout and increasing your wattage from the first piece by about 10 watts,” says Ryan. “This should take you to 7/10 RPE and your heart rate will probably be 10bpm higher. As the intensity increases, focus on the stroke: start the drive with your legs, opening the back when the legs are nearly down, and finishing with your arms.”

After another 90 seconds of rest, go into the third 10-minute block.

Piece 3

Time 10min Rest 90sec

“We do this final 10-minute piece at rating 26, at a 9/10 intensity. Consistency is key in this piece as it is when racing the Boat Races—you cannot afford to drop intensity at any point, but you also can’t afford to blow up! If you’ve got anything left in the last 30 seconds, maintain the rate and squeeze on a bit.”

The Gemini Boat Race 2024 takes place in Putney on Saturday 30th March, with the Women’s Race starting at 2:46pm GMT and the Men’s Race at 3:46pm GMT. The event will be broadcast live on BBC One from 2pm GMT.

Read our Concept2 RowErg review to find out why it tops our list of the best rowing machines.

David Beckham has shared a look at how he trains his abs with an Instagram video which shows him working through a set of hanging knee raises, under strict instruction from trainer Bobby Rich.

The exercise’s name doubles as a form guide: hang from a pull-up bar, then use your core muscles to raise both knees so your thighs pass beyond parallel with the floor. 

In the video, Rich can be heard giving the technique cue “knees up to your chest”, although Becks’ caption suggests he had more pressing matters on his mind—namely, the state of his headline-grabbing ’do. If I had hair that nice that would be my primary concern, too.

Benefits Of Hanging Abs Exercises 

Performing abs exercises on a pull-up bar is great for breaking away from the monotony core training can entail—planks, crunch variations, you know the drill. Your mid-body muscles are in for a real test too.

“You’re definitely focused on your rectus abdominis because you’re going into a flexion, but instead of flexion from the top like with a crunch you’re flexing from the bottom,” says Wendy Batts, regional master trainer for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. 

However, she warns this move isn’t for beginners. Not only do you have to be able to control your body through spinal flexion, but it also requires you to hold your bodyweight. And that’s not all.

To hit the intended range of motion, you need to be able to hang with a neutral spine. If your lower back arches (an anterior pelvic tilt), you have to move your spine to neutral before moving to flexion, and that extra movement is called compensation.

“If you can do it without compensation then I tell people it’s a great exercise,” she explains. 

“But you really need to make sure you have good lat extensibility, because if you don’t and you’re hanging you’re going to be in an anterior tilt. 

“The lower back will arch, and during this exercise you’re trying to have it do the opposite. This means you’re really not going to get full activation [of the muscles] because you have to go through a compensation first.”

If you struggle with this exercise, try starting with a knee-up, or a reverse crunch to knee-up as demonstrated below (rotation optional). 

However, if you have the strength and stability needed to do this exercise properly, Batts says it can be a great tool for developing core strength. 

“There are a lot of different variations to make it harder; sometimes one knee up at a time so you have to hang longer, or there are different rotational movements while doing it. 

“I have our athletes do it where they’ll raise their knees, kick their legs out, hold this position, and then come down. 

“There are a lot of variations to this one exercise that you can progress someone to. You just want to make sure they’re doing it correctly first, then you can have a ton of fun with it.”

If you run regularly, you’ll be familiar with the aches that are part and parcel of this high-impact sport. One of the areas that tend to get stiff is the hips—no great surprise given the important role the muscles around the hips have in running.

Most people turn to hip stretches to reduce stiffness, but this deals with the symptoms, rather than the cause.

“Stretching your muscles may provide temporary relief, but it won't build up the hip's capacity to tolerate more load, whereas strengthening will,” says physiotherapist and certified running coach Richelle Weeks. 

“When running, your glute medius and minimus—the glute muscles on the outside of your hip—can take two to three times your body weight in peak force with every step,” says Weeks.

“Sometimes, if your glutes are not strong enough to handle this impact, they can start to feel quite tight, especially towards the end of a long run or after a hard workout.”

Recently, Weeks also posted an exercise to her Instagram, which targets the hip rotators, strengthening them so that they’re protected from this impact. 

Take a look at Weeks' Instagram Reel where she demonstrates the move.

“For this exercise place a mini band around your feet and a ball or yoga block between your legs,” says Weeks. “Keep your hips and knees at 90° as you rotate your feet out as far as possible.”

Try to hold the end position for 3-5 seconds and then three sets of six reps.

For more on how to build a body that can better handle the rigors of running, read this expert guide to strength training for runners.

Kettlebells are one of the best pieces of equipment for full-body workouts. With just a handful of moves, you can engage multiple muscle groups, improve your coordination and burn some serious calories. However, kettlebells can be just as effectively used to target specific muscle groups, such as your shoulder muscles. 

This workout from Christian Vila, the founder of Brighton Kettlebells and one of the best kettlebell trainers in England, focuses on your shoulders, directly and alongside other upper-body muscles. 

It’s a kettlebell shoulder workout that’s especially well suited to beginners, because it will put your shoulders through their paces and help you improve your overall kettlebell technique. “Try the workout, once a week, for six weeks before progressing,” says Vila.

How To Perform This Kettlebell Shoulder Workout

How you program the following workout will depend on your fitness goals. “If you’re training for intensity and fat loss, try 30 seconds of each exercise and rest for 20 seconds before progressing to the next, using a weight which allows you to complete each repetition with good form,” says Vila. 

If your primary goal is to build muscle and increase strength, try three sets of 6-8 reps of each exercise, before moving to the next. 

“Weight-wise, I’d recommend 8kg to 12kg for beginners,” says Vila. However, always select a weight that allows you to complete all of the repetitions with good form. 

Always prioritize form over intensity and make sure you’re able to maintain good grip throughout the workout. If the handle gets too slippery, you may try wearing weightlifting gloves or rubbing some chalk or liquid chalk on your hands.

Kettlebell Shoulder Workout Warm-up

The shoulders are one of the most mobile and complex joints in the body. It’s easy enough to strain them with simple daily tasks (think about the time you or someone you know woke up with shoulder pain just by sleeping wrong), never mind when using such an unstable piece of equipment as kettlebells. To minimize your risk of injury and get the most out of your workout, make sure to warm up beforehand.  

“Before jumping into the workouts, complete 5-10 minutes of cardio, such as a jog, row or cycle to warm up the whole body,” says Vila. This will increase your heart rate and the blood flow to the muscles. “Then, follow this with the following mobility routine to further prepare the shoulders for the work to come,” says Vila. 

Shoulder warm-up exercises, such as shoulder rolls, arm swings and band pull-aparts will help increase the temperature and mobility of your shoulder muscles, tendons and ligaments. “Remember mobility is a big part of shoulder health and strength, allowing you to work through a full range of motion in each exercise,” says Vila. 

Beginner Kettlebell Shoulder Workout

1 Kettlebell halo 

“This move promotes mobility around the shoulder girdle, warming up the muscles for the work to come,” says Vila. 

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell by the sides of the handle upside down in front of your chest. Bring the weight over your right shoulder, round the back of your head and over your left shoulder to the start. 

“Try to keep the kettlebell close to your head all the way around, with your elbows tucked in, concentrating on how far down you can lower the kettlebell behind the head,” says Vila. Keep your core engaged throughout the entire movement, and make sure you don’t sway or tilt to the side. 

2 Kettlebell shrug

The kettlebell shrug is a simple, yet very effective, exercise to strengthen your trapezius, a large muscle group stabilizing the shoulder joint. “You will feel your traps burning towards the end,” says Vila. 

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell in both hands in front of you. “Raise your shoulders towards the ears without bending your arms,” says Villa. Pause, then lower your shoulders under control, stretching your shoulder muscles at the bottom of the movement. Don’t hunch your back or tense up your neck muscles.

3 Kettlebell front raise

“The kettlebell front raise will target the anterior (front) head of the shoulders,” says Vila.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell with both hands. “With straight arms, raise the kettlebell until you can see through the hole in the handle in front of your head. Be sure to prevent any rocking of the body to stop you from using your back muscles,” says Vila. 

4 Two-handed kettlebell press

The all-time best move for shoulder strength—but with a single kettlebell. “Two hand overhead presses will build confidence in holding a weight above your head, and target the whole shoulder girdle,” says Vila. 

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell by the sides of the handle upside down in front of your chest. Brace your core, then extend your arms above your head. “Keep your knees slightly bent throughout and your elbows tucked in, locking out your arms at the top of the movement,” says Vila. “Slowly lower the weight to chest level.”

5 Kettlebell swing

The quintessential kettlebell exercise, the swing primarily targets the muscles of your posterior movement chain, the muscles down the back of your body. However, your shoulders will also have to put in the work. “This move uses the posterior (rear) shoulder head to prevent the kettlebell from pulling you forward,” says Vila. 

Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell handle in both hands. Brace your core, retract your shoulders and push your hips back to pull the weight between your legs, keeping your arms and back straight. Thrust your hips forward to swing the kettlebell up to eye level. Control the descent and hinge straight into the next rep.

“Initiate the movement with explosive hip extensions, with a slight bend at the knee. Beware not to squat too much, or use your shoulders like you did in the front raise—allow your hips to do the work, while keeping the shoulders retracted,” says Vila. 

6 Kettlebell clean

The kettlebell clean is a dynamic movement that trains shoulder stability, coordination and balance, and it’s one of the most important kettlebell exercises to master. “This move not only teaches you how to rack the kettlebell, ready for single shoulder presses but will train the upper back and rear shoulder heads, which are essential for full shoulder development,” says Vila.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the kettlebell between your feet. Push your hips back and reach down to hold the handle. Swing the kettlebell between your legs, then thrust your hips forward and shrug the kettlebell up, keeping it close to your body. Rotate your wrist and slide your forearm under the kettlebell. Reverse the movement to the start. 

“Be explosive as you guide the kettlebell from the floor to the rack position, neatly landing the kettlebell on the back of your forearm. Keep your elbow tucked in, before guiding the kettlebell down to the floor,” says Vila.

7 Kettlebell upright row

“If you’re a regular gym-goer, this will feel familiar,” says Vila. Upright rows are typically done with a barbell, but the kettlebell version feels easier on the wrists and arms.  

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell in both hands in front of you. “Take the kettlebell from a full hang at your hips to your chin, leading with the elbows and keeping the kettlebell close to your body. Keep your knees slightly bent to protect your back and to prevent rocking of the body,” says Vila. Keep your core braced throughout. 

About Our Expert

If you want to use your training time as effectively as possible, add these beginner treadmill workouts to your gym routine. They’re both designed by Fran Bungay, head coach for the Training Today App and Goal Specific Coaching, and use the incline and speed settings on a treadmill to program interval runs that will get you fitter and help you lose weight.

While you can just step onto a treadmill and run at a steady pace for your workout, you’ll get more out of short sessions in particular by doing intervals which raise your heart rate and effort level, and burn more calories.

How To Do These Beginner Treadmill Workouts

Bungay has put together two beginner treadmill sessions to try, one with intervals based on speed and one on incline. You’ll be using the 1-10 RPE scale (rate of perceived exertion) to judge your effort, where 10 is maximum effort. This might feel hard to judge at first, but whatever you do will result in a great workout and you’ll get more adept at judging your effort levels over time.

Each workout begins with a warm-up and ends with a warm-down. Don’t skip either of these.

The main workout involves sections of work and recovery intervals. The instructions for each section are written as “5 x 1min at 8/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery”. This means you do five sets of the following: run for one minute at an effort level of 8/10, then recover for one minute while walking.

Beginner Interval Treadmill Workout

Do the entire workout with the treadmill set at a 2% incline.

Warm-up

5min walk 

5min building up to jogging to finish at around 6/10 RPE 

Workout

5 x 1min at 8/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery

3 x 2min at 7/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery

5 x 1min at 8/10 RPE, 1min walk recovery

Warm-down

2min at 6/10 RPE

2min at 5/10 RPE

1min walk 

Beginner Incline Treadmill Workout

Warm-up

Set the incline to 2% for the warm-up

5min walk 

5min building into a jog to 6/10 RPE

Workout

Aim for 7/10 or 8/10 RPE during the work periods, as you get fitter you might want to increase the pace on the lower incline section.

3 x 1min at 6% incline, 1min at 2% incline, 1min walk recovery

3 x 2 min at 4% incline, 2min at 2% incline, 1min walk recovery

Warm-down

2min at 6/10 RPE

2min at 5/10 RPE

1min walk

Find out which treadmills are worth buying with my guide to the best treadmills.

It doesn’t take much for your gym workout plan to go out of the window. Maybe you only have just enough time to fit in your scheduled session and you get stuck in traffic. Or there’s a rush on the piece of equipment you need. When you’re faced with these problems, you need a routine you can turn to. Dumbbell workouts are great for this because there are always plenty of pairs left in the racks of every gym.

Personal trainer Elise Young recently posted a straightforward but challenging routine that only uses dumbbells and it makes a great backup plan if you want to get stuck into a quick workout that will challenge muscles all over your body. The moves in this workout are all compound exercises, which means they engage multiple muscles at once.

Take a look at Young’s Instagram Reel where she demonstrates each of the exercises.

The first movement combines a single-arm dumbbell clean, push press and front-rack squat. The clean is a technical move so it can be worth practicing your technique with a light weight before beginning the workout to ensure the hinge-shrug-pull movement is smooth and controlled, and you don’t round your back.

Once you’ve performed eight reps on each side, move on to 12 bent-over rows. Note that Young uses an underhand grip. That’s followed by 20 reverse lunges holding a dumbbell in the goblet position, and finally 10 push-ups into renegade rows. I’ll let you decide whether a rep is counted after a row on one or both sides. That’s one round, Young suggests doing four rounds in total.

Remember to keep your core engaged throughout the workout, especially as you begin to fatigue in the final rounds. This will not only maximize muscle engagement, but it will also contribute to maintaining the correct form throughout the routine.

Why It’s Worth Training With Dumbbells

As well as being convenient, dumbbell exercises can limit the development of strength imbalances. Often, when using barbells and weights machines, people rely on a stronger side to move the weight. Using dumbbells ensures each side is trained separately.

Find more tried-and-tested recommendations in Coach’s guide to the best dumbbells. 

If you’ve been walking past the kettlebell racks every time you visit the gym, it’s time to start including this type of weight in your routine.

Certified PT Adam Sinicki (aka The Bioneer) has shared six of his favorite kettlebell exercises for building full-body fitness, and it’s a great selection. 

The exercises—the kettlebell swing, front rack squat, Cossack squat, halo, floor press and single-arm bent-over row—can be combined into a total-body workout, too. 

Try using them as a circuit, performing 8-12 reps of each one in turn for three rounds (or 8-12 reps on each side, if it’s a unilateral movement like the single-arm row).

“[Kettlebells will] build your strength in ways other tools just can't,” Sinicki writes. “You'll be stronger at weird angles, for longer.”

This is because, unlike with a dumbbell or a barbell, you’re rarely holding a kettlebell in its center of mass. Particularly during dynamic exercises like the kettlebell swing, the momentum of the weight will pull you off balance, challenging your core and other supporting muscles to keep you stable. 

These dynamic exercises also allow you to rack up plenty of reps, to train your muscular endurance and raise your heart rate. You can even try variations of Olympic weightlifting moves like the snatch and clean and jerk with a kettlebell to develop explosive power too. 

I especially like that Sinicki’s selection works your body through all three planes of motion: sagittal, frontal and transverse. They incorporate up and down (sagittal plane) side-to-side (frontal plan) and rotational (transverse plane) movements to develop full-body functional strength and mobility. 

As Sinicki says, there are still some areas where dumbbells and barbells reign supreme. Performing floor presses with dumbbells rather than kettlebells will save your forearms, and if you want a heavy-loaded leg exercise you’ll struggle to beat the barbell back squat. 

But I agree that kettlebells should be a part of any workout plan, offering plenty of benefits and variations to upgrade your training. If you’ve never used kettlebells before, start with this beginner kettlebell workout. 

Get help deciding which kettlebell to buy with Coach’s guide to the best kettlebells.

If there’s a set of muscles that I think people neglect, it’s the pelvic floor and believe me when I say you want to be training these muscles.

Essentially, the pelvic floor muscles act like a sling, supporting the pelvic organs including the bladder and bowel, as well as the vagina and uterus in women. When these muscles are weak, it can lead to incontinence and even prolapse, as well as other issues.

When the pelvic floor muscles are strong, it can result in improved posture, a speedier recovery from childbirth, less chance of incontinence and even better sex!

“The pelvic floor muscles are also part of our bigger set of core muscles,” says my PT, Will Duru, “so strengthening them can help to strengthen your overall core too and your lower back.”

Although exercises such as Kegels are often associated with women, because hormones, pregnancy and childbirth can affect these muscles, men can also suffer from a weak pelvic floor so keeping them strong is important for everyone.

Will and I did a quick pelvic floor workout recently, and although it looks simple, if you move slowly enough through the exercises, I assure you, you will feel it the next day. 

1 Glute bridge with medicine ball hold

Sets 5 Time 5-10sec

Hold a medicine ball between your legs just above your knees, lift into a bridge position and hold. Press your knees together and squeeze your glutes. 

2 Plank into bear

Sets 3 Reps 10

Start in a high plank position. Keeping your core engaged and back flat throughout, step your feet in one at a time so your knees are bent to 90°, but keep your knees off the floor. Step your feet back one at a time.

3 Toe tap

Sets 3 Reps 10

Throughout, make sure the bottom of your lower back is touching the floor. This will require more core engagement as your foot gets closer to the floor. Move slowly to get more from the movement.

4 Glute bridge with band

Sets 3 Reps 10

At the top of the glute bridge, press both knees out so there is resistance in the band. Then slowly roll your back down, vertebrae by vertebrae. 

5 Kneeling exhale and inhale

Sets 3 Reps 10

The most simple pelvic floor exercise you can do can also be tricky to get right. As you inhale, expand the abdomen and rib cage and take in air, then exhale, and allow your stomach to soften and deflate. Breathe deeply and slowly.

“Breathing plays a crucial role in training the pelvic floor,” says Will. “Proper breathing is a key component of muscle contraction. Through mindful inhaling and exhaling, you can effectively contract your pelvic floor muscles.”

Hugh Jackman has been preparing to resume his role of clawed crusader Wolverine for Deadpool 3 and his gym sessions were no joke.

The Australian actor recently shared a snippet of his training, showing him tackling what looks like a biceps curl mechanical drop set, all while receiving barked orders from his trainer’s dog Andy.

In the clip, Jackman hits a set of standing EZ-bar curls before leaning over and immediately getting to work on a series of bent-over EZ-bar curls using the same weight. 

But what does this achieve? By getting him to switch his body position, Jackman’s trainer Beth Lewis changes the point of the movement at which his biceps are under the most load.

A standard biceps curl will feel most difficult as your forearms pass the point of being parallel with the ground, whereas a bent-over biceps curl is most challenging at the top of the rep. This shifts the stimulus of the move by hitting the biceps from a different angle, delivering a colossal pump.

And the results are on display for all to see: Jackman’s arms look huge. 

Deadpool 3 is released on July 26 this year and it will be Jackman’s first outing as Wolverine since 2017’s Logan. 

Fans are also excited to see him star alongside a similarly-jacked Ryan Reynolds, with the duo having stoked a fake feud for the last 15 years. 

Despite being friends, the pair have taken light-hearted pot-shots at one another since meeting on the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. Now they’re set to reconvene in the MCU, audiences are expecting big things (and they’re not talking about Jackman’s biceps). 

A great bodyweight HIIT workout keeps things simple. It lines up several of the best bodyweight exercises and asks you to rattle through them with minimal rest. That’s exactly what you can expect from this workout put together by personal trainer Steve Ahern from Goal Plans powered by MuscleFood.

You need 30 minutes, a bit of clear space and the workout is suitable for all fitness levels since you’re working to time rather than trying to hit a certain amount of reps. There are a number of high-impact exercises, however. If you think that might pose a problem, try this beginner HIIT workout with the regressions.

How To Do This Bodyweight HIIT Workout

The workout uses a 20/20/20 format where you do exercise A for 20 seconds, switch straight into move B for 20 seconds, then rest for 20 seconds. There are seven sections to the workout, and in the first six, you’ll do four rounds of a pair of exercises and rest only after the second move. Then in the last section, you do all 12 exercises for 20 seconds each back-to-back for a tough finisher. The whole workout will take just under 30 minutes.

Bodyweight HIIT Workout Overview

• 1A Unweighted squat 4 x 20sec
• 1B Push-up 4 x 20sec
• 2A Alternating reverse lunge 4 x 20sec
• 2B Burpee 4 x 20sec
• 3A Jump squat 4 x 20sec
• 3B Jump lunge 4 x 20sec
• 4A High knees 4 x 20sec
• 4B Mountain climber 4 x 20sec
• 5A Hand walk-out 4 x 20sec
• 5B Plank 4 x 20sec
• 6A Reverse lunge with hold, right foot forward 4 x 20sec
• 6B Reverse lunge with hold, left foot forward 4 x 20sec
• 7 Every exercise above 1 x 20sec

Bodyweight HIIT Workout Form Guides

Click or press the title for an in-depth form guide to each exercise.

Section 1

1A Unweighted squat

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 0sec

“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart with toes slightly pointed outwards,” says Ahern. “Shift your hips back and bend your knees to lower into a squat position. Keep your chest up when executing the movement, with your back straight, and push through your heels to come back to standing.”

1B Push-up

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 20sec

Start on your hands and toes, with your arms and legs extended, hands underneath your shoulders and body in a straight line from head to heels. Bend your elbows to lower your chest to the floor, then push back up. “Make sure to keep your elbows in when pushing back up,” says Ahern.

Section 2

2A Alternating reverse lunge

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 0sec

“Take a step backwards and drop your rear knee as close to the floor as possible while keeping your back straight and chest up,” says Ahern. “Push back up and keep switching legs until the allocated time is up.”

2B Burpee

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 20sec

From standing, fold at your waist and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet. Jump your feet back so you land in the top push-up position. Jump your feet back to your hands, then jump straight up, landing softly.

Section 3

3A Jump squat

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 0sec

“This exercise adds a jump to a squat,” says Ahern. As you rise out of a squat jump straight up. Land softly and immediately lower into the next rep.

3B Jump lunge

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 20sec

“Take one step backward and drop your knee as close to the ground as you can, then jump up and switch legs in mid-air, landing with the other leg behind you,” says Ahern. Continue jumping and switching legs in mid-air.

Section 4

4A High knees

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 0sec

“Run on the spot, raising your knees to your chest,” says Ahern. Raise the opposite arm to the raised leg.

4B Mountain climber

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 20sec

“Start in a push-up position,” says Ahern. “Move one knee close to your chest while keeping your hips as still as possible. Switch legs in mid-air and keep your head down.” Continue switching legs at pace.

Section 5

5A Hand walk-out

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 0sec

“From standing, fold at your waist and place your hands on the floor in front of you. Walk your hands into a push-up position, hold for a second and then move your hands backwards and come to standing,” says Ahern. “Don’t allow your hips or back to dip.”

5B Plank

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 20sec

“Support your body on your forearms and toes,” says Ahern. “Keep your back parallel with the floor, don’t raise your hips and keep your head down. Make sure to contract your core area while performing this exercise.” Hold this position for the allotted time.

Section 6

6A Reverse lunge with hold, right foot forward

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 0sec

“Step your left foot backward and drop into the reverse lunge position and stay there for the allotted time,” says Ahern.

6B Reverse lunge With Hold, Left Foot Forward

Sets 4 Time 20sec Rest 20sec

“Step your right foot backward and drop into the reverse lunge position and stay there for the allotted time,” says Ahern.

Section 7

Rest for an additional 60 seconds before doing the final round, where you tackle all 12 moves from the workout in a row without rest. Use the form instructions from above and perform each move for 20 seconds.

Need help deciding on your next pair of workout shoes? Use our guide to the best gym trainers to find the right pair for you.

Free-weight exercises form the foundations of most shoulder workouts. The overhead press, lateral raise and upright row are just three moves that help build upper-body strength and sculpt the V-shaped physique bodybuilders seek. 

But to take your shoulder workouts tothe next level, you may want to set aside your trusty dumbbell shoulder workout in favor of cable machine exercises. This imposing contraption of weight plates, pulleys and handles can feel a tad intimidating at first, but once you know how to use it, it’s well worth making a trip to the gym for. 

Cable shoulder workouts are perfect for developing functional movement patterns and sculpting impressive deltoids—the group of muscles surrounding the shoulder joint—no matter whether you’re a beginner or a veteran weightlifter. 

So if you’re ready to put your shoulder to the wheel, we have three cable shoulder workouts that will help you build strong, injury-proof shoulders in no time. If you’ve never used the cable machine to train your shoulders before, start your journey with the beginner workout and as you become more confident, graduate to the intermediate and then advanced workouts.

How To Warm Up Your Shoulders

Cable machine exercises are great tools to reduce risk of injury, but you still need to warm up thoroughly before using them as they can put your limbs and joints in new positions they’re not used to. That’s also why it’s also wise to start light and add weight very gradually. 

To minimize your risk of injury, use a combination of dynamic stretches—movements that take your joints through a full range of motion, such as arm swings and shoulder rolls—and gentle resistance band shoulder exercises, such as band pull-aparts. 

Make sure to mobilize your shoulders through all planes of movement, including flexion (backward and forward), abduction and adduction (sideways) and rotation (twisting). 

Before you attempt an exercise, groove the movement with one or two sets with a very light load. If you feel any pain or niggles, you might have an existing strain or injuries that need attending to before diving into these workouts. If everything feels good, then you’re ready to start adding weight. 

For more advice on how to prepare your shoulders for action, check out these eight shoulder warm-up exercises that’ll help kick-start your upper-body workouts. 

Beginner Cable Shoulder Workout

If you’ve never attempted a cable shoulder workout before, lay off heavy weights and complicated movements for now. Even if you’ve mastered your dumbbell shoulder raises, you may be surprised how different these exercises feel when they’re done on the cable machine. Instead, focus on improving your form and developing good body awareness.

For each exercise, pick a weight that you can comfortably complete 12-15 repetitions with and rest for 15-30 seconds between sets. Pay attention to the attachment required for each lift, noted in brackets after each exercise. 

1 Seated cable shoulder press (long revolving bar)

Sets 3 Reps 12-15 Rest 15-30sec 

Sit on a bench facing the cable machine and take note which anchor points are located at approximately your shoulder level. Stand up, then set both ends of the long revolving bar at these anchor points. Sit down on the bench with the bar located in front of your chest, grasp it with both hands using an overhand grip, palms facing away from you. Keeping your back straight and core muscles engaged, press the bar overhead until your arms are fully extended. Slowly return to the starting position. 

2 Cable lateral raise (stirrups)

Sets 2 Reps 12-15 each side Rest 15-30sec 

Set the stirrup attachment at the lowest anchor point. Holding the stirrup in your right hand, position yourself sideways to the machine, so the cable runs in front of your body. Keeping your back straight and core engaged, slowly raise your arm to the right. Once your hand reaches shoulder level, slowly lower the arm to the starting position. Maintain a slight bend in your elbow throughout the entire movement. After all reps are completed, swap sides and repeat. 

3 Cable front raise (short revolving bar)

Sets 3 Reps 12-15 Rest 15-30sec 

Set the short revolving bar at the lowest anchor point. Facing away from the machine, with the cable running between your legs, then grab the bar with both hands using an overhand grip, palms facing down. Keeping your back straight, arms extended and core muscles engaged, raise the bar to shoulder level. Slowly return to the starting position. Maintain a slight bend in your elbow throughout the movement.

4 Cable internal shoulder rotation (stirrups)

Sets 2 Reps 12-15 each side Rest 15-30sec

Set the stirrup attachment at an anchor point in line with your belly button. Grasp the handle and stand side-on to the cable machine, holding the stirrup in the hand closest to the cable machine. Bend your elbow to 90° and pin your upper arm to your torso. With your upper arm glued to your side, rotate your forearm your body. Keep your back straight and core muscles engaged. Slowly return to the starting position. Do all your reps on one side then change sides.

5 Cable external shoulder rotation (stirrups)

Sets 2 Reps 12-15 each side Rest 15-30sec

Set the stirrup at an anchor point in line with your belly button. Holding a handle in your right hand, position yourself sideways to the cable machine, so the cable runs across the front of your body. Bend your elbow to 90° and pin your upper arm to your torso. With your upper arm glued to your side, rotate your forearm away from your body. Keep your back straight and core muscles engaged. Slowly return to the starting position. Do all your reps on one side then change sides.

Intermediate Cable Shoulder Workout

Once you get the hang of the cable machine, you can progress to heavier lifts and more complex movements. Note, however, that more resistance will challenge your core muscles to help maintain your posture during each exercise. If you find that you need to jerk the cable or sway your upper body to complete the set, it’s a sign you need to lower the weight.   

For each exercise, select a weight that you can comfortably complete 8-12 repetitions with and rest for 30-60 seconds between sets.

1 Standing cable shoulder press (long revolving bar)

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 Rest 30-60sec

Set both ends of the long revolving bar at the anchor points in line with your shoulders. Facing away from the machine, stand with the bar in front of you and grab it with both hands using an overhand grip, palms facing away from you. Keeping your back straight and core muscles engaged, press the bar overhead until your arms are fully extended. Slowly return to the starting position.

2 Cable face pull (rope)

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 Rest 30-60sec

Set the rope attachment at an anchor point at eye level. Grab the rope ends with both hands so that your thumbs point to the floor, and extend your arms in front of you. Pull the handles to either side of your face, then rotate your forearms until vertical. To maintain balance, lean back with your weight in your heels and keep your core muscles engaged. Slowly return to the starting position.

3 Cable upright row (long revolving bar)

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 Rest 30-60sec

Set both ends of the long revolving bar at anchor points in line with your knees. Using an overhand grip, palms facing you, grasp the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart, then stand upright. Keeping your back straight and core muscles engaged, pull the bar straight up until level with your upper chest. Make sure that your elbows are always higher than your wrists and that you keep the bar close to your body throughout. Slowly lower the bar until your arms are straight, then repeat. 

4 Cable flye (stirrups)

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 Rest 30-60sec

Set the stirrups at anchor points in line with your shoulders or slightly higher. Grasp each handle to brace the weight, then step away from the cable station and adopt a split stance to provide stability. Maintaining a slight bend in your elbows throughout, bring the handles together in front of your chest. Pause, then slowly return your hands to the starting position. Keep your back straight and core muscles engaged throughout the entire movement. Switch feet halfway through each set. 

5 External rotation in 90˚ abduction (stirrups)

Sets 3 Reps 8-12 each side Rest 30-60sec

Go very light with this one. Set one stirrup at chest height. Facing the machine, grasp the handle using an overhand grip, palm facing away from your body. Start with your arm raised out to the side of your body and your elbow bent to 90˚, with your elbow level with your shoulder and forearm parallel with the floor. From here, rotate your forearm to vertical. Pause, then slowly rotate your forearm back to the start. Do all your reps on one side then change sides.

Advanced Cable Shoulder Workout

Advanced exercisers can take full advantage of cable machine. If you have sufficient strength and mobility in your shoulders, don’t shy away from heavy lifts, complex movements and isometric holds—embrace the variety and see your shoulder size and strength soar. 

For each exercise, perform a light warm-up set of 8 to 12 repetitions, then progress to heavier weights for each working set. Rest for two minutes between the heavy sets.

1 Cable standing shoulder press (stirrups)

Sets 3 Reps 4-8 Rest 2min 

Set both stirrups at the lowest anchor points. Facing away from the machine, stand with the bar in front of you and grab it with both hands using an overhand grip, palms facing away from you. Keeping your back straight and core muscles engaged, press the bar overhead until your arms are fully extended. Slowly return to the starting position.

2 Cable Y raise (stirrups)

Sets 3 Reps 4-8 Rest 2min

Set the stirrups at the lowest anchor points. Grasp the right stirrup in your left hand and the left stirrup in your right hand. Standing between the cable towers, bring your arms down so your hands are crossed in front of your body. Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, pull the cables up and back until your body resembles a letter Y. Slowly return to the starting position. Avoid rounding your shoulders, hunching your back or tilting your body backward. Start light and build the weight up gradually.

3 Cable twisting overhead press (stirrups)

Sets 3 Reps 4-8 Rest 2min

Set the stirrups level with your belly button. Facing the cable machine, grasp the handle with an overhand grip, palm facing you, then stand in a wide stance with your free hand placed on your hip to help maintain your balance. Bring the stirrup to your upper chest level. Brace your core, then press the handle up and across your body until your arm is fully extended while slightly rotating your torso. This rotation will recruit more muscles around your shoulder than a traditional overhead press. Slowly return to the starting position.

4 Cable lateral raise hold (stirrups)

Sets 2 Reps 4-6 each side with a 5sec pause Rest 2min

Set the stirrup attachment at the lowest anchor point. Holding the stirrup in your right hand, position yourself sideways to the machine, so the cable runs in front of your body. Keeping your back straight and core engaged, slowly raise your arm to the right. Once your hand reaches shoulder height, pause for five seconds, then slowly lower the arm to the starting position. Maintain a slight bend in your elbow throughout the entire movement. Change sides after you complete each set. 

5 Cable front raise hold (stirrups)

Sets 2 Reps 4-6 per side with a 5sec pause Rest 2min

Set the stirrup at the lowest anchor point. Facing away from the machine, grasp one handle with an overhand grip (palm facing behind you). Keeping your back straight and core muscles engaged, raise your arm in front of you. Once your hand reaches shoulder height, pause for five seconds, then slowly return to the starting position. Maintain a slight bend in your elbow throughout the entire movement. Change sides after you complete each set. 

There are so many different exercises to choose from, it can be difficult to know which movements to spend your limited training time on.

That’s why I was intrigued by physiotherapist Sam Caddick’s ringing endorsement of the Cossack squat in a recent Instagram post, so I spoke to him to find out more.

According to Caddick, the Cossack squat is one of the best tests of strength and mobility, as it recruits a wide range of lower-body joints and muscles.

“The reason why I love this drill so much is because it brings in the four mechanics of the lower body,” says Caddick. “These are ankle mobility (dorsiflexion), knee flexion—driving the knee over the toe—as well as working into a deep hip-flexed position and working through the adductors, testing the groin strength and length.

“It’s also a great way of working through the lateral movement pattern, so left to right.”

What’s more, it's also a unilateral exercise, which means you’ll be working on one leg at a time, ensuring both are equally as strong and mobile.

So what’s stopping you from adding it to your leg workouts? Probably the fact that it requires greater mobility than many of us possess, which is why Caddick’s Instagram post is so helpful. Watch him demonstrate several regressions to help you get started.

“To regress the drill, use a band strapped around something [such as a squat rack] to lean back on so you're able to get further and deeper into the motion,” says Caddick. “You can always use your hands to support you on a block to help you get further into the position. Or use a weight as counterbalance which should reposition the torso so you’re able to get deeper into the stretch.”

If you have limited ankle mobility, Caddick recommends raising one heel on a wedge or a block, so you can move deeper into the exercise.

Once the movement comes easily, Caddick has also provided progressions too. “You can straddle wider and you can add additional load in the form of a kettlebell or a dumbbell and hold it in a front-loaded position at the chest.”

If you only have 10 minutes to fit in your workout, then you need to train smart, and this 10-minute dumbbell workout from personal trainer Adam Enaz will certainly encourage you to do just that.

The workout uses two strategies based on studies that have proven them effective—antagonist supersets and stretch-mediated hypertrophy.

“Antagonist supersets mean you work opposing muscle groups with little rest to save time,” says Enaz. “By doing this, it allows one unrelated muscle group to rest while the other gets worked.”

“We are also going to use the most effective exercise for each muscle group that stimulates the most growth using the latest ‘stretch-mediated hypertrophy’ method, which has shown that the more a muscle is worked in the stretch position, the more it grows.”

10-Minute Dumbbell Workout

After a quick warm-up set of squats, the workout involves doing two supersets and then a tri-set, where you’ll be resting for a maximum of 15 seconds between each exercise in the sets. For each move Enaz says to go close to failure, aiming for at least 12-15 reps, so choose your weight with this in mind.

If you’re going to fit this into 10 minutes, you will need to move fast and take minimal rest, so it’s worth lining up the equipment you need for each exercise in advance—you’ll have to use a bench and a preacher bench, as well as having the dumbbells you need to hand.

10-Minute Dumbbell Workout Overview

• Warm-up Unweighted squat x 25
• 1A Bulgarian split squat x 12-15+ each side
• 1B Lateral raise x 12-15+
• 2A Dumbbell bench press x 12-15+
• 2B Single-arm row x 12-15+ each side
• 3A Preacher curl x 12-15+ each side
• 3B Triceps overhead extension x 12-15+ each side
• 3C Dumbbell sit-up x 12-15

Warm-Up

Unweighted squat

Reps 25

“Start by doing 25 warm-up bodyweight squats, crouching up and down to get your heart rate up,” says Enaz.

Superset 1

1A Bulgarian split squat

Reps 12-15+ each side

Targets Glutes, quads, hamstrings

Hold dumbbells by your sides, stand with a knee-high platform such as a bench or sofa two to three feet behind you. Extend your right leg behind you and rest your toes on the bench. From this starting position, bend your front knee to lower until your front thigh is horizontal. Push through your front foot to return to the start. Do all the reps on one leg then switch to the other.

1B Lateral raise

Reps 12-15+

Targets Shoulders

Hold dumbbells by your sides with your palms facing you. Lift the dumbbells out to the sides to shoulder height, pause then lower under control. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows throughout.

Superset 2

2A Dumbbell bench press

Reps 12-15+

Targets Chest

“Lie back on a bench and keep the dumbells close to your chest,” says Enaz. “Press the dumbbells to lock out at the top and bring them back down, holding for two seconds in the stretched position at the bottom.”

2B Single-arm row

Reps 12-15+ each side

Targets Back

“Holding a dumbbell in your right hand, bend over to place your left knee and left hand on a bench to support your body weight,” says Enaz. “Your hand should be placed directly under your shoulder and your knees should be positioned directly under your hips. Now pull the dumbbell towards your hips and then slowly lower.”

Do all your reps on one arm then switch to the other side.

Tri-set

3A Preacher curl

Reps 12-15+ each side

Targets Biceps

“Grab a dumbbell with your left hand and place the upper arm on top of the preacher bench, which you should have at a 60° angle,” says Enaz. “The dumbbell should be held at shoulder height. This will be your starting position. Slowly lower the dumbbell until your upper arm is extended and the biceps is fully stretched and then bring it back up to the starting position.”

Do all your reps on one arm then switch to the other side.

3B Triceps overhead extension

Reps 12-15+ each side

Targets Triceps

“Grab a dumbbell with one hand and position it behind your head with your elbow flexed to 90°,” says Enaz. “Contract your triceps and press the dumbbell upwards until your arm is fully extended. Pause and return the weight to the start.”

Do all your reps on one arm before switching to the other.

3C Dumbbell sit-up

Reps 12-15+

Targets Abs

“Lie down on a mat with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor,” says Enaz. “Hold a dumbbell to your chest. Engage the core and slowly roll up so that the dumbbell touches your knees. Lower back down with control.”

Need help choosing? Our guide to the best dumbbells will help.

If there’s one exercise that feels beyond most gym-goers, it’s the pull-up. It makes sense that they’re one of the toughest moves to do. After all, you’re lifting your entire body weight.

“Consistency, patience, and progressive overload are essential principles for mastering the pull-up,” says Ali Malik, a personal trainer and founder of Fit Labs Kensington.

Our four-week pull-up workout plan for beginners sticks to those principles, but if you’re keen to speed up your progress or lay strong foundations while you wait for a home pull-up bar to be delivered, Malik has recommended a few exercises that will help you strengthen the muscles you need to do a pull-up.

“Incorporate pull-up-specific exercises into your routine at least two to three times per week, gradually increasing intensity, volume, and resistance over time,” says Malik.

“While calisthenics exercises like pull-ups and bodyweight rows are excellent for building functional strength, incorporating weight training exercises like lat pull-downs, rows and deadlifts can provide additional muscle stimulation and variety to your training regimen,” says Malik.

Here, he shares a variation of bodyweight and weighted exercises to help you achieve your first pull-up or improve the number of reps you’re able to do.

1 Negative pull-up

Why “This eccentric phase of the movement helps build muscle strength and control, which are essential for performing full pull-ups,” says Malik.

How Use a box or a step to get into the top of a pull-up position, with your chin above the bar and your hands gripping the bar shoulder-width apart. Lower yourself as slowly as possible until your arms are fully extended.

2 Band pull-apart

Why “Strengthening the muscles responsible for scapular retraction, such as the rhomboids and lower trapezius, is crucial for pull-up success,” says Malik.

How Stand holding a resistance band in front of you around chest height with your arms extended and your hands shoulder-width apart. Move each hand out to either side as far as you can. Pause and squeeze your shoulder blades before returning to the start under control. 

3 Face pull

Why This is another exercise to strengthen scapular retraction.

How Set up a cable machine with a double rope attachment fixed at eye level. Face the anchor and hold the handles with an overhand grip, palms facing the floor, Step back until your arms are extended at chest height and the cable is taut. Pull the handles towards either side of your face, then rotate your forearms to vertical, your elbow should be at a 90° angle. Pause and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Slowly return the handles to the start.

4 Lat pull-down

Why “Incorporating lat pull-downs and rowing exercises into your strength training routine can target the same muscle groups used in pull-ups, such as the latissimus dorsi, biceps and upper-back muscles,” says Malik. “Gradually increasing resistance and volume will contribute to overall pull-up strength.”

How Sit in a lat pull-down machine and hold the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your palms facing forward. Pull the bar down towards your chest. Pause and squeeze your shoulder blades. You can move backward slightly but don’t swing your torso to generate momentum to move the weight. Return the bar to the start under control.

I often deal with stiffness in my upper body. And if there's one area that tends to be particularly tight and achy, which I suspect might be the case for many people, it's my back.

I work a desk job, so I spend most of my time sitting down, often hunched over my laptop, which inevitably puts pressure on my back.

My fairly stationary working day paired with some tough upper-body workouts I've done recently meant that my back was very stiff last week. So I was excited to see an Instagram Reel by physiotherapist Sam Caddick with one exercise designed to relieve discomfort and stiffness in the back.

Take a look at Caddick’s Reel where he demonstrates the move.

I got in contact with Caddick to find out more about the movement. “I really like this stretch because it works through hip rotation, lengthening and loading the outside of the glutes while working on opening the quadriceps and the bigger muscles around the hips,” says Caddick.

I decided to try this stretch first thing in the morning, as this is when my muscles feel the most stiff. I normally don’t stretch as soon as I wake up—I usually head straight to the gym or my kitchen table to start work—so I tried this for a few days to see if it helped with achiness in my back.

“This drill is super handy because it requires no equipment so you can do it at home or even in the office, which is great especially if you spend a lot of time sitting at your desk,” says Caddick. “Hold this as a passive stretch for up to two minutes if you can tolerate it, to get the most out of the stretch.”

This stretch primarily targeted my hips, but it also opened up my shoulders and the muscles in my upper back, which felt great. It revealed that I wasn’t as flexible as I thought and I could feel my muscles protesting as I moved my leg forward.

Holding the stretch for up to two minutes was difficult, as I felt extremely tight. But after about a minute, I settled into the stretch a bit more and my entire body felt more relaxed afterward, particularly the muscles in my back and upper body.

Caddick stresses in the Reel’s caption that there's no one move to fix back pain. Incorporating back exercises, back stretches and mobility exercises into your routine can help, but seeking professional help is the best way to deal with the issue for good.

However, if you're anything like me and you're looking for a quick way to relieve your symptoms, this exercise could do the job. I'll be coming back to it as a quick way to mobilize my hips and upper-body muscles in the morning and throughout the day.

The push-up is one of the best bodyweight exercises you can do, and possibly the most well-known exercise of all. However, there’s a difference between knowing an exercise and knowing how to execute it perfectly to get the most from the movement, and if you take the time to nail your technique with the push-up you’ll increase its effectiveness.

One of the most important things to pay attention to when performing push-ups is your elbow position, because how much you flare your elbows during the exercise will change the muscles you’re predominantly targeting during the move.

I spoke to Alasdair Nicoll, personal trainer and tutor at The Fitness Group, which provides personal training courses, to get his advice on how to do a push-up and his top tip for elbows position was to think about forming an arrowhead with your upper body.

“You want to make sure that the direction in which the elbows are traveling is right,” says Nicoll. “You don't want them traveling out to the side because that’s going to put unnecessary stress through the shoulder.

“If we were to look over the top of the person, we’d want to see an arrow shape from the head down to both elbows. They should be angling back at pretty much a 45° angle. That would be optimal for prioritizing the chest, and will also help to get a full range of motion through the chest.”

You’ll find more of Nicoll’s tips in our push-up form guide. And once you’ve nailed your technique, dive headfirst into this 30-day push-up challenge and build up to doing 100 push-ups in one go.

“What’s your Fran time?” is the CrossFit equivalent of “What do you bench, bro?”

The two-move CrossFit workout is the sport’s best-known benchmark test, and a sub-six-minute time will earn you a nod of approval from seasoned box-goers. 

That’s because to achieve that time you need to go to hell and back. The combination of thrusters and pull-ups is like a weekly push/pull/legs split condensed into a few minutes—it will send your heart rate soaring before leaving you flat on your back.

Still want to try it? Thought so. Find out how below, along with some top tips from professional CrossFitter and Represent 247-sponsored athlete Victor Hoffer for achieving your best possible time.

How To Do CrossFit Workout Fran

Perform 21-15-9 reps of:

1. Barbell thruster (RX weights 95lb/43kg for men, 65lb/30kg for women)
2. Pull-up

Fran is a straightforward workout. Complete alternating sets of barbell thrusters and pull-ups in a descending 21-15-9 rep scheme: 21 thrusters, 21 pull-ups, 15 thrusters, 15 pull-ups, nine thrusters and nine pull-ups. 

To meet CrossFit’s standards on the thrusters, the crease of your hip has to pass below the top of your knees during the squat, and your hips, knees and arms must be fully extended at the top of the rep. 

However, there are three options for performing the pull-ups. You can do butterfly pull-ups, kipping pull-ups or strict pull-ups. 

If you’re not racing and want a greater challenge, choose strict pull-ups. But if you’re looking for your best possible score, you’ll want to go for butterfly or kipping pull-ups, depending on which one you’re more proficient in.

These two pull-up variations use a leg swing to generate momentum as you raise your chin over the bar, saving your muscles and speeding up your reps. Kipping pull-ups see you swing up and down from the bar in a C-shape, while butterfly pull-ups involve moving your chest in a fluid, round motion—as your chest comes forward, your legs go backward, and vice versa. 

However, it’s recommended that you are proficient with strict pull-ups before progressing to kipping or butterfly variations. It’s also important that you learn how to do these advanced versions from a certified coach, as they require a higher level of skill to perform than the strict version of the movement. 

Who Created The Fran Workout?

According to the CrossFit Journal, CrossFit founder Greg Glassman believed that training with weights would improve his abilities as a gymnast, but he found traditional bodybuilding moves, didn’t light up his lungs and muscles like a traditional two-minute gymnastic routine on the rings or parallel bars.

This led him to pair thrusters and pull-ups using a 21-15-9 rep scheme—a workout he completed in 6min 46sec.

How To Get A Good Fran Time

Even though this is a short workout, the way you approach it will depend on your training experience and fitness level, according to professional CrossFit athlete Victor Hoffer.

“If you’re at that elite level then it’s quite a light thruster weight and the workout is very fast, so people will just want to go ‘full send’,” says Hoffer. 

However, if you’re a beginner or intermediate athlete, a 95lb/43kg or 65lb/30kg is going to feel fairly heavy, particularly after 20 reps. For this reason, Hoffer recommends breaking up at least the first round into smaller, faster and more manageable sets. 

“I think taking some breaks will help you go faster overall: do quick thrusters, drop the barbell, take a breath, then get back to doing quick thrusters.  

“When I have a big set like 21, I love to do sets of eight, seven and six reps. Every time you’re doing that little bit less, which can be good.”

You can mirror this with your sets of pull-ups, or tweak it depending on how confident you feel with this higher-skill exercise. 

“If you’re comfortable with the gymnastics move, it may be easier to do just one break,” says Hoffer. “Then for the round of 15 you could do an eight and a seven, before trying to go unbroken on the final round of nine.”

If you’re looking for a simple but effective session to strengthen your upper body, grab a kettlebell and give this workout a try. This upper-body kettlebell workout has been put together by Kunal Makwana, PT and founder of KMAK Fitness, and the difficulty can be adjusted for different fitness levels by using a lighter or heavier weight.

Depending on the speed at which you tackle the exercises and the amount of rest you take, the session will take between 20 and 45 minutes including a warm-up and warm-down. Take enough rest to ensure you’re working with good form and at the right intensity during your sets.

Upper-Body Kettlebell Workout

Warm-Up

1 Arm circles

Sets 1 Time 30sec each direction

“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, extend your arms to the sides at shoulder height, and make small circles, gradually getting larger,” says Makwana. “Do this for 30 seconds in each direction.”

2 Kettlebell halo

Sets 1 Reps 8-10 each direction

“Hold a light kettlebell by the handles in front of your face,” says Makwana. “Slowly circle it around your head, keeping your core tight and posture upright. “Perform 8-10 halos in each direction.”

Workout

1 Kettlebell swing 

Sets 3 Reps 12-15 Rest 30-60sec

Targets Shoulders and back

“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the kettlebell with both hands,” says Makwana. “Hinge at your hips to swing the kettlebell between your legs, then thrust your hips forward, swinging the kettlebell to chest level. Keep your arms straight and core engaged throughout the movement.”

2 Kettlebell clean and press

Sets 3 Reps 8-10 each side Rest 30-60sec

Targets Shoulders, chest and arms

“Start with the kettlebell between your feet,” says Makwana. “Bend your knees slightly, hinge at the hips, and grab the kettlebell with one hand. In one smooth motion, lift the kettlebell, flipping your wrist so it rests on your forearm by your shoulder. Press the kettlebell overhead, extending your arm fully, then lower it back to the starting position.”

3 Kettlebell row

Sets 3 Reps 10-12 each side Rest 30-60sec

Targets Back and biceps

“Place one hand on a bench for support, and hold a kettlebell in the opposite hand,” says Makwana. Alternatively, you can take a split stance and place one hand on your front knee. “Keep your back flat and let the kettlebell hang straight down. Pull the kettlebell up to your side, keeping your elbow close to your body, then lower it back down with control.”

4 Kettlebell floor press

Sets 3 Reps 8-10 each side Rest 30-60sec

Targets: Chest, triceps, and shoulders

“Lie on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor,” says Makwana. “Hold a kettlebell in one hand above your shoulder with your arm fully extended. Lower the kettlebell until your elbow touches the floor, then press it back up to the starting position.”

5 Kettlebell windmill

Sets 3 Reps 6-8 each side Rest 30-60sec

Targets Shoulders, obliques and hamstrings

“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a kettlebell in your right hand overhead,” says Makwana. “Keeping your gaze on the kettlebell, hinge at the waist and lower your torso towards the left foot, touching it with your left hand (or as close as you can). Reverse the motion to return to the starting position.”

Warm-down

“Focus on stretching the upper-body muscles that were worked during the session,” says Makwana. “Include stretches for the shoulders, chest, back and arms, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.” 

Get help deciding which kettlebell to buy with the expert advice in our guide to the best kettlebells.

Incorporating regular strength training into your routine is one of the best ways to become a better runner, and normally that means a lot of single-leg exercises and core work. But if you completely neglect your upper body you could be missing out on performance benefits.

Running coach, ultra runner and level 4 personal trainer Olga Stignii, who is also captain of Midnight Runners, recently shared a workout on Instagram designed to help runners strengthen the muscles in the arms, core and back.

Intrigued, I got in touch with Stignii to find out why she recommended upper-body work for runners. “A fortified upper body helps you to run stronger for longer,” Stignii told me. “Prioritizing upper-body strength training can elevate your running, enhance endurance, and reduce the risk of injuries as it helps build a strong foundation.

“Arms play a crucial role in propelling you forward, especially during sprints and uphills. With more power in your upper body, you’ll push through fatigue and maintain your pace.”

Take a look at Stignii's Instagram Reel where she demonstrates each of the moves. Complete three sets of 12-15 reps for each exercise. Rest for two minutes between each set to allow your body to recover.

Stignii told me she likes to program compound exercises such as rows, presses and pull-ups, to engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously, which mimics the demands of running.

She also includes exercises that work one side of the body at a time. “Unilateral exercises such as single-arm rows, single-arm presses and unilateral cable machine exercises to address asymmetries and improve balance,” says Stignii.

There’s no single workout that will help you hit your weight loss goals by itself (and it needs to be paired with a suitable nutrition plan), but some are more helpful than others. This dumbbell workout is a great addition to any routine, helping you to burn fat and build muscle, as well as improving your cardio fitness. 

It’s been put together by Sarah Spence, personal trainer at F45 Brixton, and should take around 30 minutes to perform, depending on how long you need to rest during and in between the four rounds of six exercises.

Dumbbell Workout For Fat Loss Instructions

“This workout will build muscle, increase strength, get your heart rate up and get you in that fat-burning zone,” says Spence. “There are six exercises in total and four rounds. Rest when you need it but try to keep moving as much as you can and limit rest between exercises.

“A medium pair of dumbbells is best for this, you should be able to move quickly and explosively but still feel challenged by the weights.”

Dumbbell Workout For Fat Loss Overview

Complete four rounds of the following.

1. Dumbbell squat to press x 10
2. Dumbbell reverse lunge x 10 each side
3. Renegade row x 8 each side
4. Dumbbell Romanian deadlift x 10
5. Dumbbell star jump x 30
6. Devil’s press x 10

Dumbbell Workout For Fat Loss Form Guides

1 Dumbbell squat to press

Reps 10

“Stand with your feet just wider than hip-width apart and the dumbbells by your shoulders,” says Spence. “Squat down, then drive up and press the dumbbells above your head. Use power from your hips to help push the dumbbells up.”

2 Dumbbell reverse lunge

Reps 10 each side

Stand holding the dumbbells by your sides. Step back and bend both knees to lower until both knees are bent at 90°. Push back up through your front foot to stand. Alternate legs until you’ve done 10 reps on both sides.

“Keep your feet hip-width apart and don’t get too narrow in the lunge,” says Spence. 

3 Renegade row

Reps 8 each side

“Start in a high plank position with your hands on the dumbbells,” says Spence. “Push into one dumbbell and row the other dumbbell up towards your hip. Keep your hips as still as possible, you can drop to your knees if needed.”

4 Dumbbell Romanian deadlift

Reps 10

“Stand holding the dumbbells in front of your legs,” says Spence. “Keep the dumbbells touching your legs as you push your hips back, keeping the knees soft. Bring the dumbbells down to just below the knee—this may vary depending on your hamstring mobility. Keep your back flat and chest proud. Stand up tall using your hips, keeping the dumbbells close to your legs. This movement should feel controlled.”

5 Dumbbell star jump

Reps 30

“This will raise the heart rate,” says Spence. “Start with the dumbbells on your shoulders. Punch the sky with the dumbbells as the feet jump out. Jump your feet back in and bring the dumbbells back down to your shoulders. Move as quickly as possible.”

6 Devil’s press

Spence has detailed a modified version of the devil’s press—you don’t need to lower your chest to the floor.

Reps 10

“Start in a high plank position with your hands on the dumbbells,” says Spence. “Jump your feet forward so they land outside your hands with your heels on the floor. Sit back into a squat position and then stand tall lifting the dumbbells overhead. Try to use the power from standing up to lift the dumbbells, then control the movement on the way down back to a high plank.”

For most mere mortals, abs exercises using just your bodyweight, like sit-ups and leg raises, provide enough of a challenge to encourage muscle growth and increase strength. But some, especially those looking to take their six-pack to the next level, might need to recruit additional load to keep them growing.

Enter the cable crunch. This bodybuilding favorite uses the cable machine to make the crunch exercise much more challenging. That may sound great, but it’s not the easiest movement to master and you should exercise caution before adding it to your abs workouts. 

For the dos and don’ts of this exercise we spoke with Eddie Baruta, global head of gym floor personal training at Ultimate Performance, and Cara D’Ozario, PT and owner of CGM Fitness. 

How To Do The Cable Crunch

The cable crunch is not an entry-level exercise. “It’s tough to execute because you have to really anchor your legs and hips in position to effectively target your abs,” says Baruta. When practiced correctly, he says, your primary focus should be on “bringing your rib cage towards your pelvis”. Nothing more, nothing less. 

The most common version of this tricky exercise is practiced facing toward the cable machine. For the facing away variation, see further down the page. 

The Set-Up

Connect the triceps rope attachment to the highest pulley. Start with a light load on the weight stack as you get familiar with the movement. Kneel facing the anchor point and hold either end of the attachment by your shoulders with the rope just behind your head. 

The Crunch

Lengthen your body to avoid slouching, and lock your pelvis and legs in position. Take a breath in, then slowly curl your torso forward, focusing on bringing your rib cage towards your pelvis to engage and shorten your target muscles. It’s only a small movement and you should feel the muscles working hard.

The Return 

Pause for a second at the point of maximum contraction, then slowly uncurl your torso to lengthen your abs muscles until your body is fully upright, exhaling as you go. All the power and control for the exercise should stem from your core muscles rather than your legs, hip flexors or arms.

Cable Crunch Benefits

Cable Crunch Risks

If the cable crunch is performed incorrectly, you’ll certainly know about it. “You’ll probably start to feel tension build up in your lower back,” says Baruta. If that’s the case, park your ego and reduce the weight on the stack so you don’t do any damage. 

Common Cable Crunch Mistakes

The cable crunch exercise requires good body awareness and a solid base level of fitness to get right—or else it could easily go wrong. Here are the most common mistakes our coaches see gym-goers make.

1. Harnessing Momentum

“One of the most common mistakes I see with the cable crunch—and with most abs exercises generally—is when people misuse momentum,” says Baruta. To fix this, he urges you to think about “lengthening your abs instead of allowing the weight to pull you back up” during the eccentric phase of the lift.

Baruta also suggests matching the tempo of the concentric phase of the move with that of the eccentric section. For example, two seconds down, two seconds up. “That will teach you to properly connect with the muscles you’re trying to recruit,” he says.

Once that’s mastered, you can then slightly accelerate the concentric phase of the lift to see how that changes the emphasis of the exercise. 

2. Shifting Your Hips 

Another common mistake is involving your hips in the movement. “They should remain stable throughout,” says D’Ozario. Otherwise, instead of challenging your abs, you’ll end up shifting all the emphasis to your hip flexors. 

Only crunch as low as you can without shifting your hips out of position, either forward or backward, and if your shoulders get anywhere near horizontal you’ve gone way too far. 

3. Straining Your Neck

One other common error D’Ozario has spotted is when people strain their neck in trying to generate power to initiate the move. “As you crunch forward, keep your chin tucked in to your chest,” she recommends, just like you should with standard crunches and sit-ups. 

Cable Crunch Variations

While there are many crunch variations to consider once you’ve mastered the basic crunch, here we’ll concentrate on variations of the cable crunch.

Facing-away cable crunch 

A simple variation to the classic cable crunch detailed above is the facing-away version. This means the pulley is set up slightly behind you, meaning you can more easily reach full extension at the top of the exercise. 

“The facing-away option is better if you can effectively anchor your legs and hips in position,” says Baruta. “You’ll then be able to shorten the muscles more effectively and feel the contraction in the right place. If the set-up is optimal, this will allow you to load the muscle where it is strongest, then allow it to drop off a little bit where you are weakest.” 

Standing cable crunch

For people who struggle to kneel, you can attempt this exercise standing up. Again, you need to focus on locking your hips and pelvis in position to effectively target the abs muscles. 

About Our Experts

The benefits of strength training for women are profound. Beyond the obvious improvements in functional strength for everyday activities, regular resistance training can also help resist osteoporosis, improve mobility, flexibility and posture, and reverse the signs of aging. Genuinely.

“As we age we naturally lose muscle, therefore ensuring we stimulate muscle tissue regularly is of utmost importance in order to counteract this,” says personal trainer Sian Childs, who specializes in training women. 

“Strength training also has a huge benefit in terms of pain management and recovery when carried out safely during pregnancy, postnatally and also during the menopause,” she adds.

Getting started is straightforward too, and to help Childs has devised a six-move upper-body workout that only requires a pair of dumbbells and a sturdy platform—a weights bench if you’re in the gym, or a sturdy chair if you’re at home. No dumbbells? No problem, you’ll find plenty of workouts for women, from PTs who work extensively with women, in our women’s fitness section.

How To Do This Upper-Body Workout For Women

This upper-body workout for women is built around three supersets, which require you to perform each pair of exercises back-to-back with no break in between. After each superset, rest for 60 seconds, then return to exercise A and repeat until you’ve completed each superset three times in total. Then move on to the next superset. 

You'll notice there are also rep ranges for each exercise. Childs suggests choosing a weight that makes completing the lowest number of reps manageable, but still challenging.

“If you complete eight reps of each exercise the first time you complete this workout, aim for sets of nine or 10 the next time you tackle it,” says Childs. “When you repeat it for a third time, try increasing the weights you use for each set, aiming for eight reps and so on.”

This bit-by-bit approach, known as progressive overload, is the secret sauce for increasing muscle size and strength. Repeat the workout regularly and you’ll see results fast.  

If all you have is one pair of dumbbells that feels a little too light for some of the moves, such as the row, slow down the movement to keep your muscles under tension for longer. 

Likewise, if your weights are too heavy for any exercise, such as the lateral raises, go for partial reps instead, where you only lift the weight for half or a quarter of the given rep range. It will still put your muscles under tension and encourage them to adapt and grow.  

Upper-Body Workout For Women Overview

• 1A Push-up: 3 x 8-10
• 1B Single-arm row: 3 x 8-10
• 2A Single-arm overhead press: 3 x 8-10 each side
• 2B Bench dip: 3 x 10-12
• 3A Biceps curl: 3 x 10-12
• 3B Lateral raise: 3 x 12-15

Upper-Body Workout For Women Form Guides

1A Push-up

Sets 3 Reps 8-10 Rest 0sec

Target muscles Chest and triceps

Get onto your hands and the balls of your feet with your arms extended and hands underneath your shoulders, your core engaged and your body in a straight line from your shoulders to ankles. Bend your elbows and lower your chest as low as you can, then push up to the start position. If performing this move on your knees, ensure your shoulders, hips and knees are in alignment.

1B Single-arm row

Sets 3 Reps 8-10 each side Rest 60sec

Target muscles Upper back and biceps

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart facing a weight bench or sturdy chair, holding one dumbbell in your right hand. With a slight bend in your knees, hinge forward at your hips and place your left hand on the bench, letting your right arm hang down. Your torso should be close to parallel with the floor. Retract your shoulder blade on your right side to engage your upper back muscles, then lift the dumbbell toward your right hip, pause, then lower under control. Do all your reps on one side, then switch sides.

2A Single-arm overhead press 

Sets 3 Reps 8-10 each side Rest 0sec

Target muscles Shoulders

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding one dumbbell at shoulder height with your palm facing you and the other arm outstretched to the side for balance. Engage your core and extend your arm to lift the weight straight up. Lower under control and repeat on all sides before switching arms. 

The version outlined above is a strict form dumbbell shoulder press. If you find the weight a bit heavy, you can use your legs to help get the weight up. Bend your knees slightly, then straighten your legs as you press the dumbbell overhead—the extra momentum will help. Just slow down the lowering part of the movement to develop shoulder muscles.

2B Bench dip

Sets 3 Reps 10-12 Rest 60sec

Target muscles Chest and triceps

Sit on the edge of a bench or chair, with your legs extended in front of you and your heels resting on the floor. Place the palms of your hands on the edge of the bench and shuffle your butt off the chair, then bend your elbows to lower. Pause once your elbows are bent to 90°, then extend your arms to return to the start position. Keep looking forward throughout. 

3A Biceps curl 

Sets 3 Reps 10-12 Rest 0sec

Target muscles Biceps

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells with your palms facing forward, elbows tucked in to your body. Brace your core and bend your elbows to lift the dumbbells to your shoulders. Squeeze your biceps hard, then lower under control. If fatigue sets in, alternate arms with each rep to make it slightly easier. 

3B Lateral raise

Sets 3 Reps 12-15 Rest 60sec

Target muscles Shoulders 

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding dumbbells by your sides with your palms facing and a slight bend in your elbows. Engage your core and squeeze your glutes to provide a strong base, then raise your arms out to the sides, stopping when your arms are parallel with the floor. Lower the dumbbells slowly. 

If you only have one pair of weights and they are too heavy for you to complete the movement, perform partial reps instead. From the start position, raise the weights up halfway or a quarter of the way to engage your deltoid muscles, then return them to the start position slowly and repeat. Aim to keep the muscles under tension as long as you can bear. 

See more great options with our guide to the best dumbbells.

Anyone who’s jumped on an air bike and put the pedal to the metal will know this cardio machine is a nasty piece of work. It batters your arms, legs and lungs—leaving you feeling like a lactic-filled sack. 

If you’re the sort of person still reading after that intro, I’ve got something for you: a brutal air bike workout that takes five minutes.

I stumbled across it in the Assault Fitness newsletter and couldn’t resist trying it. It promptly reduced me to a jelly-legged mess, so I thought I’d pop it here for Coach readers to try too. Sharing is caring, after all. 

How To Do Assault Fitness’ Air Bike Workout

For time (as fast as possible):

• Air bike x 21 calories
• Burpee x 9
• Air bike x 15 calories
• Burpee x 15
• Air bike x 9 calories
• Burpee x 21

This is a twist on the popular 21-15-9 CrossFit workout format. Instead of doing descending reps for both exercises, the burpees start at nine and finish at 21 and the air bike calories start at 21 and finish at nine.  

The aim is to finish it as fast as possible—all gas, no brakes. 

What Happened When I Tried This Air Bike Workout

“You looked like you were in pain,” a fellow gym-goer told me after I finished this workout. I laughed. I was in pain. 

It all started so promisingly too. I put the hammer down to try and race through the opening 21 calories on the bike and the first 10 calories flew by. Say what you want about an Assault Bike, if you give it your all the calories tick up quickly.

Then things started to slow down. My heart rate spiked, my quads started to feel heavy and I found it increasingly hard to generate power through the pedals. The air bike’s monitor told the story, with my RPM plummeting and the calories creeping up in 0.2 increments towards the end of the set. 

I eventually made it to 21, dismounted and cranked through the burpees. My speed isn’t amazing on burpees but I can keep going—fall down, get up, small jump, repeat. 

Then it was back to the bike. As is always the case for an average athlete like me, the 21-15-9 format is too long to sprint and too short to relax into. 

So, rather than going full send as I did at the beginning, I found a maximum sustainable pace for the remaining two rounds, settling in at roughly 65-70 RPM, before pushing hard on the last set of 21 burpees.

I finished in 5min 13sec, shy of my sub-five target, then crawled off to a quiet corner to recover. 

Next time, I’d try to hold a consistent pace rather than sprinting straight out the gate. By doing this, I could avoid taking myself to exhaustion then slowing considerably, and hold a higher average speed throughout the workout to achieve a faster time. 

Many of us have favorite workouts we return to time and again, workouts we know are building strength in the most-needed areas and that don’t require specialist equipment.

This workout from PT Ollie Thompson deserves a place on any list of favorite workouts. It’s a five-move equipment-free workout that targets all your muscle groups. “When combined, these exercises are excellent for building a strong core and posterior chain,” says Thompson. The posterior chain is the collection of muscles that run down the back of your body and are essential for good posture. 

“The glute bridge and reverse lunge target muscles on the back of the legs, including the glutes and hamstrings. This makes the workout particularly beneficial if you're struggling with a stiff lower back, making it an ideal session to perform after a long period of sitting at a desk or traveling.”

And because it’s a bodyweight workout, it can be done virtually anywhere and in next to no time. “Bodyweight workouts are highly efficient,” says Thompson. “You can complete a lot of exercises within a short period making them especially valuable for people short on time.”

Full-Body No-Equipment Workout

1 Push-up to pike

Reps 10-12

Start in a high plank position, with your hands under your shoulders, arms extended, body in a straight line from head to heels, feet hip-width apart and your core engaged. Bend your elbows to lower your chest to the floor, then push through your hands. As you rise, push your hips up and backwards so your body forms an inverted V. Return to the high plank position.

2 Side plank with rotation

Reps 15 each side

Lie on your side with your lower forearm on the floor, elbow directly underneath your shoulder and both feet on the floor, one in front of the other. Lift your hips until your body is in a straight line. Extend your top arm up straight up, then bring the arm down and through the gap between your body and the floor, rotating your torso. Pause, then return to the starting position. Do all your reps on one side then switch sides.

3 Alternating reverse lunge

Reps 15 each side

From standing, step backward and bend both knees to lower until your rear knee is just above the floor. Push through your front foot to return to the start. Repeat on the other side, alternating sides with each rep.

4 Long lever plank

Time 20-30sec

Start in a low plank position, on your forearms and balls of your feet, with your elbows directly underneath your shoulders and your body in a straight line from head to heels. With your core and glutes engaged, walk your feet backward until your elbows are in line with your forehead. Hold for the allotted time, maintaining the position of your body, then release.

5 Single-leg glute bridge

Reps 15 each side

Lie on your back with your knees bent and your arms by your sides. Lift your right foot off the floor, keeping your knee bent. Push through your left foot to raise your butt until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your left knee. Pause then lower your butt back to the floor. Perform all your reps on one side then switch sides.

The chest is one of the most popular upper-body muscles for weight room regulars to train, so I’m always on the lookout for worthy chest workouts to introduce to readers.

That’s why I’m sharing this muscle-building chest session from PT, Nike Well Collective coach and Coach favorite Ali Kabba. It’s ideal for people who are training more than three times a week and have the gym experience necessary to dedicate a session to a single body part. 

If you’re training less than three times a week, it might be better to concentrate on full-body workouts. Try modeling your routine on the progressive plan outlined in this beginner gym workout program.

To complete this routine, you’ll need TRX bands (or another of the best suspension trainers), a weights bench, a barbell and weight plates, and a pair of dumbbells.

Watch Kabba’s Instagram Reel where he demonstrates each exercise.

If you haven’t tried the TRX before you’re in for a treat—incorporating this piece of kit into your routine can offer you lots of benefits. TRX exercises provide a stimulus for the target muscles, but also engage your core as you work to keep your body stable.

Kabba’s workout also features the incline bench press, which shifts the emphasis to your upper chest compared with the flat bench press. In our guide to the incline bench press, NSCA-accredited strength and conditioning coach Andrew Reay recommends lifting a lighter weight than you would use for the flat version of the classic chest exercise. Reay’s rule of thumb is taking what you bench, then dropping the weight by 20-25%, going lighter the higher the angle of the incline.

This workout is made up of push exercises, which will train your chest, as well as your shoulders and triceps. This recruitment of your shoulders means it’s a good idea to add some shoulder warm-up exercises to your warm-up routine.

It’s also a good idea to follow up a chest-focused session with a back workout, to counterbalance the push moves with pull exercises. You can even structure your training this way. Take a look at Coach’s push/pull workout plan for an effective routine to follow.

Not all exercises are created equal, and some deserve a spot in your workout plans more than others. 

To start establishing a hierarchy, I asked top personal trainer Ollie Thompson which three moves he prioritizes above all others, and his answer wasn’t the often recommended trio of barbell exercises—the back squat, bench press and deadlift. 

Instead, he served up some surprising yet worthy exercises to help you elevate your training. 

These include “the king of single-leg strength exercises”, an “effective and accessible variation” of a back-building staple and a loaded carry to set you on your way to a “robust, pain-free, and well-functioning body”.

Three Strength Training Exercises No Plan Should Be Without

1 Split squat 

“I consider the split squat to be the king of single-leg strength exercises,” says Thompson. “I’m a big advocate of single-leg strength exercises because they translate to everyday life. When we walk, run, jump and play sports, we’re predominantly using one leg at a time.

“There are many split squat variations that you can try; they all work your legs in slightly different ways and have their own benefits. 

“The traditional split squat shown here is a straightforward variation that almost anybody can do to strengthen their glutes and quads while building more robust knees, hips and ankles.”

Brush up on your technique with our guide to how to do a split squat.

2 Suitcase carry

“The suitcase carry is just one of many carry exercises that I love to use with clients, and it’s definitely more challenging than it looks,” says Thompson. 

“The suitcase variation in particular—walking with a weight in just one hand—challenges your core laterally, helping to build spinal stability and improve the relationship between shoulders, rib cage and pelvis, which is important for a robust, pain-free and well-functioning body.”

Find out more about loaded carries, including how to do this one-arm variation.

3 Incline bench row 

“A rowing exercise needs to be in this list, and the chest-supported dumbbell row is one of the most effective and accessible variations,” says Thompson. 

“Building a strong upper back is crucial to not only help us to move and function well, but also can help mitigate any lower back pain.”

Read our form guide to the incline bench row.

One of the biggest new features that has come to wearables over the past couple of years is heart rate variability (HRV) tracking, and using this to gauge the stress on your body and how ready it is to exercise.

The Oura ring was the first device I tested to really make this “readiness” measurement useful, tracking your HRV overnight and using it, along with other factors, to give a readiness score every morning so you can judge if you should do a hard workout. It’s also used across many of the best sports watches, especially high-end models from Garmin, with its training readiness score tying together lots of activity and recovery stats, including HRV.

However, getting an Oura ring or a Garmin that gives you this data is expensive, and they might not be giving you perfect data anyway, especially since Garmin watches have a habit of overestimating time asleep.

I’m currently in the middle of a marathon training block for the London Marathon, and I’ve been testing several methods of tracking my readiness at the same time—an Oura ring (3rd generation), the training readiness score from a Garmin Epix Pro watch, and the HRV4Training app (App Store and Google Play).

With the ring and the watch I wear them overnight and they give my readiness score in the morning, using an average of my HRV measured overnight set against my baseline, which takes several weeks to establish.

You also need to set a baseline with the HRV4Training app, but the measurements are done differently—you take it in the morning using the camera on your phone (you can also link a chest strap heart rate monitor if you prefer). You hold a finger over the camera and the flash is used to take a reading of your heart rate and HRV.

This morning HRV measurement needs to be consistent to get the most useful information from the app, with the advice being to take the measurement first thing, sitting up in bed. It takes a minute as standard, but you can set the measurement to take longer, which might make for a more accurate reading. Even a minute sometimes proved a bit tricky for me if woken up by my kids, but I was able to fit it in at the same time each morning.

Along with the measurement, the app asks you to fill out a short questionnaire regarding your recent training, any muscle soreness or mental fatigue, and whether you drank alcohol the night before. You can link apps such as Strava to the HRV4Training app to pull your training in automatically.

After you finish the questionnaire you are given your HRV score and advice on whether it is within your baseline, and whether you should proceed as planned with your training that day, or limit how hard you work.

It’s a simple app to use once you get the knack of positioning your finger on the camera correctly, and I have found the readings and advice to be comparable to the data from the Oura ring. I also like the questionnaire, which makes you aware of your alcohol intake in particular, and the fact the measurement is taken in the morning makes it feel directly applicable to my upcoming training that day.

The HRV4Training app is a lot cheaper than the best watches and wearables to give readiness info, and the fact you don’t have to wear a watch or even a ring overnight will appeal to some people. It costs $9.99/£9.99 as a one-off fee, though there is a pro version that gives you access to a web platform for more insights into your measurements.

If you wouldn’t be seen dead near a cardio machine, then you may want to try adding conditioning workouts into your routine to help your cardio fitness keep pace with your strength.

The EMOM format is a great way to structure a conditioning workout. EMOM stands for every minute on the minute and in this type of workout you have one minute to complete a set amount of work, then you rest for the remainder of the minute. That sequence is repeated over a set period.

In the case of the session PT Liam Fletcher recently posted on Instagram, the EMOM lasts 20 minutes and you have to complete six alternating dumbbell snatches and three burpees over dumbbell every minute. 

Watch Fletcher's Instagram Reel where he demonstrates the two moves.

While 20-minute workouts are normally in the “short” category, this is a hard workout that will feel long because the volume of work adds up and each round feels harder. When that happens you’re faced with a difficult choice: “You either move through the reps faster so you can rest for longer, or if you move slowly, you’ll have less rest,” says Fletcher.

A steady pace from the start is the smartest way to approach an EMOM. “Ideally, you want to find a consistent pace, so choose your weight wisely,” says Fletcher. “If it’s too easy you can increase the weight in the next round.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the dumbbell snatch, it’s also worth starting with a light weight until you’re confident with your form to avoid injury.

"To do the snatch, stand over the dumbbell with your feet shoulder-distance apart," says Fletcher. “Distribute your weight evenly through your feet. Keeping your core engaged throughout, hinge at your hips while keeping your and back straight, then lift the dumbbell off the floor. Drop quickly under the weight into a quarter squat, keeping your elbow high throughout the movement.”

For more guidance, read Coach’s dumbbell snatch form guide.

For help choosing the right dumbbell for you, read Coach’s guide to the best dumbbells.

The pull-up is one of the best bodyweight exercises you can do, but it’s also one of the hardest. Even getting to the stage of being able to pull yourself up once is cause for celebration, and once you can reel off a few pull-ups in a row there are always ways you can go about improving your form.

To help you out on that front, I spoke to Alasdair Nicoll, personal trainer and tutor at PT-course provider The Fitness Group, for his advice on how to perfect your pull-up technique once you were able to perform a few reps of the move unassisted.

It’s fair to say Nicoll’s top tip was a surprise because it’s to not think about pulling yourself up during the movement.

“Instead of thinking about pulling yourself up, I suggest people think about driving their elbows down into their hips,” says Nicoll. “What’s going to happen is your lat muscles and your upper-back muscles, like the rhomboids and traps, take over.”

When you think about pulling yourself up, Nicoll says, you put more strain on your biceps, but placing the emphasis on your back muscles means you get the intended stimulus from the exercise. “You’re also going to find that you have much more control of the movement,” says Nicoll

You can find more of Nicoll’s tips for the move, plus advice on how to build up to a pull-up if you’re not yet able to do one unaided, in our pull-up form guide. 

Our beginner pull-up plan will also help you build up to doing a full set of proper pull-ups by the end of a 28-day training plan.

Explore our top-rated picks in our guide to the best pull-up bars.