Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i Men's Fitness UK

EDITORIAL Editor Isaac Williams Art Director Xavier Robleda Editorial postal address: Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL ADVERTISING SALES KELSEY MEDIA Commercial Manager Matt Gilley 01959 543517 matt@talk-media.uk Ad Production Supervisor Gracie Standen 01732 445300 production@talk-media.uk MANAGEMENT Chief Operating Officer Phil Weeden Managing Director Kevin McCormick Operations Director Gill Lambert Retail Director Steve Brown Print Production Manager Georgina Harris Print Production Controller Hayley Brown Senior Subs Marketing Manager Nick McIntosh DISTRIBUTION (UK) Seymour Distribution Limited 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT, Tel: 020 7429 4000 seymour.co.uk DISTRIBUTION (N. IRELAND AND REP. OF IRELAND) Newspread, Tel: +353 23 886 3850 COVER Image courtesy of Shutterstock Information given is not a substitute for medical advice, so ensure you check with your GP,…

“ Sending out fast brain signals means your muscle can contract harder and faster for more strength How can my brain make my muscles bigger? Your muscles are controlled by your brain through a vast network of neural pathways, which connect to each and every one of them. Electrical impulses from the brain tell your muscles to contract and relax, and it’s these actions that allow you to do everything from standing to lifting weights. Most of these actions are subconscious: you move without thinking about the muscles involved. But if you do think about the movements, especially when training, you will improve your mind-to-muscle connection – and that can result in bigger gains. How does that work? Think of these neural pathways as being like a motorway. If the…

Functional fitness means combining strength and endurance to move your body as effectively as possible. A proper warm-up is a vital part of any workout because strength means nothing if your body isn’t in the correct position to maximise its energy output, while efficient movements ensure good endurance by limiting the effect they have on your cardiovascular system. Sure, the more you do a move the better you’ll get at it, but you can save yourself a lot of time and energy by working on your body’s mobility and flexibility to increase your overall range of motion. Most jobs involve sitting down for the majority of the day. This means at the start of a workout everything – especially your hips, core and legs – is tight, which limits your…

Directions For each workout, perform the exercise continuously for one minute, then rest for one minute. Repeat this for a total of five rounds. Go heavy, but not so much that it compromises your form. STRONGMAN 1. Farmer’s walk Pick up the heaviest kettlebells you can carry in each hand. Stand tall, with your arms straight at your sides, and walk with your chest out. If space is limited, walk in a figure-of-eight pattern. 2. Dumbbell overhead carry Hold a dumbbell in each hand overhead with your arms straight. Walk, keeping your core and glutes engaged to help you stand tall, and your upper back strong to keep your arms up. If space is limited, walk in a figure-of-eight pattern.   3. Kettlebell walking lunge Holding a kettlebell in…

What does eccentric mean? The eccentric, or lowering, phase of any lift is when the muscle lengthens under tension – think of your biceps when you lower a weight during a curl. There are two other types of muscle contraction: the concentric (lifting) phase, when the muscle shortens under tension, as in the upward part of a curl; and isometric, when the muscle stays the same length while under tension, as in a plank. What’s so important about eccentric contraction? If increases in strength or size are your goal, the eccentric phase of each exercise is crucial. Studies have shown that the eccentric phase triggers more hypertrophy – the process of building new muscle tissue – than the concentric. Your muscles are also far stronger in the eccentric portion of…

What are unilateral moves? In the simplest terms, a unilateral movement is one that uses one arm or leg rather than both to move a form of resistance from point A to point B. One of the most popular unilateral moves is the single-arm dumbbell biceps curl. Exercises that require the use of both arms or legs are called bilateral lifts. STRENGTH BALANCE Your three-step guide to achieving balanced gains for size and strength 1. Doing bilateral moves exclusively can lead to muscular imbalances, because your stronger side may take control of more of the weight. 2. An unbalanced physique can lead to poor posture or, worse, injury – and make completing those big, compound lifts harder. 3. Include unilateral moves in most of yoru workouts to give your weaker…

QUADS Build bigger and stronger quads with this innovative twist on a classic move Advanced Front squat 1¼ reps Doing front squats ensures strict form throughout, while doing an extra quarter rep at the bottom of each rep hits the muscles harder. • Rest the bar on the front of your shoulders with your elbows pointing forwards and your feet shoulder-width apart. • You can use straps to secure the bar to your hands more firmly. • Maintain a natural arch in your back and keep your core braced throughout the move. • Squat until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. The deeper you can squat, the better. • Come back up a quarter of the way to the top, then lower back to the bottom position.…

UNLEASH BELL One kettlebell is all you need to kick fat loss into overdrive, once you know how Want to lose body fat but short of time, resources or space? There’s a simple solution: a kettlebell. It’s a unique bit of kit because it’s suited to doing high reps with multi-muscle moves, such as the snatch or clean and press, so you tax your whole body while getting a metabolic boost that means you’ll burn fat for hours. As a bonus, this workout will also build muscle, help your coordination and forge an iron grip. Do it a couple of times a week or add it to one of your regular workouts as a finisher, and watch your abs emerge. 1. Snatch • Swing the kettlebell to start the…

The lack of etiquette on the gym floor has been the ruin of many a well-planned workout. Whether it’s because fellow lifters are using the dumbbells you want or they’ve been left in the furthest corners of the cardio section, you can’t always guarantee you’ll find the pair you need. The solution? A one-dumbbell routine that hits every muscle in your all-important core, allowing you to blitz your obliques, abs and back with a handful of carefully selected moves. And if worse comes to worst and all the dumbbells are in use, you can do this workout with a weight plate or kettlebell. 1. Swing • Holding the end of the dumbbell in your fingers, with your feet just wider than shoulder-width apart, bend at your knees and at your…

Y our body is a clever old thing. The process of muscle growth is essentially your body’s response to the stress of weight training. It thinks, That was hard. I’d better do something about it so it’s not as difficult next time. When you perform resistance exercises, microscopic tears occur in your muscles. Your body responds to this ‘microtrauma’ by overcompensating: the damaged tissue is repaired and more is added, making your muscles bigger and stronger so the risk of future damage is minimised. Which also means that, over time, you need to steadily increase the weight you lift, because your muscles quickly adapt to deal with the stress to which they’re exposed. It’s thought this damage to your muscle fibres is the reason for delayed onset muscle soreness, or…

I just rest between sets until I’ve recovered enough to go again. Isn’t that right? Not quite. Manipulating any of the variables in a resistance workout – the choice of exercise, load, volume, the length of your rest period or even the order in which you do the exercises – alters the unique structure of the workout and changes the cellular and molecular response you get from it. Basically, if you change your weights, the number of reps or sets or the amount of rest you have, your workouts will produce vastly different outcomes even if they’re superficially similar. So when you’re planning an exercise programme, your end goal should clearly dictate how much you rest. WELL RESTED Don’t scroll – try these rest-period tricks instead 1. Stretch out Stretch…

Want to look good in a shirt? Forget the bench press – for all-round tailored manliness, the humble pull-up should be your exercise of choice. Not only will it build your shoulders and back, providing you with a heroic V-shaped torso, it will also help your posture and forearms. This workout combines this straightforward yet ultra-effective move with its cousin, the chin-up – one of the best biceps builders you can do – and the dip, which will make sure your triceps are doing their bit. 1. Wide-grip pull-up • Grip the pull-up bar with your hands more than shoulder-width apart. Brace your abs and pull yourself up until your whole head is above the bar. • Lower your body under control until your arms are straight. Keep your shoulders…

It’s always important to focus on a goal – it provides motivation, purpose and clarity. Whenever you train, you should have your target in mind. But if you happened to impress a few bystanders, that wouldn’t be so bad, would it? That’s why we’ve put together this collection of – let’s be honest – show-off moves. These exercises will attract admiring glances from your fellow gym-goers and, if you can manage them, show just how far you’ve come on your fitness journey. Demonstrated by trainer Chaka Clarke, founder of fitness crew Spartanfam, they’re unsurprisingly tough – and should only be attempted if you’ve built up a serious level of bodyweight strength. 1. HANDSTAND PRESS-UP You’ve done them against the wall – now master the free-standing version Few bodyweight moves work…