A full body workout with just 5 easy exercises: the essentials YOU need to know
Simple home or gym barbells and dumbbells are all you need to start working out and toning up
Your first gym visit can be intimidating, but a full body workout can be yours easily and with a bare minimum of gym equipment – ideal if you are looking to get fit in 2020. All of these 5 exercises can be done with a barbell and most can be done with dumbbells if you find the idea of storing an Olympic bar in our shed a bit too much. Together they will work everywhere, giving you a full body workout without a single bit of tricky jargon or any trending fitness fads. These are tried and trusted.
While machines can be great tools to concentrate on each muscle group, if you want to effectively build muscle mass and also shed fat, the best way to go is to do compound exercises with free weights, be that dumbbells (the small ones which you can easily buy and use at home) or barbells (the big ones) – although please note that the deadlift in particular is ideally performed with a barbell.
The Big Five compound exercises activate a range of muscles and are an excellent way to build strength and muscle mass, at the same time. Here, we'll go through these Big Five, simple exercises that you should do to get ripped soon.
There are three key elements to effectively gain lean muscle mass: rigorous exercising, a healthy diet and rest. If you skip either if these, you might see slower muscle development and or even worse, injure yourself in the process.
Bulking is a popular word among bodybuilders, it means putting on weight so your body can transform your carb and fat reserves into muscle mass. This definitely doesn't mean you can gorge yourself on pizza and pasta all day long, though.
Once you found your maintenance calorie level (if you have an office desk-based job and you are an average built male, that's around 2400 calories per day), eat 5-700 more calories on top of that, mainly more protein and good carbs. That should be plenty to fuel your body to gain more muscle (and not fat).
Supplement-wise, you only really need two: protein powder and creatine. The former will help in the muscle repair process and latter will boost performance. Both are safe to use and there is a wide variety of offerings so you can choose a flavour you prefer.
With creatine, we recommend you get the unflavoured variety because it mixes well with any liquid and you only need a small amount to keep your creatine levels saturated. This means you can mix your 3-5 grams of creatine with anything in the morning (water, juice, even coffee) without having to worry about an aftertaste.
THE BIG FIVE
Before you start doing any exercises, make sure you're all warmed up. Do 5-10 minutes of cardio plus a set or two of each exercise with smaller weights, to wake your muscles up.
Important: if you are new to weight lifting, start even the 'proper' lifting with smaller weights you can easily manage and work your way up slowly, over a period of days, weeks or even months. No need to rush into an injury, you won't impress anybody with pulling your back doing 120 kilo deadlifts. Be sensible and if you are ever in doubt, just ask. There are plenty of PTs lingering around in any commercial gym and also, most of the buff people in gyms are more than happy to give you unsolicited advice.
You might also need to consider looking at the best ways to lose weight if you have not exercised for years.
1. DEADLIFT
Keep your back straight and push with your legs first
Deadlifts are the mother of all strength exercises. This exercise activates almost all of your muscles, from your toes to your neck. Performed correctly, you will feel the burn after the first few reps and will be pleasantly (?) exhausted by the end of the last set.
Make sure you keep your back straight and open up your shoulders to avoid back injury. Best way to visualise the starting position is to imagine you wanting to sit down on the floor and grab the bar to prevent you from actually sitting down. Your back is straight and your shoulders are open. Legs around shoulder-width apart.
Start the movement with your thighs and glutes (a.k.a. bum muscles) and then straighten your back. Do the same on the way down, only the other way around (first bend back, then glutes and thighs).
Although deadlifts can be performed at home too, it is advised to get someone to help you find the correct form first and then venture into testing your max capacity. form is very important with deadlifts and it is not all that difficult to injure yourself if you are not paying attention.
The best approach would be to consult with a PT and especially if you have back problems, talk to your GP first too.
2. BENCH PRESS
Activate your core before lifting the bar off the rack
(Image credit: Unsplash)
Muscles worked: pecs (chest), triceps, front shoulders, traps
Best for: Working the chest and the arms
Sets/Reps: Do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
The bench press needs no introduction. This exercise is synonymous with bodybuilding and everyone knows how to do it right (or at least they think they do).
Saying that, get someone to spot you (stand behind you) when you first try the bench press. Tuck in your elbows a bit and really concentrate on your pecs (i.a. chest muscles) both ways of the movement.
Alternatively, you can start off doing bench presses on the Smith machine (a large frame with a fixed-movement bar). Using the Smith machine, you don't have to concentrate on stabilising the bar, which makes it easier to push the weight up.
Bench presses can be done on a flat bench or on an incline too. They can also be performed with dumbbells, and it is probably a more sensible way to do them if you are working out at home.
Sometimes called military press, this exercise is great for your shoulders and arms.
Keep your back straight and engage your core (if you unsure how to do this, flex your abs and straighten your back) then press the bar up, avoiding your chin. The movement of the bar should be a straight line up and down, make sure you bob your head back and forth as the bar crosses in front of it.
Shoulders can improve your looks a great deal, and are actually the real key to getting great guns.
4. SQUATS
Muscle areas activated: glutes (aka the biggest muscle in your body), thighs, traps, abs/obliques, upper back/lats
Best for: Activating the thighs, glutes and improving core strength
Sets/Reps: Do 3 sets of 8-12 reps
The infamous leg exercise: squats are brilliant for all the right reasons. Doing back squats (with the bar sitting on your shoulders), you activate a range of muscles, not just the legs and glutes.
To hold the bar, you will need to engage your core as well as your legs. If you're brave enough – and use smaller weights, please – you can also do a calf raise after each rep to get big calves faster.
5. BENT OVER ROW
Bent over rows can be performed with dumbbells too
(Image credit: Unsplash)
Muscle areas activated: lats, shoulders, forearms and biceps, hams/glutes, spinal erectors
Best for: Widening the back (lats) and working your biceps
Sets/Reps: Do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
The bent over row is performed – surprise! – bent over while you stood up, legs shoulder-width apart. Use an underhand grip (palms facing up when you hold the bar) to activate bicep muscles and pull the bar close to your abs (not your chest).
This exercise is great for your arms and your back, as well as activating your core.
You can do the bent over row with dumbbells too. Same motion, just with holding a dumbbell in each hand.
You Can Save Nearly £1,500 In 12 Months With This Challenge
If you're not on a money-saving journey for 2020 then you're probably in the minority (someone's doing well and all that malarkey) so if you want to find out how to save nearly 1,500 in 12 months then we've got it covered.
It's simple and it'll leave you with a cool £1,428 if you start it today (3 January) and end it on 25 December. Just think of what you could spend it on, the possibilities would be endless - well, for what £1,428 could get you anyway.
The most you're going to be putting away in one day is £7. Credit: PA
The money challenge involves saving £1 today (Friday), £2 on Saturday, £3 on Sunday and so on until the seventh day (in this case Thursday) where you would be saving £7. Then you would start all over again on Friday with £1 and it carries on like that. Simple.
You might be thinking that saving £7 in one day is a bit of a stretchespecially taking into account the fact that we're in January - the month that never ends but it's really just the price of two coffees or a couple of pints. Maybe it'll encourage you to cook something for your lunch instead of going out and buying food each day.
You could save the money in a jar or set up a separate bank account because not many people tend to carry cash (especially so many pound coins) around with them these days.
You could save the money up in a piggy bank. Credit: PA
If this seems like a bit too much for your bank balance, or maybe you want to book a holiday at the same time as saving, then why not try the 1p challenge.
It's not as intense as saving £28 a week but it could build up a nice little pot of around £650.
The premise really is pretty simple, as you just put away a penny on the first day and then each day after add an extra penny to the amount you put aside.
So, on the first day (in this case, 3 January), you start with 1p. The next day you put aside 2p, and the day after that 3p.
Keep on going until day 100, which is when you get onto the heavy duty numbers by putting in £1. Continue on day 101 with £1.01, and so forth. By the end of it you should be left with a not too shabby £667.92.
If you don't want to be forking out over £3 a day in the final few weeks with Christmas re-approaching then why not work backwards?
Few items of menswear come packaged with as much attitude, heritage or unfiltered masculinity as a leather jacket. Synonymous with punks and pilots, motorcycles and Marlon Brando, the leather jacket is high-testosterone menswear, but it’s also a surprisingly versatile classic. No well-edited wardrobe is complete without one.
Men have been wearing hides and skins since our knuckles stopped skimming the floor, but the leather jacket as we know it today came to prominence in the early 1900s. Brown leather flight jackets were worn by the early aviators and the military, most notably the German Air Force in World War I.
The first contemporary-looking style arrived in 1928. A Manhattan raincoat maker, Irving Schott, designed a motorcycle jacket for Harley Davidson. Dubbed the ‘Perfecto’, after his favourite cigar, this leather jacket was built to protect riders from the elements and accidents. During World War II the flight jacket became known as thebomber, and was prized for its warmth having been designed for wear in open cockpits.
Between then and now, leather jackets have appeared everywhere from in cult flick The Wild One to on the backs of the Sex Pistols. It’s standard-issue for mavericks, scoundrels and sex symbols.
Today, the garment is likely to be one of the most expensive additions to a wardrobe, so don’t be a rebel without a clue – make a shrewd purchase. If for no other reason, a good leather jacket is one of the few long-term relationships you’ll have in fashion. They’re built to last, age as you do and pair with more items than you might expect.
If you don’t consider Danny Zuko astyle icon, that’s fine – there are other ways to wear it.
How Much Should I Pay For A Leather Jacket?
There are as many price points as there are jackets. Generally, you get what you pay for, but while in some cases you pay for the name, the price usually comes down to the quality and type of leather used.
“A good quality leather garment is often supple and soapy to the touch,” says Joslyn Clarke, head of design for heritage outerwear brandGrenfell. “Well-designed leather garments should not have unnecessary seams, but should look like a cloth garment in its seaming. Cheaply made leather garments will often have many seams to enable the maker to use as much of the skin as possible when the piece is being cut out.”
Which type of leather you opt for depends on what you want from the jacket. If after something buttery soft, prioritise calfskin or lambskin, but bear in mind that it may not be as durable as a thick biker-type hide.
For the very best quality (and steepest prices) you’ll need to look for ‘full grain’ leather jackets. These use the best quality hides and, due to its thickness, are rather stiff at first. They will take some breaking in, just like a good pair ofDerby shoes, but you’ll be rewarded with a natural patina and a jacket that is unique to you.
If your budget is limited, ‘top grain’ leathers are more affordable. These have had the natural grain sanded off and been stamped to give the leather an even look. Cheaper still, you can get great leather alternatives such as polyurethane, which will also appeal to those who want the look, but want to avoid using animal skins.
When weighing up a jacket, don’t stop at the leather itself, says Clarke. “Check for the quality of zips and buttons. Zips should run very smoothly and freely while buttons will be made of natural materials like horn, mother of pearl and corozo. A cheaply made garment will rarely have high-quality trims.”
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