Before you begin any exercise program I recommend that you have an assessment from a qualified personal trainer. You need qualifying for certain exercises, and not all exercises are for everyone.

Depending on your current state of fitness, you will need a program tailored for your individual needs. Some people will have injuries, which need rehabilitation; others will have tight muscles that need stretching. Everyone is different and there is not a one size fits all to fitness and well-being. All progress is dependent on stimulus. Stimulus can come in many forms; from the amounts of reps you do, how many sets you perform, how much rest time in-between sets and so on.

I have provided you with 3 programs. BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED incorporating exercises that are tried and tested.

This program is designed to build muscle mass.

Muscle provides protection for the joints and is important for people of all ages. Muscle mass is also important on a weight lose program, as the more muscle you have the higher your daily calorie expenditure will be. Women will find it harder to build muscle than men, as men generally create ten times more testosterone than women. Testosterone is a hormone essential for muscle growth.

This program activates all the major muscle groups, working the upper and lower body.

For best results I recommend doing this program 3 times a week, with a rest day in-between.

Any program will need changing after 4-6 weeks, as the body would of adapted and will need new stimulus.

Start Beginners I

This program has a much higher volume of work.

The level of work required would not be possible to perform in a single workout, so the program is split into different days. Each workout should last about 45-60 mins.

Workouts lasting longer than 60 mins can raise cortisol levels, which is proven to have negative affects on muscle growth and can promote weight gain.

Start Intermediate I

This program is designed not to isolate individual muscle groups but to integrate all the muscles as a complete working unit.

It also introduces plyometric exercises; a type of training that adds spring and bounce into the muscle. It is not recommended to try these exercises until you can at least Squat your body weight-that means if you weigh 75kg, you can lift a bar with 75kg off weight on it.

These exercises will demand a much higher intake of oxygen to feed the muscles, so expect to have an elevated heart rate.

I also recommend using a variation of the BEGINNER 2 program-but with an increased volume of work-in addition to the advanced program. This will maintain muscle mass, which is always important.

When your body has adapted to advanced program 1-progress to advanced program 2 and start performing each program on separate days but with a days rest inbetween.

After about 4 weeks...

Start Advanced I