The key to a great workout is intensity. It doesn’t matter how many half-hearted chest flyes or dumb-bell curls you do – if you don’t attack your workout with enough effort, you’re wasting your time. This is because you’re aiming to exhaust your muscles so that your body’s repair and growth system kicks in. Likewise, if you rest for too long between sets and exercises your muscles will recover and you won’t be able to fatigue them properly. This is where muscle-building theory collides with the realities of crowded gyms.

It’s not really the done thing to chuck other gym-users off the squat rack just because your heart rate is dropping.

Fortunately MF has a solution. You might not think it possible to get a full-body muscle-building blast from a single piece of kit but we’ve designed a four-week programme that does just that. Simply grab the appropriate weight – 0ne that allows you to complete the required number of reps, but no more – and do the workout with maximum intensity and minimum fuss.

The first two workouts recruit your muscles to lift heavy dumb-bells and then barbells to maximise growth. They’ll work your whole body, so leave at least two days’ rest between them. The third workout uses big, whole-body movements to raise your heart rate, burn calories and work every muscle in your body. Leave at least a day between this workout and the next.

Eat a high-protein meal (20-30g protein) within two hours of working out. In four weeks you’ll have added lean muscle and burnt off body fat.

How to do this workout

Do workouts A, B and C once a week each, leaving at least one day’s rest between workouts. Warm up by doing five minutes on a cardio machine, then warm-up sets of press-ups or chin-ups and bodyweight squats to raise your heart rate and get your muscles warmed up. Find the appropriate piece of kit and make sure you have enough space to do all the moves. Leave one minute’s rest between sets and two to three minutes between exercises.