Monday
Upper body and abs
“As you can see below, every session starts with a gentle six-minute warm-up,”
advises Mr Macaskill. “Today’s workout ticks off your upper body and
abdominals, but it also gets your heart rate up.” Forget what you’ve read about
using tins of food and wine bottles as weights – the most effective resistance,
says Mr Macaskill, is your own body weight. Try to do as many reps as possible
during each 60-second block.
Round 1
Walkouts – 60 seconds. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and walk your
hands forward until you reach a plank position.
Push-up and shoulder tap – 60 seconds. Alternately tap your shoulders at the
top of each push-up.
Side tricep push-up (right) – 60 seconds. Lie down on your right side with your
knees bent, pushing yourself up with your right arm to activate the tricep.
Side plank rotations – 60 seconds. Start in the plank position before rotating
your body to the side, reaching your arm into the air and alternating sides.
Side tricep push-up (left) – 60 seconds. As above, but this time with your left
side.
Side plank rotations – 60 seconds
Round 2
Push-ups – 60 seconds
Tricep dips – 60 seconds
Mountain climbers – 60 seconds. Get into a press-up position and rapidly bring
your knees to your chest.
Bicycle crunches – 60 seconds
Push-ups – 30 seconds
Tricep dips – 30 seconds
Mountain climbers – 30 seconds
Bicycle crunches – 30 seconds
Tuesday
Quads and hamstrings
Today is all about legs. “I like to alternate the areas of focus each day to give
your body a rest,” says Mr Macaskill. “You can skip a day if you like, but you
should make sure the next session works a different area than the previous
workout.” He also recommends you take in protein after each workout to help
muscles repair (he makes a shake with Hermosa protein powder, a company he
founded in 2014, and which is stocked in Barry’s studios, but a grilled chicken
breast would be fine, too).
Round 1
Squats – 60 seconds
Lunges – 60 seconds
Sumo squats – 60 seconds. Stand with your feet wider apart than your
shoulders and turn your feet slightly outwards, squatting to activate your inner
thigh muscles.
Side lunge (right) – 60 seconds
Side lunge (left) – 60 seconds
Mountain climbers - 60 seconds
Round 2
Squats - 60 seconds
Lunges - 60 seconds
Sumo squats – 60 seconds
Reverse lunges – 60 seconds
Squat jumps – 30 seconds
Flying lunges – 30 seconds
Squat pulse – 30 seconds
Flying lunges – 30 seconds
Wednesday
Upper-body challenge
Your abs get a rest today, but your upper body does not. “This is your Hump
Day mini challenge,” says Mr Macaskill. “The exercises are all super basic but
the format gives you little targets to reach for.” There are two rounds for the
challenge, which should be performed in order. Each round alternates exercises
and recovery, and then requires you to match or beat your previous best, so
make sure you note down your PB each time. Before round 1, complete a two-
minute dynamic stretch: arm circles forwards for 30 seconds, reverse circles for
30 seconds and walkouts for one minute.
Round 1
Push-ups – 60 seconds; as many reps as possible
Lower back raises – 60 seconds; slowly, treating as a recovery exercise. Lie on
your front with your hands at your sides, pushing your chest upwards.
Push-ups – 60 seconds; record same number reps as R1, or more.
Lower back raises – 60 seconds; slowly, treating as a recovery exercise.
Push-ups – 60 seconds; record same number reps as R2, or more.
Lower back raises – 60 seconds; slowly, treating as a recovery exercise.
Round 2
Close push-up/wide push-up – 60 seconds; as many reps as possible.
Lower back raises – 60 seconds; slowly, treating as a recovery exercise.
Close push-up/wide push-up – 60 seconds; record same number reps as R1, or
more.
Lower back raises – 60 seconds; slowly, treating as a recovery exercise.
Close push-up/wide push-up – 60 seconds; record same number reps as R2, or
more.
Lower back raises; 60 seconds; slowly, treating as a recovery exercise.
Thursday
Glutes and abs
“This is a slower workout than the others,” says Mr Macaskill. “You should focus
on the mind-muscle connection: think about squeezing your glutes and making
them work, rather speeding through each movement.” With the glute thrust
(where you lie down and push your hips up in the air before dropping all the way
down to the floor), Mr Macaskill recommends playing around with the position of
your feet and angle of your knees to get the best muscle contraction.
Round 1
Glute thrust – 60 seconds. Lie on your back with your knees bent, thrusting your
pelvis into the air.
Sit-ups – 60 seconds
Glute thrust pulse – 60 seconds. Hold the position and pulse.
Sit-ups – 60 seconds
Glute thrust pulse – 60 seconds
Mountain climbers – 60 seconds
Round 2
Fire hydrant right – 60 seconds. Get onto your hands and knees and lift your
right leg up 90 degrees (like a dog next to a fire hydrant – get it?).
Pulse – 30 seconds
Fire hydrant left – 60 seconds
Pulse – 30 seconds
Jack-knife crunch – 60 seconds. Lie on your back with your arms extended
straight behind your head. Then bend your waist, bringing your arms and legs
up to meet in the jack-knife position.
Toe touch – 30 seconds
Bicycle crunch slow – 60 seconds. Lie on your back and bring your right knee to
your left elbow. Alternate.
Bicycle crunch fast – 30 seconds
Friday
Full body
“This is nasty,” laughs Mr Macaskill. “It’s about the most comprehensive
workout you can get without weights – it works your legs, triceps, chest, back,
abs and glutes.” Today’s exercise uses the principles of Tabata, Japanese high-
intensity interval training, which alternates 20 second bursts of exercise with 10
seconds of rest, for four minutes. Do your warm-up as usual, but for round 2,
you should count your reps on the first segment and then match or beat them in
the following segment.
Round 1: 4-minute warm-up
Walkouts – 60 seconds
Walkouts and twist – 60 seconds; hold the twist for 2 seconds then repeat.
Perform a walkout, then bring your right foot up to your right hand, before
twisting your body to point your right arm to the sky. Alternate.
Squat, walkout and twist – 60 seconds
Squats – 60 seconds
Round 2: 8-minute Tabata challenge
Alternate 20 seconds of squats and 10 seconds of rest for 4 minutes
Rest for 1-2 minutes
Alternate 20 seconds of squats and 10 seconds of rest for 4 minutes
Saturday
Cardio
For this, you will of course need to leave your house (only do this once a day).
“This interval running workout, which takes around 30 minutes, is shaped
around one of my Barry’s classes,” says Mr Macaskill. “Start off with five
minutes at a gentle jog pace, and as you feel yourself become more pliable,
increase the pace until you’re starting to sweat and your heart rate is up.” Then
start the intervals.
Interval run 1
“Our first interval alternates between slow jog and fast run speeds,” advises Mr
Macaskill. “Jog for 60 seconds, and then accelerate for a 30-second burst of
speed.” Maintain this for nine minutes.
Interval run 2
“This section is a version of a Tabata run, with 20 seconds of speed followed by
10 seconds of complete recovery, on repeat for eight continuous minutes,” says
Mr Macaskill. “This run is pure speed work – it gets your heart rate up like
nothing else.”
16 sets of 20 seconds of sprint and 10 seconds of recovery
Warm down
Revert back to your super slow and gentle meandering jog speed for a five-
minute period, followed by a proper stretch.
Sunday
Rest
“You need a day to recover from this plan – your muscles will be tired,” advises
Mr Macaskill. His rest days usually involve cooking and watching Amazon’s
sports docuseries All Or Nothing, now in its fifth season. He doesn’t stretch –
instead do some dynamic stretches before and after each workout. But he does
massage his muscles with a Theragun, an electric massage tool that looks a bit
like an electric drill, which uses “percussive therapy” to help speed up muscle
recovery. Alternatively, a foam roller will achieve a similar effect.
