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TABLE OF CONTENTS


TABLE OF CONTENTS


HERS

FROM THE CEO

By Nick Orton

Take the Bull by
the Horns

Y

ou can stand
around and talk
about all the things
you wanted to do,
and you can chat all you like
about the ideas you had,
but unless you take action,
then you will never know if
those things would have

6

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A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 9

worked. Live in regret and
you won’t ever fully achieve
what you are capable of…
talk is cheap and action is
seldom. I have lost count of
the number of people who
“wanted to get into great

shape”; who had “a great
business idea”; who “should

have said something”….but
they didn’t. And all they
have is the story, nothing
more!
I want to have the story,
the book, the memories and
pictures – I want the legacy,
the experience, the
knowledge and the journey.
I don’t want to just think
about it…I want to see
if I can achieve it.
Even if you fail, it’s so
much better than not
having tried – I should
know, along with many
successes have been many
failures, but that’s ok with
me. At least I had a go. One
time I organised a music
event called ‘Mad about
Music’ in Brighton. I was
sure it would work, and
I wanted to achieve
something great, but
actually I screwed it up. The
low point of the experience

was the band E17 turning
up, who I had booked
because they were huge
stars back then. They
turned up two hours late,
appeared either high and/or
drunk, and they couldn’t
sing too well! The event was
a huge flop, but from that
experience I learnt and
moved on. At least I tried
to do it.
If you believe in yourself
then why not give it a go?
Why not say that thing,
take that action, start that
business, make that step…
take the bull by the horns
and go for it!

@nickorton22

Nick Orton
CEO BodyPower
www.bodypower.com


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HERS

FROM THE EDITOR

Get Ready to
Spring into Action!

S

pring is here and it’s time to peel
back the layers. But that doesn’t mean
you have to be a size 6! At Muscle &
Fitness HERS we love to celebrate all body
types whilst promoting a healthy diet and

lifestyle.
I teamed up with IFBB Figure Pro
Melissa Haywood, who’s happier than ever
enjoying a balanced diet and exercise
programme and GluteyWear CEO
Carly Thornton on a trip to Marbella to
shoot 3 very different body types and
encourage women to be happy in the
skin they’re in.
8

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A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 9

IFBB Figure Pro and Lifestyle Coach
Melissa Haywood says:
“I used to struggle to find gym clothing
that was flattering unless I was competition
lean. Now that I’ve made the transition
from competitive athlete to simply enjoying
a fit and healthy lifestyle, I am finding my
confidence sporting a more sustainable
all-year-round shape.
“When I first stopped competing I found
it hard to transition to a less extreme
lifestyle and battled with my selfconfidence. At times I thought I’d never
shoot again. Flying to Marbella to shoot

for GluteyWear, as well as helping hundreds
of clients make the step back from stage
to a sustainable and healthy lifestyle has
elevated my self belief and I’m now more
eager than ever to assist others in the
same way.
“If you’d like diet or lifestyle coaching
with me post-comp, or simply to improve
your body and mind, check out my Insta:
@ifbb_pro_melissa_jayne” HERS
Photograph: @fit_visuals for @gluteywear
www.gluteywear.com


CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

David Pecker

UK EDITION

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Nick Orton

www.muscleandfitness.co.uk/hers

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Nick Orton
EDITORIAL

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HERS

COVER STORY

Cindy’s best
lower-body workout

L

egs first, legs second
and legs third, is
usually the answer
I receive when I ask
trainees which body part
they find the most difficult
and downright unpleasant
to train.

It’s one of the cold hard facts of life, that
most often what we enjoy the least is of
the most benefit, and what we enjoy the
most is of the greatest detriment.
When did you last hear someone say,
“Id love a nice cold carrot juice after
work”, or “how about we watch a movie
and have a couple of scoops of broccoli”.

PHOTO CREDIT: ISTOCK

These are just the facts!.. Or are they?
What if I could revolutionise your leg

training in only 11 sets per week, what
if those results meant that your body
would be disproportionately more
capable of burning fat afterwards due
to the huge spike in your metabolic rate,
and what if the newly developed muscle
resulting from your leg training made
future fat loss workouts and diet
requirements infinitely more productive
and easier? Surely you would be far
more interested in ‘leg day’ then?
Well, in my personal experience, as well
as that of ALL of my trainees, those are
the facts and this is why and how:
Why?
Your legs are your PRIME movers, in
most any sport or activity you undertake
your legs do the most work, each step
you take, each time you stand from
seating, each flight of stairs you climb
activates your prime movers. It is the use
of these prime movers that recruits more
muscle fibre and burns more calories
than any other body part.
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Legs first, legs second and legs third, this
is usually my response when I am asked
which parts of the body one should focus
their attention on in order to achieve an
overall change in their body


By Cindy Landolt Photographs by Adrian Portman

So, we need to asses from the top
down, which exercises stimulate your
prime movers the most.
How?
A real leg training session consists of
heavy squatting and leg pressing at its
core, the squat exercise uses more
muscles then any other (save for the trap
bar deadlift, but that is out of the scope
of many gyms).
When you train the squat correctly not
only is it the key exercise for stimulating
muscle growth in the thighs, hips and
lower back, it is also the king exercise for
increasing muscle size and strength
throughout the body. Put simply the
more you are capable of squatting, the
more potential for improvement you
have throughout your body. Squat

strength is inextricably linked to your
ability to develop musculature in the
arms, back and chest.
So why is it so often overlooked?
Why is it that this super productive
exercise is the last one you want to
tackle? Well, ultimately, it’s hard,
it requires a serious amount of will

and fortitude to perform the squat
with a weight that is capable of making
a metamorphic change to your body.
Once you become capable of executing
perfect technique with a weight that
approaches 150% of your bodyweight
on the bar for high reps, the ordeal
becomes downright brutal
for the uninitiated!

Next up, leg press
When performed with perfect technique,
the leg press can be highly productive
for the quadriceps and hip flexors, what
is of upmost importance is that you do
not sag in the lower back whilst
performing the exercise, you must drive
off the top of your gluteus, that must be
the area of pressure in the seat.

A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 9

| HERS 1 1


HERS

COVER STORY

Additionally, you need to direct the pressure through the
centre of your feet not the toes (that will put undue stress on
your patella tendon) or your heels (that will accentuate the
pressure on your lumbar).
So, when you sit in the leg press, concentrate on making the
two opposing pressure points the top of your glutes and the
centre of your feet. Your knees should remain in-line with your
leg drive, neither sagging outwards or buckling inward. You
should never ‘kick out’ at the top of the lift, nor drop the
weight down into you at the bottom. When all of this is
performed as described, you can move some serious weight
in the leg press and build thighs that you previously thought
unimaginable.
On to leg extensions, these don’t need much of an
explanation, only to say that you must perform each rep
in a controlled manner, neither swinging or kicking the
weight upwards.
Leg curls: be careful here, the hamstring is a vulnerable
muscle, so never overload it. In my experience, the Romanian
style deadlift is the most effective builder of thick hamstring
muscle, but I perform those during my back training session
and I wouldn’t recommend doing them on leg day as it will

simply be too much work on your lower back after heavy
squats, so for the interest of this leg specific routine I suggest
relatively light hamstring curls, but you must really focus on
using the hamstring muscle in isolation, really put your mind
into the muscle and if you are on a ‘lie flat’ hamstring curl
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Cindy’s best lower-body workout

machine, never lift your hips up off the bench, as this transfers
the load away from the hamstrings and into the lower back
and hips.
Final exercise is calf raises. I won’t go into the stimulus
differences of each variant here, but for me, I get the best
overall development from using the seated calf raise machine.
Not much can go wrong here, just make sure you are getting a
full range of motion and aren’t sagging at the bottom, taking
the stress off your calf muscles and in effect creating a heavy
stretch on your achilles tendon. Your calves respond best to
higher rep ranges.

In conclusion.
What I have outlined above is a very simple yet highly

effective method of developing leg size and shape, based
firmly on the principles of increasing your strength in exercises
selected to give the most return on your input.
It will work for you, as it has worked for me and still does.
There is no need to overcomplicate your training with
additional variants of the squat or adductor work or specific
glute targeting exercises. Become stronger in these 5 exercises
and you will build a life long foundation not only for great legs,
but also the platform from which you can create the rest of
your body, this workout should be the keystone to your
physique.
Remember, legs first, legs second and legs third.

This routine sets to transform your legs, notice I use 4 minutes of rest between sets of the squat and leg press, if you are used
to shorter rest this might be a surprise to you, but believe me, once you have completed sufficient reps in these multi joint
exercises with a weight that takes you to your limit, that 4 minutes will feel more like 40 seconds!
Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Whey protein
Warm up

Explanation
25-30g whey protein

5-10mins

Bike

Squats

3

21-13-8

4 min

The king of leg development and overall body growth stimulation, learn perfect technique
here, ALWAYS keep a straight back, look slightly up and descend until the tops of your thighs
are just below horizontal, do not let your knees pass over in front of your toes, feel the center
of the weight through your instep

Leg press

2

13-8

4 min

Be careful to use a leg press that doesn’t encourage a rounding of your lower back, the effort
should mostly be felt through your quadriceps

Leg extensions

2

13-8

2 min

Simple, slow and controlled, be careful not to lock out the knees at the top, this places undue
stress upon the patella tendon, merely raise and lower, do not kick or throw the weight

Leg curls

2

13-8

2 min

Simple, slow and controlled, the hamstring is in a vulnerable position during this exercise, so be
careful not to use too much weight here, train the muscle, don’t force the joint

Calf raises

2

21-13

2 min

Higher reps, full range of motion, no sagging or bouncing at the bottom and ensure you get a
full contraction (almost a cramp sensation) at the top

Carbohydrate and
protein shake
Warm down

Warm the muscles, thin the blood, preparing you for the work ahead

Consume 40g of protein with 40g of carbohydrate
5 mins

Back on the bike, push fresh nutrient filled blood through your muscles, beginning the growth
process immediately

A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 9

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COVER STORY

The Ab-solutes of a
perfect mid-section
What are Abs?
In simple terms the abs are the
abdominal musculature that is positioned
between the rib cage/thorax and the
pelvis/pubis and are composed as
follows:

Rectus Abdominis
The rectus abdominis muscles are the
muscles that most people view as the six
pack, the main function of these muscles
is to lift the knees up to the chest.
External Intercostals
These muscles run across your ribcage
diagonally and assist in deep respiration
as they work to expand and contract the
ribcage.
Obliques
The role of the obliques is to rotate your
body from side to side and flex the spine
left and right.
Serratus
These muscles run from the side of your
ribcage to your latissimus assisting you
in pulling your shoulder blades forward.
All of this is not to give you a human
anatomy lesson, but to explain that the
abs are actually a very complex group of
muscles that realistically deserve a
bigger title in the world of physical
training than just ‘abs’, it’s also to
highlight that it’s very easy to
accidentally shift the focus or stress
away from the muscle that you are
wanting to train, never quite giving them
the stimulus that they need to develop.
Truly, more often than not, the

prescribed abdominal training that I see
performed in gyms globally achieves
nothing more than injuries and
disappointment.
This is down to a combination of

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The Absoultes of a perfect mid-section

stimulate the growth of any other
musculature in the body, through
resistance.
We also don’t want to spend precious
training time working on side bends or
worrying about twisting at the top to get
Lets break this down further and
that extra ‘burn’, we are here to build
find solutions
muscle throughout your midsection, as
The classic ‘sit up’ or crunch is the
one. If you perform the exercises that
number one ‘go to’ exercise in the

I prescribe in the manner in which
arsenal of most instructors and trainees,
this in some way makes sense, it directly I describe, there will be NO need to
attacks the midsection and you can really get lost in trying to add details, your
ab development will be complete!
feel like you are working hard and be
There are a few good abdominal
satisfied by your efforts at the end of
training machines out there, I for one like
each set or session… Right?..
Well, if you are looking to create a new to use the nautilus ab machine, mine is a
fairly old example and a precursor to the
level of endurance capability in your
modern range, the brand is actually not
abdominal wall, then yes, maybe. There
so important, what is important, (in fact
are certain sports where this function is
essential) is how you fit and feel when on
essential, wrestling or Brazilian jiu-jitsu
the machine. We are clearly not all ‘one
come to mind, these are sports where
size’, so you must get yourself in the
the abdomen plays a great part of
controlling your opponent on the ground absolute perfect position on the machine
and ensure that when you perform the
over a potentially long period of time.
exercise it goes through the total range
Abdominal wall endurance plays a role
of motion of your abs as well as being
here. But I bet that most of you are far

more interested in getting that 6 pack,
or 8 pack if you follow this programme.
So, with that in mind we need to select
exercises that actually stimulate the
development of new muscle fibers in
your abdominal wall.
To do this we don’t want thousands of
reps per week, that’s borderline CV work,
we want to stimulate the growth of the
ab musculature, in the same way that we

factors, poor exercise selection, poor
posture and technique whilst performing
the exercise, zero ‘mind muscle link’ and
the lack of use of resistance.

certain that the ONLY area that you feel
the stress of the exercise is in your
abdominal wall, this is KEY, for even the
greatest piece of equipment can be
foiled if you don’t implement its use
correctly.
One of the biggest problems with the
sit up or the crunch is that the majority
of the stress is focused upon your hip
flexor muscles and NOT your abs,
additionally the stress is very short in
duration, and by nature of how your
body is always in the process of trying
to find it’s balance, you will tend to

subconsciously throw your body through
the middle part of the sit up as fast as
possible, the performance of your sit up
most likely goes something like this:
You begin lay flat, knees bent, feet
apart, hands behind your head (you are
balanced) you begin the sit up, pulling
a little on your head, you feel tension in
your hip flexors, your lower back, even
your legs (this is further exaggerated if
you choose to anchor your feet). As you
move higher you become more and more

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HERS

COVER STORY

development. Firstly the weighted machine ab work explained
above, secondly, the seated knee-raise and thirdly a very
reduced range version of the lying crunch.
These exercises combine to give you the maximum
development for your abs in any one session.

imbalanced. You now jerk through the most productive phase
(the midpoint) in the shortest possible time, as your body tries

to regain its balance (at the top part of the exercise), where
your shoulders are placed near vertical above your hips and
you say “ONE!”. Now as you return to the starting point your
body again tries to get through the imbalanced midpoint as
quickly as possible, without using the abdominal wall other
than to add secondary stability to your lower back, you then
lie flat backed on the floor having completed a rep, and your
body has returned to the balanced state that it is always
seeking!
So consider now that during that 6 second full rep, your
abdominal wall was only the main focus of the exercise for
maybe 0.25 seconds, and that the time it spent exposed to the
necessary stress required to make it develop was in fact
‘hurried through’ by your body’s natural desire to avoid this
state of physical imbalance! Now don’t blame yourself, you’ve
done nothing wrong, if your body wasn’t always looking to
hold its balance, we’d never have learned to walk, however in
the context of developing your abdominal wall we MUST use
exercises that provide it with the maximum stress whilst also
exposing the musculature to this stress for a long enough
duration for it to have the desired effect.
Using the correct machine, with your body positioned
perfectly, seat height set ideally for you, range set to allow
your body to go from flat backed to a full contraction of your
abs, knees firmly together, will expose your abs to the most
focused workout that they’ve ever known.
Seat height determines which row of your abs that you are
targeting, the higher the seat, the lower down the abdominal
wall you are targeting and vice versa.
Additionally you must apply what I like to term the ‘mindmuscle link’, this is to ensure that you are fully focused on the

areas of the abs that you are targeting; with practice you can
literally focus the stress on any of one the four rows of your
abs, this is how you will be able to develop your lower abs to
the same degree as your upper.
This is the real MEAT of the routine, you must strive to
increase the weight used on your ab machine, develop thick
full and strong abdominal muscles through increasing your
strength!
The actual routine (detailed later) dictates that we use three
different exercises for our ab routine to stimulate
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The Seated Knee-Raise
I find that the problem with the traditional hanging knee raise
is that a vast amount of the stress is dissipated down through
your legs and even up towards your latissimus, and, unless you
use straps your grip will fail long before your abs ever become
fully stimulated. Add to this the difficulty in keeping your body
from swinging around during the set and you will see why I
have chosen to alter the exercise to a more productive version.
With all of this in mind, I train my lower abs by sitting on the
very end of a high bench, I then place my hands behind me
and point me feet out in front, your now out-stretched body
will be angled at approximately 45 degrees to the floor, you

use your hands merely as a guide throughout the exercise, to
help ensure that you don’t lean too far back (this places undue
stress on your lower back) or lean too far forward, this shifts
the emphasis away from your lower abs and onto your hip
flexors and thighs.
Then with your feet firmly together, steadily raise your
knees towards your chest, high enough to get a complete
contraction, but not so high as to regain balance in your core
and rob your abs of the stress, then return to the outstretched
start position in a slow and controlled manner, ensuring that
the ONLY place you feel the stress is in your LOWER abs
throughout the entire duration of the rep!
To perform the exercise perfectly, you must really
concentrate on making the area just below your naval the
pivot point of your body, it may take a few ‘finder reps’ (even
sets) to get it focused right in, targeting your lower abdominal
region and giving you that so hard to create 8 pack!
When you get this movement 100% correct you will be
amazed by the depth of sensation and stimulus that you will
feel in your lower abs, it will take some practice to get this
position exactly right for you, but when you do, you will have
discovered the key to 8 pack development, eureka!
The Correct Crunch
The objective of these crunches is not to lift your chin to your
knees, it’s to attempt to shorten the distance between your
shoulders and your hips.


then I return slowly to the relaxed position, it is important that
you fully relax when lying flat, so that the muscles can go from

zero tension to maximum tension during the rep.
I also keep my hands flat on the mat, palms down alongside
my legs and slide them along the mat throughout the exercise.
At the end of each rep in the relaxed position I raise my hands
up over my head and touch the ground above/behind my
head, opening out my ribcage and abdominal wall, at which
point I take a deep breath (that I will exhale during the next
positive phase of the crunch) before returning to the start
position placing my hands to the sides of my legs and
performing another rep.

Really wrap your head around this, lie on your back and
think about shortening this distance and you will feel a very
focused inner tension that really targets your full abdominal
wall, now squeeze your knees together and increase the
pressure in your abs.
If you feel your shoulder blades lifting too high off the floor
or feel the tension shift to your hip flexors and lower back then
you have begun to perform an old school sit up, this indicates
the limit of the exercise. Simply put, the point where your abs
are fully contracted you will feel that there is no more room
left to shorten the shoulder-hip distance before you begin to
perform what is known as the classic sit up, this again is the
limit of your movement, go no further, the contraction is
complete.
I have actually found the following to be the optimum
manner in which to perform the exercise.
I lie on my back on a soft mat (one that I sink into a little),
this provides a nice even support for my spine. I then raise my
feet off the floor bending my knees until the stress moves

away from my legs and hips and onto my lower/mid abs, I hold
this stress (and position) in my abs and steadily shorten the
distance between my shoulders and hips, I feel my spine round
out into the soft mat and ALL four rows of my abdominal wall
become fully engaged and contracted through a relatively
shallow range of motion, at maximum contraction I briefly
hold and tighten my abs without involving my lower back, and

The Routine
The reps prescribed are exact and not to be changed, the
weight used in the abs machine should be increased after
every workout, small increments over a long time is the key
here.
On the other 2 exercises, you can actually increase the
stimulus merely by working a stronger contraction during each
rep, in effect making the exercise harder for yourself, not in
form but in effort!
The rest between sets is different depending on the exercise,
this is due to the according likely recovery times it takes to
recover, I want you to be able to use 100% of your remaining
strength in each and every set, this is why I allow more rest time
for the machine ab work, and less for the bodyweight work.
This is a weekly workout, at maximum it should be
performed no more than once every five days, if you feel you
are totally recovered.

Exercise

Reps.

Rest
(mins)

Sets

Notes

Machine ab training
(nautilus for me)

21-13-8

4

3

Full effort here, in a very controlled manner, making sure that the seat height is perfect for
YOU!

Seated knee raises
(as described)

21-13-8

2

3

Really focus on your lower abs, position your body so that the centre of the exertion is
exactly where it should be

Ab crunches
(as described)

21-13-8

2

3

Overall ab work: slow controlled and definite in execution, you should ONLY feel your abs
working

126 perfectly executed reps per week, that’s it, no more and no less!
Final notes:
Keep a diary of your weights used and be brutal with your own self-analysis regarding form and performance, don’t skip any
reps or sets, and of equal importance get your dietary factors in perfect order!
Remember, the results that you can expect from this routine hinge on providing enough protein to actually build the ab
muscles whilst also reducing your bodyfat in order to reveal your newly developed abs, the greatest 8 pack on the planet won’t
get you noticed if it’s hidden under a thick layer of bodyfat. You might as well wear a coat!
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Shredify

Your life
There’s been plenty of hype over social
media in the last two years since their soft
launch on the web, but now that the app is
released on iOS and Android and is used in
10 countries, people are going mad for it!
Steve Quick MSc, BSc (Hons) and
brother Daniel Jones BSc (Hons), from
Southampton, England, are the founders,
creators, and owners of Shredify.
So what is Shredify?
Shredify is a unique fitness app that is
already changing lives for the better.
Gone are the days of one-shape-fits-all.
Shredify allows you to select your dream
body shape/goal and then train and
progress towards it using workouts
targeted explicitly with that result in
mind.

Stevo Quick and Daniel Jones
18

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But that’s not all! The app learns

users’ behaviour and will adjust each
workout based on your previous
performance. The software is so
advanced that there are no pre-planned
“generic” workouts at all.
Who is behind Shredify?
To create workouts tailored for every
person’s individual needs requires a
good deal of fitness knowledge.
The creator of this unique app is
Stevo Quick. A former Royal Marine
with operational service in Afghanistan,
he holds two degrees and is a level-4
Personal Trainer. Stevo teamed up
with his brother Daniel, an expert in
software development and programme
creations who also holds a degree in this
subject.
The idea for this app first came about
when Stevo realised there was a gap in
the market for personal training software
that could learn user behaviour and
provide progressions based on their
performance.
He was tired of seeing the same
generic programmes being passed out to
everyone, and so together, they used his
wealth of fitness knowledge to create the
Shredify dream.
The brothers challenged themselves

to create software that gave users

Co-Founder Stevo Quick
workouts that were tailored, plus had
the flexibility to suit any lifestyle. They
understood that lives are not as routine
as a pre-determined workout programme
expects of us.
And so Shredify was born!
The brain of the app, appropriately
coined as the “workout engine” is where
the magic happens. It thinks and acts
like the most skilled body transformation


“The best workout
app we’ve seen all
year, 5 stars!”

P H O T O C R E D I T: J O DY W R I G H T

Danni Levy, Editor-in-Chief,
Muscle & Fitness HERS

Daniel Jones is
set to be the next
Mark Zuckerberg in
app development
specialist/ strength and conditioning
coach you would find anywhere in the

world.
Cutting edge personal training
principles are input into the app, using
coding funnels that tweak the app’s
performance in real time so that
each user can trust that what they are
doing is in line with current fitness
guidelines.
“Getting the code right,” was the
biggest challenge said Daniel, as the
complex nature of the algorithms that
create the exercises is so advanced
that if the code were written in size 10
font, it would fill a professional football
field.

No two programmes are the same and
the more the users progress and use the
app, the more tailored the programme
becomes.
Each exercise has an instructional
video and teaching points to ensure that
each movement is performed safely and
effectively.
The app is simple, just select a body
shape goal, either Curve Model, Beach
Master, Titan, Spartan, or Goliath, and
then watch the workout engine create
your unique programme.
Workouts might include HIIT,

depending on your body shape goal, and
you can exercise in the park, at home
or the gym.
You can also alter the duration of
your workout and choose between 20,
40 and 60-minute training sessions
that all count towards becoming a curve
model or whichever goal you have
selected.

What is so incredible about Shredify
is that you can use this app at the gym,
with the gym equipment, including all
resistance machines, free weights, cables
and other kit such as kettlebells, slam
balls, and battle ropes. Or at the other
end of the spectrum you can have an
entirely “home-based,” bodyweight
workout.
Shredify has catered for the total
novice, to the most hardened of
gym goers ensuring all abilities can
progress.
Shredify is already leading the way
with regular blogs on its website, and
daily updates across their social media
channels. HERS
Make sure you follow these guys,
on Facebook, and Twitter #Shredify
#ShredifyApp #TeamShred

Instagram: @shredify @shredifycoach
@danieldarrenjones
Model @elizawatsonfit
Turn to page 30 to give our Shredify HERS workout a try!
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ON THE PROWL
By DannI Levy
Photographs by Simon Howard

“If you want to sculpt a shapely figure
AND have definition, you need to build
muscle,” says Indira, the vegan stunner
better known as the Golden Panther.
“To do that, you need to lift heavy! If
the weight is only a few kilos/pounds
to begin with, and that’s heavy for
you, then that’s fine, but you need to
be struggling to complete those last
few reps. It’s all about taking each set
to absolute, or close to absolute,
muscular failure.”
Blast your lower-body with these

top 5 exercises for perfect pins:

Perfect your pins
with this dumbbell
leg shaper from
Queen of the curves,
the Golden Panther

1) DUMBBELL LUNGES
TARGETS: Quads, glutes and hamstrings
HOW TO:
1) Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding both dumbbells.
2) Step forward with one leg, flexing the knees to drop your hips. Go
down until your rear knee almost touches the ground. Your posture
should always remain upright, and your front knee should be aligned
directly above your front foot.
3) Drive through the heel of your lead foot and extend both knees to
raise yourself back up.
4) Step forward with your rear foot and repeat using the other leg.
REPS/SETS/REST:
* 2 warm up set of 10 reps each leg
* 3 working sets of 10-12 reps each leg
* 30 seconds / 1 minute rest if necessary between sets
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2) DOUBLE DUMBBELL SQUATS
TARGETS: Quads, glutes, hamstrings and develops core strength
HOW TO:
1) Hold both dumbbells on top of your shoulders before you start
squatting.
2) Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips. Your toes should
be pointed slightly outwards (About 5 to 20°).
3) Look straight ahead, keeping your spine in a neutral position. Your
weight should be spread evenly throughout the heels and balls of
your feet.
4) Now breathe in, break at your hip and push your butt back. Keep
your back straight and your chest and shoulders up. As you squat
down, focus on keeping your knees in line with the feet.
5) Squat down until your hip joint is lower than your knees (parallel).
Keeping everything tight, breathe out and drive through your heels.
Drive your knees out the same way you did on the way down and
squeeze your butt at the top.
REPS/SETS/REST:
* 1 warm up set of 12 reps
* 3 working sets of 10-12 reps
* 30 seconds / 1 minute rest if necessary between sets

3) STIFF LEGGED DEADLIFTS WITH
DUMBBELLS
TARGETS: Hamstrings, glutes and lower back
HOW TO:
1) With a slight bend in your knees, place your feet shoulder-width
apart.

2) Whilst keeping your back over your heels, inhale and lower the
dumbbells down towards your ankles.
3) Slide your hips back as you lower the weight, until you can move
them no further.
4) Exhale and go back towards the starting position by moving your
hips forward.
REPS/SETS/REST:
* 1 warm up set of 12 reps
* 3 sets of 12-16 reps
(Remember to squeeze your glutes for 3 seconds every time you
reach the top)
* 30 seconds / 1 minute rest if necessary between sets

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HERS

FEMALE MUSCLE

4) SINGLE LEG HAMSTRING DUMBBELL
DEADLIFTS
TARGETS: Hamstrings, glutes and lower back
HOW TO:
1) Assume a single-leg stance holding bold both dumbbells. Keep your
back straight and your core tight, looking straight ahead. The
shoulder blades should be retracted.
2) Lower your upper-body by bending at the hip. Keep your back

straight.
3) Lower the dumbbells down the thigh and shin of the supporting leg.
Push your hips back and slightly bend the knee during the descent.
4) Swing the free leg back so it stays in line with your torso.
5) Lower the upper-body until a mild stretch is felt in the hamstrings.
Squeeze glutes and return to the starting position.
REPS/SETS/REST:
* 1 warm up set of 12 reps
* 3 sets of 10-12 reps each leg
* 30 seconds / 1 minute rest if necessary between sets
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On the Prowl

5) DUMBBELL HIP THRUSTS
TARGETS: Glutes, hamstrings and quads
HOW TO:
1) Lie down on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on a bench.
2) Make sure your neck is in a relaxed position and your lower back is
straight.
3) Hold the dumbbell with both hands.
4) Lift your hips towards the ceiling as high as you can, without raising
your feet or shoulders off the floor.

5) Try to form a straight line from the shoulders to the knees.
6) Squeeze your butt cheeks together when your thrust your hips up.
REPS/SETS/REST:
* Warm up set of 15 reps without using the dumbbell, squeezing your
glutes for 3 seconds when you reach to the top
* 3 working sets of 10-12 reps, squeezing your glutes 5 seconds
in each rep
* 30 seconds / 1 minute rest if necessary between sets

Instagram: @_golden_panther

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