To summarize: Do a warm-up of the muscle group but only 1 'serious-set' to exhaustion 
- Do a full-body warm up on a treadmill, stepper or a rowing machine--- for say 10 minutes. First 5 minutes low-medium pace and last 5 minutes at a higher pace that is comfortable for you. You should have a sweat on your brow at the end of this warm-up.
- Go to a weight machine or free-weights
- Warm up the muscle group you are going to exercise with a light and very comfortable weight that is very easy to lift. Do 20-30 reps for all the reasons mentioned above.
- Next increase the weight to enable you to reach exhaustion withing 90 seconds to prevent the Type-1's and lower intermediate muscle fibres 'kicking-in' again. Then move onto your next exercicse.
- Remember, you will only do 1 serious rep to exhaustion per muscle group and then rest this group for the rest of the week.
The Big-5 Exercises: click to see the benefits
- The Chest Press
- The Pulldown
- The Leg Press
- Seated Row
- Overhead Press
Suitable for
- The beginner - a trainer's input is advised
- Anyone wanting to decrease body fat percentage
- Body-tone or body-sculpt
- Build strength
- Maintain muscle mass through life
1. The Chest Press
- Involves the pectoralis major and minor [the chest muscles], the deltoids and the triceps muscles.
2. The Pulldown
- Try to also use an 'underhand' grip not just the overhand grip as shown in the image.
- Keep the hands a little narrower than the shoulders for the best results.
- Exhaust the muscles within 90 seconds
- Involves back and front muscles of the torso, the abdominals in the slumping position [lowering the shoulders towards the hips when performing this exercise], the biceps, the triceps, the rhomboids, strongly activates the clavicular portion of the pectoralis muscle, the lattisimus dorsi and strong activation of the forearm flexors.
3. The Leg Press
- Involves the entire lower body from the waist down
- Strongly involves the Hamstrings and Quadriceps muscles on the front of the thigh
- The Gastrocnemius [calf] muscle is also recruited
- Involves the hip and buttock muscles
4. Seated Row
- Activates the lattisimus dorsi muscles of the back, the rhomboids [muscles between the shoulder blades], the spinal extensor muscles [these run all the way from the lower to the upper spine], the flexor forearm muscles, biceps and brachioradialis muscles.
5. Overhead press
- The triceps mucles [on the back of the upper arm] are strongly involved, the deltoids the pectoral [chest] muscles are also involved with this exercise.
