Building muscle while losing body fat – aka body recomposition – requires more than just burning as many calories as possible and adjusting what’s on your plate. Holding onto, and ideally building, lean muscle means giving your body a reason to keep it, with progressive resistance training forming an important part of the equation.

This full-body workout from Men’s Health Build Muscle Burn Fat training plan combines heavy compound lifts with higher rep accessory work, before giving you the option of finishing with a fast paced conditioning ladder. Alongside appropriate nutrition, it can help you build strength and muscle while increasing your overall training output.

The Workout

Complete each pair of exercises as a superset, for example, by moving from A1 straight into A2 with minimal rest. Rest for 2-3 minutes between rounds.

B1. Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press x 5 reps and 4 rounds
B2. Bicep Curl x 10-15 reps and 4 rounds

C1. Pendlay Row x 5 reps and 4 rounds
C2. Dumbbell Tricep Extension x 10-15 reps and 4 rounds

For the lower rep moves, build towards a heavy 5 reps. For the higher rep moves, work close to failure, taking the final set to the point where you can’t complete another rep with good form.

Optional conditioning: complete 10 burpees, 10 air squats and 10 sit-ups, followed by 9 of each, then 8, continuing until you reach 1.

How to Do the Moves

Barbell Front Squat

• Hold the bar in the front rack position, resting on the meaty part of your shoulders with your elbows high.
• Push your hips back and bend your knees to squat down, keeping your chest tall, before driving through your feet to stand.

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

• Hold the dumbbells in front of your thighs and stand tall.
• With a slight bend in your knees, push your hips back and trace the weights down the front of your thighs.
• Once you feel a stretch through your hamstrings, drive your hips forwards to stand.

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press

• Sit upright with the dumbbells at shoulder height.
• Press them overhead until your arms are extended, then lower under control.

Bicep Curl

• Hold the dumbbells by your sides with your palms facing forwards.
• Keeping your elbows tucked in to your waist, curl the dumbbells up before slowly lowering.

Pendlay Row

• Hinge at your hips until your torso is close to parallel with the floor, with the hips behind your heels and the bar over your toes.
• Explosively row the bar towards your lower chest, then return it to the floor. You don’t have to control the descent of the bar.

Dumbbell Tricep Extension

• Hold a dumbbell overhead with both hands.
• Bend at the elbows to lower it behind your head, then straighten your arms to return to the starting position.

If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.

Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.