Build muscle, lose a little fat, run further, and get more flexible. One day at a time.
Upper and lower body twice a week each, so every muscle gets worked twice. Runs come the day after an upper-body day, never after legs, so your legs are fresh for them. One full rest day.
Run 1 is the Norwegian 4×4: 4 minutes hard (breathing heavily, only a few words possible), 3 minutes easy, 4 times. If running hard for 4 minutes is too much yet, power-walk up a steep treadmill incline instead. It counts the same. Run 2 is easy: slow enough to talk the whole time. That builds stamina.
If a session felt like a fight, repeat that week before moving up.
| Week | Run 1 · intervals | Run 2 · easy |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 8 × (1 min run + 2 min walk) | 5 × (3 min easy + 1½ walk) |
| Week 2 | 8 × (1 min run + 1½ min walk) | 3 × (5 min easy + 2 walk) |
| Week 3 | — | With Neel: 2 × (10 min easy + 2 walk) |
| Week 4 | Norwegian 4×4 | 20 min easy, non-stop |
| Week 5 | 4×4, a little faster or steeper | 25 min easy, non-stop |
| Week 6 | 4×4, running all 4 reps | 30 min non-stop 🎉 |
Always warm up (walk, easy run, high knees, butt kicks) and walk 5 min after. Treadmill guide at 1% incline: walk ≈ 5.5 km/h, easy run ≈ 7–8 km/h, 4×4 hard ≈ 8.5–9 km/h. Go by feel over the numbers.
Pick a weight where the last couple of reps are a real effort but your form stays clean. If it's easy, it's too light.
When every set reaches the top of the rep range (e.g. 3 × 12), move to the next dumbbell or plate the following session.
Up to 2 minutes on squats, hip thrusts and deadlifts. 30 seconds between exercises in a superset or circuit.
About 1.6 g per kg of bodyweight (~85 g if you're 55 kg). The post-workout shake counts. Muscle gets built from it.
You're already lean. Eat about normal amounts; the lifting and running will change how your body looks. Sleep 7–8 hours.
A burn is fine. A sharp or joint pain, or feeling dizzy, means stop that exercise and tell me.
Rebuild phase (8–10 weeks): win back the muscle running took, while keeping your stamina. Lifting gets priority; running holds steady instead of growing. Heavy legs on Monday, after a rest day and 3 days before Thursday's hard session. Upper days are 72 hours apart. Wednesday's durability work is low-fatigue, and Friday's upper day keeps your legs fresh for the long run.
Upper A is moderate weight and more sets; Upper B is heavier with different angles. Chest, back and shoulders get trained twice a week, with 10–16 hard sets each across the week. That's the range that builds muscle.
Progress by letting 4×4 get easier at the same heart rate, then add speed or incline. A treadmill at 5–8% incline gives the same heart-rate stimulus with less pounding. Max heart rate estimate: 208 − 0.7 × age; a real max from a hard hill effort is better.
Muscle comes from hard sets: stop 1–2 reps short of failure. Heavy compounds (deadlift, pull-ups, presses) at 5–8 reps, everything else at 8–15.
One heavy main lift each Monday, 4 × 5: squat one week, deadlift the next. Add 2.5–5 kg each time that lift comes round. Single-leg Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, Bulgarians, slow leg curls, calves and abduction/adduction every week. Never deadlift the day before a hard run or long run.
One more rep or a little more weight on every exercise, logged in Motra. Deadlift +5 kg a week while every rep is fast with a flat back. If a set grinds, repeat the weight.
Three runs plus football, about 80% easy. The long run stays at 70 min during the rebuild phase. Don't add mileage until the muscle is back.
Every day, spread over 4 meals, plus a protein serving before bed. This is the raw material for rebuilding muscle.
Running burned the muscle because there wasn't enough food for both. For this phase: maintenance + 200–300 kcal a day, carbs before and after runs and lifts. Aim for +0.25% of bodyweight a week. The cut to very low body fat comes after, from a bigger base.
About 30% less running and lighter weights. That's when the fitness from the previous 3 weeks lands.