We asked Lou Schuler and his co-author of The New Rules of Lifting for Women, Alwyn Cosgrove, to create a strength workout that will make you work up a sweat. Their rules: do fewer reps, because that will allow you to hoist heavier weights (meaning you hit more muscle fibres); and change the exact number of reps, sets and rest periods every workout to activate different strands. Do the routine below two to three days a week, alternating between the two versions. Quick, grab a towel.

When the moves are labelled with numbers, do them as an alternating set - or a "superset," in trainer-speak. Example: For - B1 and B2, do one set of B1 followed immediately by one set of B2, and then rest. Continue repeating until you've ­completed all the sets, then move on to exercise C. Do the workout for four to six weeks. Then up the reps to six for Workout 1, and 12 for Workout 2. We asked Lou Schuler and his co-author of The New Rules of Lifting for Women, Alwyn Cosgrove, to create a strength workout that will make you work up a sweat. Their rules: do fewer reps, because that will allow you to hoist heavier weights (meaning you hit more muscle fibres); and change the exact number of reps, sets and rest periods every workout to activate different strands. Do the routine below two to three days a week, alternating between the two versions. Quick, grab a towel. 

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