YOU WAKE UP, shower, eat a protein-packed breakfast, and head to the gym. You spend an hour fast-walking on the treadmill, bulk up on the chest press machine, do a few sets of curls, lunge to exhaustion, and head home. Another day, same thing. Rinse, and repeat.
Sound familiar? We’ll bet it’s not working.
“People who just go through the motions, doing the same workout over and over again each week, don’t make progress,” says Craig Ballantyne, C.T.T., owner of CB Athletic Consulting, Inc. “In order to see results, your body needs a new training stimulus.”
It’s hard to make any blanket recommendations, but one simple fix for the most common errors that we see in gyms everywhere we go can be summed up into a simple line: Work out at a more intense pace for less time.
“A new program puts new demands on the body,” says Ballantyne. “The body reacts by changing—think muscle growth, increased strength, and improved aerobic capacity.”
It’s easy to transition from fitness beginner to a relatively fit workout enthusiast in 8-12 weeks, but for more tone and definition, you’ll need that extra boost. Use the tips below to break past your plateau and amp up your routine.