Oh The Mistakes You’re Making — 14 Fitness Tips To Workout SMARTER And Maximize Your Results

8. Prepare to Bust Through Plateaus

Once you get past the “newbie phase” and your body becomes more advanced, you’ll hit your first official plateau.

A plateau storms in when your body begins to adapt to the same stimuli. Gains eventually slow down and progress begins to stall. Eventually you’ll need to work harder to achieve the same quantity of results. It’s the law of diminishing returns, it’s very real, and it’s ridiculously frustrating.

Plateaus are a recurring theme during training, and a natural response when your body gets too good at a given workout. If something’s easy or overly repetitive, it’s likely not providing any benefit — CHALLENGE it and change your workouts. System shock and muscular confusion are powerful catalysts to galvanize new growth.

A few ways to work this in practice:

• Do different exercises
• Switch workout routines
• Vary rep, set, and weight schemes — instead of doing 3 sets of 12 nonstop, try a 5×5 protocol or AMRAP sets (as many reps as possible) for a given time.
• Use different types of equipment
• Take classes
• Do supersets, circuit sets, and drop sets

One note — don’t program hop too frequently. Do a plan for 4-12 weeks and then change it up. Your body has to actually learn how to do an exercise effectively before it can excel and perform at a high level. View it as a three-phase process: learning (1) → performance (2) → adaptation (3).

Maximal growth occurs during phases 1 & 2; switch it up before you’re deep into phase 3.

9. FOCUS

Enter the gym as if you’re a Spartan going in to battle. Dress up (workout clothes matter), show up, get a pre-workout meal in, and pop on a killer playlist.

Once you’re going, try to cap your workouts at 60 minutes.

Unless you’re following a very specific protocol, workouts that go longer than one hour generally tend to be bloated and less intense overall. Compress the work you’re doing — compound exercises, supersets, circuit sets, HIIT, and shorter rest periods between sets can all help consolidate and optimize. They’ll also jack up your heart rate and lead to higher intensity overall.

There’s a reason why classes always run in the 45m–60m wheelhouse. You should be working hard enough that your body feels absolutely gassed by then. Trust me, you’ll know.

Also, abuse airplane mode. Technology is incredibly empowering, but it simultaneously siphons focus. If at all possible, treat your workouts as sacred personal time to focus on you. Text, email, and Instagram it up later.

10. Rest Effectively

Image: Men’s Fitness

One of the hardest things for avid lifters and fitness junkies is rest. Get on a roll and the last thing you want to do is slow down. It feels counter-productive. It’s not.

Workouts mutilate muscle fibers and break the body down — that effectively prepares your body to build muscle, as growth occurs in the rebuilding phase. Rest is an essential link in the process.

Overdo it and you’ll burn yourself out and enter an overtraining state. Overtraining can cause a wide range of issues, including decreased strength and accelerated fatigue, depressed energy levels, changes in personality, poor focus, sleep issues, and an increased risk of injury.

Make it a habit to take at least 1-2 days off per week. I’d recommend working out intensely for 3-4 days, and then taking 1 day off. Cheating’s cool on the occasional off day, but recognize that rest days are just as important as workout days. Focus on nutrition. Sleep well. Hydrate religiously.

And definitely indulge #11.

11. Pull Mobility + Flexibility Into Your Routine

Image: NYTimes

Limber up.

Infuse foam rolling, stretching, pilates, and yoga into your workout schedule. As training becomes more intensive and years of wear and tear pile on—or maybe you’re just glued to a desk 24/7—it’s critical to constantly reinforce movement patterns, stretch short muscles, and work out any tightness. All four also help increase recovery, boost athletic performance, actively prevent soft-tissue injuries (i.e. pulled muscles), and reduce postural imbalances.

If you’re unaware, foam rolling is a self-myofascial release technique, similar to deep tissue massage, that can help unglue tissues and trigger points (aka knots) — sources of pain, immobility, and nasty conditions like sciatica, shin splints, and tennis elbow.

Beyond the physical benefits, mobility work (especially yoga) is incredibly therapeutic and a powerful stress reliever. It’s a little oasis and a quick way to zone out from all of the hell you’re likely dealing with on a regular basis.

Stretch before and after your workouts. Foam roll while you’re watching Netflix. Use your off days for dedicated flexibility/mobility work. Get up early for a yoga class. Down the road you’ll thank me.

12. Stay Balanced

The body contains somewhere between 650-850 muscles. It’s shocking, but they’re not all concentrated in the abs, pecs, and biceps.

While I fully support and encourage that you blast the life out of your favorite glamour muscle (I’m partial to the abs), expand your training horizons and go WIDE. A balanced, well-rounded routine from top-to-bottom is essential.

Most people neglect some combination of the back, legs, shoulders, and triceps, if not all four. That’s heartbreaking because they house an enormous amount of muscle mass—more muscle equates to a higher metabolism at rest—and contribute metabolic training that’s unrivaled. Intense moves like squats, deadlifts, rows, dips, shoulder presses, and kettlebell swings all reside in that zone — six of the most potent exercises to help destroy fat and spark muscle growth.

Slice your body down the middle — the back half should get just much love as the front, and the bottom half merits just as much training as the top (if not more). Otherwise you’ll gradually develop muscular imbalances, horrible posture, and pain over time. Or, you’ll look disproportionate with toothpick legs and no butt.

For example, you could roll with this schedule:

• Legs & Abs
• Chest & Triceps
• Back & Biceps
• Shoulders and Abs
• OFF
• OFF
• Legs & Abs

Leverage our workout plans and exercise lists to build out a killer routine. Learn to love leg day.

13. Your Abdominal Roadmap

Most people suck when it comes to abs training. Royally.

A condensed core and chiseled six-pack are the product of a clean diet and smart, calculated training. Adapt these four rules and you’ll immediately improve your workouts and get a surge of rocket fuel straight to the core.

• Stop training your abs every day. Do them 3x per week, max, and take two days off in between ab workouts. The rules of recovery apply to the abs just like any other muscle group. You’ll also better funnel your time into exercises and muscle groups that are more impactful.
• Stop doing infinite crunches. Regular crunches are probably the most overrated and overused exercise of all time. Crank up the difficulty and branch out. Moves like planks, hanging knee/leg raises, cable crunches, oblique twists, bicycle crunches, pulse ups, and decline sit-ups are all extremely potent. Explore our abs section for ideas.
• Follow an actual abs routine. Attack your abs like you would any other body part — with a calculated strategy and workout plan. Your routine should run 10-20 minutes and hit the rectus abdominis (six-pack muscles), obliques, lower abs, and transverse abdominis (inner abs).
• Blow up body fat. Your six-pack doesn’t count if you can’t see it. Low body fat % is absolutely mandatory. Intense workouts and HIIT can help excavate the curves in your core, but you won’t outwork a crap diet. Make nutrition and a clean diet your first priority.

We’ve got ab workouts on ab workouts. Pick your poison.

14. Find Your Groove

Above all else, fitness doesn’t work if you’re not doing it consistently. It’s a lifestyle approach, and long-term sustainability is absolutely key. I’d argue this might be the most important tip on the list. Showing up is half the battle.

Experiment with resistance training, yoga, running, spinning, boxing, pilates, Crossfit, barre—whatever—and find something that clicks. It’s different for everyone, and maybe you’re a variety person. Just stay active and work to achieve something. ClassPass is an awesome way to experiment with 100’s of different classes for a significantly reduced price.

Also, get a workout buddy. It’s so much easier to develop a habit—and share in the sweaty torture—when you’ve got a friend to suffer with. Eventually that suffering turns into unadulterated enthusiasm, and then you’re set.

Results are addictive. And pretty damn sexy, too.

• About
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Bryan DiSanto

Owner & Editor-in-Chief at Lean It UP

Bryan DiSanto is the Owner & Editor-in-Chief of Lean It UP, ACE-CPT & CSN, NYU graduate, ex-fat kid, and all-around fitness/nutrition nutjob.

When he’s not working on his (or somebody else’s) abs, whipping up Eggocados, or running a Tough Mudder, he’s probably off yelling at a Carolina Panthers game somewhere.

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