Doing the same repetitive movements don’t work. That’s why many people wonder why when they go to the gym 3-4 days, their bodies never change. It’s because their body has become too comfortable with the same routine. Here are a few tips on how you can workout smarter in order to maximize your results:

1) First, lose the machines, specifically the cardio ones. Cardio is not necessarily the panacea for fat loss. Don’t get me wrong, machines, particularly the strength-based ones, are a great way to isolate a muscle group but to make the most of your workout, you have to involve as many body parts as you can per exercise.

Machines often isolate muscle groups but if you want to maximize your gains, you have to involve multiple body parts per exercise in order to burn more calories.

2) Do Full Body Movements and toss out the idea of upper body day & lower body day.  The problem with this is that very few movements outside the gym involve single muscle groups. Your body parts want to move together in unison. Isolating them has some value but there’s more to be gained by working the body in it’s entirety.

3) Combine strength-based exercises with cardio in order to fire up your muscles and cardiovascular system simultaneously. Try doing 30 seconds of high knees and then dropping and completing 20 push ups as many times as you can.

1. Revaluate the concept of rep ranges. Working until ‘failure’ or ultimate fatigue is

more effective for your muscles then the traditional 3 sets of 12 or 15. This is how you maximize muscle growth.

5) Build Stretching into your exercises, not necessarily at the end of your session to help improve things like mobility, flexibility & balance.

1. Finally, have a day where you choose one compound or multi-joint movement and

perform a high volume of just that exercise. Because ‘s not necessarily more or effective at all to spend hours in the gym.

Try these ideas out the next time you’re in the gym and see what a difference making just a few changes to your regular routine can make.