Is your gym routine starting to get a little old hat? Many men and women who are trying to build muscle tend to see a plateau a few months in, and it can be incredibly frustrating when you’re not getting the results that you want.

If you’ve come to a dead end with your strength routine and you’re wondering how to get results at the gym (fast), keep reading for some easy to follow advice!

Up the Weight, Lower the Reps

If you’re looking to increase your strength, increase your weight by around 5% and decrease your reps per set by 2. This stimulates strength and muscle growth and is perfect for those who don’t want to drastically change their weight lifting routine.

Fuel Up the Right Way

Both before and after a strength work out, you need to make sure that you’re giving your body the nutrition that it needs. You need to provide yourself with adequate amino acids and carbohydrates to help create new muscle mass (and ensure that you have the energy to do so). Read our tips on eating before and after exercising and have a go at whipping up some of our quick and easy recipes!

Change It Up

Anyone who is serious about building strength and muscle mass should be consciously trying to avoid plateau. You can do this by ensuring that your gym routine changes (a little or a lot) every two weeks. Consider changing the order in which you perform exercises, the type of exercises you’re doing or even your rest time between sets.

Rest & Recover

In order to get great results at the gym, you need to make sure that you don’t overtrain. Rest & recovery are vitally important for building lean muscle mass. If you work out too often you will begin to lack motivation, be incredibly exhausted and overly sore. You can also contribute to a process known as muscle glycogen depletion: your body will begin to break down your muscle tissues to convert the proteins contained inside to glucose. This can lead to a decrease in muscles mass. It is also an inefficient way of producing energy. So, remember to train hard and rest up!