10 Fitness Tips to Get Better Results from your Workouts

Last Updated on January 8, 2026

I’m sharing my go to fitness tips that help you get better results without living in the gym, wrecking your joints, or feeling like you have to punish your body to “earn” progress.

I used to make so many mistakes when I first started working out. I was exercising constantly and still not seeing my body change, and I was so frustrated I could have screamed into a treadmill.

One day, I was trying to use a cable machine for the first time and a trainer walked up and told me I was doing it wrong. She corrected my form, and I immediately felt the difference. Then she tried to pressure sell me an expensive package in a way that made me feel embarrassed instead of empowered. Slimy. Gross. And it made me want to quit.

But here’s the twist: she was right about the form. I had no clue what I was doing. I was winging it, doing long workouts, wandering machine to machine, and hoping effort alone would create results.

That moment lit a fire in me. I decided I was going to learn how this stuff actually works so I could train smarter, not harder. That path eventually became my career.

Now, as a Doctor of Functional Medicine, holistic nutritionist, and personal trainer, I help women stop guessing, stop overdoing it, and finally get results that feel good and last.

Quick note: This post is educational and based on my coaching and clinical experience. If you are pregnant, postpartum, injured, recovering from surgery, or managing a medical condition, check in with your healthcare provider for personalized guidance and modifications.

 

Why these fitness tips work

Most people do not need more intensity or more time working out. They need a better strategy that matches their body, their stress load, and their current fitness level.

In my world, “better results” means:

• Less soreness and fewer injuries
• More strength and definition
• Better energy, mood, and sleep
• Results you can easily see, feel, and maintain

That only happens when your workouts, recovery, and nutrition are working together.

Now let’s get into the best fitness tips that will upgrade your results fast.

 

 

10 Fitness Tips to Get Better Results from your Workouts

 

I put together this list of the top 10 workout mistakes I see most along with simple fitness tips to correct them and avoid issues.

The following fitness tips will help you prevent injuries, avoid plateaus, and get the results you deserve.

After you have a chance to check out the tips, leave me a comment and let me know which one helped you the most.

Ready? Let’s dig in!

 

Fitness Tip #1: Stop Doing Workouts that are too long

 

WHY? Long workouts are not automatically better. For a lot of women, marathon sessions increase fatigue, increase hunger, and make recovery harder. When recovery suffers, consistency suffers. And consistency is the actual secret.

Also, the longer and harder your workouts are, the more important your nutrition, sleep, and stress management become. If those pieces are not solid, doing more exercise often backfires through burnout, cravings, or lingering soreness.

What to Do Instead: Keep most workouts in a sustainable window that you can repeat. Start with enough exercise to get results, then build over time based on recovery and progress.

At a minimum, aim to move your body most days. Walking counts. Strength training a few days a week plus daily walking can be powerful, especially if you are a beginner.

If you’re already struggling with workouts that are too long, hard, intense, or you struggle with motivation to workout take my Program Style Quiz to find the program that’s perfect for you. All of my workout programs have short, quick, effective routines that work quickly to transform the body. And always remember exercise is a journey, not a race.

 

 

Fitness Tip #2: Set a Goal and Your Intentions

 

WHY? If you don’t know where you want to be or how you’re going to get there, then you won’t. Trying to get fit without a goal is like getting in an uber without an address to drive to. You can’t work and adjust properly when you don’t know what your target is.

What to Do Instead: Choose a realistic goal that you can reach and maintain (while also maintaining your sanity). Track progress with more than the scale, because the scale can move for reasons that have nothing to do with fat loss.

If fat loss is your goal, a common sustainable pace for many women is a slow, steady trend over time, not dramatic drops. You can lose fat and build muscle at the same time, too. So even if the number on the scale does not move much, you can still see your body change and feel your clothes get looser when you are losing fat and improving body composition.

When you have a clear plan in place, it’s easier to get results and stay motivated. A plan and consistency drive results, and results help you stay motivated. Check out out this exercise to get motivated and set your intentions.

Take my Program Style Quiz to find the program that’s perfect for you.

 

 

Fitness Tip #3: Avoid only Training one body part and doing your Favorite Exercises Over and Over

 

WHY? Repeating the same moves over and over causes the body to adapt and plateau. You can’t spot train fat loss. You can spot train your muscles, but overall change comes from training the whole body and building strength over time.

If you only focus on one body part, you will miss out on the metabolic and body shaping benefits of training the larger muscle groups consistently.

What to Do Instead: Break up the muscle groups into sections and train all of your muscles in a targeted way, with different exercises at least once every week. You do not need constant chaos. You just need smart progression and enough variety to keep your body responding.

*Only the abs can be trained safely more than once a week doing similar exercises but you have to add on intensity gradually. My 30 Day Ab Challenge will show you how.* All of my workout programs take care of this for you automatically so you can train your body like a pro and get better results, faster.

 

Fitness Tip #4: Stop Swinging Your Weights

 

WHY? The entire point of weight training is to use muscles to control movement and create a contraction. That controlled tension is what builds muscle and supports metabolism and body composition.

So when you swing your weights, momentum moves the weight, not your muscles. That means fewer results and a higher risk of injury.

What to Do Instead: 10 reps with proper form will get you results faster than 100 sloppy reps. Always perform weight training exercises with control, and especially slow down the lowering portion of the rep.

Always remember, cardio can be faster, weight training should be controlled.

HINT: That’s why all of my workouts both free and paid include demonstrations and instructions so you can do the exercises with proper form and a pace that maximizes results.

 

Fitness Tip #5: Warm Up and Cool Down before and after your workout

 

WHY? A good warm up prepares the muscles and joints for exercise and improves form. Cooling down helps your body shift into recovery so soreness and stiffness are less likely to linger.

What to Do: Warm up with light movement and dynamic mobility. Think slow jogging in place, jumping jacks, or walking on a treadmill. 5 to 10 minutes is ideal. During the warm up your goal should be to literally feel warm and slightly increase heart rate.

After you’re warm, do a few mobility moves or light stretches for the muscle groups you’ll be targeting. Save longer, deeper stretching for after the workout when your body is already warm.

To learn more and see the best stretching exercises check out this post all about stretching exercises.

 

Fitness Tip #6: Stop Holding Your Breath

 

WHY? Holding your breath increases tension and can mess with form. Your body needs oxygen to perform well and recover, especially during challenging sets.

What to Do Instead: Always breathe regularly throughout your workout.

During cardio, breathe consistently as you move. During weight training workouts, exhale during the hard part (the contraction) and inhale during the easy part (as you return the weight or body back to the start position.) Breathing this way supports better performance and can reduce dizziness and feeling overly winded.

 

Fitness Tip #7: Do Both Weight Training and Cardio Workouts, Not just one

 

WHY? Cardio supports heart health, endurance, and energy. Strength training builds lean muscle, improves strength, and helps your body look more toned and defined.

If your goal is fat loss and body composition, most women do best when strength training is the foundation and cardio supports it, not replaces it.

What to Do: Do both weight training and cardio in a way that matches your recovery and stress level. Strength training helps build lean muscle and supports metabolism. Cardio supports conditioning and can increase your overall daily energy output.

All of my workout programs include both types so you can get the best results from each without doing workouts that are too long or brutal. Take my Program Style Quiz to see what program is best for you.

 

 

Fitness Tip # 8: Stop Eating before you Exercise

 

WHY? This one depends on the person, the workout, and your goals.

Some women feel amazing training with a little fuel, and others feel bloated, sluggish, or nauseous if they eat too close to movement. There is no one perfect rule.

Also, fat loss is not about one workout being “fat burning.” It is about your overall nutrition, training, recovery, and consistency over time.

What to Do Instead: Use a simple guideline:

• If you feel sick when you eat before workouts, give yourself more time between a meal and training, or keep a pre workout option smaller and easier to digest.
• If you feel shaky, lightheaded, or ravenous after workouts, you probably need a small balanced snack before, or a better meal after.
• For many women, a balanced meal 1 to 2 hours before and after training works well for energy, performance, and recovery.

Staying hydrated before and during your workouts helps too because it can reduce “false hunger.” Dehydration and thirst are often mistaken for hunger.

You can learn more about what to eat to boost metabolism, burn fat, and to recover during workouts in all of my fitness programs.

 

 

Fitness Tip #9: Stop Doing Workouts that are too hard

 

WHY? Aggressive, overly intense workouts can be draining and can spike stress hormones in some women, especially when sleep is poor, calories are too low, or life stress is high. And stress hormones can have a domino effect on other hormones, cravings, water retention, and recovery.

Doing too much too fast is also one of the biggest reasons people get injured, burn out, and quit.

If you end your workouts feeling wrecked, if you dread them, or if you feel sore for more than a couple of days, your workouts may be too hard for your current recovery and nutrition.

What to Do Instead: Start with intensity (speed, weight, and resistance) that is realistic for your experience level. If your workouts feel too hard, reduce the resistance, weight lifted, and or speed, then build gradually.

Make sure your nutrition matches the intensity of your training. Take my Program Style Quiz to see what meal plan and workout programs are best for you.

 

Fitness Tip #10: Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

 

WHY? We were not made from cookie cutters. We lose and gain fat differently because we all have our own unique genetic makeup, lifestyle, and starting point.

Plus, you never know what someone is doing behind the scenes, how long they have been training, what filters or edits are involved, or what their day to day habits actually look like.

Also, if you’re an easy gainer (meaning you easily gain fat and muscle) and you’re comparing yourself to a hard gainer (someone who has a harder time gaining fat and muscle) you’ll always be disappointed. Hard gainers often need more volume and heavier training to see change. Easy gainers usually do better with a smarter balance of strength training, recovery, and nutrition.

PSA I only work with easy gainers (like me) so they can lose fat and get tight and defined without bulking up.

What to Do Instead: Stop comparing yourself to someone you are not. Accept yourself for who you are, then tailor your training strategy to suit your goal look (I teach you how in all of my exercise programs), and eat in a way that matches your unique metabolic needs. Doing so makes it a lot easier to get the results you want and feel good in your own skin.

The most important fitness tip I can give you

Abs are made in the kitchen. And results are made with personalization.

If you want the fastest path to feeling better and getting better results from your workouts, take my Metabolic Type Quiz. You will learn how to eat in a way that matches your body so you stop doing the cookie cutter diet thing that keeps women stuck.

And if you want a training plan that fits your personality and goals, take my Program Style Quiz so you can stop guessing and start following a plan that actually makes sense for you.

 

That’s my roundup of 10 fitness tips to consider when you exercise.

Which tip was your favorite? Let me know in the comments.

Your Coach and Biggest Cheerleader

xxoo

 

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