There is one things you must do to guarantee yourself the results you are after at the gym. Nothing else even comes close.
So you made it to the gym.
Cool. Sweet. Perfect.
That is the plan. Showing up is technically the only way to get results. But what happens after you walk through the doors? After the all the workouts. After all the sweat. After all the protein shakes. Why don’t you look the way you think you should by now?
Come here—I’ll tell you.
…Wait. You’re already here (awkward humming to kill the silence).
Unequivocally, the number one thing you must do to get results—and continue getting results until you reach your ideal body—is progress your workouts. Let me explain. The AI man in the picture below went to the gym consistently over the span of three years. He got good results but eventually stalled out.
Progression is the name of the game
When you exercise, especially when you lift weights, you place stress on your body. That stress creates tiny amounts of damage and fatigue in your muscles, connective tissue, and nervous system. Your body doesn’t like being stressed, so it responds the only way it knows how: it adapts.
If you expose your body to the same stimulus repeatedly—lifting the same weights, running the same distances—it becomes more efficient at handling that stress. Muscles get stronger, endurance improves, and movements feel easier. This adaptation is exactly what creates progress.
Over time, as long as you’re consistent, your body will change to match the demands placed on it:
- Muscles grow bigger and stronger
- Endurance improves
- Your ability to recover increases
- Your physique starts to shift
And at first, this works really well.
But here’s where most people get stuck.
Once your body has adapted to a stimulus, that stimulus stops producing results. If you don’t increase the challenge—heavier weights, more reps, more volume, longer runs, higher intensity—your body has no reason to keep changing. Progress slows, then stalls, and eventually stops.
This is why you see people who go to the gym all the time but look the exact same year after year. They do the same exercises, with the same weights, for the same reps. Their bodies adapted long ago, and they never forced them to adapt again.
Think of it like getting a sun tan.
The first few days in the sun, your skin changes quickly. Stay out the same amount every day, and the change slows. Eventually, you stop getting darker unless you increase exposure. So, if you want to be tanner, you have to stay in the sun longer and longer until you reach your desired look.
Training works the exact same way.
No increased stimulus means no reason to adapt. But as you’ll see in the progression photo below, our same AI man went to the gym for the same amount of time but continued to progress his workouts.
If you want results—and want to keep those results coming—your workouts must progress. That’s not optional. That’s the rule.
How to Progress (Without Overthinking It)
Progression doesn’t mean destroying yourself every workout. It means giving your body a slightly greater reason to adapt over time. Small, consistent increases beat big, reckless ones every time. Why you ask? Because going hard increases your risk of injury and/or recovery time and that means less time in the gym.
Here are the simplest and most effective ways to do it:
1. Add weight
The most obvious form of progression. When you can complete all your prescribed reps with good form, increase the weight slightly the next time you perform that exercise. This might be 2.5–10 pounds depending on the movement.
2. Add reps
If increasing weight isn’t realistic yet, add reps. For example, if your goal is 8–12 reps and you hit 12 across all sets, it’s time to increase the challenge—either by adding weight next session or resetting reps slightly higher.
3. Add sets or total volume
Another option is increasing how much total work you do. An extra set or two over the course of a week can be enough to push adaptation without overwhelming recovery.
4. Increase frequency or duration (for cardio)
For endurance work, progression might mean longer runs, more intervals, slightly faster pace, or adding another session per week. For weights it could be bench pressing, squatting, abs, etc. 2-3 days a week compared to one (you’re adding more total reps per week).
When to Increase
Progression should happen only after adaptation—not randomly.
A good rule of thumb:
- If a weight or workout feels easier than it did before
- If your reps improve week to week
- If recovery stays manageable
…it’s time to increase stimulus.
If performance is dropping, soreness is excessive, or motivation is tanking, that’s not a sign to push harder—it’s a sign to hold steady or deload before progressing again.
Progress is a long game. The goal isn’t to get ripped in a day … that’s never going to happen. The goal is to keep giving your body a reason to adapt month after month, year after year. That’s how results are built. Add weights, reps, duration, etc. every 2-3 weeks or as you see fit and watch your body change remarkably over time.
LYLAB & LYLAS
