Why Repeating Workouts is the Key to Fat Loss (and What No One’s Telling You)

You do not need a new workout every week to get stronger, leaner, or more confident in your body. I used to believe that too—and I was so wrong.

In this episode, I’m breaking down one of the biggest myths in fitness: that you need to constantly switch things up to see results. Nope. What you really need is consistency and progressive overload—aka doing the same movements and getting a little bit better every time.

I’ll share:

• Why repeating your workouts is one of the smartest things you can do for fat loss and strength
• What “progressive overload” actually means and how to use it (even if you’re a beginner)
• The top 4 reasons repeating workouts gets you better results, faster
• Why your workouts don’t need to be entertaining—they need to be effective

If you’ve ever felt stuck doing random workouts and wondering why your body isn’t changing—this one’s for you.

💪 Want a plan that takes out the guesswork and actually works?

Apply for Muscles & Mindset—my signature program for women 30+ who are done with the quick fixes and ready for real, lasting change. Or hop on the waitlist for Summer60, our 60-day fitness + accountability kickstart.

Until next time—lift heavy, repeat your workouts, and keep showing up. You’ve got this.

00:37 The Myth of Constantly Changing Workouts
01:37 The Power of Repeating Workouts
02:31 Four Reasons to Repeat Your Workouts
04:21 Progressive Overload Explained
05:33 Avoiding Workout Boredom
06:38 Consistency and Progress

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Transcript

0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Muscles and Mindset Revolution podcast. The place where high achieving women build strength, lose fat for good, and feel confident af in their skin without counting calories or BS quick fixes. I'm your host, Anne Jones, certified life coach, strength coach, former massage therapist, and someone who used to think I had to switch things up constantly to see results. Spoiler, I was wrong and today I'm breaking down why Repeating your workouts is one of the most powerful ways to actually get stronger, leaner, and see real changes in your body. Let's get into it. Hello, welcome back. Let's just get this outta the way, guys. You do not need a brand new workout every week to lose fat or build muscle. I know, I know, I know. I know. We've all been fed the idea that we have to shock our body to keep it guessing or that workouts should be exciting and new all the time. But here's the truth, that advice might be entertaining, right? That's how they sold magazines back in my day, fitness magazines, and that is how apps get you to subscribe and click on things, but it is not effective. One of my amazing clients a few years ago, she absolutely crushed it in her six months with us. She was so happy she was wearing shorts for the first time in years, she told me on her graduation call that her sister kept asking why she was repeating the same workouts like in our program. Like, why aren't you doing something different? And she was like, well, because this works. Like repeating these workouts works. Previously before she had been doing two a day Les Mills workouts, and running, and that was not working for her. So it's just such a good reminder. People will always have opinions, right? But the results don't lie. Here's what most people don't understand about fat loss. You don't just lose fat. Your body composition changes because you build a muscle underneath that gives you that toned look. And then when you lose body fat, that is what changes your body shape tone and definition. So I actually love the term body recomposition more than weight loss and to build muscle. You need progressive overload, Progressive overload is a fancy way of saying that over time you're asking your muscles to do a little bit more than they did last week. But here's the thing, you can't progressively overload if you're always switching up your workouts. Your body has no chance to adapt. Your brain has no chance to learn. You just stay stuck doing random things and wondering why your body isn't changing. This also often doesn't allow for enough recovery. So let's break this down. Here are four reasons why repeating your workouts is one of the smartest things you can do. Number one, you reduce your risk of injury. Every time you do a movement, again, you get better at it, right? Your form improves your brain and body start to work together. This is a true neuromuscular connection that must be strengthened. You are not flailing around trying to figure it out. This is why, with athletes, physical therapists will train them in all positions and ranges of motion. So you wanna strengthen in the movement of your sport, but you want to train in all positions because sport is dynamic as life is dynamic, you know? So you have to train for the child running by who you have to rotate and catch. You have to train for reaching down to grab your dog's leash when they run away because you usually get injured in a position you haven't trained in. And number two, you actually get to master the exercise. The first time you try a new move, you're just trying to survive it, right? You're just trying to figure out like, what is Anne doing in the video? And like, oh my God, am I supposed to be here? Here? That's me, too. When my trainer, Jenn gives me a new program, it's a learning curve. It takes me a couple weeks to get into it, find my groove. That's one of the reasons that I repeat it for eight to 12 weeks also, because that's how you get a result. So the first time you do an exercise, you are not lifting as much as you possibly could because you don't even know what you're doing. And if you don't know what you're doing and you are lifting as much as you possibly can, that is a bad idea. Your brain is still figuring out the pattern. Your body doesn't feel safe to increase the load yet. But the second, third, fourth time. That's when you know what you're doing, you start to feel stronger, and that's when your brain starts to say, okay, I know this. I can handle this, we can do this. You build a neuromuscular connection, and that is when progress really kicks in. Also, it's more fun. Number three, progressive overload can only happen if you repeat your workouts. if you are sedentary, you're gonna start with a body weight squat, right? You're gonna learn how to do a squat, and then you might add a band. And then you might add a couple light dumb dumbbells. Then one day you're gonna add a kettlebell. Maybe one day you're gonna do a barbell squat and you're gonna work on your mobility. and then you change the tempo, you go slower. All of that is progressive overload, and none of that is possible if you never squat again after week one. So if you're doing totally different workouts all the time, I promise you, you're just spinning your wheels. This is one of the reasons that people see no results, after attending group fitness classes for years. Because they didn't write that program for you. They wrote that program'cause they feel like doing it. Somebody sent it to them from headquarters in Texas. Or, I don't know, just like random reasons. It seems fun. Somebody asked for it. It's not progressively training you. You are not getting stronger. You are, you might be a little bit, but fully not to your full potential. Not in a safe way, and not in an efficient and effective way. And you're not gonna see that lean toned look that you want. It's not the whole picture. And number four, if you are bored by repeating workouts, you're distracted. I just told you I repeat my workouts for eight to 12 weeks. As do our strongest clients, and I am never bored. I'm fully like, sometimes I'm like, I don't wanna do this exercise, but I'm fully in it.'cause I know there's a good reason my trainer wrote it for me. There's a good reason I'm still doing it. There's probably a reason that I don't like it because my body needs to do it. I get it. And repeating workouts can feel boring if you're using your workout as your entertainment. But your workout is not a Netflix episode, it is not supposed to be constantly stimulating. It is about progress. Not novelty. And if you're in your body feeling it, it is not boring. Put on some tunes, listen to a podcast. But if you're bored, your brain is not in the game. You're not paying attention to your form. You're probably thinking about if you're anything like my clients, when they first start, you're thinking about how you should be doing something else, or you should be spending your time differently, which is just a mindset by the way. You're not paying attention to your form. You're not noticing much stronger you're getting, you're not feeling in your body, and honestly, you're missing the magic This also doesn't mean that you repeat the same workouts forever. That also is not going to work. You don't need to be stuck doing the same glute burner from the 2006 Oxygen Magazine, Jamie Easton, on the cover that you've been doing for 20 years. Like it had its moment, but you're ready for more than donkey kicks and banded fire hydrants. So you also need to progress. Inside muscles and mindset. We give clients the same workouts for four to eight weeks. Ideal is six to 12, though I do my workouts for eight to 12 weeks. Why? Because that is how long research shows it takes to really see results. And build movement patterns. Some studies show people repeating workouts for 12 weeks. See the most significant changes. Now, does that mean that you do nothing different? Of course not. We can tweak tempo reps, increase weight, rest, time, change equipment. There are a dozen ways to switch things up within the same workout to keep it fun and challenging, but the bones should stay the same. The foundation should stay consistent. And when you keep showing up doing the same movements and slowly lifting heavier, or moving better, more efficiently, more quickly, or slowly depending on the intention, that's when your body starts to change. That's how you build muscle. That's how you lose fat. That's how you get strong, confident, and unstoppable. So the next time someone says. Why are you doing those same workouts again, just smile and say, because it works. Fat loss is not random. Strength isn't random. You don't need more variety. You need more intentionality. if you want a program that takes all the guesswork out of this where you can just open your app, hit play, and follow a plan that was written for you and proven to work, then apply for muscles and mindset. It's the only online program where women over the age of 30 are increasing their strength, feeling confident losing weight permanently and addressing their mindset without counting calories or being stressed all the time. the link for that, will be in the show notes Until next time, lift heavy, repeat your workouts and keep showing up. You've got this.