Celebs like Emma Stone, Mandy Moore, and Alison Brie don’t just have strong, toned bods. They work hard for them, just like the rest of us mere humans. Still, they do have some secrets to share: According to their trainer Jason Walsh, founder of the fitness space Rise Nation, the star-studded workout warriors started slow in their strength-training routines and increased the intensity from there.

For the most part, Walsh says his clients keep their initial workouts to a minimum of just two days of strength training per week—especially if they’re not used to working out regularly.

Even though you’ve probably spotted Stone deadlifting heavy weights on the ’gram, she wasn’t booking ridiculously long training sessions with Walsh from the get-go. For the most part, Walsh says his clients keep their initial workouts to a minimum of just two days of strength training per week—especially if they’re not used to working out regularly. “A lot of my clients come to me before they have a project most of the time,” he told Self. “It’s better this way than trying to go all in and getting frustrated or hurt.”

Because overtraining when you haven’t worked out regularly will put you on the fast track to burnout, injury, and excessive soreness, Walsh makes sure his clients meet their long-term goals by starting with the basics to build strength. Eventually, they get into the tougher stuff—like super-sweaty, cardio-heavy workouts—once they feel comfortable.

After training hard—even if just for a couple days a week!—you’ll start to notice a difference, he adds. “When the muscles are strong, they support the skeletal system, and you’ll be surprised how much more you can get out of the conditioning [workouts] that you end up doing,” Walsh explained. Hey, the perk of being a total boss at your favorite workouts, whether that’s running intervals or Pilates, might alone be worth heeding Walsh’s expert advice, right?

Here’s Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn’s go-to core-strengthening move. Or, meet the trainer you need to know if you want to build some serious strength.