How often someone should workout can depend on numerous things..
- Experience/fitness level
- Particular goal
- Type of exercise/workout routine
- Availability
These all play a role in workout frequency. Let’s start by going over some of the basic recommendations for working out for general health benefits.
WORKOUT GUIDELINES
According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans the current recommendations for general healthy exercise are:
- 150 mins per week of moderate – intensity activity – walking, light cardio, physical chores, etc
- 2 days per week of resistance training
For more vigorous physical activity – running, swimming, HIIT – the recommendation is 75 mins per week. These, of course, are meant to be broken up throughout the week in shorter sessions of around 20 mins up to an hour.
One example of what a week could look like:
MON: resistance training & 20 mins of moderate – intensity cardio
TUES: off
WED: 20-30 mins moderate – intensity cardio
THURS: off
FRI: resistance training
SAT: 20-30 mins moderate – intensity cardio
SUN: off
Moderate – intensity cardio can consist of walking, daily tasks, chores, etc, or if you’re someone who is routinely more sedentary, it could consist of added exercise sessions.
For people who already live a pretty active lifestyle and get plenty of daily steps in (7k to 10k), adding extra cardio for health isn’t all that necessary. For those that aren’t already very active, aiming to just get more daily steps in general can have great benefits.
These are some general recommendations for the average person looking to just be healthy, and in good shape. With that being said, what about workout frequency for more specific goals? How often should you workout if you’re looking to lose weight? Build muscle and strength?
Since these are some of the most common types of fitness goals, I wanted to go over each one!
WEIGHT LOSS
When I was younger and wanted to lose weight, I remember thinking I had to run and be as active as I could basically every day.
Turns out, the real key to weight loss has more to do with nutrition than it does with exercise. Yep. Exercise can assist with weight loss. But what someone is eating on a consistent basis will always be more important. The “key” to weight loss is consistently being in a caloric deficit. I have several other articles on my site going more into this! And there will be more to come.
But anyway, this article is focusing on exercise sooo.. adding exercise, especially resistance training, can boost the metabolism, and the amount of daily calories you’re burning, aiding in achieving a caloric deficit.
How much exercise someone needs for weight loss will greatly depend on how active or sedentary they already are, day to day, week to week.
As I mentioned a little before, for those that are naturally more sedentary – and already don’t get a lot of movement in – or those that are just beginners to fitness and exercise, simply getting in more steps, or adding any small amount of daily exercise/movement, is one of the first and best things someone can do to help improve their health and fitness, and also kickstart a weight loss phase!
Once someone is a little adapted to a weight loss phase – also called a “plateau” – or they feel like they want to ramp up their routine, they might then benefit from adding in resistance training, or maybe some cardio sessions, a few times per week. These can be anywhere from 2 to maybe 5 sessions per week, 20 mins to an hour or so in duration, depending on the person, their experience level, and their routine.
The main key for weight loss is, first and foremost, make sure the nutrition side of things is in check, and that a caloric deficit is being consistently acheived.
Next, aim to increase daily step count and overall movement. If added exercise is needed, a good place to start is 30 mins to an hour of moderate – intensity cardio, 3-7 days per week, and/or a resistance training program anywhere from 2-5 days per week.
The goal would also be to aim for .5 – 1lb of weight loss per week, or 2-4 lbs per month.
BUILDING MUSCLE
Building muscle, also known as muscle hypertrophy, is another pretty common goal in the fitness world. Everyone wants to get more jacked. Don’t lie, even you.
So how often should someone be exercising to get more jacked?? Luckily, there has been a lot of research in recent years looking into this. But to basically get right to it, muscle hypertrophy has to do with how much total work the muscles are doing, also known as volume. This is usually quantified as weight x reps x sets. Another important aspect of hypertrophy training is taking the muscle close enough to failure.
In terms of lifting frequency for muscle growth, the standard recommendations are:
- Hit desired muscle group at least 2 times per week
- Aim for at least 6-10 sets per muscle group, per week; 10-20 sets for more advanced lifters
- Higher volume training (10+ sets) can be broken up into 3, possibly 4 sessions, per week, per desired muscle group
The set recommendations change because If someone is in the “newbie gains” phase, they can usually get away with hitting each muscle group once per week and still make progress. On the contrary, someone who is more advanced and feels like they’re plateauing might benefit from bumping up their frequency to 3-4 times per week, per desired muscle group.
BUILDING STRENGTH
Building strength is all about exposing the neuromuscular system to overcome reistance.
Essentially, doing any sort of resistance training or challenging exercise, where progressive overload can be incorporated, can develop strength.
A more specific style of strength training is when someone is working to increase their maximum strength on a particular lift; usually bench press, deadlift, or squat. This type of training, in terms of frequency, could look like:
Beginners: 1-2x per week
Advanced: 2-3x per week
RECOVERY
Recovery is undoubtedly a crucial part of making progress, so it’s ideal to have at least 1 – 2 days off in between hitting the same muscle groups. If frequency is high, yet someone is not progressing, pulling back a little and focusing on recovery would be the place to start.
THE END… plus disclaimer:
This article is meant for general education purposes, and is not personalized workout or workout program advice. If you’re looking for a personalized workout program I would love to help you achieve your goals! DM me on instagram, or apply for online coaching below!
https://lanenelsonfitness.com/online-coaching/
Thanks for reading!