Once the decision to practice a fitness program to achieve a more healthy and active lifestyle is made, many questions appear. Some of them are: how often you should exercise, how long should each session last and what kind of exercises should you perform. We will give our opinion about the above questions in this blog post.
How Often Should You Work Out?
To determine the frequency of your workouts you need to take into account such factors as your shape, age, fitness goal. Whether you are physically active during your work can be another important factor. First of all keep in mind that you can be flexible and adjust your program. If you feel like you need a break to avoid overtraining it is often the best decision.
Approximate results depending on number of workouts per week can be:
- 1 – studies show it is possible to keep your strength and form up to 12 weeks exercising only once a week.
- 2-3 – overall sufficient for fitness conditioning and healthy lifestyle, the majority of fitness enthusiasts fall into this category.
- 4-5 is a serious effort, which is typical for athletes, fitness professionals and top level fitness enthusiasts. Very careful attention to fitness program is required to make this amount of effort the most effective.
Is it Okay to Work Out Every Day or Not?
Working out daily is a common debate. While workouts on a daily basis can be beneficial, it is very important to listen to your body to avoid overtraining, which can lead to fatigue, increased risk of injuries and burnout. In general workouts need to have variety. While a few gym decisions per week mixed with some cardio load, like running, cycling or swimming can be great for your fitness, lifting weights daily most likely will not.
This being said there are always exceptions, like top level athletes, fitness professionals etc. who are ready for challenges that can be impossible for the rest of us.
How Often Do you Need to Work Out for Body-weight Loss?
The amount of exercising required to lose weight is highly dependable on your shape and fitness readiness at the beginning and your goals. Fitness and health experts often mention 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity per week, that can be spread into a needed number of sessions according to your schedule.
How Often Should You Work Out for Muscle Gains?
Muscle gain training requires more effort than fitness conditioning. Overall most likely it will fall into a range of 3 to 5 strength training workouts per week. You will need to target different muscle groups and let them recover for at least 48 hours to avoid overtraining.
What is the proper way to build working out into a habit?
There are several tips to make working out a habit. Start gradually to avoid the stress of the workout load that you are not ready for. Build consistency. Some ways to achieve it is to plan the day and time of a workout in advance, commit to workout with a friend, this way you will have extra motivation to be there without making an excuse and delay your workout till later.
How long should your workout exercise every day be?
This is one of the questions that require flexibility. While even twenty minutes is better than nothing, it is more effective to exercise for at least 30-40 minutes. Add some stretching and warming up before the training and cooling down after training and the total time required for a good quality training comes to 60-80 minutes. However be flexible and don’t cancel the plan to exercise if you have only 40 minutes total.
Benefits of 30 minutes of Exercise per Day
As we mentioned above 150 minutes of moderate intensity training is recommended by many fitness and health professionals. If you are able to achieve consistency, five workouts of 30 minutes per week make that number. Exercising 30 minutes a day at least five times a week will build you muscle strength, cardiovascular health, endurance and well developed fitness level.
Cardiovascular Exercise or Strength Training?
It is recommended to balance both for an overall healthy lifestyle, the amount of each type of training depends on your goals and preferences. It needs to be tailored individually and can also be variable from one week to another.
How important is sleep after daily exercise?
Good quality sleep and diet are essential for your body recovery , and should not be neglected. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per day to maintain your fitness level and healthy lifestyle. Now 7 and 9 is a huge difference right? It all depend on your personal specs. As for me I need at least 8 hours, especially if I worked out that day.