How often a person needs to work out to see results will depend on their fitness goals. Losing weight, building muscle, and increasing stamina and endurance require a different approach to training.
Exercise has a number of important benefits. It improves general health, helps a person maintain a moderate weight, relieves stress and can promote restful sleep.
Therefore, what people want to achieve through exercise differs between individuals. Some people may use exercise as a weight loss technique, while others may want to increase their strength.
This article is about how often a person should train based on their specific goals.
It is advisable to consult a doctor before starting any training program or strength training, as he can advise on how to exercise safely and minimize the risk of injury.
At its most basic level, weight loss consists of solving a math problem.
A person must burn more calories than he consumes daily. Some of the ways in which a person can do this include:
- eating fewer calories a day than they burn
- increasing your physical activity to burn more calories
- increasing your muscle mass so they burn more calories at rest
There is controversy about whether exercise alone is sufficient to achieve weight loss.
For example, some research suggests that exercise can make the body start to compensate, adjusting metabolism as a means of retaining body fat.
Exercise still has a role to play in losing weight, but to get maximum benefits, a person must combine it with a healthy calorie-controlled diet that reduces calorie intake.
The researchers also noted that continuing to exercise after weight loss can help prevent people from regaining weight.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a combination of cardiovascular training and strength training to improve health and burn calories.
Cardiovascular training
AHA recommends doing at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity during the week.
A person can also engage in a mixture of moderate intensity and vigorous activities, if you prefer.
Examples of moderate-intensity activities include:
- brisk walking at a speed of at least 2.5 miles per hour (mph)
- dancing
- gardening
- cycling more slowly than 10 mph
- sneakers
- water aerobics
Examples of vigorous activities include:
- hiking, especially uphill or with a heavy backpack
- jump rope
- running
- swimming
- taking an aerobics class
- vigorous yard work, like digging
Ultimately, a person can obtain the greatest health benefits by participating in at least 5 hours of physical activity per week.
Strength training
Strength training involves the use of resistance to build muscle.
Muscle can help make the body more metabolically active by increasing the rate of calorie burning.
The AHA recommends engaging in resistance training of moderate to high intensity at least 2 days a week. Examples of approaches to resistance training include:
- Lifting weights: This may involve using weight machines or free weights to perform exercises such as biceps curls, bench presses and leg presses.
- Using body weight for resistance: Examples of exercises include lunges, squats and triceps dips. A person does not need any equipment to do this.
- Using resistance bands: Resistance bands are elastic elastic bands that help to increase the amount of muscle a person must work on. The resistance bands vary in terms of tightness, with the tighter ones increasing the intensity of the exercise. A person can perform exercises such as squats, lunges, biceps curls and triceps extensions using resistance bands.
Anyone who is new to exercise and not sure where to start can consult a certified personal trainer. A trainer can advise the individual on which exercises are suitable for their health and fitness, as well as how to perform them correctly and safely.
Just as there are several possible approaches to exercise and weight loss, a person can take different approaches to building muscle mass through weight training.
Weekly training schedules
The following are some examples of weekly muscle strengthening training schedules and their benefits.
High intensity interval training (HIIT)
HIIT is a weight training approach that involves alternating short bursts of high intensity exercise with short periods of recovery.
These sessions are often shorter than traditional weight training sessions, usually lasting about 15-30 minutes.
The benefits of a HIIT approach to resistance training is that a person can gain muscle mass and improve their cardiovascular capabilities without spending a lot of time at the gym.
The following is an example of American Council on Exercise HIIT training. The total duration is 20 minutes:
First set:
- 20 seconds high knee race
- 20 seconds of diagonal jumps
- 20 seconds of burpees
- rest for 60 seconds
- repeat for 5 rounds for a total of 10 minutes
Second set:
- 20 seconds of ankle taps
- 20 seconds of squat jumps
- 20 seconds of push-ups
- rest for 60 seconds
- repeat for 5 rounds for a total of 10 minutes
A person can perform this routine 1–3 times a week with at least 1 day of rest between workouts. For example, they can complete training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Extended strength training sessions
A literature review of more than 15 studies comparing weight training approaches involving different numbers of sets found that the greater the number of sets per week, the greater the muscle growth.
The researchers concluded that a person would have to work each muscle group for about 10 sets of 10 to 12 repetitions once a week to experience the greatest gains in muscle mass.
A person can do this in two ways. The first method involves adopting a full body exercise routine that addresses each muscle group.
The second option is to train in a “division”. This means that a person performs resistance exercises on designated muscle groups in one session and then works on different muscle groups in their next workout.
Some people use a training split to give their muscle groups a break between sessions.
Full body training
A full body training program involves working out each of the major muscle groups in one session. These muscle groups are the abdomen, arms, chest, hips, legs, shoulders and upper and lower back.
A person can do this using free weights, their own body weight, machine-based weights or a combination.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), people can perform the following exercises to work on major muscle groups:
These are just a few examples of exercises that a person can include in a full body training session.
A person will normally perform 2–3 sets of 8–12 repetitions.
Training divisions
A common approach for training divisions is to do resistance training for the upper body in one session, and then focus on training the lower body in the next.
According to ACSM, an upper and lower body training division involves training each muscle group on 2 days a week.
A programming example might look like this:
- Day 1: Upper body day – exercises that work the biceps, chest, middle and upper back, shoulders and triceps.
- Day 2: Lower body day – exercises that work the abdominals, buttocks, calves, hamstrings and quadriceps.
- Day 3: Rest day.
- Day 4: Trunk.
- Day 5: Slow body.
- 6th: Active recovery day – light cardiovascular training, such as running, swimming or walking.
- Day 7: Rest or active recovery day.
If a person trains regularly and increases the weights they use as their strength progresses, they are likely to see results regardless of their specific training program.
Some people may find that a particular training approach is more effective for their body type.
Learn about the best way to build muscle for different body types.
Exercise programs to increase aerobic capacity and build muscle strength can vary.
Often, the “best” exercise program is one that a person is willing and able to perform routinely.
With regular efforts and increasing intensity, a person must see the desired results over time.