The breakdown varies depending on your specific goals, but in general, four to five days a week will do the trick if you're aiming to improve or maintain your fitness. And that can turn you off completely from working out. Instead, a good beginner workout plan is to try starting with two workouts a week. After you get used to that, you can consider gradually increasing the number of days.
This might mean a minute walk or a series of gentle stretches. For instance, if your mornings are super hectic with lots of last-minute changes, it could be self-defeating to plan on morning workouts , says Fagan. In that case, an afternoon or evening workout may be more likely to happen as scheduled. And pay attention to your body too: Some people feel more energized in the morning, while others are dragging. Matching up your workout time to when you feel the best can make you more likely to want to stick with it, Fagan says.
If you want to work out five days per week and are working on both strength and cardiovascular fitness, try three days of strength training, two days of cardio, and two days of active rest. If you want to work out four days a week, think about your goals: If you want to add muscle, cut a cardio day.
If you want to improve endurance, skip a strength day. Or switch it each week, says Tamir. Remember, it's important to be realistic about your own schedule when you're asking yourself how many days a week you should work out. If four days makes more sense for you than five days, do that.
But if five days is reasonable, great! Why : Strength training is a super important way to keep your body functional for the long haul, says Fagan: It helps prevent the bone loss and muscle loss that comes with aging.
It also strengthens your joints too, says Tamir. How: To build muscle mass, you should try to work each muscle group two to three times a week, says Tamir. So in a two- to three-day strength plan, this means you should aim to do full-body workouts. Make sure to give yourself 48 hours in between them to recover!
That might sound like a lot, but that's where compound exercises come in. Moves like squats , lunges, rows, and chest presses work more than one muscle group at a time, so you get more bang for your buck. You also want to have a balance between pushing movements like an overhead press or chest press and pulling movements like with a row. Remember, strength training is not just about free weights or machines—mastering bodyweight moves will challenge your muscles too.
Shoot for 12—15 reps per set when you are just getting started, says Fagan. If you are still tired after 1 or 2 weeks of rest, see your health care provider.
You may need to keep resting or dial back your workouts for a month or longer. Your provider can help you decide how and when it is safe to start exercising again.
You can avoid overdoing it by listening to your body and getting enough rest. Here are some other ways to make sure you are not overdoing it:. For some people, exercise can become a compulsion. This is when exercise is no longer something you choose to do, but something you feel like you have to do. Here are some signs to look for:.
Compulsive exercise may be associated with eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. It can cause problems with your heart, bones, muscles, and nervous system. Your provider may recommend that you see a counselor who treats compulsive exercise or eating disorders. Your provider or counselor may use one or more of these treatments:. American Council on Exercise website. Accessed October 25, Netter's Sports Medicine. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the overtraining syndrome: joint consensus statement of the European College of Sport Science and the American College of Sports Medicine.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. PMID: pubmed. Sports medicine. You may also want to consider splitting up your routine into segments of your body to help your muscle gains. Your abs, back, shoulders, arms, and chest need some muscle-building action at least 2 days a week too. To work on your biceps, triceps, deltoids, pecs, and abs, consider busting out the following moves:.
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