How often should I workout?

There is no one size fits all answer to this question. How often you should workout will depend on your own personal circumstances. We need to create a routine that you can stick to for the long term. To do this it needs to fit in with your schedule and your commitment level. There is no point in agreeing to workout 5 times a week if realistically that won’t fit into all the other things you have going on in your life. You’d be far better off and get much better results agreeing to 3 workouts a week and remaining consistent.

More might not always be better

It is somewhat true that the more volume you do, the more stimulus you are giving your muscles. More stimulus equals more adaptation and more progress.

However, this pales in significance against consistency. The results you’ll experience from working out 3 times per week consistently and ensuring it fits in with your weekly schedule will be far better than a few weeks of extreme training followed by giving up. Your health and fitness is a marathon not a sprint.

What often happens when people commit to too much training too quickly is that they give up. They can’t continue with the high intensity plan they have given themselves, so they quit – instead of cutting back. They feel like they’ve failed and stop training altogether. Then at some point 6 months later, they have another go, commit to too much training again and repeat the same cycle.

Here’s a quick equation to demonstrate the point:

Six weeks of training 6 times a week, followed by 4 and a half months off, followed by 6 weeks of training 6 times a week, followed by another 4 and a half months off = 72 workouts

52 weeks of training 3 times a week consistently = 156 workouts.

Not to mention that when you train on and off, you lose the progress you’ve made during the off phase and therefore have to start almost from scratch.

What can you commit to?

So ask yourself, ‘how much working out can I fit into my weekly schedule’. What time of the day works best for you and how many days can you show up to the gym or put an hour aside for a home workout. This is your level of commitment, and this is how often you should workout. At least to start with. Any more than this at the beginning of your workout journey and you may struggle to stick to your plan. You can always increase your commitment level and add an extra workout per week later on.

Workout 3 times minimum

Having said all that, we do advise a minimum of 3 workouts per week. We still believe that 2 is better than none. However, 3 is a good level of working out that will allow your body enough stimulus to adapt. We know from our experience of training our clients that this level of commitment will still deliver excellent results whilst being low enough to easily fit in to most peoples’ weekly schedule.

Welcome call

If you are unsure about what would be best for you, your coach can help you come to a decision about how often you should workout during your discovery / welcome call.