Working out - How many workouts per week?

 You started working out, figured out what your goals are and now you’re wondering … how much is too much when it comes to training?

Well, as with pretty much everything gym-related, it depends.

“Why? Why does it always have to be complicated and why can’t I get a simple, straightforward answer?!”

YOU! The answer why it’s not straightforward is … you 😀. How so, you may be wondering. We’re all different, physically as well as in terms of goals. Maybe you want to work only on having a 6-pack. Maybe someone wants to grow their entire muscle mass by 10%. Maybe someone just wants to get rid of some weight. Maybe you’re a beginner. Maybe you’re a seasoned lifter. Maybe your workouts are mid-sized when it comes to intensity. Maybe every workout you do you go 120%.

That’s why “it depends” 😀

So, with that in mind, let’s take the above mentioned examples and try to create some categories. 

First, let’s talk about the people who generally want to grow/increase muscle mass. 

If you’re a beginner, I’d suggest no more than 4 workouts per week (3 is ok). The thing here is that you put your best effort in all of your workouts. Now, pay attention - I didn’t say lift as heavy as you can - I said put your best effort! This means I want you to really focus on the technique, number of sets/reps as well as rest times. If you’re doing that you should feel really sore after a workout, thus, having a rest day immediately after that might be a good idea. So, you could have somewhat of a rule of one day workout one day break.

If you are more of an experienced lifter, I’d say that it depends a lot if you’re “going at it” full beast mode or not. If so, depending on your split, I’d say no more than 4 or 5 workouts per week. This implies that you get your quality sleep as well as good/healthy nutrition and your supplements are on point. Otherwise, you are going to put too much stress on your body and it won’t be sustainable for a long time. 

If you’re going at the gym and putting in like 70% to 80% effort (this means that only on a couple of exercises you go “above and beyond”) I’d say that you could probably go with 6 workouts per week - something like a classical 3 way split (push, pull, legs), with Thursday or Sunday as a rest day. 

What I said above about sleep, food and supplements applies here as well. 

Never neglect the importance of these three aspects 😀

Especially when you are trying to build muscle, you can compare your body to a racing machine. It requires premium fuel and detailed maintenance in order to perform as desired. 

So, to recap, if you want to build muscle and you’re just starting out, no more than 4 workouts per week - trust me, you’ll struggle with 4 workouts per week when your entire body is sore. 

The key here is to give your body a longer time to recover between workouts (especially in the beginning, you will feel the “burn” 🙂 ).

Moving on to more experienced lifters, anywhere from 4 to 6 times a week. Remember, as with a tuned/racing car, don’t blow up your engine - if you feel like taking an extra day off, do it! At this level of experience you should know your body pretty well and it’s a good idea to always listen to it.

Now, to address the category of gym-rats who want to lose weight. Well, If your plan is to do cardio (for example, one day cycling, one day rowing, one day joining an aerobics class) and your workouts are, on average 30 minutes long, I’d suggest you train everyday. Yeah … every single day. 

Since the goal is to lose weight, you will probably be sore only for the first few workouts (since it is probably a new type of workout that your body is not accustomed to). 

So, in the first 2 weeks, if you feel like taking a day off, by all means, take the day off. No point in injuring yourself. But, when you get the handle of it, you’ll be ok doing a 30 minute workout everyday. 

Some of you might be saying “Dude, I don’t have time every single day to do a workout! The hell are you talking about?!”

The point is to give a maximum number of workouts per week. If you can only train twice a week, that’s ok. It’s way better than not training at all. 

Hell, even once a week is still better than doing no type of physical training. However, if you workout only once or twice a week, make sure to do some extra warmup exercises. Your body may be “stiffer” in comparison to someone who trains 6 times a week.

Look, ultimately, the idea is to train, SAFELY, as much as possible in order to reach your goals as soon as possible; BUT, as I said above … always pay attention to your body and, if all you have is 3 hours a week for working out, that’s still better than 0 hours per week.

I’ll close this post with a general recommendation for people who just want to stay in shape. Here, it’s a lot easier  - 3 workouts per week is pretty much ok. In my book, 4 is ideal for maintaining your physique, with an intensity per workout of 60% to 70%. 

When it comes to your body, it’s always easier to maintain a certain level than to gain/grow new muscle! Just as a simple thing to consider 🙂

So, how many times should you workout per week? I hope I gave you some general guidelines 😀 But remember, it all comes down to you!