Workout Frequency: How Often Should You Workout

Ever thought about how often you should work out? You are not alone! This is a very common question.

The simple answer is you need to workout with enough frequency to engage the adaptive ability of the body but don’t overtrain yourself. It’s important for you to pay attention to your schedule, skill level, physical abilities and other situational factors. At the same time, your fitness goal also plays a deciding factor as well.

Considering Adaptive Ability

The human body is a machine that will adapt to external stimuli like cardiovascular exercise, resistance training and mobility work. Changes occur within the body on a physiological level through little alterations in the nervous system function, muscle formation, motor unit engagement, cardio-respiratory improvements and enhanced energy production.

Over time, for adaptation to prevail the body needs to receive enough stimuli. If you are highly engaged in a hard workout, you are likely to start with adaptation. But, if that is the only workout you do then changes in body composition, ability etc will never occur. On the other hand, if you engage in 36 workouts but work below the stimuli level required for adaptation then changes in body composition and ability won’t occur either.

Overtraining

As too little stimulus won’t make any change in ability, body composition etc, too much can have the same effect. When an individual engages in physical activity, he/she places a strain on joints, bones, heart, cardiovascular system and other organs. If these bodily tissues go through high levels of strain without adequate recovery then degradation of ability can occur. In order to avoid overtraining, there needs to be a proper nutrition plan, training plan, good stress management, rest and focused approach to working hard and recovering.

Situational Factors

You might think that to accomplish your best results you need to workout 5 days per week, however, your schedule only allows for 3 days, then you can only workout 3 days. It would be great to work out for 5, but your training frequency is partially dictated by your schedule. At the same time, imagine your schedule can permit for 5 days per week, but your body can only recover from 3 days per week. This means you should workout for only 3 days a week until your body can increase frequency.

We hope that you have found these tips helpful. It might take some time to figure out the frequency of workouts your body can handle. If you are worried or confused, look for a gym that includes personal trainers and they will be able to help you figure out your ideal workout schedule.