How often should you work out?

I tend to get a lot of questions about how frequently an individual should work out in order to get benefits from an exercise program. Especially because I train excessively compared to the general population... so if people think that my training routine is superior, they tend to get discouraged in trying to mimic that routine.

Let me assure you. My routine is what works for ME. Based on my fitness background, my training goals, my schedule, and my abilities. I don't advocate being in the gym so often to most people.

So, how do YOU determine the exercise frequency that works best for you and your lifestyle?

Well, let's first look at the research to find a starting point.

A published review by Wernborn et. al. in a 2007 issue of Sports Medicine looked at tons of previous research to find out what frequency works best for building muscle (and, therefore, having more ability to burn fat and get results!). Ya know what they found?

1) Strength training 3x/week for shorter time spans is far superior to only performing one long training session per week.

2) Working each body part, or each group of muscles, multiple times per week produces more results than only working each muscle group once per week (by splitting up the muscle groups over the span of your workouts).

So...

**Strength training for shorter, more frequent bouts is better! For those of you who can't fit in a full hour at the gym, a half hour of intense lifting will be sufficiently spectacular. For those of you who like to fit in both weights and cardio in one workout, you can definitely fit both activities into a one-hour gym workout.

**Doing full-body workouts at each visit to the gym, or involving almost all major muscle groups in each workout, will give you better results! (for muscle gain, fat loss, or overall performance) For those of you who tend to do the bodybuilder workouts of working one muscle at a time (yet you're not a bodybuilder), this research should be enough evidence to get you to stop doing that!

It'll be much better for you to exercise frequently and intensely than to wait for that one day when you can have the "perfect" workout that's so incredibly imperfect for YOU.

So, let's shoot for 3x/week for now. Especially if you do less than that right now.

If you do more... take the time evaluate your training program. Do you tend to overtrain? Are your workouts long and ineffective and designed for somebody else? Do you train intensely enough? Are your workouts helping you get to your goals? Have you already found a way to exercise that works for YOU??

It's a good idea to keep re-evaluating what you do in the gym (and in other areas of life, for that matter!).

And it's a great idea to adopt what's working. To try new things that you might be hesitant to believe in. Instead of ignoring what works and punishing yourself by sticking to stuff that doesn't work!

More frequent, all-encompassing exercise works! Are you including that in your life??