How long are your workout sessions? How long should they be?

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Famof72015
Famof72015 Posts: 393 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I work out anywhere from 25minutes to an hour it seems to be doing the trick what does everyone else do?
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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Variable based on training schedule and where I am in that schedule...if I have an event coming up, etc. I mostly cycle and come at it from a fitness perspective...different things are going to have different impacts on my fitness...I would be remiss to just do short sprint intervals as my endurance would suffer just as I would be remiss to always be doing long endurance rides. My rides vary from short 30 minute high intensity sessions to 1-2-3+ hour endurance sessions at far less intensity to hill repeats, etc.

    I lift 2-3 days per week and it takes me about 45-60 minutes.

    There is no correct answer to how long they should be...
  • Famof72015
    Famof72015 Posts: 393 Member
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    I don't want to start a debate how long they should be... didn't mean it like that. I just was not sure if exercising say 20 minutes would still be effective but I suppose the intensity you are exercising using in 20 minutes could be the same versus a 45 min workout.
  • AverageJoeFit
    AverageJoeFit Posts: 251 Member
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    Generally speaking they say that people should get at least 30 min of exercise daily. That being said I consider any workout better then sitting on your butt.

    30+ minutes is the minimum.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Famof72015 wrote: »
    I don't want to start a debate how long they should be... didn't mean it like that. I just was not sure if exercising say 20 minutes would still be effective but I suppose the intensity you are exercising using in 20 minutes could be the same versus a 45 min workout.

    I think you have to determine what effective means to you. A good 20 minute sprint/tempo interval session is very effective in improving my anaerobic capacity as well as improving my ability to attack and then come back to tempo and not dip below tempo even though I'm thrashed.

    If my effective you mean calories burned...really, intensity plays a roll there, but it really comes down to mass moved over distance...so the longer I'm on the bike, the more calories I'm going to expend. In that regard though, I tend to look at my fitness for the sake of fitness...I control my weight with my diet. The exercise in and of itself isn't defaulting to weight loss, the calorie deficit is...
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Depends on what I'm doing. Usually the classes I take are an hour long. If I'm working with a trainer I usually book 30 minute sessions. If I'm walking the dog I go from about 20 minutes to an hour or more. Hiking depends on the distance - usually a couple hours. I suppose it would depend on your goals - for example if I was training for a body building event or something I would guess I'd need to spend a hell of a lot more time in the gym doing weights than if I'm training to do a 5k in a certain time.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    In a gym mostly an hour for regular weights or cardio as that fits in my day but longer cardio sessions aren't unusual in bad weather when I can't, or don't want to, get outside to cycle.
    Outdoor cycling 1 hour would be unusually short, 6 to 9 hours would be unusually long.
    Guessing 2 - 3hrs rides are my normal duration?

    If I only had 25 mins to exercise I'm not sure I would bother to be honest, but of course it's better than nothing if that's all the time you have. But I'm not you and no doubt my goals are different to yours.
  • AmberSpamber
    AmberSpamber Posts: 391 Member
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    Depends on the day, but I will do anywhere from 30 min (minimum) to 1 hour.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,944 Member
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    My daily "workouts" look something like this ...

    1 km walk in the morning
    25 flights of stairs done mostly in 2 sets during the day
    1-5 km walk at lunch ... just depends what errands I need to run and how much energy I have
    Short uphill walk home from the bus
    Walk or bicycle ride with my husband after work for anywhere from about 30-90 minutes
    And sometimes I'll throw some weights and core work in there after the evening walk or bicycle ride.

    According to the Exercise report here in MFP over the past 6 days, I've logged the following minutes:

    110
    86
    95
    210
    130
    119
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
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    My weight sessions last no more than 45 minutes, normally 30 minutes. Followed by 15 minutes of cardio as I'm cutting right now.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
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    Training sessions can take up to 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. That's during some heavy volume during a peak.

    I'd say average is about 90ish minutes five days a week.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    There is no "should". Train for you and your goals. My lifting sessions take anywhere from 2-3 hours depending on where I am in a cycle. 4x per week.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    Famof72015 wrote: »
    I don't want to start a debate how long they should be... didn't mean it like that. I just was not sure if exercising say 20 minutes would still be effective but I suppose the intensity you are exercising using in 20 minutes could be the same versus a 45 min workout.

    Totally depends on goals and what you get done in that time. I don't do cardio so I have very little burn from exercise. If I added 20 min 3x per week, that would be quite effective to help me create a better deficit or increase activity level.

    If I was just messing around with 5lb dumbbells for 20 minutes on the other hand...not effective. For me. And most.
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,665 Member
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    40-50 minutes of cardio, 6 days a week. I'm just started to lift as well, and I imagine that'll add another 40 minutes, 3 of those days. If I weren't training for specific endurance events, I'd probably alternate cardio and strength, 45m to an hour, 6 days.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Right now I do 45 min to an hour, 3-4x per week lifting.. including warm up and rests, goal is to gain muscle.

    When I was losing though after I just had my baby, I did 2, if I was lucky, 3, 30 min lifting sessions per week.. that's all I needed apparently to maintain muscle and decrease BF% quite nicely.
  • Famof72015
    Famof72015 Posts: 393 Member
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    My HIIT days are 25 min -2 days a week and my weight training days 3-4 days a week are 45-60 min.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    Famof72015 wrote: »
    My HIIT days are 25 min -2 days a week and my weight training days 3-4 days a week are 45-60 min.

    Seems efficient.
  • Famof72015
    Famof72015 Posts: 393 Member
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    Ok!! Great.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    I don't go past 30 minutes.
  • barryplumber
    barryplumber Posts: 401 Member
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    I'm about 2 1/2 - 3 hr I exercise 4 days then 1 day off on average
    45 - 50 min run
    60-75 min weight training
    50-60 min one of the elliptical type machines
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Weight lifting sessions are an hour long, a couple times a week. Cardio sessions are a half-hour, also twice a week (on other days). Daily, I walk for about an hour outside but that's more for mental health than anything.

    Those are about the right lengths of time for what I'm doing, IMO. Can't imagine why I'd need to spend more time on things unless I was dawdling around or whatever. I hit all the major movements with my weights with 3-5x sets. Plenty of cardio; I'm not a specialized endurance athlete. Done.

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