Gym Nut? How many times should you workout a week for optimu

Runningirl7284

Hello! I am trying hard to loose 15 pounds in 5 months and I want optimum results. I have been working out 6 days a week intensely. By intense I mean 2 hours of workout. 1 hour for cardio, running/stairmaster and then an hour of weights. If one muscle group gets too sore then I just don't work out that muscle group the next day and then I'm usually fine by the 2nd day. A personal trainer at the gym advised that you should only need to work out 3 days a week so your body can rest every other day.

I need to know which is true?? Workout as often and as hard as you can or take it easy and work out hard every other day?

koosdel

Rest days are when the real magic happens.

moochachip

Rest days are when the real magic happens.

It's true. When you work out, especially strength training, you're tearing muscle. After you eat a good diet with protein and when you rest, your body gets time to rebuild that muscle, making it even stronger - And in turn, a lean and powerful you.

Runningirl7284

Rest days are when the real magic happens.

Thanks for the responses! Is it truly necessary to take every other day off though? Why take a rest day if you are not sore? Can't you just work out different muscle groups?

sammys1girly

bump...gonna read responses later cuz it's an interesting question...

rissadiane

Bump-ing too

tunktunk5583

Rest days are when the real magic happens.

YES!

renubhat_82

bump...gonna read responses later cuz it's an interesting question...

code156

You should recover after strength training, but generally its ok to do cardio every day.

Fubar_Bill

As long as you are not working the same muscle groups 2 days in a row you should be fine.

Remember: The body builds muscle using the food you ate while you are resting.

Working out is just your way of telling your body it needs to build those muscles.

Cheers!

kerriBB37

I'm very interested to hear what people have to say. I am the same way. I have a goal of 20+ pounds and about 5-6 months to get there. I recently got a Body Bugg and it has a calorie burn of 2400 per day for me.. I'm suppose to eat 1650 calories per day. I find that without working out every day I will never meet that 2400 as I have a very sedentary lifestyle besides the gym. I enjoy working out 6 days a week and I hate taking a rest day for myself! When I first started on MFP, I had a 1200 calorie diet set for me and I really struggled so by working out I was able to eat a bit more. I also do 2 hour+ workouts each day. I do only perform strength training exercies 2-3 days a week though. One day back and biceps, another chest and tri and the other is legs, shoulders and abs. A lot of my cardio includes weights though (ie. 30 DS).. I know the 'magic happens' when one is resting but I don't feel I'll be able to meet my goals without working out a lot.

ibdjk

I personally go 7 days a week and do cardio everyday and strength training every other day.. That works for me...I want to tone, but not bulk up and the cardio part is to burn my fat calories....It is very important to give a rest period after the strength training...My goal is to loose 1 pound per week... 16 more weeks to go lol

kd_mazur

rest days are important but that just means you shouldn't work the same group of muscles day after day. If you do legs one day and arms the next day you are still resting your legs for the required day.

Charisse1011

I do cardio everyday and strength train 2 days a week, I may take one day off...but the other days Im at it...

RimRK

I'm a gym nut too! I workout 6 days a week, but I do circuit/crossfit like workouts. They are split into Warm up-strength-abs-cardio. All together it takes about 1.5-2 hours to complete.The muscles that are worked are different in every workout I take one day off as a rest day. My friend, who also trains our universty's hockey team insists on it. As the other members mentioned your body needs to recover. I find that I actually lose my weight on the day I take off from the gym Good luck love!

Elzecat

Rest days are when the real magic happens.

I'd really like to know more about how this works...Any recommendations on good (reputable) reading about this? I know, I can just go "Google" but unfortunately that brings up tons of conflicting views on exercise, strength training, etc. (and alot of crap "diet" advertisement stuff that I don't need lol)

Thanks!

lloydrt

your physical appearance is 80% nutrition and 20% physical exercise

if youre in good physical shape, and only wanting to lose 15 lbs in 3 months, focus hard on your nutrition, and continue a normal routine at the gym, 3 months is enough time, thats only 5 lbs a month ,.......youre young, you'll be fine, good luck.....

skedzie

I had a trainer tell me that I should work upper one day and lower the next day and cardio and abs everyday was ok....what do you think about that???

I also do my workout in a circuit type fashion - 3 miles on the bike then abs and say arms back to the bike for 3 more miles off for abs and arms and repeat till I reach 12-14 miles on the bike. Then switch the next day and do abs and legs instead of arms....

ClarkAddison

I go to the gym everyday but rotate muscle groups so they are rested. On strength days I do some warm up cardio but don't hit it hard. Just get a little sweat going and the blood pumping. It works for me.

savlyon

As code156 said, recover at least a day after strength training but cardio is fine for everyday, as long as you rest 1-2 days a week.

Simona38

Im becoming a gym nut too and Im there every day except Sundays. I work my upper body Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and my lower body Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I do 45mins of cardio each day too. I think since Im alternating upper and lower body workouts, that's enough rest and I should be fine but Im no expert....yet

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

2 hours a day INTENSELY is too much. you will burn out at that rate. I think either you focus on intensity OR duration--not both. You're going to get injuries from overtraining. In addition, it simply isn't necessary. Your weight loss goals require a 350 calorie deficit and you don't need to workout that much to get there.

hyperkate

Always do strength and weight training and then cardio after, it gives better results :-) and as long as you are eating clean and taking 1 or 2 days off a week from strength training you will be dandy :-)

MaximalLife

It's different for every person.
In general I do 90 minutes of cardio with 30 minutes of resistance 6 days a week.
I rest resistance Tuesday and cardio every 10 days or so.
My resistance is lower weights but high reps, then heavy every 3rd workout.
And I split my body into 3 muscle groups:
1. Legs
2. Chest- triceps - shoulders
3. Arms - back
I do a lot of weird things for cardio like military march, boxing type training,
dancing, floor rolls, squat thrust intervals and the good ole jumping jack.
And I jog, swim, play tennis, fast walk and bike.

Lost 70lbs and nearly 20% body fat - it works for me.

30yearssincebikini

I just started with a personal trainer and he asked me how often I work out and I told him every morning for an hour. He never said anything like "You shouldn't work out that much" or anything along those lines. So for me anyway, I am going to keep going in the mornings every day. I think you get plenty of rest time after you work out and shower and go about your day.

Just my opinion though. I'm no expert.

rybo

Rest days are crucial, especially when strength training is involved. More (often) does not equal better. When I lifted hard I only hit each body part 1/week broken up over 3 sessions.
Hit the weights hard, keep the cardio under control and you should see results. Sometimes working out smarter is better than working out harder

SithZombie

I cheat! 5am, I'm doing weight lifting (One muscle group per day, for a good length of time), and at 5pm I do cardio. 5 days a week! This morning was Triceps, so tomorrow will probably be legs or abs!

RAFValentina

Rest days are when the real magic happens.

It's true. When you work out, especially strength training, you're tearing muscle. After you eat a good diet with protein and when you rest, your body gets time to rebuild that muscle, making it even stronger - And in turn, a lean and powerful you.

You're not tearing muscle. You're making small damages to the CONNECTIVE TISSUE...which is what DOMS is.

Bamacraft

1 day off completely per week. Cardio can be done on the other 6 if you feel up for it. I would do cardio in the morning and lift in evenings or do cardio after lifting. As far as lifting different muscle groups on consecutive days it varies, mostly with age, how fit you are etc..

Overtraining is the highest concern if you are going too hard too often. A rule of thumb is if you feel weaker or can't do as many reps with the same lbs on day 2 of a particular week, you may not be taking enough time off between muscle groups. The hard part is recognizing whether its mental or physical. Over time i learned that i need more than 1 day off between muscle groups so i wont repeat same muscle group every other day, i allow 2 days rest. I still hit each muscle group twice per week. I also take the day off prior to a heavy leg day and the cardio the day after heavy legs i do kickboxing (its 80% punching and 0% kicks). You can choose a 2 day split, 3 day split etc..most all are effective. Give each workout 3 -4 weeks. Find what works and stick with the schedule BUT always change the exercises (every work out or every ~3 weeks) in that schedule. Below are a couple more popular splits. Use your best judgement so that you dont overtrain. You can use the "off days" as cardio or split cardio / lifts into a.m. / p.m. if your schedule allows it. I strongly urge you to take one day of complete rest. A relaxing walk in the park or something is fine tho...

4 day split:
Monday: Upper Body Workout
Tuesday: Lower Body Workout
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Upper Body Workout
Friday: Lower Body Workout
Saturday: off
Sunday: off

3 day split:
Week 1

Monday: Upper Body Workout
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: Lower Body Workout
Thursday: off
Friday: Upper Body Workout
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Week 2

Monday: Lower Body Workout
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: Upper Body Workout
Thursday: off
Friday: Lower Body Workout
Saturday: off
Sunday: off

ryno0618

It certainly is different for everybody. Find what works best for you and listen to your body.
I'm a runner before all else, but I know the importance of strength training. So below is what I am doing this winter..........

M - Run HIIT for 5k - (walk / sprint intervals). 25 minutes
T - Rest from Running
W - Run hills or incline for 3-4 miles 25-35 minutes
R - Rest from Running
F- Run HIIT for 5k - (walk / sprint intervals). 25 minutes
S - LSR Run (long slow run 9-11 miles) 90+ minutes
Su - Rest from Running

If I run a 5th day its a tempo run 4-6 miles. Usually on a random T or TH if weather allows outdoor running.

Strength training I do M-W-F for 1 hour following my treadmill run above.

T-TH I do abdomen and circuit training work. Sometimes I will also use elliptical 15-20 minutes.

Sunday is my only dedicated rest day from exercise. And this day follows my long slow run on Saturday.

So basically I am exercising and/or lifting 1 hour + 6 days per week.

Runningirl7284

WOW! Thank You all for this Great Advice! I will take off 1 or 2 days a week depending on my soreness. I will focus on only 1 or 2 major muscle groups instead of doing random muscle groups each day. I feel so relieved that I can continue to go to the gym just be smarter about my time spent there. I agree 2 hours a day is too much and I feel exhausted when I leave each day. I can cut that time shorter if I am smarter about my workouts! I am also going to do strength training first and then cardio. I have always done my cardio first as I am a cardio junkie as my friends call me but I need to do what works best.

Thanks Again everyone! Here's hoping this works for me!