How often to exercise??

While I won't tell anyone what is "too much" for their body/lifestyle, I think...

I will tell them what's too much. The OP is new, and all these people saying to work out 6 days a week. Your body needs time to rest, and rest is paramount to success. Are these 6 day a weekers really achieving their goals? Or are they working out too much, and overdoing it.

I go every other day for 60-80mins, so 3-4 days a week. And I see great results and progress at that. I don't know why a new person would want to work out 6 days a week, that's bad advice IMO.

When you are a newbro is the BEST time to go hard and heavy. You will never see strength and mass gains this fast again, so for the first six months, why not go balls out and rip the weight? It was put best when I saw "The B in beginner does not stand for *****".

This is a recipe for injury and, in turn, quitting.

While I won't tell anyone what is "too much" for their body/lifestyle, I think...

I will tell them what's too much. The OP is new, and all these people saying to work out 6 days a week. Your body needs time to rest, and rest is paramount to success. Are these 6 day a weekers really achieving their goals? Or are they working out too much, and overdoing it.

I go every other day for 60-80mins, so 3-4 days a week. And I see great results and progress at that. I don't know why a new person would want to work out 6 days a week, that's bad advice IMO.

What is exactly right for you is not the same for everyone. The OP asked how often / for how long people were working out.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a newbie working out 6 days per week. The frequency of workouts is only one of the variables.
intensity, duration, and frequency determine how much stress is put on the body. Other external factors such as illness, sleep quality, nutrition, and work /family stress determine how much excersize stress the body can handle.

As we stress the body via a workout it adapts and can handle greater stress loads which means you can workout harder / longer /more often

I agree that you should not go hard more than 3-4 days per week. Where I do not agree is that you need 3-4 days of REST per week. Active recovery 2-3 days per week is where it is at!!

I just really can't take your posts seriously with all the "bro-isms." I feel like either you're starring in a one-man pissing contest or just full of crap, not trying to help the OP.

I don't think that was what the OP was asking and I definitely don't think she was asking for a resume/stat sheet. Otherwise, I would have whipped out my PR's and training schedule so she could see how a "real woman" trains. lolololol.

If you notice, my first post was a very general idea of what I do. It wasn't until someone decided to tell us that we train too much that I started being an *kitten*.

LoL. I have absolutely no problem admitting when I am being an *kitten*. I know I am, and I do it intentionally.

However, to answer your question, yes. My schedule I run now is what I started at. Like I said, I've only been pulling for a few months. I saw the logic in taking the most advantage of noob gains, and I ran with it.

I figured. I couldn't imagine that someone could take such a tone without a little tongue in cheek. However, I even disagree with lifting that much at the beginning. A beginner needs at least a full day of rest to build muscle. Even strength programs like 5/3/1 or NROLFW advice a 3 or 4 day rotation. Add in cardio, you could hit 6 days a week, but that's a lot of stress on your body and will minimize your lifting gains. Especially if you're carb cycling---your macro goals would be all wrong if you had a full schedule like that.

And to actually answer the OP's question, I do 3 days of 30-45 min HIIT biking (alternating light and HEAVY resistance) coupled with a 25 min compound lifting session. Try to achieve that by hitting the gym M, T, Sa but I'm not adverse to doing cardio two days in a row if my schedule is crazy.
I also try to do 2 half-hour sessions of vinyasa yoga at home, usually on my "rest" days.

However, I am 6 months pregnant, so I think my schedule is light enough for a beginner. In my "cutting" days, I would do 6 days a week, 3 heavy lifting and 3 cardio with sporadic yoga thrown in but it took me about 6 months to work up to that pace.

I work out 6 days a week. but when I was starting out it was every other day. if youre trying to lose weight ( which we all are) cardio is the most important. Start there. then after a few weeks start stenght training.

Hmmmm....like I said, from having set and hit lifting my own lifting goals and knowing the stress/toll that took on my diet and body, I guess I would just argue that consec. lifting without rest will not stand the test of time. I'm not doubting your experience, I just would be interested to see if someone with your lifting schedule can stick to that emotionally and physically for years/decades without permanent injury or disinterest.

Hi all,

Newbie here and looking for a bit of guidance, just wondering how many days people are working out for and for how long each day?

All help appreciated.

Thanks
Nic

I work out 4-5 days per week (most often, 5). I spend 30 minutes strength training + 30-40 minutes of cardio on a cross trainer. On days when i don't lift weights, I spend 45-55 min on the cross traininer.

When I was a newbie, though, I was searching for any type of sign that I could ever have a chance of becoming one these "active/healthy people" on MFP. Someone telling me 6 days a week (at the beginning, not the way that others have told us that they worked up from 2-3 days,) would have made me feel totally inferior and hopeless. Or, it would have challenged me to go 6 days a week for the first 2 weeks and then feel dejected/frustrated when I felt tired/sore/unmotivated and didn't see the scale move the way that the Special K commercial told me that it would.

*Have you seen all the "why am I not skinny after 3 weeks of working out like a dog" threads lately??!*

I think it's better to help newbies set realistic early goals like what we all started doing. 3-4 times a week is a great goal and totally doable for most people, versus the zero that they (and most of the population) were doing before. As you get more fit, 5 days a week is average for most "active" people and I would consider 6 days (as long as you're not doing "f-ingarounditis and leisurely walking/pedaling while watching "The Kardashians") to be elite/superdedicated. However, I stand by that 6 days a week for someone starting off is unrealistic, unsustainable and setting that person up for injury and quitting.

OP, don't forget that 3 days of elevated heartrate, DOMS-inducing *work* is far superior to 6 days of half-hearted "showing up" where you barely break a sweat!

Oooohhh lots of difference of opinion

What i've picked up from the feedback is that i should listen to my body and do quality workouts and make sure i get rest in between. That sounds sensible to me, although i didn't expect my post to get so intense

Each to their own and nobody can judge other people's workouts if it feels right for them.

I hope that you are able to find a way that works for you! At least noone said 7 days a week or 1 day a week, so you can work somewhere within the parameters

When I was a newbie, though, I was searching for any type of sign that I could ever have a chance of becoming one these "active/healthy people" on MFP. Someone telling me 6 days a week (at the beginning, not the way that others have told us that they worked up from 2-3 days,) would have made me feel totally inferior and hopeless. Or, it would have challenged me to go 6 days a week for the first 2 weeks and then feel dejected/frustrated when I felt tired/sore/unmotivated and didn't see the scale move the way that the Special K commercial told me that it would.

*Have you seen all the "why am I not skinny after 3 weeks of working out like a dog" threads lately??!*

I think it's better to help newbies set realistic early goals like what we all started doing. 3-4 times a week is a great goal and totally doable for most people, versus the zero that they (and most of the population) were doing before. As you get more fit, 5 days a week is average for most "active" people and I would consider 6 days (as long as you're not doing "f-ingarounditis and leisurely walking/pedaling while watching "The Kardashians") to be elite/superdedicated. However, I stand by that 6 days a week for someone starting off is unrealistic, unsustainable and setting that person up for injury and quitting.

OP, don't forget that 3 days of elevated heartrate, DOMS-inducing *work* is far superior to 6 days of half-hearted "showing up" where you barely break a sweat!

DOMS isn't an indication of a good workout. Higher frequency training has also been shown to be more optimal for natural muscle growth.

You are correct in saying that in fitness MORE isn't BETTER and that adequate rest needs to be emphasized to continue to progress, but 6-day a week training splits do work/produce if done properly as they do provide enough time for each muscle group to fully recover before the next workout (only problem you would run into is fatiguing your CNS, which is why lower volume/non-failure training is something I would highly recommend if you plan on following a 6-day split).