How often do you work out?

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sshintaku
sshintaku Posts: 228 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Lately, I have been working out 7 days a week. My workouts are not super intense - yoga classes, 2-3 mile run, 30 day shred, etc, but I keep hearing about the importance of a "rest day." This I can understand if you're doing very intense workouts or heavy lifting, but what about just moderate cardio and strength?

How often, and how hard, do you work out?
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Replies

  • youmnahm96
    youmnahm96 Posts: 36
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    I'll bump this because I actually struggle with this question as well
  • freddi11e
    freddi11e Posts: 317 Member
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    bump... also kinda curious, if you happen to miss a few days, how long until your body goes back to as if you had never worked out at all? like how often must you work out in order to maintain definition? I started working out, and then had to take a week off and I don't know if it was just my perception or what, but I swear my body went back to normal :/
  • prima073
    prima073 Posts: 93 Member
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    Hello! I work out three to four times a week pretty hard, at least until my t- shirt is soaking wet and I've had a steady drop in weight over he last seven and a half months of between one and three pounds a week. :-)
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
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    4-5 times a week. Currently I lift three days a week for 45-50 minutes, then 15-30 minutes of cardio after that. I also play basketball twice a week for 1-2 hours.

    Rigger
  • Sreneesa
    Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
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    4-5x a week.
  • scottjoh
    scottjoh Posts: 77 Member
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    5 times a week rain or shine.
  • Marymoe138
    Marymoe138 Posts: 68 Member
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    5-6 times a week. I walk/run everyday for about an hour and have started incorporating weights 3 times a week @ 45/60 minutes a day.
  • tyrsnbdr
    tyrsnbdr Posts: 234 Member
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    My work out cycle an 8 day routine with days 4 and 8 as rest days.

    Rest days doesn't = laying in your bed all day and doing nothing. I would qualify yoga as an active rest activity.* So, an easy jog (at talking pace) + an arobics DVD shouldn't stress your body too much.

    @Freddi - depends on how long you've been working out in the first place. Your muscles will lose that "pumped" look, but can easyily recovered.




    * as long as its not yogafit with that arobics instructor on speed.
  • geeberscreepers
    geeberscreepers Posts: 19 Member
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    At the moment I am at a point of such despair because I have gained so much weight that I work out every day, I am desperate to lose the weight as soon as possible because at the moment I only leave the house for work and the gym/runs/cycling... I am too embarrassed to be in social situations at my size.
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,324 Member
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    6 days a week.
    5-day split with a bonus leg day.
  • MinimalistShoeAddict
    MinimalistShoeAddict Posts: 1,946 Member
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    I work out 7 days a week (run 7 days, lift weights 2-3 days and cross train 1-2 days)

    I consider it a "rest day" when I only run a few miles at an easy pace with no other exercise.
  • jamd95
    jamd95 Posts: 21 Member
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    I go 4-5 times a week and one week out of every two months I rest to give my muscles time to recover fully
  • Devasation
    Devasation Posts: 145 Member
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    Doing P90X2: 5 days a week, about an hour a day.
  • _Resolve_
    _Resolve_ Posts: 735 Member
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    6 days a week, I rest on Sundays.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    bump... also kinda curious, if you happen to miss a few days, how long until your body goes back to as if you had never worked out at all? like how often must you work out in order to maintain definition? I started working out, and then had to take a week off and I don't know if it was just my perception or what, but I swear my body went back to normal :/

    no, that's not how it happens...I take a rest week every 4-5 weeks where I don't really do much besides walk and I'm fit as fiddle...

    To the OP's question, your required rest is going to have pretty much everything to do with the intensity of your workouts. If you're weight training for example, you don't want to work the same muscle/muscle group on consecutive days as this would pretty much defeat the benefits of your workout considering the magic happens with rest...you also wouldn't want to do anything else that would potentially interfere with that recovery.

    It would also largely depend on your fitness goals. Right now for example, I'm training for a 1/2 Century and a Metric Century ride...so I'm on my bike 5 days per week and only lifting 2x weekly due to recovery issues. I have two rest days currently per week...note that a rest day doesn't mean you do jack ****...a rest day for me will generally consist of a nice walk and some recovery yoga. Right now my weeks look as follows...

    Monday - Rest (usually walk a few miles at lunch and do a little restorative yoga in the evening)

    Tuesday - 60 minute EZ paced ride in the AM or lunch break (generally just at a warmup/cool down pace); Full body lifting in the evening

    Wednesday - 60 minute steady paced ride (I try to stay around 95-100 RPM)

    Thursday - 60 minute steady paced ride AM or lunch; Full body lifting in the evening

    Friday - Rest (usually just a walk at lunch)

    Saturday - Hard spinning; some body weight muscular endurance work afterwards.

    Sunday - Long ride (gets progressively longer each week)
  • Briargrey
    Briargrey Posts: 498 Member
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    4-6 times a week - cardio on all those days, yoga on 2-4 of them, lifting on 3 of them. Some days harder than others. I started out at 3 times per week super easy though. So it's going to all vary depending on your level of fitness, time, etc. I would guess that skipping a few days here and there isn't going to set you way back.
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,655 Member
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    I'm still trying to figure out what I can do without setting myself up for another injury. Right now it's something like weights full body 2x/week, Pilates mat 2x/week, Krav Maga 1-2x/week - plus walking average 3-8 miles/day and an occasional half hour to hour and a half of rowing or treadmill running if I'm way over on calories that day. The weights and running are both VERY light at present since that's how I injured myself. I need a full rest day right before a weights day, but am finding the Pilates sequence is a good warmup for lifting. I usually have one or two days a week of doing practically nothing, not even much walking.

    My Achilles' heel is sleep - I don't get enough of it, so recovery takes longer. YMMV depending on food, sleep, age, et cetera. I'm learning to slow things down, but fighting that every step of the way. :grumble:

    ETA response to this...
    bump... also kinda curious, if you happen to miss a few days, how long until your body goes back to as if you had never worked out at all? like how often must you work out in order to maintain definition? I started working out, and then had to take a week off and I don't know if it was just my perception or what, but I swear my body went back to normal :/
    You're probably seeing what some people call "pump" when you work out regularly - muscles slightly swollen with glycogen - and missing that effect after a few days of inactivity. That kind of "definition" is temporary. You're not losing strength or mass by not working out for a week.
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
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    I workout about 6 days a week - I lift 3 days and run the others. Sometimes I feel like a rest day so I take one. Every couple of months I take a week off and do nothing apart from walking. I try not to have a strict schedule cos its just me living my life and if I feel like a rest day then I'll take one
  • yogicarl
    yogicarl Posts: 1,260 Member
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    Ashtanga Yoga session every day, full progressive calisthenics session twice a week and two swim sessions per week.

    My rest day is going for a more relaxing swim than usual pace, or doing the yoga only.
  • wshultz14
    wshultz14 Posts: 63 Member
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    At present I work out every other day... My exercise bike is currently broken, and this hinders me a bit, as I have issue's with my feet and knees.

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