How Many Days a Week Should You Work Out?

How often should you work out?

If you do something daily, you’re still lapping everyone on the couch. This statement has so much truth because talking about getting in shape will not get you in shape. It’s hard to get going, especially if you haven’t been doing anything. This article will cover some of the questions people often ask. How many days a week should I work out? How much cardio a week should I do? How often should you lift weights? Do you need rest days?

The general guidelines for the United States are 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity weekly or 20 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity. This recommendation comes down to 22 minutes daily or 30 minutes 5 days a week considered the bare minimum. You can divide the time across your week to make it work with your schedule. Instead of looking at an exact amount of physical activity daily, think about being active daily. Human beings are meant to move, not to sit in a chair or couch for hours at a time and according to the CDC, 25% of Americans are not active enough to protect their health. 

What are the signs of overtraining?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, whether you've always been active or are a recovering couch potato, working out 5-6 days a week is recommended and should be a mixture of strength, skill, and cardiovascular exercise. Variety in the types of training will be helpful to you, so don’t just box six days a week. Choose different activities, like kickboxing, core conditioning, or running. Our society is fixated on working out and high-intensity interval training, but too much of anything can harm your well-being. You don’t need to kick your butt every day to see results. Overtraining is a real thing, and the National Academy of Sports Medicine has a few exercise-related symptoms of overtraining:

1. A plateau or decline in workout performance or progress

2. A perception of increased exertion during “normal” or “easy” workouts

3. Excessive sweating or overheating

4. Unusual feelings of heaviness, stiffness, or muscle soreness

5. A lack of feeling “refreshed” after regular rest and recovery

6. Recurrent injuries include muscle sprains, tendonitis, stress fractures, and chronic joint pain

7. A decline in enthusiasm for exercise (or skipping or quitting workouts) 

These are just some examples of what happens when you overtrain. Still, they’re not limited to poor sleep, increased resting heart rate/blood pressure, mood swings, persistent fatigue, or low energy. The seven points shared above are subjective but should not be taken lightly. If these symptoms last longer than two months, please consult your physician as soon as possible. Managing your exercise variety and training days can be done within the FightCamp App or an old-school written journal. Once in a while, look back and celebrate how far you have come in your journey. Ensure you remain consistent with healthy nutrition and good sleep hygiene or consider a “work-in.”

A Day of Rest

Working inwards, or active rest/recovery will balance the traditional workouts with activities you might need or not usually associate with active recovery or active rest. The following activities can be performed on a “work-in” day and stimulate body and mind while not moderate to vigorous exercising. Foam rolling, stretching, learning to juggle, gratitude walks, playing an instrument, swimming, learning how to salsa dance (shout out to Aaron and Flo), or meditation are some examples of “work-in.” Make sure to monitor sleep for recovery; 7-8 hours of consistent bedtime sleep has been proven to help restore your body and leave you feeling refreshed.

Doing absolutely nothing is not beneficial to your wellness. In 2016, researchers found “that low or no leisure physical activity was associated with greater decline in processing speed and episodic memory.” Consider that when you learn new skills, your brain benefits from them; think about when your FightCamp Trainers teach you new combinations. Learning a new skill has been proven to form new neurological connections, “since aerobic exercise is associated with increased neurogenesis in humans, integration of these new brain cells requires newness and challenge.”

The benefits your body reaps from your “work-in” aren’t exclusive to rest and recovery alone. Exercising improves the function of your brain, body, and lifespan. A variety of activities and a high level of physical activity decrease the shrinking of your hippocampus, the part of your brain associated with learning and memory. Taking action means that the diversity of your choices directly impacts your brain function and overall fitness. Suppose you’ve watched the FightCamp Trainers. In that case, they enjoy various activities, such as dancing, longboarding, dad jokes, and long walks on the beach. The FightCamp App provides everything you need to be as diverse as possible. When you want to “rest,” please consider doing something to help you be a better FightCamp fighter and a healthier human being. 

Train Like a Fighter

Take your workouts to the next level and train like a fighter with the at-home connected fitness solution used by world champion boxers Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather. FightCamp has everything you need to work out on your schedule, with premium boxing equipment and hundreds of on-demand strength, conditioning, kickboxing, boxing, core, and recovery classes led by real fighters. 

As Mike Tyson said - “FightCamp is the next level of training!”