How often should you train in the gym?

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2012-08-19

I am often asked: "How many workouts per week are needed to achieve maximum results?"

To answer, the "distance" between workouts should be such that you have time to recover from one session to the next. Otherwise, your fatigue will accumulate and hinder your progress in training. You'll feel sluggish and worn out during all the remaining time.

The speed at which you recover mainly depends on three factors:

1. How intensely you trained

It's obvious that the more exhausted you feel from a workout, the more time (all else being equal) you will need to replenish energy, muscle structure, and so on. In other words, the less frequently you train, the more you can push yourself without the risk of overtraining. You can read more about this in the article Phases of recovery after workouts.

2. Your lifestyle

This includes your work, how you rest, your daily activity level, and much more. In short, everything you do outside of the gym can either accelerate or hinder your recovery.

3. Characteristics of your body

This primarily relates to your metabolic rate. The higher it is, the faster your recovery will be. You cannot directly influence this factor. However, as a rule, the more active you are in life, the higher your metabolic rate. This rate tends to decrease with age. If you are not young anymore, this is something to consider as well.

I hope you now understand what factors contribute to how quickly you can recover after a workout in the gym.

Before we move on, I want to mention that everything stated above applies equally to those who want to gain mass and those who want to lose weight. So, workout frequency is not dependent on your goal.

So, how many times a week should you train??!!

Honestly, I don't know :) I'll say this: the minimum amount is twice a week. This means that with such a frequency, you can expect at least some results. About 60% - 70% of gym-goers or participants in any other training sessions train this way. But don’t compare yourself to them. Their infrequent training is often due to laziness or lack of time.

For amateurs, the optimal frequency is considered to be three times a week. At this frequency and with average volume workouts, most people can recover adequately. This is how almost all the others train.

Approximately 5% train more than 3 times a week, typically 4 or 5 times. This approach requires certain knowledge and experience. You need to strictly dose the volume of load in each workout. The more often a person trains, the lower the volume of work for each individual session should be. Additionally, your lifestyle must allow you to rest properly. For example, you can check out the Training Program for Muscle Gain with 5 Workouts a Week.

Conclusions

If you are coming to the gym for the first time or participating in any other training, start with 2 times a week. Then, after a month or two, you can and should transition to 3 workouts per week. If that still feels like too little or if you want to experiment, you can try more frequent workouts. Just remember that in such cases, it's better to decrease the load volume per session.