Amount of times to work out per week.

W

Woodt

0
How many times should you lift weights per week? I have heard 3, but some people are being trained by Personal Trainers 5 times a week. I am confused :rolleyes:
 
it all depends on the design of your workout. if you are doing full body, then 3 days is optimal. but if you have some sort of split, you can make it into a 5 day a week routine without the risk of overtraining
 
I used to do either weights or yoga/pilates 6 days a week, and cardio at night. Eventually I sprained my stomach....

As you can see from my diary on this site, I'm "back" but at a much slower pace. I don't want to hurt myself again!

Take it slow but be consistent.
 
How hard are you working out? How old are you?

It might not bother you at all...I used to get up from a heavy pasta dinner and do an hour plus of floor and step aerobics and it never bothered me in the slightest
 
kind of open ended question there, but generally speaking if you're eating right, sleeping well,a nd not doing a retarded number of sets for each body part per training session, you should be able to hit each muscle group 2-3 times a week and make good gains.

personal trainers need to get paid. if a client says "I want 5 weight workouts that only take 30 mins a day" then that's what the trainer is gonna design a routine around.
doing a body part a day isn't the best approach, especialy for a beginner trainee...but, its better than sitting in front of the television an extra 30 mins a day 5 times a week.
 
I'm 14. Basically, I can work out for 20 minutes one night, with heavy weights (for me anyway), run, stretch and then feel fine in the morning, infact normally I don't even ache (occasionally I do slightly). That's why I was wondering, I suppose the real question is - would it benefit me in anyway to lift 4/5 times per week?
 
the only way it would benefit you is if you had a routine specifically designed to be a 4-5 day routine. but a routine designed for a 5 day split is just as effective as a 3-day a week full body.
 
honestly I think at your level of training, 3 full body workouts a week would be perfect. even twice a week would do you good.

I'm of the opinion that 5 day splits are great if you're a professional bodybuilder. those guys have done this so long, they do need 15-20 sets of bicep curls one day a week to get the muscle damaged enough for the body to build it back up bigger.

but you're talking about a guy who's been training for a decade, measures every gram of food he eats, and uses steroids. we are not at that 'level' of training.

do a little damage to the muscle, two or three times a week with time to recover in between sessions, and the body will be able to build your muscles up bigger, assuming your diet is good.

20 mins is a bit short for a workout though...my full body workouts take about 45-50 mins, and leave me spent, but only a little stiff the next day, not writhing in agony.
 
As a beginner, I'd suggest either 3 FBW's a week (Full Body Workout) or a split like this:
Day 1: Full Body workout
Day 2: Cardio/Core
Day 3: Rest or just cardio
Repeat
If you jump into things too fast, you can hurt yourself, but if you don't do enough then you won't stimulate your body to grow.

Also, every 6-8 weeks, try to incorporate new exercises or switch rep schemes to keep your workout fresh and your body guessing.

Good luck :)
 
Is it possible to gain weight (maybe 1lbs a week) and still do cardio? I want to be able to break the cross-country record (probably doing it between November and Feb.), but I also want to gain 5 lbs. So if I ate lots of calories could I still gain weight? Problem is as much as I want to get bigger, I also want to get faster, fitter.
 
If you are training for cross country, then I don't think you will be able to gain weight at that rate and break that record. That much cardio mixed with lifting heavy is just too counter productive. Sorry man. I'd wait til after your CC season is over before bulking up.
 
doesn't mean you can't train for strength right now, lower reps, say 4-6 most of the time, an occasional day of 10-12.
you won't put on much bulk but you should gain strength.
 
Yeah, my bad Malkore...that's what I meant. I should have said, that he won't be able to "bulk" while trying for that...but yes sets of 4-6 should work fine. Your legs can work with a little higher reps too...
 
Tony, sounds weird but even with athletic training, GCSE PE (at school) and general exercise, I have managed to gain half a lb. So in effect, could I bulk, just really slowly? Or if I just scrapped the running for 4 weeks, ate tons and lifted 3 times per week, realistically how much could I gain, if I did it properly? Or is it different depending on variables.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top