Fitness Together Brecksville: How Many Times Per Week Do I Need to Exercise to See Results?

Trainer Tuesdays

Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff of expert personal trainers. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the personal trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.

How Many Times Per Week Do I Need to Exercise to See Results?

Amanda Ricci: When trying to figure out how many days you should work out to see results first you have to think about your goal. You need to be realistic with that goal and look at your schedule to decide how much time your willing to put forth each week in order to reach that goal. Setting aside every single day for exercise is not realistic for many people. Instead what you should focus on is the amount of time you spend working out.

The American College of Sports medicine recommends that individuals work out at a minimum of 3 to 5 days per week. If you are just looking to maintain your weight, meaning your not looking to lose or gain weight then workout at a minimum of 150 minutes per week (this is 30 minutes a day/5 days per week). If you want to start to loose weight and have more time in your schedule then it is necessary to work out between 200 to 300 minutes per week.

Keep in mind that the more time you invest in yourself now the less out of pocket health care expenses you and your family will have to pay for later. If you do only have 3 days to work out then you could work out three days a week and work out for 1 hour and 10 minutes per day, which would total the 210 minutes necessary to progress yourself towards reaching your goal. Once you develop endurance you can begin to increase the intensity of your workouts to burn more calories during the time that you workout. Once you build that endurance and would like to work out less time you might be able to work out at higher intensities so that way you do not have to set so much time aside for working out in your schedule. If you are committed towards reaching your goal it is necessary to add time to your workouts in order to add years on to your life. You will be most successful toward reaching your goals by combining both healthy eating, strength training and cardio into your lifestyle. All of these can be accomplished by coming to fitness together with our Nutrition Together, Personal training and Cardio Together programs. This is what will help you to have a higher rate of success.

Justin Traft: So many of the clients ask what's a realistic number to shoot for when wondering how many days a week to train in order to see results. Well there are a couple of factors that go into that. First being that 3 to 4 days is realistic for most people. 5 days would be awesome, but not everyone can fully commit to that. Second would be nutrition-- what you eat. What's coming in and out of your body is the big key. You'll never achieve your true potential eating "Crap". I know this because I have been there. When I lost weight that meant I had to change my diet altogether… that's when I saw my body change for the good. Third, you need to make sure you’re doing cardio as well. This is in addition to the weight training. Luckily Fitness Togetherhas a customized cardio program that can be specially made for you to help you reach your goals. So many people ask ‘isn't that a lot to be doing cardio three times a week and training 3-4 times a week?’ and I always reply no! To make an impact and really change your body you have to dedicate time to allow it to change. One of my favorite quotes of all time "Things that are worthwhile were never meant to be easy".

Adam Teplitz: When it comes to exercise frequency, it all depends on what your goals are.
Whether you want to put on size, cut down and get lean , add strength, or just maintain , the amount of times per week that you train can be a direct correlate to your results. As a general baseline, if you're looking for any sort of results, I'd recommend that you spend at least three days strength training.

When the primary goal is fat loss and cutting, focus on doing 3 to 4 workouts per week. Fat loss workout programs should involve total body training , large movements , and a lot of energy expenditure to kick start the metabolism. You can a day of cardio in between the weight training sessions.

If you're primary goal is gaining muscle , look to increase your total weekly volume ( the amount of sets and reps .) One option is to split up the muscles that you train. One day can be dedicated towards chest and triceps, one for back and biceps, and one for shoulders and legs.
When strength is the primary goals , 4 days a week is ideal. Always remember to focus on the big 3 movements, squatting , dead lifting and benching.

No matter what your goals are, three days per week should be the minimum.

MichaelRoberto: Exercise can be an enriching and beneficial part of any life. But for those wanting to achieve their goals super quick, I'm afraid it will take time and commitment. If you want to see results from your training, you should exercise 6 times a week. The way this works is that you should train with weights (dumbbells, barbells, etc.) at least 3-5 times a week to make your muscles grow. It is also important to know that you should not strength train back to back. you must allow a rest day in between training days to let your muscles repair and grow. So on those those rest days, you can do some cardio, whether it is a light jog or just walking around the park, as long as you are moving. One last thing: you should also take one day of full rest, relaxing and doing something you enjoy like reading or taking up a hobby.

Steven Madden: Truthfully, to see results, you should be doing at least 20 min of cardio everyday. 30 would be ideal, but 20 will help get you there. Remember too, that it is in addition to everyday movement. If you walk to and from work everyday and it takes 40 min, understand that your body is used to it by now, and it needs more of a challenge. Don't stop walking to work, but you'll want to incorporate something else. Then you'll want at least three days a week of resistance training. By combining three days a week of resistance with everyday cardio, you will start to see the results that you want.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

How Many Times Per Week Do I Need to Exercise to See Results?

No comments:

Post a Comment