If you asked me when I was younger whether or not working out one day per week was sufficient, I would have told you that it’s not, but my attitude has grown more liberal with age. If you ask me now whether or not I think working out seven days a week is a bad idea, I would say it is not your best choice. If you tell me now that you are working out two to four days a week, then I will tell you that you are a probably in a good range.

The problem with working out one day per week

If you want to get significant benefits from exercise, but only work out one day per week, then you need to workout long and/or hard. It is generally recommended that people perform either 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week or 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week or some combination of the two. If you are going to choose 1 day per week, then you will need to meet this criteria in a single session, and you should probably favor 150 minutes of moderate exercise because this is an intensity level that relies less on athleticism thus putting you at less of a risk of injury. Still, you need to realize that you are still at a higher risk for “underuse” injuries such as back pain, and adaptations may develop slower, and your peak results may be less significant.

The problem with working out seven days per week

When you work out seven days per week, you’re pretty much begging for an overuse injury, especially if there isn’t much variety in your workouts. It’s true that some people can pull it off, but most people can’t. If you do workout seven days per week, then keep your workouts as short as possible and make sure you eat well and get plenty of sleep.

So how do I figure out how many days to workout?

Figure out a range that works with your schedule, then use some trial and error, and try to be flexible with your schedule. It can be difficult to write a new workout every week if your schedule is always changing, so to help I’ve created a program that can write your workouts for you. Just click on the link that reads “Go to Workout Builder” at the top of this blog.