Sometimes, you feel guilty for taking a rest day; the next week, you feel guilty for not taking a rest day. Exercising regularly has many benefits for our health and exercise performance, but as with most things, too much (or too little) of anything can have negative effects. So, how do you know you’re doing it right?
To understand how often you should go to the gym, it’s essential to know what’s right for your goals–whether that’s getting stronger, building muscle, or improving cardio fitness. You need to put together a schedule that fits around you and your goals, along with something that isn’t putting a strain on your health.
In this article, we'll answer how often you should go to the gym, with expert advice from Gymshark Lifting Club Manager, Samantha Cubbins, who has a BSc in Sports Coaching Science and over 20 years industry experience. We’ll answer the impact of working out every day, if there’s any benefit to it, and the best approach to take if you do want to workout every day–because, let’s face it, for some of us, the term “rest day” just doesn’t fit our vocab..
How Often Should I Go to the Gym?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to how often you should go to the gym. Simply put, how often you go to the gym depends on your goals — gaining muscle, losing weight, keeping more often, on your health, and your lifestyle.
What The Guidelines Say:
The US Department of Health states that adults need 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity per week, along with at least 2 days of muscle-strengthening activities [1].
What Research Says: Strength Training
Research suggests a slightly higher frequency of training for building strength training, with a minimum of three days a week required for strength gains but five days being optimal.
A 2023 study concluded that three days a week of strength training was superior to two days a week when measuring bicep strength [2]. The group that trained only two days a week for four weeks saw no significant strength changes. In contrast, the three-day-a-week group saw increased concentric and eccentric bicep strength, proving a higher training frequency was better for building strength.
Previous research from the same researchers found that those exercising five days a week had greater strength improvements (by more than 10%) compared to the group that only trained 3 days a week [3].
What Research Says: Cardiovascular Fitness
When it comes to cardio, there isn’t a set number of days you should work out, but some research concludes prolonged exercise sessions are better. Where long sessions aren’t possible, short bursts of exercise (or ‘exercise snacks’) are also effective [4,5].
Research has also found that working out more than the recommended weekly total led to lower cases of cardiovascular disease and lower mortality [6].
In Summary:
How many days a week you workout will depend on your training split, ensuring you are still allowing enough time for muscle groups to rest and recovery between sessions. The optimal days a week to workout for strength training is anywhere between 3 to 5 days, but cardiovascular training can be done in short or long sessions, as long as you are meeting the recommended weekly minutes.
How Many Times a Week Should I Go to the Gym as a Beginner?
If you’re just starting off, 3 days a week of strength training and 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise might sound like a lot! Starting off with a smaller goal, however, such as heading to the gym around two days a week, can be a more realistic way to start.
A good balance is always key. Studies have shown that a combination of cardio and weight training can actually help you to live healthier and longer [7]. But determining your goals will help you decide how much time you need to commit:
For Muscle Building
As a beginner, you’ll likely want to focus on full body sessions, making sure you are ‘hitting all the major muscle groups, posterior chain and core’, says Samantha. Ideally, you want to do this at least twice a week, as studies prove this is the training frequency required to maximize muscle growth [9].
‘I usually focus a beginner program on key compound lifts such as the squat, deadlift, push up, pull ups and hollow holds to achieve this. Starting out, I would always prioritize bodyweight movements over weighted exercises, then equipment such as kettlebells and dumbbells to ensure the client is moving safely before moving to the barbell.
Even training twice a week, you should see progress thanks to a phenomenon called ‘newbie gains’, which refers to the rapid muscle growth that beginners experience when they first start going to the gym. Research supports this, with a study on male strength and non-strength athletes finding that untrained individuals gained over five times as much strength over a 21-week period in comparison to those with well-established training histories [8].
For Weight Loss
To lose weight, you need to expend more calories than you consume. Nutrition plays a big part in this, but increasing your daily activity will also help.
You might think that cardio is king when it comes to losing weight, but a combination of cardio and resistance training is best. Research has found HIIT more effective for weight loss than steady state, but alternating higher-intensity cardio days with longer, steady-state sessions (such as walking, jogging, or cycling) will help you burn calories while still allowing your body to recover.
Building muscle through weight training is also a great weight-loss tool because muscle burns more calories than fat. A study at Stanford Health supports this, concluding that having more lean muscle mass can elevate your resting metabolic rate, leading to the continuous burning of calories (even when resting) [10]. Building muscle also contributes to a leaner, more toned physique.
It’s important to remember that you’re advised to lose no more than 1 to 2 pounds of weight a week to stay as healthy as possible.
Is It Bad to Workout Everyday?
So what if you’re that person who wants to workout every day–Whether it's through a love for training or an overwhelming desire to reach your goals? Well, whether this is realistic or not will largely depend on your discipline, program, training intensity, and ability to recover. ‘You’ll likely want to take note of how many reps you are doing each session, how heavy, or if you’re running, the distance covered. They will be a key indicator of whether you can workout every day or if you’re simply putting your body under too much stress.’
Pros Of Working Out Everyday
Improvement Of Mental Health
The relationship between exercise and improved mental health has been well studied. While some factors remain unclear, positive correlations have been found in several studies, with positive changes noted in reducing anxiety and depression [11].
Another more recent study also found that taking part in regular physical activity improved symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress across adult populations [12].
Development Of Discipline And Consistency
There's no doubt that working out everyday requires a certain level of commitment. The ability to stay consistent with your seven-day program may help build resilience and disciple within your training.
Increased Metabolism And Benefits In Body Composition
More activity = more calories burnt.
Working out 7 days a week, you'll use more energy, which, alongside the correct nutrients and caloric intake, may result in a change in body composition through the increase of muscle and reduction in body fat.
Drawbacks Of Working Out Everyday
Risk Of Overtraining
Exercising every day can significantly increase the risk of overtraining, especially if you aren’t following a well-structured program: ‘You might feel emotional, tired, and unmotivated. Injuries or niggles might start to creep in, and you may notice progress begins to plateau’, explains Samantha. These are all signs of overtraining syndrome that suggest you either need to scale back the intensity of your workouts or take a rest day.
Trouble Fitting In Life Commitments
As a regular gym-goer, time can often play havoc on our workout routines. We have other commitments to balance within our lives, such as family, work, and social commitments.
Finding the time to commute to, and workout in a gym 7 days per week may be an unrealistic approach to training.
How To Workout Everyday
If you just can't stay away from the gym, there are a few considerations to help you optimize your recovery and get the most out of your training.
Programming
Muscle takes time to recover (anywhere up to 72 hours in some cases!). Smart programming to limit muscle damage and spread out volume to allow trained muscles time to repair is essential. ‘Make sure you balance out your movements’, recommends Samantha. ‘You don’t want to be hinging everyday or squatting everyday. You should also be conscious of balancing your pressing and pulling movements–for example, aiming for every 1 pressing movement complete 2 pulling movements per week to ensure an even distribution of training between the posterior and anterior chains. The same goes for running: Be mindful of how many miles you are doing and how much impact you are putting through your knees. Balance your running with strength exercises to improve your running and avoid injury.’
‘A good tip,’ Samantha advises, ‘is to record each week how you feel mentally and physically to track whether you are overdoing certain exercises.’
Active Recovery
A rest day doesn’t have to mean sitting on your backside doing nothing. ‘Training simply means you are working towards a goal,’ says Samantha, ‘That doesn’t have to mean doing a workout in a gym; It could be going for a brisk walk or doing hatha yoga. If you do still want to be in the gym every day, you could do a high rep, light weight bodybuilding session, focusing on slow movements and establishing mind-muscle connection.’
Sleep
Sleep is essential to recovery and vital to repairing damaged muscle. A study looking at the relationship between sleep and strength in men concluded that individuals who slept for less than 6 hours had poorer muscle strength than individuals who slept 7+ hours each night [13].
So, if you want to get bigger and stronger, sleep should be taken seriously to optimize recovery and performance.
Nutrition
Training every day will result in a higher calorie expenditure, so to help avoid fatigue and aid recovery, you may need to increase your calorie intake as a result of exercising more frequently.
This study found that 1.6–2.2 g/kg/day of protein was the most effective amount for bodybuilders, and consuming more than this did not provide any additional benefits to muscle recovery and growth [14].
Prioritizing whole foods, lean protein sources and regular meals will help your muscles recover and provide your body with the fuel it needs for a more intense training schedule.
Alongside that, it’s also important to stay hydrated. Intense exercise can drain your body of electrolytes, which are lost through sweat. It’s important to replace these after exercise by rehydrating to aid muscle health and repair.
FAQs
How Long Should A Workout Session Be?
While there is no one-size-fits-all for how long your workouts should be, this will depend on your schedule, goals, preferences, and lifestyle.
When it comes to strength, total volume is more important than session length. Research has found that 5 to 10 sets per week per muscle group are most effective, with four sets being the minimum dose for hypertrophy [15].
For cardio fitness, a study on 200 overweight and sedentary women found no difference in results regardless of the duration of exercise. In contrast, another study found that even short bursts of exercise (’exercise snacks’) were effective at improving cardiovascular fitness and decreasing the cardiac health risks of being sedentary [16].
It's your choice whether to take on several 15-minute workouts on the Gymshark Training App or fewer 60-minute sessions, as long as you meet the minimum health guidelines for cardiovascular activity and sets per muscle group per week for strength.
Is It Bad To Do The Same Workout Everyday?
Doing the same workout every day isn’t necessarily bad, but it might not be optimal.
When you lift heavy weights, tiny microscopic tears occur in your muscles. They then need rest to repair, rebuild, and grow. Train the same muscle group with the same movements day after day, and you risk overtraining and inhibiting gains. Your body may also adapt to the training stimulus, meaning you reach a plateau with your progress. If you follow a seven-day gym workout plan, you should aim to vary the exercises you use, reps, and sets on consecutive days.
The more you repeat a workout, the more your body becomes used to it, making it more efficient and better prepared. The same goes for cardio sessions: While you might enjoy a certain type of exercise or have a specific goal, you should try and vary your training to prevent your body from adjusting and train both your type I (slow twitch) and type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers. You could incorporate longer, lower-intensity zone 2 work with shorter, high-intensity sessions.
How Many Rest Days Should I Have Per Week?
There isn’t a set number, but Samantha says this will depend on ‘how long you’ve been training for and to what level, what sort of training you are doing and how intense your sessions are’. Ideally, you should aim to take at least one, if not two, rest days per week to allow your muscles to repair and rebuild your body’s energy stores. However, a rest day doesn’t necessarily mean sitting around doing nothing. You could take an active rest day, for example, doing some stretching, an easy bike session, or some light resistance band work.
Can You Do A Full-body Workout Every Day?
We wouldn’t advise doing a full-body workout every day. Research has found that muscle recovery usually takes between 24 to 48 hours, and for some strength-oriented sessions, recovery can be longer than 48 hours [17]. Doing a full body workout every day, therefore, leaves you at risk of overtraining. If you do want to train with a full-body workout split, consider planning rest days between sessions, such as the full-body workout split here.
7 Day Gym Workout Plan
Convinced that you do want to workout everyday? This is an example of how you can split your training to train every day whilst still giving the muscle groups enough time to recover between each workout:
Body Part Split 7 Day Workout Split:
Monday: Chest & Shoulders
Tuesday: Glutes, Quads & Hamstrings
Wednesday: Back & Arms
Thursday: Calves & Low-intensity cardio
Friday: Chest & Shoulders
Saturday: Glutes, Quads & Hamstrings
Sunday: Back & Arms
Alternatively, Cbum Follows A PPL Workout Split Similar To The Following:
Monday: Push (Chests & Triceps)
Tuesday: Pull (Back & Biceps)
Wednesday: Legs (Quads)
Thursday: Possible rest day
Friday: Push (Shoulders)
Saturday: Pull (Back & Biceps)
Sunday: Lower (Glutes & Hamstrings)
The benefits of a PPL workout split is that ‘you’re not training the same body part back-to-back’, but CBum will add rest days if and where he feels he needs to do so: ‘It’s really important to know your body and put the rest where you want it’, he says.
If You’re More Of A Hybrid Trainer, Lucy Davis Follows This 7 Day Hybrid Workout Split:
Monday: Legs (Glutes & Hammies) + Hyrox WOD
Tuesday: Aerobic Easy Run
Wednesday: Upper body Strength + am upper body Hyrox exercise (e.g. row, ski, sled push)
Thursday: Hard Tempo Interval Run
Friday: Hyrox session
Saturday: Long Run
Sunday: Hyrox station practice (or rest day, if needed)
How Often Should You Go To The Gym? Well, It Depends On Your Goals
If you can be clear about your goals and how much time you can reasonably commit to them, then it will be clearer how often you need to go to the gym. The guidelines are there, but creating an achievable and sustainable plan is the way forward.
If you have time to train every day, and enjoy spending time in the gym then a 7 day workout plan may be worth pursuing. However, it’s important to always listen to your body, manage the intensities at which you train to avoid overtraining or injury and ensure you can still perform your best in every session.
If you’re a beginner, start small (2 or 3 days a week of training) and be realistic. As you get more confident and settled in your routine, then you can start progressing up to a 4, 5 or even higher frequency training plan.
Wondering what to wear to the gym?
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