One of the great challenges of fitness is simply getting a routine. How many times per week should you be in the gym, running, or working out? It’s a question that has heaps of possible solutions.
There are several things to consider when planning your training schedule. Most importantly, we don’t want to overtrain or make working out a chore. It should be something we look forward to—a respite from stresses, work, and the like—and perhaps paradoxically, a rejuvenating experience rather than an exhausting one. Sure I’m tired after my workouts, but I also have enhanced mental clarity and many times after an hour or two of rest I get a rush of energy. In the mornings, working out can jumpstart your metabolism and I’ve found that when I’m working out regularly, I’m more productive at home and at work.
We also want to make sure we allow enough time for our bodies, joints, and muscles to recover and progress in between workouts. Eating well and getting enough sleep when you’re not training is essential if you want to meet your goals. Different people and body types will respond to different routines, so experiment and see what works best for you. Maybe you’ll find great results with 2 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on, 1 day off. Maybe you need 2 days to recover between training sessions if you’re just getting into the swing of things.
I’m going to be the guinea pig and experiment with different training schedules over the next two months. I invite you to join in. Starting today, I’m going to try the following: 1 work day, 1 rest day. This means if I go in on Sunday and workout, Monday will be a rest day, then Tuesday will be another training day, and Wednesday will be a rest day, and so on. After a month on this schedule I’m going to switch to 3 working days consecutively, then 1 rest day. In this case, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I’d be working out, then Wednesday I would take a break, and Thursday I’d be back in the gym for 3 more consecutive days.
My goal is to be in the gym for not much longer than an hour to an hour and a half on any given day. I’m also not applying a weightlifting split to this schedule which means I’m not mandating that Sunday is chest day, Tuesday is back day, Thursday is leg day etc. Sometimes I’ll work back 2 or 3 times in a week (this is a principle of crossfit training, which I’ll post extensively on in the future). However, feel free to use a more traditional weightlifting split with these routines if you want.
Two final notes:
1. A ‘rest day’ simply means you’re not doing your typically intense gym or home workout. On rest days you could go for a short run or bike ride, swim, play soccer, or do yoga for instance.
2. If for some reason you get off your workout schedule, like sickness, your job, or that rare bout of laziness, just get back on and don’t make yourself feel guilty about it. We all have responsibilities and obligations and we all are human, so don’t sweat the small stuff, just get back on the bandwagon and back to busting your ass.
