One of the most asked questions in the fitness world is “how many days a week should I work out?” Exercise certainly has a huge amount of benefits and should be part of your weekly routine, boosting your overall health and reducing your chance of developing health issues later in life. That being said, you don’t need to work out every day, especially if your go-to is high-intensity exercises. This guide will tell you everything you need to know about working out 7 days a week.
So how often should you work out? There are some pros and cons to working out everyday.
We’ve all asked ourselves “How many times a week should I work out?” or “Should I work out everyday?” There are quite a number of benefits to working out on a daily basis. For example, when you work out daily, you drastically improve your health by avoiding a sedentary lifestyle. Since most adults spend about 70% of their waking time sitting, working out on a daily basis is a great way to counteract this - whether it be a walk around the block or a quick strength training session.
Also, when you exercise everyday, you’re much more likely to reach your workout goals by building strong habits and making workouts a part of your daily routine. You’ll also experience a huge mood boost, eat better, and think more clearly each day you exercise.
However, in addition to the benefits, there are also quite a few drawbacks to working out on a daily basis. If you don’t have any rest days, your muscles won’t have time to recover, which can end up hurting your overall fitness progress and increase your risk of injury. When you overtrain your body, your workouts can actually be less effective.
Mental burnout can also be a huge disadvantage of working out everyday. By adding one to two rest days to your weekly workout routine, your body will have time to repair your muscle fibers, alleviate your muscle soreness, replenish your energy stores, and avoid overtraining.
There are a few ways to tell if you’re overdoing it at the gym. Your body will tell you if you’re pushing too hard in the form of muscle soreness, mood swings, pain, and abnormal menstrual cycles. If you do notice any of these signs or symptoms of overexercising, we recommend adding some rest days to your workout routine or shifting your exercises to lighter, low-intensity workouts, such as yoga, mobility training, long walks, or low-impact cardio exercises.
If you’re noticing any abnormal pain from injuries like muscle pulls and tweaks, this is a huge red flag and a symptom of overexercise. You should always take this as a sign that you should be treating your body to more recovery time and rest. Overtraining can also impact your menstrual cycle and even cause your cycle to stop completely, so make sure to note any abnormal changes to your period if you’re working out on a daily basis.
While muscle soreness is a fairly normal part of working out regularly, it can also be a sign that you’re overtraining, especially if the soreness persists. If you notice that your muscles are sore for more than just a few days or that your muscles are so sore it’s difficult to walk around, this is a sign that you’re working out too much and that you should either incorporate rest days or scale back on the intensity or length of your workouts.
Working out too much can also affect your energy levels and mood throughout the day. If you notice you’re feeling particularly irritable or fatigued, this is probably a sign you’ve been working out too much and that you need to scale back. Another symptom of overtraining is changes in appetite. Your appetite will probably swing up and down, and both a reduced appetite or huge cravings can be signs that you’re overdoing it in the exercise department.
Experts recommend adults work out for at least two and a half hours of moderate cardio exercise per week, in addition to at least two whole-body strength training sessions, to maintain and improve their health. That being said, it’s important to incorporate at least one or two rest days into your weekly routine so your muscles have a chance to recover.
Now you know the truth about going to the gym everyday, but you need something to help you recover. MAGNAK’s Electrolyte Powder, in combination with proper diet and rest, can help cut down on recovery time. Contact MAGNAK today if you want to maximize your performance on workout days and reach your fitness goals faster.
