How many times a week to play sports: what loads are needed to achieve the goal. Exercising for weight loss - how long should you exercise per day and how many times a week?

How much cardio and strength training should you include per week? How many times a week should you train? Should I do yoga or go to the pool? What if it's too little or too much? How does the frequency of training depend on your level of training and your goals? Fedya Tikhonov deals with all this.

Before we talk about how many times a week to exercise, you should answer a few questions. What are your goals? How many hours a week are you willing to spend training? How ready are you to devote yourself to the training process in order to achieve your goal? And most importantly, what is your level of training?

First level

Suppose you have just started doing fitness or have already gone for a short run a couple of times, but still have little understanding of how much you need to train. Believe me, three times a week (distributed by days Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday/Sunday) will be quite enough. That is, you should not exercise every day, on the contrary - give your body a rest. If you keep this training schedule consistently for a long time, the results will not be long in coming, you will really become stronger and more resilient.

If you have a lot of time and want to achieve your goal as quickly as possible, alternate strength and cyclic loads throughout the day. That is, let’s say on Monday you do strength training in the gym, and on Wednesday you do light cardio training, no more than 30 minutes. Against the background of light aerobic exercise, the results from strength or speed strength training grow greatly. The main point is (however, this applies to all levels of training). And by no means be shy about a little extra weight or low intensity. Remember, your goal at first is consistency.

Don't forget to monitor your heart rate every day, sometimes this is the only indicator that can tell you about your real health.

Average level

Many of us sometimes begin to approach the training process rather desperately simply because we want to achieve results as quickly as possible. But believe me, daily training for 2-3 hours will not be effective. So don't neglect rest - even professional athletes need time to recover.

If you are already used to training three times a week and want to take part in a competition or race, create a training plan with 4-5 training days per week. For example Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday. It turns out that the week consists of two microcycles of two and three days.

Experiment with intensity during training, don’t be afraid to go anaerobic, and monitor your heart rate. Do anaerobic training no more than twice a week, for example in the middle of the week and at the end, be sure to alternate them with low-intensity days or rest days. It is multi-tempo training that will help you achieve success.

Advanced level

If you are already an experienced athlete with many years of experience and participate in competitions or are simply in excellent physical shape, then you are unlikely to learn anything new about the training process. But at a high level of training, the most important thing does not change - the ability to monitor your feelings and condition, especially when you have to take part in competitions. Moreover, heart rate indicators may be normal, but excess training may be harmful. This happens when there is some lethargy and reluctance to leave the house. On days like these, it’s really better to sit at home and have a good rest.

The training plan may include 5-6 training days per week during periods of intense preparation and 3-5 days in the maintenance mode.

When you are in or near competition shape, high-intensity anaerobic training should comprise approximately 15-20% of your total training. The remaining 80% are very calm activities (if you have a heart rate monitor, train in 1-2 of its zones). This means you don't have to kill yourself with hard training every day. It is enough to perform them competently and listen to the body.

Here are some more tips to help you create the right training plan:

1. You should not go to training if you feel weak or unwell due to a cold or general fatigue. And do not confuse this state with laziness and reluctance to exercise. In this case, there is no need to overcome yourself, take a rest a couple of days until the desire to train returns.
2. If you are simply too lazy to do anything, there can only be one piece of advice. Conquer this laziness!
3. Eat and sleep right enough time (7-8 hours a day) - and you will stop looking for ways to cheer up.
4. When you feel well, always " play" at speed running/driving/exercising. A sharp but short shake is very useful and prevents the body from getting used to the monotonous load. As a result, you become stronger and more resilient. The closest analogy that proves its effectiveness is a contrast shower.
5. If, for example, you work until 10 pm and think that there is no chance of getting in shape with such a schedule, then know that this is not so. Train, but at a low intensity and for a short time. It's better to go out for a light workout at 10 pm than not to go out at all. You won't stop working, but take care of yourself.
6. No matter how trained you are, be realistic and don't write yourself a weekly training plan with seven full, intense training days without rest. Make the most of your opportunities, taking into account work, travel, family, other leisure time and, of course, recovery time.
7. Focus on a seven-day microcycle, in the beginning it’s easiest.

I bought myself a subscription to the SportLand fitness club and started training, so I decided to publish a series of articles in the near future in which I will talk about my achievements. And today we’ll talk about the most important question in the life of any athlete - how often should you train during the week.

All people are different, and everyone has their own attitude towards different things, including physical activity. Something similar happens with people’s bodies: some perceive physical activity normally, while for others one or two sessions a week are enough to feel great.

But still, many are interested in the question: “How many times a week should you play sports?” Is there a general formula for everyone? Or will you have to gain experience and build a training system on your own? The answers can be found below.

Conditions for the required amount of training

First, you need to set the following parameters for yourself, which will help you roughly understand how many workouts per week will be enough:

1. Body type.
2. Pursued goals (what you want to achieve through your activities).
3. Daily regime.
4. Possibility of classes.

Secondly, after the criteria have been established, you need to move on to the training itself, not paying attention to interference.

There are only 3 types of them - ectomorph (thin and tall), mesomorph (athletic) and endomorph (well-fed and possibly short). As a rule, there is no pure body type, but one type will be the most pronounced. It is based on this that you should determine how many times you can train your body.

So, the first body type will be characterized by 2-3 classes per week, lasting no more than 1 hour. The second – 4-5 workouts per week, lasting up to 1.5 hours. Well, the third one has 5-6 lessons, each of which lasts up to 2 hours.

But there are also alternative ways to structure a class schedule.
Ectomorph - 5-6 times a week, but 30 minutes each session.
Endomorph – 2–4 classes per week, but increased in time to 3 hours each.
A mesomorph usually doesn’t have any problems, so you can choose convenient days for yourself (depending on how you feel).

All of the above-described solutions to constructing a training schedule are determined by anatomy - the number of fast and slow (white and red) muscle fibers in the muscles.

Pursued goals

Based on your physique, you can determine what you want to achieve. Typically, people with a thin or athletic body want to gain weight, while overweight, well-fed people want to “dry out.” But it happens the other way around. Your body type and goals open up the possibility of choosing a training program, which will determine the required number of sessions.

Daily routine and exercise opportunities

Of course, if all weekdays are busy with work, and you don’t have the energy to study in the evening, then it’s quite natural to take classes on weekends. But if you still have the opportunity to expand your daily routine and squeeze in training, that would be great.

It is worth building your regime so as not to harm your health (training) and pleasure. In general, the main thing is to exercise; it’s worse when a week goes by without a single workout.

Optimal performance indicators

As mentioned above, each body type has its own prerequisites for a certain number of workouts per week. So, how many times a week should you exercise? Alas, it is impossible to answer this question precisely, only approximately.

You should also not blindly follow training statistics on body types. It is also necessary to listen to yourself, to your body, to how it reacts to a small or large amount of training. If there is a lot - reduce it, if there is a little - increase it.

It also depends on your occupation, if it is sedentary, then you can do more, and if it is active, then reduce the load. A training diary that records the previous days can help in this matter.

Well, if you derive a formula for something common to all body types, you will get the following: 3-4 times a week, from 1 to 2 hours each session.

But this is so - approximately. Based on this formula, you can individually build a training system, plan, add or subtract training days or time.

Also, this number of training days can be divided and done every day, but a little at a time (if possible), giving rest to the muscles that worked in previous sessions. For example, usually on the same day and shoulders. They can be divided into two days: shoulders - on one, legs, on the other. You can do the same with other training days. Or if you, for example.

Conclusion

If you exercise too frequently, you should allow your body to fully recover by stopping for a week or so. Then resume classes.

If you feel tired, there is no need to chase statistics, it is better to give yourself one more day of rest. So it is impossible to determine exactly how many times a week you need to exercise.

So, we can conclude that no matter how many times a week you exercise, it will be correct in any case. Better less than nothing at all. But it's worth striving to improve, so you need to increase the intensity of your training over time or add one or more extra training days.

Now it’s your turn to tell me how many times you exercise and where? Leave comments.

Best regards, Vladimir Manerov

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Fitness is not a sport. This is a whole area of ​​health-improving gymnastics, which allows you to maintain the body in good physical shape. Fitness fashion came from America in the mid-80s. Doing simple exercises to music is much more fun than doing regular gymnastics. In addition, over 40 years, many types of fitness have appeared, from which everyone can choose the most suitable one for themselves in terms of physical fitness and even temperament.

First of all, fitness is useful because it trains the whole body. Whatever you do - aerobics, shaping, Pilates, yoga, Zumba - any type of training primarily contributes to the overall health of the body. The benefits of fitness are obvious:

• improving blood circulation, supplying cells with oxygen;
• strengthening the spine, correcting incorrect posture;
• stimulation of metabolic processes, fat burning;
• improving skin condition, getting rid of cellulite;
• active cleansing of the body from waste and toxins;
• removal of excess fluid, elimination of swelling;
• development of flexibility, improvement of coordination of movements;
• increasing physical strength and endurance;
• strengthening the immune system, preventing a number of diseases.

Regular exercise will not only allow you to say goodbye to extra pounds and make your figure slim and toned, but will also relieve insomnia, improve your mood and overall tone of the body.

An additional benefit of fitness for women is that regular exercise will help significantly delay the onset of menopause, maintaining the natural hormonal levels of the body.

How to exercise to lose weight

Those who doubt whether fitness helps you lose weight should try it first. But you shouldn’t expect fantastic results after the first workout. You can sum up the results no earlier than after a month of regular, high-quality classes. Success largely depends on how many times a week you exercise.

If the training is very intense (step aerobics, crossfit, etc.), then 2-3 classes per week will be enough. More relaxed types of fitness (yoga, Pilates, etc.) can be done even every other day.

The basic rules for doing fitness are simple, remembering and following them will not be difficult, and the effectiveness of the exercise will increase several times:

The duration of the workout is also important. There are no general recommendations on how much time you should study. It all depends on the chosen type of fitness and the level of physical fitness of the body.

For beginners, a 30-40 minute workout is enough, and then you can increase its duration to 45-60 minutes. You should not exercise for more than an hour - this can lead to overwork of the body.

Many people do not know how many times a week they should exercise, but it is very important to build a training plan so that the muscles have time to rest and at the same time the effect of the exercise does not fade away.

How much exercise do you need to do per week to see results?

To begin with, let's define that everything can be divided into three main groups - cardio, strength and stretching. Each type of activity has its own rules, which determine how many times a week you can play sports. They should be followed to achieve maximum effect.

Cardio training in its pure form can be done no more than 2-3 times a week. On the one hand, this will give the desired effect, but at the same time it will not cause fatigue and overtraining.

Strength training can be allocated 4 days a week if the exercises are distributed so that 2 workouts are allocated to one muscle group, and the remaining sessions train others. For example, exercises for biceps, triceps, upper shoulder girdle and abs are measured on Monday and Friday, and “leg” exercises are done on Wednesday and Sunday.

Stretching can be done daily. But it is still wiser to conduct training at least every other day.

How many times a week should you exercise to lose weight?

To lose weight, experts recommend alternating cardio and strength training. Trainers advise paying attention to strength exercises at least 2, but no more than 4 times a week for 1 hour. In this case, the lesson plan can be as follows - first you need to do a warm-up (10 minutes), then spend time on strength exercises (30-35 minutes), and then do a short jog (10-15 minutes). You need to finish the lesson.

How many times a week to exercise with this plan, 2 or 4, depends on the initial physical condition of the person. If you are a beginner, you should start with a couple of sessions, gradually increasing the number of workouts to 4.

There is another, no less effective approach to losing weight. It looks like this – 2 days a week, 35-40 minutes are devoted to cardio exercises, with a break between workouts of at least a day. And, at least 1 hour every 7 days you need to do strength exercises. As a rule, the following schedule is drawn up.

Anyone who has decided to improve their lifestyle with physical activity is faced with the question: how often should you exercise in a fitness club? How to optimally calculate your norm? The selection of the load depends on what type of activity you want to focus on: strength training or cardio training.

Are you aiming to create beautiful muscle definition and gain muscle mass? Then your choice is power training, and the minimum time required to achieve the effect is two hours a week. Needless to say, with a small temporary load you shouldn’t expect quick changes, but who said that quantity is more important than quality? By visiting the fitness center rarely but accurately, after just a few months you will notice an improvement in both physical fitness and metabolism, and overall well-being.

How many times a week should you do anaerobic exercise? Even if you are an ardent fan of strength training, do not rush to disappear into the gym 24 hours a day. Maximum recommended weekly norm – 5-6 hours. In this situation, it is healthier and smarter not to go to the fitness center every day and load your muscles for an hour, but to attend training 3-4 times a week and thoroughly work out the desired muscle groups.

It is very important not to lose sight of the fact that stressed muscles need at least 24 hours to recover, and therefore daily pumping, for example, biceps, is not effective either in terms of saving time or in terms of saving energy.

An option practiced by many is to devote these 3 training days to three areas of the body:

1. shoulders, forearms and arms;
2. abs, back;
3. buttocks, legs.

Is it possible to do fitness every day?

Do you intend to lose fat and tighten problem areas? Are you ready to work out at the fitness club at least every day, but are not sure whether it is safe for your health? Here is the answer: you can do fitness every day, provided there are no medical contraindications. However there is no point in spending two hours on a treadmill every day or in aerobics classes: the body needs to be accustomed to the load gradually, and with such a “impudent” approach you risk becoming exhausted and fed up with fitness.

How often to exercise for the fastest results?

Most a quick and clear result will be given to you by a system of 30-minute classes 5-6 days a week. It is advisable to change the type of load from time to time, try something new, because the body gets used to the load and the usefulness of the training gradually decreases. Whether to give yourself a day off or not, decide by listening to yourself. Examples of aerobic activity to consider:

• Swimming;
• A ride on the bicycle;
• Aerobics
  *Step aerobics;
  *Aqua aerobics;
  *Dance aerobics;
  *Jazz aerobics;
  *Pump aerobics.

To achieve the best effect, pay attention to each type of load, focusing on the dominant one.

Whether you give yourself more cardio or strength training depends on your main goal. And yes, remember: Concentrating exclusively on the aerobic sphere is fraught with the fact that not only the hated fat will be burned, but also the necessary and useful muscles! And on the contrary, the pursuit of muscle volume can result in clogged and sore muscles that need full stretching and movement.

So, the main principle of the effectiveness of sports is, of course, not in visiting the fitness club every day, but in visiting it regularly. Regularity depends on what mood you are in. Nothing compares to the feeling of ease and those pleasant emotions that accompany a person who has found his niche in the vast world of fitness.