This is another question that I hear quite a bit. There are a lot of differences of opinion by everyone on just how much exercise you need and how often you should be doing it.
To address this properly you need to first define what exercise means to you. Is it a simple walk, a long run, high intensity interval training (HIIT), or something more like a personal training session.
What are your Goals?
You need to clearly know what your goals are. What is it that you’re trying to acheive by exercising? Is it to lose weight, gain strength, add muscle, burn calories or just maintain what you have.
Once you know what your target is you can start to customize an exercise schedule for yourself.
Different Levels of Intensity
Not all activities are created equal. Some are more intense (Strength Training) and some are very moderate (walking). Intensity is really a key factor in determining how many times a week you should be exercising.
What the Government Recommends
In school we where taught to exercise for 3 days a week at 30 minutes per session. Since it was backed by the government that’s what was pushed on us. Since about 2005 though they have revised their recommendations to the following:
Exercise as part of living an overall healthy lifestyle.
Endurance Activities: (4-7 days a week)
* walking
* golfing (without a ride-on cart)
* yard and garden work
* propelling a wheelchair (“wheeling”)
* cycling
* skating
* continuous swimming
* tennis
* dancing
Flexibility Activities: (4-7 days a week)
* gardening
* mopping the floor
* yard work
* vacuuming
* stretching exercises
* T’ai Chi
* golf
* bowling
* yoga
* curling
* dance
Strength Activities: (2- 4 days a week)
* heavy yard work, such as cutting and piling wood
raking and carrying leaves
* lifting and carrying groceries (not to mention infants and toddlers!)
* climbing stairs
* exercises like abdominal curls and push-ups
* wearing a backpack carrying school books
* weight/strength-training routines
So how many days should you exercise per week?
This is what I recommend for weight loss:
Strength Training – 3-4 Days per week.
You need a solid training routine that will effectively work the major muscle groups. You can achieve this with or without the use of weights. Body weight exercises are very efficient and effective.
Building muscle will increase the amount of calories that you can burn while at rest, which you’ll need. As you lose weight your body’s need for calories at rest (BMR) will naturally decrease. Believe it or not but that fat on your body consumes calories just to keep it there. The less fat you have the less calories you need.
Cardio (Aerobic exercise) – 2-3 Days per week.
Cardio is great for burning calories and getting rid of the extra weight. You don’t need to spend hours at it though. I have been doing HIIT twice a week in addition to my Sunday morning runs.
Aerobic exercise isn’t restricted to running/jogging type of exercises. You can do Kenpo, Tae Bo, or other Martial arts styles of exercise. Joining a spinning class or just going out for a good steady paced bike ride will also do it.
Final Note
Basically I think you need 5 days a week of exercise at a minimum to really lose the weight quickly. If you are just starting out it’s ok to build up to this for the first few weeks. Anything less and the results will take much longer to appear.
I am currently using P90X as my workout guide. It incorporates all 3 types of exercise nicely into 60 to 90 minute videos that you can do at home. Their schedule is 6 days a week with 1 day rest and it is intense. 
Hmm..I keep saying I want to take up Aikido. I should go find a class.
you definitely should! I took some judo and jujitsu, and they were lots of fun. It will be a very rewarding experience.
very nice post! I always see people who overdo it and then get so burned out on working out 7 days a week that they give up all together. You’ve set some really great guidelines here!
Number of days to exercise on a weeks depends on HOW MUCH you exercise in a day session. If its just a light session, you can do it even everyday (as long as you can!) But if its some kind of HARD session, you can take it every 2 days.
Some exercise is better than none; more exercise is generally better than less, and no exercise can be disastrous.
Is it better to choose one type of workout, strength, flexiblity, etc and stick with it all week? Or should I be mixing them up?
WOW, what a change in design, it’s a test or definitive?
Hey Alex,
I’m thinking of sticking with the current theme. I have been testing new designs over the last few days. I just need to come up with a new header image. Which is actually very hard!!!
Is it better to choose one type of workout, strength, flexiblity, etc and stick with it all week?
Number of days to exercise on a weeks depends on HOW MUCH you exercise in a day session.Thanks for the post.
I, personally love working out. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE! Many of my friends and people I know, however, do not. Some do view it as a chore, with our busy lives and hectic schedules, adding exercise on your already mile long to do list, just seems like yet one more thing to do. We know we have to do it, for our physical as well as our mental health. It reduces stress, it slows down the aging process, and releases those feel good natural body chemicals into our system.
One of my friends LOVES her Jazzercise class, because it is fun, she likes the instructor, and the instructor incorporates different types of exercise to make it fun, like yoga, strength training. My friend looks 20+ years younger as well. SIGN ME UP, right lol
Well, these are 5 ideas I use to keep exercise fun and rewarding. I have found that by incorporating just these 2 elements that it increases my likelihood of success with any program/exercise/activity I decide to try and keeps me moving.
http://buzz.prevention.com/community/sofiah/exercise-a-chore-no-more
I love this site and the comments have inspired me to ahead and sign up for Kraw Magaw!
I think you have it nailed there, 3-4 weight training sessions (training split or full body workouts), and 2-3 cardiovascular training per week should work wonders for most people.
Andy
Fitness Uncovered
Hi, I stumbled over your site, as a personal trainer I think you wrote a great article. There really isn’t one answer but it really depends on where your coming from and what are your goals.
Eric
Steve, I exercise 3 times a week and following my diet. I’m easing into it. Do you recommend that approach?
Thanks for the comments guys, I think that if I had to give 1 answer to this question that fit everyone’s different lifestyles it would be this.
Do something everyday. Strength training, cardio, walking, running, biking, whatever it is just do something physical that gets your body moving everyday.
Do that at you will move closer to your goals.
im going to try using the P90X as well thanks
how about futsal? i love it…
small 3 to 4 meals in a day and walk for 30 minutes thrice to maintain shape is perfect
I am doing 60 minutes 5 days a week. Is it enough for healthy heart etc.
hi i have been training for 7 months now 2 spin classes a week and 1 toning my baby is 9 months now and i dont think i can see the benefits help
It varies for person to person, but in order to lose weight a variety of excercises often helps both in reducing boredom and monotony as well as in keeping the body guessing ( avoiding plateau). Both cardio vasclar as well as strength training are essential. It worked for me
thanks for all of that ..
DO you not think that the government shift in guidelines is financial and not geared towards health?
.-= Burn Fat At Home´s last blog ..Lose Weight In 5 Days =-.
I have recently started doing strength traing 4 days per week and cardio 5 days. I feel much better and more confident in my daily life. Also, energy levels are much better.
Has anyone tried Zumba, I love it and I am seeing results been using the DVDs for the last couple of weeks, everyone is noticing the results and its fun
I , personally have an exercise about 3 times a week , because I do exercise to build a muscle , If you do to many , its not good because muscle needs to recover from stress after do exercise about 1-2 days.
Nice article to have other opinions here , keep a good post , GBU always
.-= Healthy Momotayo´s last blog ..Win the war againts Cancer from within =-.
I try to have at least one rest day a week.
.-= Ross´s last blog ..Running Jackets =-.
Hi, when I was in high school, right now I’m a freshman in college, I used to exercise almost every 2 days to get some rest, but now I hardly do anything. The first problem is that I play soccer about 3 to 4 days a week and I get very tired to do my weight training exercise. I guess that by starting over again, little by little, I will be where I was. My second problem is that I am eating too much from fast food restaurants and is slowing me down pretty much. What would be a great way to restart?
Hey Victor,
It’s funny how quickly our bodies lose the strength and endurance once we stop exercising. I’ve found that out after I stop and then started playing basketball again after 6 months. I could only last for about 10 minutes and then I was dead tired, once I started to play on a weekly basis though it all came back.
I try and exercise 3-4 times in the gym but football sometimes takes it to 6-7 times.
I’ve been stepping up my workouts as well, not in the 6-7 days a week range but 4-5 days which is great for me. Thanks for the comment!