How often should I do strength training?

Recently, there has been an increase in the popularity of resistance training or weight lifting. This is great news because resistance training is one of the best forms of exercise you can do. Strength training enhances muscle growth and minimizes muscle loss. It can also promote better balance, stability, coordination, and core strength.

But the question on many people’s minds is, how often should I train? With the constant bombardment of fitness-related content on social media, it’s easy to start comparing yourself to those that you see online. When you see people posting their workouts, you may start to wonder if you should emulate their intense exercise routine by strength training every day and pushing yourself to the max.

How Often Should You Strength Train?

A lot of people assume that they need to hammer their bodies in the gym when they first start working out. They exercise intensely every day and eventually start to feel burnt out and put themselves at risk for injury.

You’ll be glad to know that you don’t actually need to work out all day, every day, to get the results you’re after. Studies show that training each muscle group 1 - 3 times a week is effective at producing hypertrophic outcomes. In other words, doing 1 to 3 full-body routines each week can stimulate muscle growth!

Of course, if you want to work out more than this, you can do so – you’re not limited to just a few days if you really enjoy exercising, as long as you still provide your body with an adequate number of rest days. Failing to rest sufficiently will decrease your progress and increase your risk of injury.