How many times a week is the best time to exercise in the gym?

There is no standard answer that suits everyone. For the vast majority of ordinary fitness practitioners, 2-5 times per week is a reasonable range. The specific number of times you choose depends entirely on your fitness goals, body recovery ability, and free time.

A while ago, I met a post-00s guy who had just applied for a card. He asked me if I could follow an online bodybuilding blogger and learn 6 exercises a week. I said first tell me what time you get off work every day. He said that you usually work overtime until 9 o'clock and go home and wash up at 11 o'clock. I told him no directly - if you try to do 6 exercises at this pace, you will either get injured or give up within half a month. It is completely unnecessary.

Really, don’t believe the nonsense that “less than X times a week means practicing in vain”. There are two schools in the fitness circle that don’t fight at all. They are both correct, but they are suitable for different groups of people. One is to take the high-frequency differentiation route, that is, to divide the chest, shoulders, back, legs, and arms into different training days, and even add a day dedicated to aerobics, and practice 4-5 times a week. It is suitable for people who have ample time, have been training for more than half a year, and have the goal of gaining muscle and shaping. Many veterans around me who have been practicing for three or four years follow this rhythm. They practice one rest and one rest, or do three-part push-pull legs. Each time they practice one part, they will be beaten thoroughly, and the recovery time will be enough. The muscles will grow steadily and the condition will not be easy to lose.

The other is a minimalist and efficient route, which involves only practicing 2-3 times a week. Each time is a combination of compound movements such as deadlifts, bench presses, squats, and presses. It exercises most of the muscle groups of the body at one time. It is suitable for people who have little time, novices, or people who just want to maintain their physical fitness. Don’t think it’s useless if you do less reps. I used to have a member who was an audit member. I was so busy that I could only practice one hour on Saturdays and Sundays a week. I just focused on practicing these compound movements. In one year, my bench press increased from an empty bar to 60kg. When I wear a suit, my shoulder line straightens up. The effect is much better than that of many people who stroke four times a week.

Many people tend to fall into the misunderstanding that "the more you practice, the better you will become". In fact, this is not the case at all. To put it bluntly, muscles don’t grow in the gym, they grow when you sleep and rest. The principle of over-recovery is here: after you finish training, there are tiny tears in the muscle fibers, and you have to give them enough time to repair them before they can become stronger. If you are extremely tired every day, have exhausted your energy at work, and force yourself to run to the gym every day, then sooner or later your immunity will decline and you will get injured.

I had a programmer membership before. I believed the nonsense that "less than 4 days a week means practicing in vain". I had to practice for an hour every day at 10 o'clock after work. After practicing for half a month, my waist suddenly broke out, and I didn't dare to move for three months. Later, I changed to practicing for 40 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday after get off work, and climbed stairs once on the weekend. On the contrary, I lost 3% of my body fat, and my energy level improved a lot when I went to work.

Of course, if you are an athlete preparing for a competition or a bodybuilding enthusiast, it is normal to practice six times a week or even two times a day. It is a professional requirement. Ordinary people do not need to apply this standard to themselves. If you just want to lose weight, a combination of aerobics and strength training about three times a week is enough, and you don't have to waste time in the gym every day.

There is really no need to worry about how many times a week others practice. Fitness is never about comparing who goes more often, but who can persist for a longer time. You should start with two times a week. Don’t use your mobile phone to paddle every time you practice. Keep the rest between groups within 1 and a half minutes. If you can persist for two months without interruption, it will not be too late to increase it to three times. If you feel sore when you wake up the next day after training and are not energetic at work, then quickly reduce the frequency. After all, we ordinary people exercise to make our bodies more comfortable, not to find more KPIs to complete for ourselves, right?