HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU WORKOUT?

The most popular question my friends often ask me is how often do I workout? For me, its more of a passion and at the same time I just love the idea that with some hard work in the gym and proper dieting, you are able to transform your body. But coming back to the question, I often workout 6 days a week and my routine is usually morning HIIT or sprinting and some abs workout and evening gym time. But most of us do not have the luxury of time to follow this routine so how often do you need to workout and what is the best workout routine.

In my experience, if you just want to maintain a healthy body, 3 times a week should be sufficient. Do not focus on how long you spend your time in the gym, instead focus on the intensity of the workout. My workout is usually just 40 minutes, but I focus on my workouts and often try not interact with anyone during my session and often is just one workout after another with short rest time.

Intensity means you focus say if you are doing a back workout, focus on which back muscle you are building. Typically 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps should do. Another important tip, do not focus on the number of reps instead focus on the quality of each rep. When performing each rep, try to focus on that muscle you are working and focus on the rep. Each rep should take about a total of 4 seconds. Example: Say you are doing a bench press, the pushing up movement is 1 sec, hold it up for 1 sec ( having your chest muscles in tension), and then bring it down in 2 sec. This is known as time under tension and this promotes better muscle building than just doing many unfocused reps.

For example lets take push ups, a fairly simple exercise (not really)

Down position and from here you hold this position for 1 second and slowly push back up ( count 2 secs while moving back to start position)

Try doing push ups this way instead of mindlessly doing many reps and I can guarantee that you will feel a significant difference in your push routine 🙂

If you focus on the quality of the rep then you can have a short but good workout instead of a long pointless workout. Focus on the rep quality instead of quantity. Studies have shown that working out not only promotes longevity but helps to improve mood, boost confidence and prevent the body from getting diseases, so do allocate some time to exercise whenever you can. I will share with you what are some excellent workouts you can focus in the gym and other good workout tips in the next post. Cheers 🙂