After a few days of procrastination, you've finally decided to ditch the couch and get some good amount of physical exercise for you. Perhaps your friend, who lost 10 pounds in a couple of months, is what motivated you. But surely, the bigger question running through your head would be how often you should exercise. Is it three days a week, five days a week, every day, every other day? The answer to this question would vary. In this article, learn what's the ideal frequency for exercising.
How Much to Exercise Depends on the Type
How much you need to exercise depends on various factors. One such factor is the type of exercise you're involved in. All the exercises you perform can be categorized into two types. Those are:
Cardio exercise
Strength training exercise
Cardio Exercise
Cardio workouts are those exercises that focus on intensity and increase the heart rate in the process. Hence, they are also known as cardiovascular workouts. These typically do not require any weight equipment and can be performed anywhere. You can do these at your home, at a playground, or at the gym.
These exercises include:
Burpees
Jumping rope
Running and sprinting
Jumping jacks
Squat jumps
Kickboxing
Uphill running
When performing these workouts, you focus on intensity. Thus, they burn more calories than other types of workouts in a single session.
If you're going to do cardio workouts, aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio activities for five days. So that's 150 minutes per week. But if you're aiming for a high-intensity workout, then 25 minutes is the standard that you must meet. In high intensity, you keep the intervals to the minimum.
Strength Training
Strength training workouts where you employ weights and resistance to perform the exercises. These are performed generally for muscle mass, balance, and bone strengthening.
The basic principle is that by applying load on a particular group of muscles, you stimulate them to get bigger. With a proper diet, you'll notice the muscles enlarge over time. In cardio workouts, that's not the case. You lose fats and muscles to get leaner.
Almost all gym workouts are strength training workouts. But those that are performed with resistance bands are also called strength workouts.
If you're going to do strength training workouts, then you should dedicate at least three days per week. Do a full-body strength training workout of 45 minutes that involves squats, deadlifts, dumbbell lifts, crossbar, bench press, among others.
Most people who exercise regularly incorporate a mix of both types of exercises. So they will be going to the gym on Monday and then to the playground on Wednesday.
If you're just starting out, then it's good to start off with cardio workouts. You do not have to join a gym and can do them anywhere you want. Make some trips to your nearby playground and run for 10-15 minutes. This should lay the foundation for other types of intense exercises.
To Sum up
When calculating the frequency, you should also consider your current fitness level and time availability. If you've always been a couch potato, then it's recommended to perform low-intensity workouts, but almost every day. This is to prevent injuries. You can also get in touch with a trainer to help you out in creating a daily routine.
