A lot of times during someone’s first few times at the gym we get the question, how many times a week should I come? Should be an easy question to answer, right?

 

Unfortunately not, because there are so many factors that play into how many times you can make it to the gym. You may think that more is always better and you should set a goal to get here 5-6 times a week.

 

Now I am not saying that 5-6 times a week is bad for everyone but for most people that is too much.

 

I believe there are two key parts to determining how many times you go to the gym. The first being the physiological component and how your body feels and the second being what your schedule and life actually allow for.

 

I could give you a long explanation into the physiology about what happens during and after a workout and how your body recovers but only science nerds like myself would actually enjoy reading about that. I’ll give you the short and simple answer to this part. Ask yourself, how you feel?

 

Do you feel like you are more energized, stronger, happy, no pain, and little soreness that may last a day or two but not more? If so then you’re probably in a good spot and spending the right amount of time in the gym?

 

Do you feel like you are exhausted all day, no progress, you’re extremely stressed, your body is constantly in pain and sore to the point you can barely move? You are probably overdoing it a little and should get some more rest.

 

Everyone is going to be a little different so it is hard to give a straight answer for everyone but try to ask yourself, how you feel to determine if you are spending the right amount of time in the gym.

 

The second part of this equation is a little harder to answer. Life can get super busy and getting to the gym can start to become the last thing on your priority list.

 

One of the biggest ideas we believe in here at Core Principles is setting yourself up for success whether we are talking about nutrition, exercises, or how many times your going to try to get to the gym, setting yourself up for success is so important. 

 

Set a goal that you know you can accomplish. Aiming for 5 days a week and only being able to get in 2 days will make you feel like you failed. When in reality you didn’t fail you just set a goal that was way too high. 5 days a week is a lot, I work in a gym and sometimes feel like 5 days a week is a lot to do. Set your goal for 2-3 days a week, ask yourself if you feel 90 percent confident that you can hit that goal. If you feel confident, great, that’s a good place to start, if not take a day away and ask yourself again if you feel 90 percent confident.

 

Unfortunately we can’t tell you for sure how many times a week you should be working out. The answer like so many questions is, it depends. However, if you can ask yourself these two questions, How do I feel? And do I feel 90 percent confident I can reach my goal? You can determine a good goal to set in terms of how many times you will go to the gym a week.