HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU GO TO THE GYM?
Whether you’ve been exercising regularly for some time, or are just starting out, one of the most common questions to arise is, how often should I come to the gym? The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has recommendations for the frequency, duration, and type of exercise one should perform. The recommendations are broad, a little vague, and implementing them can be quite intimidating to both new & experienced exercisers. Often times, however, it just requires more thought than you want to give it. For our members, Fulcrum tries to take as much guesswork off your plate as possible with the Matrix, but, naturally, questions still remain: How many days a week should I train? Should I do more strength or cardio? If I want maximum results should I train seven days per week? In this article we’ll review the current guidelines for activity, look at how Fulcrum works to help you achieve these guidelines, and lastly, what to consider when developing your training plan.
What Science Says
The ACSM guidelines for exercise is a 26-page document that even I find boring to read, so I did my best to condense that information into the following two paragraphs (you’re welcome). The ACSM recommends a regular exercise program including cardiorespiratory, resistance, flexibility, and neuromotor exercise training, beyond the normal activities of daily life, as essential to improving and maintaining physical fitness and health. [] For cardiorespiratory exercise, the ACSM recommends:
150 minutes (2.5 hours) per week of moderate-intensity
75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity
An equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity
Additionally, the ACSM recommends 2-3 days per week of resistance exercise covering all major muscle groups, and neuromotor exercise involving balance, agility, and coordination. Flexibility exercises should cover all major muscle groups and be performed at least two days per week. The ACSM also states that supervision by an experienced fitness instructor, and exercise that is pleasant and enjoyable can improve adoption and adherence of an exercise plan (wink!).
Okay, great, so what the hell does any of this mean in a practical sense? Basically, you’re looking at 5 days per week of training for about an hour each day. Just one fewer episode per day of whatever you’re currently binging on Netflix. You could do all cardio on a few days, and do a full body strength session on the others; alternatively, you could do a little cardio and a little strength each day. Or you could seek out one of the aforementioned “experienced fitness instructors” and let our brains do the work for you.
Our Recommendation
The Fulcrum Matrix was designed to ensure our members would cover all of the recommended areas of exercise. (You can read a detailed explanation of the thought process behind the Matrix here). If you were to take a close look at any given week of the Matrix calendar you’d find three strength workouts, three conditioning, and 1 HIIT, with some exceptions here and there. If you’re one to track your heart rate during Fulcrum workouts you’ll find that even our strength days tend to meet the ACSM guidelines for moderate-intensity cardio, and the inclusion of resistance equipment on conditioning days makes the resistance requirement all that much easier to attain. The sequence of push, pull, lower, and full body also ensures all major muscle groups are exercised, with adequate rest between repeating the muscle groups. The inclusion of the Fulcrum 5, prehab & mobility exercises, and stretching & foam rolling cover the flexibility recommendation. Working out at Fulcrum certainly satisfies the recommendation for supervision by an experienced fitness instructor, and while you may not always find exercise “pleasant and enjoyable” in the middle of a tough HIIT session, or particularly brutal conditioning workout, we’d like to think that we’re a fun place to exercise—at least, once the impulse to throw a weight at your FitPro’s head has subsided. So, Fulcrum has taken a lot of the planning out of your way with the Matrix, but the question still remains: how often should I come to the gym?
Our official recommendation at Fulcrum is three days per week of Matrix Bootcamp, one small group personal training session, and one additional day of activity outside of the gym. For folks looking for more coaching, that recommendation flips; three SGPT and one bootcamp. Four days a week, regardless of Matrix focus, will ensure the ACSM recommendations are met; cardio, resistance, neuromotor, and flexibility. Wasn’t that easy? Four sessions per week is sufficient to see meaningful change and progress towards your goal, whether you’re working towards improved body composition, cardiorespiratory capacity, or increased strength.
The fifth day is recommended to enjoy some variety, and break up the routine of the gym: have a run, ride, or hike in the great outdoors; do an hour of yoga; or check out a Fusion class at the Burnside location. When planning the fifth day into your training plan for the week, remember to consider the Matrix focus on the preceding and succeeding days; a long run or cycling class wouldn’t be recommended right before or after a lower conditioning workout, for example.
Sometimes life happens and you might only make it in two or three times one week—that’s totally fine. The ACSM guidelines state that even some exercise is better than no exercise, and Fulcrum shares this view. Just remember that two days a week of activity is barely enough to avoid a decrement in your progress. Four sessions per week is the happy middle, and there are benefits to coming more than four sessions per week.
Rest & Recovery
That being said, one of the keys to a sustainable training plan is adequate recovery. You’re more than welcome to come to Fulcrum as much as you want, but we don’t recommend working out seven days per week. Your body needs time to rest and recover from the increased demand you place upon it when you crush it in bootcamp; this is why recovery is built into the Matrix, and every class ends with stretching, yoga, and foam rolling. You may also find that after several weeks of training four or more days a week that a reset week can be beneficial.
Reset Week
A reset week is designed to give your mind & body a bit of a break from the monotony of training. This can help prevent overreaching, which frequently leads to overtraining, and many injuries can result []. A reset week would be, at minimum, two gym sessions, but do still include the activity day outside of the gym; hell, you could even make it two days that week. In place of the moderate-intense cardio & strength you’re missing in a reset week look to do more yoga, foam rolling, stretching, or very light cardio. Another way to ensure adequate recovery is to make sure you’re getting enough sleep; at least eight hours. Sleep is so important to health & recovery that it will be covered in its own article. In the meantime, if you’re currently not sleeping eight hours per night, start by trying to get as close to eight as you can; even a small increase in sleep duration has been shown to be beneficial [].
Roughly five hours per week of training to see meaningful change. That’s not so bad, right? Like I said, that’s just one episode per day out of your current Netflix binge. Five hours is less than 3% of your week! And you get to spend those few hours doing something fun & challenging, with a really stellar community of people who are all in the same boat as you. Then, when we’re cooling down after the workout, we can all chat about our favourite Netflix shows. Just be sure you’re not sacrificing sleep to make up for the episode I made you miss!
Cheers!
Aaron
1. Garber, C. E., Blissmer, B., Deschenes, M. R., Franklin, B. A., Lamonte, M. J., Lee, I. M., ... & Swain, D. P. (2011). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 43(7), 1334-1359.
2. Nederhof, E., Lemmink, K. A., Visscher, C., Meeusen, R., & Mulder, T. (2006). Psychomotor speed. Sports medicine, 36(10), 817-828.
3. Mah, C. D., Mah, K. E., Kezirian, E. J., & Dement, W. C. (2011). The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players. Sleep, 34(7), 943-950..
