How Often Should I Workout?

This is one of the more common questions that we get, and it’s not just about CrossFit.

Before we get into this, let me say this plainly:

Prioritizing your time is hard.
I struggle with it every single day.
Every. Single. Day

If you’re trying to figure out how often you should workout while balancing your family, your work, your sleep, stress, and everything else – you are not alone.

That said, your workout frequency does matter.

While goals, training experience, and recovery all play a role in the number of times you’re working out each week, there are some staples to aim for.

Let’s check it out.

You Should Workout 2 Times Per Week If…

This is where some people start and if you’re going from nothing to twice per week, that’s ok. It’s a great starting point but understand it is that, a starting point.

Maybe:

• You’re new to fitness and worry about overtraining (don’t worry about overtraining)
• Your schedule is absolutely jam-packed
• You’re using CrossFit as a cross-training modality for something else like running, cycling, mountain biking, and so on
• You’re unsure if you’ll even like to workout like that

Two days per week is a good ‘dipping your toe in the water’ approach. It’s not the way to optimize your results but it is a way to do just that – feel things out.

One quick note on overtraining:
In my nearly 18 years of professionally coaching and training people, I can count on one hand the number of people I have actually seen overtrain.

Under-recovering? All the time.
Overtraining? Almost never

If anything, I’d be more concerned about you not prioritizing yourself than I would be you overtraining.

You Should Workout 3 Times Per Week If…

It turns out, this is the tipping point.

At three times per week:

• You’re building a real foundation, even with no prior experience
• You’ve started to prioritize yourself
• You want ot actually get something tangible and substantial from your efforts

If you take nothing else from this, take this -> If you want results, you should aim for 3 days per week or more.

Two or fewer days tends to gain marginal ground and then stagnates. Three days is where momentum can begin.

As for where CrossFit fits in this picture?

• You might find that you are more enjoying the community aspect
• You are finding people, and spending time with people, who have similar goals as you have
• And you’re getting used to the class structure where you can stay consistent

You Should Workout 4 Times Per Week If…

Now we are getting much more intentional.

At four days per week, you might be:

• An intermediate athlete looking to level up your training and your results
• You might be someone with more specific health and fitness goals like improving your strength, developing your gymnastics movements, or performing better in the sports and activities you care about

You can optimize your working out by eating a little bit better, sleeping a little bit better [and more consistently], and challenging yourself with more intensity (not necessarily more workouts).

Or maybe you simply enjoy variety and challenge.

This is a good place to be.

You Should Workout 5 (or More) Times Per Week If…

This is where whatever it is you’re doing has become your primary form of training. For us? It’s CrossFit. For you, it might be something else (though I think you should do CrossFit).

Usually:

• You’ve been training for a while (intermediate to advanced)
• You are prioritizing your recovery and you do it reasonably well
• You eat and sleep more consistently (partly because you have to)
• And you’re seeing meaningful changes in your body and performance

The other side? You might just truly love the training that you’re doing? At Iron Hero CrossFit, we find that most of our athletes don’t compete and that’s fine. We find that the friendships, the shared work in the trenches, and the support of each other really makes the difference.

What kind of difference? The difference between a 60 day transformation and a lifetime of health and fitness focus.

So… Where Do You Fit?

I may or may nove have described it well.
I may or may not have put you in the “right bucket.”

That’s ok.

What matters most is that you’re taking ownership of your health and fitness because you understand that it falls on you [and nobody else].

That alone puts you ahead of the game.

If you ever have questions about increasing your workout frequency, improving your recovery, making your training more efficient, or matching your schedule to your goals – email me at [email protected].

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. But, there Is a best answer for you!