This question is very frequent both in those amateur athletes and in those who have been taking care of themselves inside and out for some time. When we start doing physical exercise, we get carried away by motivation and we get to train at least 5 days a week. Obviously, it is not the most recommended situation since we must start gradually so that the body gets used to the physical load. In addition, we need to take breaks so that the muscles and joints recover effectively.
When deciding the days that you go out to do sports or that you go to the gym, we must look at what our goals are. Typically, people are looking to gain muscle mass, lose fat, or stay active.
The ideal days of training according to the objectives
When we are in a time when we want to gain muscle mass or strengthen, it is advisable to train 3 or 4 days a week. If the workload is high during the week, it is preferable to do only 3 days of physical exercise. The muscles may not support the full load and may be injured, in addition to minimizing the results of the exercises. As for the breaks, we must rest for at least 3 days.
In the case of wanting to lose fat or burn calories to define the body, the ideal is to train 4 days a week but with medium intensity workouts. We should not increase the intensity too much if we are eating a low-calorie diet since we will not have the necessary energy to support the training load. In cases where we have allowed ourselves the luxury of eating well and strong, we can make a greater effort during training. Otherwise, our bodies will suffer and we will find ourselves weak.
In fat loss workouts, we cannot expect to gain muscle mass because exercises of this type are not aimed at increasing strength. The first thing is to lose the fat that we have leftover and, then, start training the muscles to increase their volume.
For those who do sports to stay active, relieve stress, or feel comfortable with themselves, they should train an average of 3 days a week. We return to the two previous questions since the exact number will depend on what type of exercises we do during those days. We can alternate between them and vary the intensities. Based on this, we can train for up to 4 days, but it is not good to overcome them to give the body rest.
