Beginners Guide to the Gym- How Often

I probably should have started with this part in regards to how often one should workout, but at least ive gotten there. There are many things that go into determining how often one should workout. Things such as experience, age, fitness level, health issues, and injury status. All of these play an important part into determining the regularity of your fitness sessions.

Basic Rules
If your new to the gym a good rule of thumb is to take it easy. By easy I mean two days a week with an optimal schedule giving you two days between workouts. A sample schedule of this would be Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Saturdays or something similar. This allows you to get used to the flow of things and lets your muscles being making the adaptations it needs to prepare for the increased workload of more sessions. 

After a few weeks of two sessions a week, it is time to up the days. Three days a week will give you the increase in workload to keep your gains or losses going while still giving your body time to recover. An easy way to follow this would be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or a similar schedule giving you at least one day between your workouts. Three days a week is a great place to be for someone older, someone with little experience or low fitness level, or someone just wanting a general fitness level.

Getting to more than 3 days should be saved for those who have been regularly going to the gym and have a moderate level of fitness. Switching to four days a week will increase your workloads and help your body keep growing or shirnking which ever you prefer, but this much exercise reduces your bodies ability to recover fully between sessions so a higher caloric intake will be needed to help feed the body so it can repair itself. Anytime beyond four days a week needs to be done so after a lengthy time of regular training and only with a proper training program made to allow for proper recovery.

Summing It Up
As a beginner start light, and dont try to push it. Your body needs more time to recover between sessions and you wont have the fitness level to keep up with more sessions. Gradually progress to more days a week while still allowing your body to adapt and make the changes it needs to handle the added stress of more training. When in doubt ask the trainer at your gym for some advice, or you can always email here.