How many days a week should we exercise?

Starting a regular exercise routine requires understanding that what to do and kur to do it – and the latter often means answering the common question: How many days a week should I train?

According to the American Heart Association, the ideal exercise plan includes a mix of strength training and aerobic exercise spread throughout the week. That said, the right amount for you depends on your fitness goals, activity level, age, and more.

At the end of the day, the best weekly workout schedule for you is the one you can be consistent with. This article explains how many days a week you should train, when to take rest days, and how to choose a training schedule that works for you.

How often should I exercise—and what should I do?

If you want to improve your overall health and fitness, you want to aim to exercise about five days a week, he told Health King Hancock, ACSM-CPT, Sweat 2 Success instructor at NEOU, a fitness streaming service. This may sound like a lot, but not every day has to be intense, and your workouts can last up to 30 minutes.

How often you train depends on your experience with fitness and the time you have available as well. If you're new to exercise, for example, start with a smaller goal, like walking 10 steps a day at least five days a week. Or, if your schedule just doesn't allow for five days of exercise a week, aim for three days and see if you can make those sessions a little more intense.

You'll also want to vary what types of workouts you do on those five days. If you can, aim for two or three days of cardio and spend the other two or three days on strength training.

If you're doing less exercise during the week, you can mix strength and cardio on those days (think: a 20-minute run followed by 25 minutes of weight training). High-intensity interval training (HIIT) or circuit training can also help cut down on time while giving your body a good sweat session, he told Health Kristian Flores, CSCS, a strength and conditioning coach based in NYC.

And while it's tempting to believe that different fitness goals depend on different workouts, keep this in mind: Whether you have a goal to lose weight or get stronger, it's essential to include both cardio and weight or strength training in your workout regimen.

Ultimately, though, how you plan your workouts and what you do for those workouts depends on what you enjoy most, Flores said. If you hate HIIT, skip it. If you like jumping and cycling, go for it. Finding enjoyment in your workout will keep you coming back for more sweat and lead to results.

What to do for cardio workouts

association American Heart recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week (that's five 30-minute workouts), or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. Exercising at this level helps keep your heart healthy, while also helping you prevent or manage other conditions like diabetes. Plus, it helps boost brain function and mood, and improves bone health.

If you're working out three days a week, aim to make your cardio workouts more intense, Hancock said. "If you want to work out longer, go with a lower intensity."

Exactly what you do for cardio again depends on what you enjoy doing, Hancock said. Whether it's dancing, cycling, running, climbing, or walking up and down the stairs in your apartment building—if it gets your heart rate up, then it counts as cardio.

Hancock and Flores agreed that the most efficient and effective workouts are HIIT and Tabata. Tabata is a more intense version of HIIT that can be done with or without weights. It involves working out for 20 seconds, resting for 10, and repeating for eight total rounds.

Elite athletes have been using interval training for decades to improve their performance, and with good reason. Interval training does what walking can't: It provides both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, according to a 2019 review published in Journal of Physiological SciencesIn other words, Tabata and HIIT can burn fat, improve heart and lung function, and build muscle all at once.

Because you're working hard during HIIT workouts, you can easily work up a hard sweat in 25 to 30 minutes.

 “Most importantly, you want to think of HIIT as working at the peaks of effort that lead you to that [uncomfortable] feeling and then giving yourself enough recovery to repeat those efforts,” Hancock said.