I feel as if most of our life we are told how often we are going to do (or be able to do) something.
Your sports are 2-3 times per week, your T.V. show is on once a week, school will be 5 days per week, and bingo is only once a month.
This is normal, parameters are set and we follow these “rules” because we don’t really have a say in when these things occur. What about the things that aren’t predetermined? How often do you wash your car or give your dog a bath?
These types of things can be put off because there is no set time to get It done.
The same thing goes for your workouts. There are no set days that you “need” to be there, so hey why not skip that early morning session?
So with that, how many days should you “try” to get to the gym each week?
First thing is first,
Lay out how many days a week you would like to see yourself making It to the gym. Now lay out how many days you can 100% commit to at this exact moment to making It to the gym for the next three years.
There will be a discrepancy in these two numbers and that’s a good thing. Your starting point will be the lower number.
Start with consistency, everything else will follow. It’s not worth booking yourself five workouts if you know in a month you are going to skip three of them. Start with two and work up from there.
Step #2:
Take a look at how things have been going for the past few weeks or months. Could you realistically add another day to your schedule? If the answer is yes, ask yourself if you will benefit from the extra work.
If you think you can benefit from the extra work and make It consistent, then It’s time to add a day to your plan.
Our goal is to narrow the gap from what you want your workout schedule to be and what you can actually make happen.
Now once we get into this point of the plan you are going to be somewhere between 2-4 days in the gym, which is great. So how do we determine what our end goal will be?
There are a few things you have to look at:
- Are you recovering?
- Are you seeing results?
- How is your sleep?
These are my top three things I look at when people are trying to see if another day in the gym is worth It.
If someone is recovering perfectly, sleeping like a queen, and seeing results then why change anything?
Now if you are recovering great and sleeping well those are two indicators that you might be able to handle another day in the gym, but if you do, keep a close eye on those things and see how they react to the added day.
This is my long winded answer to saying, how many days per week in the gym depends on your individual situation. Figure out what you can be consistent with FIRST then start making progressions from that point over time.
In good health,
Jeff
