As you possibly know, working out is a healthy habit which makes you stronger, healthier and good looking. But are there any limitations for working out? Do we have any risks of working out too much or too long? How long to workout do you have? Also, how many times a week should I workout? How much exercise have I to do. These are the questions we want to answer. So, lets us begin.
How Long to Workout?
The World Health Organization (1) recommends to workout at least about 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise or 150 minutes of calmer (moderate) activity per week, depending on your age. Here are some examples of suitable activities. What is moderate to high-intensity physical activity?
Work with medium intensity – Ensuring physical activity for persons where the heart beats with a limit of 90-110 per minute, you can do: brisk walking, dancing, housework, hiking, workout with light weights etc.
High-intensity workouts – Ensuring physical activity for persons where the heartbeat is beyond 110 per minute. For these workouts you need to be more active, you can run, work with weights (intensively), run sprints, jumping, HIIT, etc.
The World Health Organization also says that it is required minimum to get some benefits for your health. But to feel even better or stay in shape you need to work out about 300 minutes with medium intensity and about 150 minutes with high intensity.
How Many Times a Week Should I Workout?
Well, we can just take the time we mentioned above and split it on the amount of workouts you want to have per week. This can be the average amount of your workouts.
Usual practice is to workout from 3 to 5 times per week, and the time of your workout really depends only on your workout intensity. So, how much do you have to exercise? If you are a gym newcomer, then start from 3 times a week. with progress you will be able to add 4th or even 5th workout day.
Overtraining – don’t overdo with workouts. Very often mistake of newbies is, that they start to workout a huge amount of time and are getting overtraining. So, be careful, with overtraining you can feel symptoms similar to depression like muscle weakness, chronic fatigue, muscle swelling, low motivation and even sleep disorders. If you feel that you are tired from yesterday workout, better make one day break and recover (Check out our article post workout supplements).
Benefits You Can Get From the Workout?
1. Weight loss
A few workouts per week will help you lose fat and maintain a healthy weight and this is one of the main health supporters. Excess fat reserves, especially in the waist area, have Biochemistry of adipose tissue: an endocrine organ metabolic activity: they release hormones and can increase inflammation in the body. Obesity will rise. Medical risks of obesity are the risk of developing diabetes, kidney diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and death from any cause.
2. Improvement of the cardiovascular system
Workout reduces the amount of “bad” cholesterol that can form plaques on the walls of blood vessels. They also improve insulin sensitivity, which has a positive effect on the health of the cardiovascular system.
Moreover, the longer and more regularly you workout, the more benefit. Continuous training throughout life helps maintain vascular elasticity and heart health in old age.
3. Reduce the risk of cancer
12 studies showed that workouts reduced the risk of leukemia, cancer of the esophagus, liver, lung, kidney, stomach, and uterus by more than 20%.
Scientists suggest that exercise protects against cancer by reducing weight and inflammation in the body, normalizing hormones, boosting immunity, and speeding up the transit of food in the gastrointestinal tract.
4. Support mental health
Training helps fight depression, stress, and emotional problems. On average, physically active people experience negative mental effects 1.5 times less often than those who do not exercise.
Those who work 3-5 days a week for 30-60 minutes feel better than less or more active people. Training more than 23 times a month and more than 90 minutes at a time, on the contrary, negatively affects mental health. Therefore, everything is good in moderation.
