By Ben Putland -
Two days, five days, HIIT, upper body or leg day? We clear up the confusion around creating the perfect weekly workout schedule.
Most personal trainers are familiar with the question: “How often should I work out?”
Some of our clients agonise over how many days they should commit to training, or what the ideal weekly split between muscle groups, cardiovascular and weight training should be.
Unfortunately, it’s a broad question that won’t have the same answer for everyone. Your training plan should be a tailored schedule based on individual factors. Here are some aspects to consider based on your goals.
Goal: lose weight
If your goal is to lose weight, the number one rule is to eat in a calorie deficit. However, you also need to continue both strength training and cardiovascular exercise to prevent a weight loss plateau and gain the optimum health benefits. Pounding out hours in cardio training alone is not useful: it can result in muscle loss and actually slow down your weight loss in the long run by slowing your metabolism. Keep lifting weights to maintain your hard-won muscle mass and ensure any weight loss is fat loss.
