How Many Days Per Week Should You Train?

As a personal trainer, I often recommend to people how many times they should exercise each week. Exercise is an intentional participation in physical training versus physical activity, which is more closely related to day to day activity, such as walking the dog, cleaning the house, or taking the stairs (NASM CPT7 offers a good explanation of the differences).

The amount of physical activity someone engages in, as well as their schedule and goals for physique, athletic performance, cardiac and respiratory health, and strength also play a roll in how many days per week should be dedicated to following an exercise program.

Another caviat is the type of exercise that should be done. I typically write resistance/strength training programs for clients, but cardio, sports, group fitness, and flexibility training are also on the table.

In this article, I will explore the question of how many days per week someone should engage in strength training, although other forms of training matter as well and deserve their own attention. The recommendations will vary depending on individual goals, but I will offer some general guidelines which can be further customized.

Reasons to Strength Train

As we age, muscle loss (sarcopenia) and bone density loss (osteopenia) are real threats to health, and as hormone production and metabolic function decline, fat is more likely to be stored around the midsection (Zelman, 2010). This can be problematic when fat is stored in excess, as too much visceral fat can interfere with organ function and being overweight or obese creates health challenges as well. To combat muscle and bone loss, as well as potential weight gain through excess accumulation of fat, muscle gain and maintenance through a structured strength training program is of utmost importance.

While strength training is important for health, some people set their sights on looking muscular, which also requires resistance training. This type of strength training is geared toward hypertrophy (increasing the size of muscle cells).

Another goal where strength training is important is weight loss. Losing weight is largely helped by strength training, as it helps prevent muscle loss and it supports fat loss (muscle burns more calories than fat).

Furthermore, some individuals want to strength train in order to maximize performance in a different sport. For these individuals, it is important to program in a way that does not interfere with recovery from either endeavor.

Lastly, some people pursue strength training because they enjoy it, and it is a hobby for them that they want to work on and improve. Some people may also do it because it makes them feel good, and it doesn't matter if the weights change from week to week, as long as the result is feeling good.

Recommendations for Training Frequency

To answer the question of how many days per week someone should strength train, let's look at the five different goals that have been outlined separately, even though they often overlap, depending on each person and their specific pursuits.

1) Health

Goal: Combat muscle and bone loss

Minimum days per week to train: 1

Optimal days per week to train: 2-5

According to a narrative review (article reviewing other articles on a given topic) by Iverson et al. (2021), training one day per week can have similar results for muscle and strength gain to training three or more days per week if training volume (number of repetitions, sets, and weight lifted) is matched. Thus, one intense and comprehensive strength/resistance training workout per week can be enough to build muscle and strength for health.

A meta-analysis (another form of review of research articles) by Ralston et al. (2018) suggested that training more than one day per week showed negligible gains in strength and muscle growth to training one day per week, suggesting that with adequate training volume, a one day per week strength training program could even be optimal. On the other hand, a systemic review (you guessed it, a review and analysis of other articles) by Schoenfeld et al. (2016) showed that training two times per week is better than training once per week, with more research needing to be conducted to make research-based claims about training more than one time per week.

Based on these reviews and personal experience training clients and myself, strength training one day per week seems to be the bare minimum for health benefits, in terms of building and maintaining muscle and strength. I would rather someone train 2-5 times per week, however, as the training volume that would go into one big workout could be difficult to achieve, and training multiple times per week gives more exposure to the movement patterns involved in strength training, which can assist in mastery and, in my opinion, better results for strength and muscle gain.

2) Hypertrophy

Goal: Look muscular and build strength.

Minimum days per week to train: 2

Optimal days per week to train: 3-6

With some of the research laid out in the last section, I will now dive more into opinion land. For hypertrophy training, two intense workouts seems to be superior to one (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and thus the minimum requirement to building muscle.

Carving out a toned, muscular physique takes time though, and having more practice with lifts, greater opportunities for alternating lifts day to day, and the benefits of feeling stronger through practice lead me to recommend training 3-6 times per week as optimal for building muscle and achieving hypertrophy.

I want to note that more is not always better. I used to strength train 6-7 days per week with cross training in dance while also performing a physically demanding job, and this lead to inadequate recovery and a few health issues. At least one rest day per week is a must, so seven strength training days per week is discouraged. For individuals who recover quickly, who also attend to their sleep and nutrition adequately, training six days per week can be viable and even optimal. For others who struggle with sleep, schedule, nutrition, and/or other recovery and adherence variables, making a commitment to a lower training frequency, such as 3-5 days per week, is better. Consistency, recovery, and quality of training are the three keys to hypertrophy training, with nutrition and sleep sleep being important means to these ends.

3) Weight loss.

Goal: Build and maintain muscle while promoting fat loss

Minimum days per week to train: 3

Optimal days per week to train: 4-5

While training 1-2 days per week would be enough to maintain muscle during a weight-loss phase, I recommend a minimum of three strength training days per week. Because more exposure to movement patterns makes them stronger (quality practice makes perfect) it may be more likely to help with the building of muscle while an individual is in a calorie deficit. Strength training can also help to increase energy expenditure both during the workout and throughout the day (Reynolds, 2021b), making it a helpful strategy in achieving the caloric deficit required for weight loss.

For losing weight, more strength training may actually be better because of the energy expenditure benefits; however, recovery is more important, as the body gets less food and thus less resources for recovery. Working out is both an appetite suppressant, and it can make you really hungry (Reynolds, 2021a), with the latter effect being contradictory for promoting weight loss. All of that considered, training 4-5 days is my recommendation for strength training when someone is pursuing weight-loss, as long as recovery and nutrition can be managed well.

4) Cross training

Goal: Improve performance in a different activity by improving functional strength

Minimum days per week to train: 1

Optimal days per week to train: 2-4

This fitness goal is perhaps the most variable, regarding recommendations for training frequency. In most sports and physical activity, some sort of strength is being built as an athlete gets repetitive exposure to the demands of the activity and their bodies adapt to meet them. That said, adding in strength training can improve performance in a sport or other physical activity, when it doesn't interfere with recovery and targets relevant muscle groups.

As stated earlier in this article, resistance once per week is enough to build strength and muscle and may be adequate for someone who has a demanding training schedule pertaining to their sport/other activity, perhaps even optimal. That said, two is better than one (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and I firmly believe strength training improves functional skills, so I recommend athletes strength train 2-4 times per week to help them avoid injury (see some cool articles in NASM CPT 7!) and improve their performance. I do not recommend strength training more than four times per week necessarily, as that may inhibit practice of and recovery from the sport/other activity and the strength training; however, if someone recovers well and has the time and energy, 5-6 strength training days per week may also be a solid option for cross training (perhaps with shorter workout, since frequency is higher).

5) Hobby

Goal: Feel great and have fun

Minimum days per week to train: 1

Optimal days per week to train: 4-6

Strength training as a hobby has the most flexible parameters. I would recommend that someone who loves working out train as much as possible without over doing it (seven days per week isn't really optimal, even for someone who loves training); however, if time is an issue, once per week could be enough for someone to feel satisfied with their leisure goals for the week. Fortunately for individuals who pursue strength training for fun, they also get to enjoy the other benefits of resistance training, such as strength and muscle gain, as they finesse this skill.

The Bottom Line

Answering the question of how many days per week you should train is highly individual, with schedule allowance, fitness goals, recovery capability, and many other factors playing a role in answering the question. For minimum success in any fitness related goal, training 1-2 times per week (with a quality program and adequate intensity) is the standard. For best or optimal results, training 3-5 days per week is my recommendation (of course with quality training and adequate intensity being applied, but with a bit more wiggle room), with six days being optimal in certain cases. Strength training can be a great way to enjoy the week while reaching goals and improving/maintaining health, and I hope you make it a part of your routine at least once, if not more times, per week.

Sources

Iversen, V.M., Norum, M., Schoenfeld, B.J. et al. No Time to Lift? Designing Time-Efficient Training Programs for Strength and Hypertrophy: A Narrative Review. Sports Med 51, 2079–2095 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01490-1

NASM CPT 7 Textbook

Ralston GW, Kilgore L, Wyatt FB, Buchan D, Baker JS. Weekly training frequency effects on strength gain: A meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2018;4(1):36. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-018-0149-9.

Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2016). Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 46(11), 1689–1697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8

Reynolds, Gretchen. “How Exercise Affects Your Appetite.” The New York Times, 24 Nov. 2021a, www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/well/move/exercise-appetite-weight.html#:~:text=Some%20studies%20indicate%20that%20exercise.

Reynolds, Gretchen. “Lifting Weights? Your Fat Cells Would like to Have a Word.” The New York Times, 21 July 2021b, www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/well/move/weight-training-fat.html.

Zelman, K. M. (2010, July). The Truth About Beer and Your Belly. WebMD; WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-beer-and-your-belly ‌