Is It Better to Workout Everyday or Every Other Day?

The number of times you workout in a week should match your fitness goals. We outline the pros and cons to working out everyday or every other day.

By David Cefferty

Reviewed by Brian Richards, CPT, CSCS. Last updated 16th December.

Key Takeaways

Whether it is better to workout every day or every other day depends on a person’s fitness goals and overall health.
Rest is important in fitness and the amount of rest you need may depend on your age, fitness level and the type of workouts you are doing.
Following a structured fitness program or a personal trainer may help provide structure for your weekly workout routine.

Whether it is better to workout every day or every other day depends on a person’s fitness goals and overall health. For some people, working out every day may be necessary in order to reach their fitness goals, while for others, working out every other day may be more appropriate.

Working out every day can provide a number of benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, increased muscle strength and endurance, and better overall fitness. However, it is important to remember that the body also needs time to rest and recover in order to prevent overtraining and injuries. For this reason, it is important to incorporate rest days into a workout routine and to listen to the body’s signals.

Working out every other day can also provide benefits, as it allows the body time to rest and recover between workouts. This can help prevent overtraining and injuries, and can also help maintain motivation and interest in the workout routine. However, it is important to remember that working out every other day may not provide the same level of fitness benefits as working out every day.

Ultimately, the best workout frequency will depend on a person’s fitness goals and overall health. It is important to consult with a healthcare provider or fitness professional to determine the best workout routine for individual needs.

In this article, I outline some recommendations based on specific goals, like weight loss, or building muscle, to help provide some general guidelines to follow.

How Often You Should Exercise

Figuring out an exercise plan is one of the first steps you’ll take on your road to better health. However, it’s not always the easiest one. And one of the most common questions people have is how often they should exercise.

The answer to this question depends on many different factors — most notably, whether you are a beginner, an intermediate exerciser, or an advanced one, as well as what you want to achieve.

If you are an overall beginner in the world of fitness, you can start by training 2-3 times a week, while remaining lightly active on your off days. For example, you can take a brisk 30-minute walk or jog for 25 minutes.

This will help you feel more prepared for your exercise days. Combine the most important forms of exercise into your routine and create a variety for your body. Increase the number of exercise days as you go and be gentle on yourself — you don’t want injuries.

However, if you have a specific goal in mind, here are some recommendations.

For Weight Loss

If your goal is to lose weight, your routine will be a bit more intense than if you just wanted to exercise for the sake of being healthy. Of course, when just starting out, exercise for 2 to 3 days a week and be active in between through simple activities.

But once your body adapts to this routine — or even sooner — increase the amount of time you spend exercising.

For one, you should do intense training two days a week and do moderate exercise 2 days a week as well.

On days of moderate exercise, you can jog, swim, take walks, dance, etc. Make it fun for you on those moderate days. You can also do yoga or tai chi for balance and stretching. Look into some fun dance lessons since they provide a cardio exercise and a bit of strength training that will allow you to speed up your weight loss process.

On days of intense exercise, include some high-intensity interval training and weight lifting. Vigorous aerobic activity also helps. Remember to vary your exercise routines, include different workouts, etc. More on the importance of this later. Furthermore, remember to take rest days. This will help your body recover and be more ready to work on your exercise days.

Most of the weight loss comes from a calorie deficit, so remember to eat healthily and nourish your body. Naturally, the more calories you burn, the better.

For Weight Maintenance

If you just want to exercise as a way to maintain your weight or stay healthy, your exercise routine will be a bit easier than the one for weight loss.

General recommendations are that you should have:

One hundred fifty minutes of moderate activity per week — you can split it up into 30 minutes of activity five days a week and make it fun for you. But, even jogging or swimming works.

Seventy-five minutes of intense activity every week — you can also split it up into 25 minutes 3 days a week. This should include weight lifting, HIIT, or vigorous aerobic activity.

For Muscle Gain

Muscle gain will help you increase your BMR, become stronger and healthier as well. However, it requires some strenuous training and continuous exercise to make it work in the long term. The level of activity you’ll need to gain muscles will depend on where you are in your training. For example, a beginner will need a lot less time and effort to see a change than an advanced exerciser.

Beginners. For beginners, the best plan is to do strength training and HIIT 3 days a week until they hit a plateau in muscle gain. Then, they can transition into the plan for intermediate users.

Intermediate. For intermediate exercisers, the best plan is to do strength training four days a week. However, you should also do at least 2 to 3 days of 25 minutes of vigorous cardio to boost your progress.

Advanced. Finally, if you are at an advanced stage, you should do at least five days of strength training or do three days of exercise, one day of rest, and then repeat. Also, you should include HIIT or cardio to your routine.

Why Is Variety Important in Exercise?

As mentioned several times, the variety is extremely important when looking to lose weight or gain muscles. There are several reasons for this. Here are some of them.

Psychological Reasons

Imagine eating the same thing every day or doing the same things every day — wouldn’t it be boring?

Well, it’s the same with exercise. Your mind will not be challenged, and you’ll start to avoid working out just to avoid the monotony. This is why your exercise routine should involve different types of exercise and why you should switch it up often.

For example, instead of jogging every day of the week, try a Zumba class. Instead of doing the same HIIT exercise, try some new ones. Instead of sun salutations every morning, do new asanas. All of this will boost your chances of sticking with your routine and reaching your goal.

To Prevent Adaptation

Just like your mind, your body adapts to a challenge quickly.

Sure, in your first few days, that new exercise routine will be hard, and you’ll feel it. But, after a week or so of repetition, your body will no longer find it that difficult, and you’ll plateau.

Diversity will also help you achieve different goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, but also build some muscles, you would do a mix of HIIT or aerobic and weight lifting.

To Create a Challenge

Your mind and body need to be challenged to perform at their best. So, just like a monotonous routine can cause a plateau, a new routine can help you overcome it, whether your goal is to lose weight or gain muscles.

It can be just adding more weight to your weights or running a bit farther, or it can be a completely new thing — like transitioning from weight lifting to barre. All of this creates a new challenge for you to overcome.

The Most Important Forms of Exercise

For your reference, here are some forms of exercise that you should mix and match to get the best results:

Aerobic or cardio are those activities that will get your heart pumping and make your cardiovascular system work better. It includes walking, running, swimming, jumping rope, various sports, dances, and so on.

Strength or resistance training increases your muscle mass, and it involves exercises from HIIT, lifting weights, using resistance bands, etc.

Stretching or flexibility training can help you become better prepared for other forms of exercise and prevent injuries. You can do yoga, tai chi, pilates, etc.

Summary

Once you figure out your goals and your current status in the exercise world, use these tips as references on your exercise frequency. Furthermore, remember to eat properly, in a way that will nourish your body and support it through your type of exercise.

Give yourself rest days, but try to remain active through short brisk walks or something else that would be fun for you.