Exercise an hour a day. Research Review: How Often Should You Workout to Build Muscle? Here he is! Anabolic hormone

The frequency of training plays a significant role in the process of formation beautiful body– it is no less important than choosing a fitness direction.

The number of workouts directly depends on your sports goals.

In this article we will look at how many times a week you need to exercise, the nuances of losing weight and building muscles, as well as advice from experts.

How often can you train to see noticeable results?

To lose weight

In the process of losing weight, calorie expenditure plays a huge role: you must spend more than you consume. This is exactly where fitness training can help – regular physical activity speeds up the body’s metabolism and the process of breaking down subcutaneous fat.

The conclusion is obvious: you should train quite often (at least 3 times a week). The best option is considered to be high-intensity areas for aerobic exercise - water aerobics, Zumba, etc.

In the process of such exercises, not only muscles are strengthened, but also burned. excess fat(more calories are broken down due to intense cardio throughout the body).

Important! If you exercise 1-2 times a week, the weight loss process may be significantly delayed. In this case, it is better to do it more often and regularly than rarely, but intensively.

At the same time, do not forget about proper rest between classes - a healthy night's sleep and the absence of a large number of stress factors. Your body must fully recover for the next workout, otherwise a state of overtraining, fatigue and depression may quickly appear.

Note! The number of sessions per week should be increased gradually (as the muscles adapt), especially if your body is not accustomed to constant physical activity.

To tighten muscles and maintain tone

High-quality muscle training is based on the correct frequency of exercise and choice of fitness direction. In the first stages, it is better to pay attention to areas with an average level of load (fitness yoga) - these workouts are also good for maintaining athletic shape.

To effectively tighten and strengthen muscles, you can attend CrossFit classes ( interval training with elements of strength exercises), pump aerobics (training with a mini-barbell).

Important! Increased muscle tone and strength indicators does not happen during the lesson itself. These processes occur during the period of rest/recovery after intense exercise!

In this case, training acts as an activator, giving impetus to natural processes within the body. This is why it is so important to maintain a balance between training and rest periods. If you decide to exercise frequently and vigorously, this can cause exhaustion (especially in the case of beginners, whose body is not prepared for grueling loads).

The best option is 2 intensive classes in Week. This training regimen allows our body to fully recover for subsequent loads, while maintaining activity and sports motivation.

Should you go to the gym every day?

There is a fairly popular opinion among beginners: “More practice – faster progress!” In practice, the physiology of our body plays a major role.

If we exclude professional athletes and competition participants (whose bodies have adapted for years to intense and fairly frequent loads), then the average person needs approximately 24 hours to fully recuperate.

During this time, the necessary amount of protein enters the muscles for tissue regeneration and rests. nervous system.

Note! If pain appears in the muscles after the next training session, you should not proceed to the next session (until they disappear).

Such sensations indicate microdamage inside muscle fibers– your body may need more time to properly recuperate. Try to listen to your own body and how you feel - in some cases, pain may indicate sprains or serious injuries that cannot be ignored.

In the absence of proper rest, a state of overtraining quickly occurs:

• muscle fatigue;
• general exhaustion of the body;
• low mood, lethargy.

This not only slows down athletic progress, but also causes great harm to the health of the beginner. It is for this reason that visiting the gym every day is not recommended - it will not bring the expected benefits in the form of fast weight loss or abs.

Note! Exceptional cases include professional athletes during the period of active preparation for competitions.

Be sure to check out:

K. Rich, sports expert, personal trainer to movie star J. Lawrence

When developing a weight loss program, I use quite simple rule: 5 kilometers or 30 minutes. This means that to effectively lose weight, you should devote at least half an hour to fitness training almost every day or go for a 5 km run.

It is quite natural that training 7 times a week tires the body, so for the average beginner, 4 days with intense exercise is enough. It is not necessary to study only in one direction - you can safely experiment. For example, a combination of dance classes and water aerobics will bring a huge boost of positivity, vigor and well-being. Remember that the more active your day is, the more intense your fat burning process will be.

A. Masharin, sports consultant, specialist at Fitness-M

Probably the most important rule in any fitness routine is systematicity. The “correct” frequency of training in gym– 2-5 times a week. This indicator will fluctuate depending on:

• sporting purposes;
• amount of free time;
• level of training;
• individual characteristics, etc.

I constantly repeat that you need to train regularly - there will be practically no benefit from “super-intensive” training from time to time. At the same time, it makes no sense to exhaust the body with daily stress in the absence of proper rest and reserves for muscle recovery (quality night sleep, balanced nutrition with an emphasis on proteins, absence of severe stress).

At first sports path It is also important to consider your own level of training. For beginners, 40 minutes of exercise at an average pace twice a week will be enough (you can gradually increase the intensity of training, duration and frequency).

To achieve maximum quick effect people start training every day, but this approach is not justified. You need to play sports in such a way as not to overload the body, the muscles must be restored. And to begin with, it’s worth deciding on that.

Each workout puts stress on the muscles, so it takes time to restore tone. If you don’t do this, then the results and effectiveness of your training will decline, the volume of exercise will decrease and losing weight will become more and more difficult. No personal trainer would recommend doing it every day; proper rest is an important component of any complex, so you shouldn’t tear your veins.

A more noticeable result will be with the right combination of sports and recovery periods. The exception is jogging, which can be done every day, especially if done on fresh air on the street.

— How many times a week should you exercise?

People start to lead active image life for various reasons, but more often to lose weight. The question immediately arises, how many times a week should you train?

The training program is selected based on several parameters: initial weight; Lifestyle; how much weight a person wants to lose; initial physical training. All these factors determine the number of workouts per week. The body must get used to the load, very fat people start with daily exercise, gymnastics, active walking along the street.

People with initial training To lose weight, they immediately sign up for a gym, an aerobics group and do it twice a week. Over time, the number of trips to sports increases to 3-4 per 7 days.

— Sports mode for weight loss.

Let's start with the fact that the only thing correct system there are no classes. Various experts recommend their own methods of weight loss, but general provisions can be found in everyone. Remember that the final result will depend on a number of conditions:

1) your starting weight;
2) features of metabolism and functioning of the body;
3) age;
4) specific nutrition and other criteria.

Periodicity:

To lose weight, you need to exercise at least 3 times a week. This load is recommended for “beginners”; the intensive program involves up to 5 workouts per week. The duration of each of them is at least 40-60 minutes. There is an opinion that “half an hour” is ineffective for losing weight.
An hour-long load according to a special scheme will not only allow you to work out all the problem areas, but will also activate a mode of active calorie expenditure (which will continue for a long time after the workout).

Lesson outline:

1) 5 minutes of aerobic exercise to warm up the muscles (jump rope, cycling, running);
2) 20-25 minutes – power load, which is aimed at working out problem areas (hips, abs, buttocks and others);
3) 30 minutes – again energetic “cardio”, which will increase your heart rate and start the fat burning process, optimally – interval exercise with a change in pace moderate/fast.

Experts say that for at least 3 hours after such an activity, your body will be in a state of intense calorie consumption, as if you were continuing to train.

Time:

The optimal time for training is morning or evening (before 21.00). A later session will not bring half the effect. But if for some reason work has kept you busy, but there are at least two hours left before bed, don’t skip a lesson, devote at least half an hour to the strength or aerobic part (interval exercise).

The workout should take place on an empty stomach - at least an hour after eating, and preferably two. You can’t eat immediately after class - quench your thirst, take a shower and delay eating for at least an hour.

Excessive diligence or insufficient, as well as irregular loads, have almost the same effect in the long term. Follow the time-tested measure.

— Conditions for the required amount of training.

First, you need to set the following parameters for yourself, which will help you roughly understand how many workouts per week will be enough:

1) Body type.
2) Pursued goals (what you want to achieve through classes).
3) Daily routine.
4) Possibility of classes.

Secondly, after the criteria have been established, you need to move on to the training itself, not paying attention to interference.

Body types:

There are only 3 types of them - ectomorph (thin and tall), mesomorph (athletic) and endomorph (well-fed and possibly short). As a rule, there is no pure body type, but one type will be the most pronounced. It is based on this that you should determine how many times you can train your body.

So, the first body type will be characterized by 2-3 classes per week, lasting no more than 1 hour. The second – 4-5 workouts per week, lasting up to 1.5 hours. Well, the third one has 5-6 lessons, each of which lasts up to 2 hours.

But there are also alternative ways to structure a class schedule.
1) Ectomorph - 5-6 times a week, but 30 minutes each session.
2) Endomorph – 2–4 classes per week, but increased in time to 3 hours each.
3) A mesomorph usually doesn’t have problems, so you can independently choose convenient days for yourself (based on how you feel).

All of the above-described solutions to constructing a training schedule are determined by anatomy - the number of fast and slow (white and red) muscle fibers in the muscles.

Pursued goals:

Based on your physique, you can determine what you want to achieve. Typically, people with a thin or athletic body want to gain weight, while overweight, well-fed people want to lose it and “get lean.” But it happens the other way around. Your body type and goals open up the possibility of choosing a training program, which will determine the required number of sessions.

Daily schedule and activities:

Of course, if all weekdays are busy with work, and you don’t have the energy to study in the evening, then it’s quite natural to take classes on weekends. But if you still have the opportunity to expand your daily routine and squeeze in training, that would be great.

Ka It is worth building your regime so as not to harm your health (training) and pleasure. In general, the main thing is to exercise; it’s worse when a week goes by without a single workout.

The material was prepared by Dilyara specifically for the site

Video:

When you create a training program, first of all, you need to decide on the first important point – regularity of training. How many times a week should you exercise?

I understand... this is quite a broad question. And the terms “exercise regularity” and “exercise regularity” can have a lot of different meanings.

However, there are 3 values ​​that are worth paying attention to:

• General training regularity: How often should you do certain exercises? power training, cardio and so on)?
• Regularity of strength training: How many times a week should you do strength training?
• Regularity of exercises separate groups muscles or body parts: How many times per week should you train each muscle group or body part?

The only thing we missed on this list is cardio training. This is a separate topic that we will talk about a little later.

Now let's look at the 3 most important aspects of regular training.

Regularity of training in general

The first thing to decide is how many times a week we will perform training. These may include strength training, cardio, and so on. All this relates to the regularity of classes in general.

This is one aspect that may vary depending on you and your goals (for example, an obese person with the initial goal of losing weight may do 4 cardio workouts per week, while a thin person with the initial goal of gaining muscle mass may not do cardio at all).

Therefore, it is impossible to say exactly how many times a week you need to exercise.

However, there is one thing general rule, which works for everyone.

And this is the rule: do least 1 day off from training.

It means that as a last resort You can exercise 6 times a week (and this includes strength training, cardio, etc.).

I am sure that among those reading this article there is no such person who needs to exercise 7 times a week and who will derive any benefits from it.

I will say more: most people will accept 3-5 times a week as the norm, depending on their goals.

Why? Because in daily training Not only does it make no sense to achieve your goals, on the contrary, it can lead to the opposite results.

Regularity of strength training

There are many individual characteristics that should be taken into account in the regularity of training in general. However, when it comes to strength training, the opposite is true. I can accurately describe the regularity of strength training.

The regularity of strength training refers to how many times a week you need to do it.

Some people can do 5 workouts a week (although in most cases they are not necessary at all), some people can stop at two. However, for most people in most cases 3-4 strength training sessions per week is enough.

I base this on most well-designed training programs that are 3-4 workouts per week.

The same goes for the rule do not perform more than 2 workouts in a row.

Regularity of exercises for specific muscle groups or body parts

And the last thing is the regularity of exercises for individual muscle groups or parts of the body.

Understanding how much you need to exercise gym, allows you to build effective plan classes, which will definitely affect the results.

Some athletes believe that training to failure is the best option, so their visit to the gym lasts for 1.5-2 hours.

Imagine their surprise when they discover colleagues who have achieved the same effect, but study for no more than 1 hour. You can find the “golden mean” only by understanding physiology training process.

A little theory: research on the duration and frequency of training

Frequency and duration – key factors, influencing the improvement of the results of any training. Until recently, athletes believed that one long workout every 7 days on any muscle group gave the greatest effect.

However, recent studies have shown that increasing the number of exercises is more productive, and this is primarily due to the process of muscle protein synthesis.

During training, the muscles are subjected to stress, resulting in muscle protein synthesized most actively.

And here it is worth mentioning the key point, namely the preparedness of the athletes.

The fact is that the period of combining amino acids into protein is experienced athletes and beginners is significantly different. For the former it takes 16-18 hours, but for the latter it can last up to 2 days.

Important! The frequency of training is directly related to the experience of the athlete. For beginners for active growth muscle mass 1-2 visits to the gym are enough; it will be more difficult for trained athletes to achieve hypertrophy with such a frequency of visits.

As for the duration of the training, it is directly related to changes in hormonal levels during sports. It has been proven that after 45 minutes intensive training V human body The level of cortisol increases, which provokes the onset of catabolic processes that destroy muscle tissue. Therefore, trainings that last 40-45 minutes are considered the most productive and safe. The maximum possible time is 1 hour.

Be sure to check out:

How often should you go to the gym - the optimal number of times a week to get results?

The frequency of exercise is determined by goals. In most cases they are formulated as:

• weight loss;
• strengthening muscles and endurance;
• muscle building.

Cardio training aimed at burning body fat can be done 3 to 5 times a week, as it is quite easy and does not require much recovery time. Another thing - strength training. It is not recommended to carry it out more than 3 times a week, but you must ensure that after each load muscle group“rested” for at least 72 hours.

Important! It is worth taking into account individual characteristics and type of constitution. So, in mesomorphs with high speed recovery and strength sensitivity, the increase in muscle mass will be faster, and for ectomorphs and endomorphs the recovery process will take longer.

Is it possible to train every day?

Until recently, daily training for different muscle groups was considered the norm for many athletes. However, practice has shown that neither muscle, nor the nervous system had time to cope with stress. As a result, the productivity of the training process decreased, and the effect of overtraining occurred.

The time required for recovery depends on several indicators:

• athlete experience (a beginner needs more, a professional needs less);
• type of muscles (small ones recover faster, large ones - slower);
• muscle groups (biceps and triceps can be trained more often, legs - less often).

The following recommendations resulted from research and practical experience:

1. Beginner athletes – 3 times a week.
2. Experienced athletes – from 4 to 5.

At the same time, you should not load the same muscle groups more than 2 times a week.

Best hours for sports: morning, afternoon, evening

Human physiology and life activity is associated with the phenomenon of circadian rhythms. At its core, these are fluctuations in natural biological processes, for example, body temperature, hormone levels, and blood pressure. Human activity, including motor activity, depends on these indicators.

The answer to the question of when is it better to go to the gym: in the morning or in the evening, is closely related to the type of training. Thus, in the morning hours there is a significant production of cortisol, which is responsible not only for quickly waking up, but also for mobilizing strength during physical activity. The best option for exercise at this time is cardio training. Due to cortisol, metabolism accelerates and energy expenditure increases significantly.

Some athletes prefer to go to the gym in the afternoon. And this is also facilitated by circadian rhythms. During the period from 16.00 to 18.00, most people experience a slight increase in body temperature. As a result, the muscles are warmer, more elastic and prepared for work. At this time, anaerobic exercise will be effective, including due to increased endurance and reducing the risk of injury.

In the evening, you should not resort to heavy muscle-building exercises or intense aerobic exercise. This will affect the quality of sleep and disruption of the immune system. Most often, it is at this time that people do relaxing yoga or breathing exercises.

How long should the workout last?

The question of what time is best to go to the gym is related to the question of how long you can exercise. Here it is worth turning again to physiology. In progress physical activity The body produces 2 types of steroid hormones: catabolic and anabolic. The first are represented by testosterone, somatotropin and insulin. Their task is to restore muscle fibers and build new muscle tissue cells.

The second group is cortisol and glycogen, which increase blood glucose levels and “stimulate” metabolism. Glycogen, at its core, is a storage facility for glucose; it is found both in the muscles and in the liver. During the first 20 minutes, the body takes it from muscle tissue, and then begins to “extract” it from the liver.

Important! After 40-45 minutes of active training, cortisol levels increase, which in excess is more harmful than beneficial. It reaches its maximum values ​​at 55-60 minutes of training. At the same time it begins to rise arterial pressure, immunity deteriorates. Intensive production of cortisol for more than 60 minutes has the opposite effect, as muscle tissue begins to break down.

Therefore, sports and medical experts strongly advise not to overtrain and not work in the gym for more than 45-60 minutes.

How long after the start are results visible?

Sport is not plastic surgery, where immediate results are visible immediately after the operation. The visual results of regular exercise will become noticeable only after 10-12 weeks of training. At the same time, you need to train at least 3 times a week for the results to become noticeable.

If your goal is to lose weight, then it makes sense to alternate cardio with moderate strength training. In the case of gaining muscle mass, it is necessary to draw up a plan taking into account the muscle recovery period, which should not be less than 72 hours.

In both cases, you will need to organize a balanced diet that meets the goals of the exercise.

What results can you realistically achieve?

Despite the fact that the most obvious results can be summed up only after 3 months, intermediate results can begin to be tracked much earlier.

So, after two days, the body, unprepared for sports, will make itself felt with unpleasant muscle pain. To minimize pain, you must not forget about the warm-up, which reduces the risk of injury for beginner athletes, and the final stretch, aimed at facilitating the process of muscle tissue recovery.

These pain sensations bother you after the first 2-3 sessions, after a couple of weeks, all muscle pain will go away. The main thing is not to stop training during this period.

Physical well-being will improve significantly 4 weeks after starting to visit the gym. It will become easier to get up in the morning, shortness of breath will disappear, muscles will stretch better, and most exercises will be easy to do. During this period it is burned visceral fat, which is located near internal organs. After this, the turn will come to the subcutaneous.

After 2 months, the body will gradually begin to change shape, the risk of heart disease will decrease, as well as blood sugar levels, which will significantly reduce the possibility of developing diabetes.

After 3 months, it will be possible to visually evaluate results achieved. They will be noticeable to others. Muscle relief will appear or improve, and some of the subcutaneous fat will disappear. The silhouette will become slimmer, fitter and more beautiful.

Ekaterina Usmanova, current Russian fitness bikini champion, video blogger

Denis Borisov, video blogger, author of articles on bodybuilding, one of the creators of the Fit4life.ru project

Denis recommends that beginners who are committed to the process of gaining muscle mass should exercise no more than 3 times a week, for at least 1-1.5 years. In addition, the duration of training, depending on the plan, should vary from 30 to 60 minutes.

Ilya Timko, fitness trainer, creator of the website Tvoytrener.ru

“The more often you train, the shorter the sessions should be,” says Ilya. So, for example, if the training was 2 times a week for 1.30, and then the athlete switched to 4 classes a week, then the training time should be reduced by about 30%, that is, to 60-70 minutes maximum.”

Useful video

Main conclusions

The frequency and duration of training directly depends on the physiology of a person and his goals:

1. The optimal number of trips to the gym: no more than 3 times for beginners and no more than 5 times for professionals.
2. The duration of sports should not exceed 1 hour.
3. Daily training is harmful to both the muscular and nervous systems.
4. The first results of working on yourself will become noticeable after 10-12 weeks.

The effectiveness of training depends not only on the effort put in, but also on a balanced, well-chosen diet.

04.12.2016

Not all girls who start playing sports know how many times a week they need to exercise. And knowing this is very important, because muscles sometimes need to rest for a certain time. But at the same time, you should not allow the effect to decrease. How to train correctly and how many times a week we will tell you in this article in as much detail as possible.

How many times a week should you train?

In order to clearly answer the above question, you first need to understand what specific training we are talking about. In total, they can be divided into three groups - cardio training, strength training and stretching. Each of these types differs in its technique, and as a result, it needs to be given special attention. a certain amount of days a week. Let's look at each variety in more detail.

1. Cardio training — aerobic training. This type of exercise involves performing muscle movements due to the energy that is produced during the oxidation of glucose molecules with oxygen. In biochemistry, this process is called aerobic glycolysis. This is how cardio differs from strength training, where energy is obtained by the body in an oxygen-free way, or anaerobically. During cardio training, not only the muscles are trained, but also the body itself. the cardiovascular system, while increasing its performance and endurance. Cardio training includes sports such as cycling, running, walking, swimming, active games (basketball, tennis) and similar ones.
   Is it possible to do this kind of sports every day? This is absolutely not necessary and can even be harmful. Two or three times a week is a fairly normal amount of cardio. This way your body will have the opportunity to rest and not become overtired, and you will achieve the desired results.
2. Power training- This concept is based on working with weights. Here you can use both own weight independently, and work with barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells and similar equipment. Strength exercises develop muscles as much as possible, use them, which causes increased fat burning. This type of training is hard, but very effective for losing weight.
   It is recommended to do strength training up to four times a week with a break in between. For example, you can distribute the load on your muscles across workouts, which will be very effective. Do two workouts for biceps, triceps, abs and shoulder girdle, and two for the remaining muscles - thighs, buttocks, calves. Top part, for example, practice on Monday and Friday, and the upper one on Wednesday and Sunday.
3. Stretching- the name itself gives itself away; in English it is translated as pull or stretch. This is a type of fitness with which you stretch your muscles and ligaments. At the same time, all biological processes are activated and the body as a whole begins to function better. So, you can do stretching every day, but for beginners it would be wiser to give the body a rest every other day.

How much do you need to exercise to get results?

In order to lose weight, experts recommend alternating strength training and cardio exercises. Moreover, there should be at least two of them per week, but no more than four. So, one hour a week should be devoted power loads For good effect, and the rest of the time should be allocated to cardio. Don’t forget about the mandatory warm-up, include jogging in your exercises, and end with stretching.