Staying active is essential to staying healthy, and given that 27 per cent of Brits don’t exercise at least once a week, according to a 2020 YouGov surveyYou may want to increase your activity level.

However, it’s hard to know how much exercise you should do to achieve your fitness goals, whether it’s for weight loss or weight gain.

“The type of training you do ultimately depends on your abilities, goals, likes and dislikes, equipment you have, injuries you have, and how much time you have,” personal trainer Tom Mans explained to Independent.

Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach, Yes, here principles and guidelines that you can follow and apply in your training to ensure a balanced, effective, safe and enjoyable training regimen.

How many days a week should you train?

Unless you’re a fitness enthusiast, you probably want to spend as little time in the gym as possible to reach your health and fitness goals. But Mans says that exercising just once or twice a week will result in lower fitness levels.

“You should train at least three times a week if you want to achieve your health and fitness goals in a reasonable amount of time, and stay fit and healthy,” explains Mans.

Ideally, training four to five times a week is ideal, but most people find this unattainable due to time constraints, so Mans says it’s best to set three goals: a week, allowing you to adapt, get stronger, lose weight, and become fit.”

How long should the exercise last?

Some people argue that you can do an effective and efficient workout in half an hour if you use your time wisely, but Mans believes that if you want to make real progress, you should be exercising for 45 minutes to an hour.

She recommends spending 10 minutes warming up and mobilizing your body, 30 to 40 minutes weight training, and 5 to 10 minutes cooling down and stretching.

Even so, a half hour workout can be useful for interval training or conditioning sessions.

Can you weight train two or three days in a row?

Mans recommends resting a day between sessions if you lift weights regularly. “You can practice two days in a row, but definitely try to avoid doing three days in a row unless you are an advanced lifter.”

If you don’t give your muscles time to heal, you will put stress on your joints and tendons, which can lead to pain or, even worse, injuries such as tendinitis.

However, This It’s fine to weight train on back-to-back days if you’re working a different part of your body each time. However, Mans believes that full body workouts are better for the general population looking to lose fat and improve their fitness.

A balanced exercise regimen should include a mix of weight training and cardiovascular work (aerobic and anaerobic), but Mans says if you don’t have time for both, it’s best to focus on doing two to three weight training sessions a week. .

How important is sleep?

In short: enough.

“For everyone, and especially for people who practice regularly, getting an average of seven to eight hours of sleep each night is very important,” says Mans.

“After training during the day, the body gets stronger, burns fat and rebuilds damaged muscle tissue while you sleep.”

So if you don’t get enough sleep, you’re doing yourself a disservice, your practice will be interrupted, and you won’t have enough energy to train.