Working Out 7 Days a Week for Weight Loss—Is It Too Much?
When you're on a weight loss mission, it's common to be totally into working out as much as possible to reach your end goal even faster. But if you're working out seven days a week for weight loss, is it too much? We spoke with an expert and have the scoop, so keep reading to learn more.
Sticking to a regular fitness regimen will give your wellness a major boost.
Eat This, Not That! chatted with Victoria Brady, a personal trainer on Fyt, the biggest personal training service in the nation that makes expert-guided in-person or virtual fitness convenient and accessible for everyone. Brady stresses just how important working out is to add to your regular routine to improve your overall wellness. Not only does it help with maintaining a healthy weight, but it also lowers any chance of disease and is instrumental in bettering your mental health. Regular workouts will put you in a better mood, help generate stronger bones and muscles (especially your heart), increase your energy, and help you get more restful sleep at night.
Related: The #1 Exercise Plan To Boost Your Metabolism and Lose Weight
Working out seven days a week can improve your endurance, mood, focus, and physical aesthetic.
We asked Brady to discuss the good and the evil of working out every day of the week, and she starts with the pros, telling us, "The biggest benefit of working out seven days a week is having better endurance and physique/physical appearance. Exercising daily will make the routines easier, allowing you to work out longer or go further (in the distance). Additionally, you are more likely to weigh less, giving you the appearance of a leaner, toner body. Some other pros include daily mood boost post-workout, more likely to reach your fitness goals (and stick to them), and increased focus."
Related: What Happens to Your Body When You Work Out 7 Days a Week
Beware of overtraining, which means going too hard and not giving yourself proper recovery time.
As far as the cons, Brady starts with the biggest, which is the possibility of overtraining. She points out, "Overtraining is defined as working out too much and/or too hard without allowing your body enough time to rest. By overtraining, you risk decreasing your performance, hitting a plateau, so you stop seeing results, increasing the risk of injury/joint issues in the future, and it can even negatively impact your mood due to lack of rest (i.e., increase in depression/anxiety)."
Brady says that it's totally possible to effectively perform your exercise regimen each day of the week. However, it's important to switch things up each day to prevent overtraining. She warns, "Avoid working the same muscle group back-to-back as well as keeping your workouts to less than 60 minutes a day and rotating the intensity (i.e., high intensity, such as HIIT, one day and low-intensity workout, like walking, the next day). This also means not doing only cardio daily but also incorporating strength training."
Check out this sample workout schedule.
There are certain exercises to do on a routine basis that promote a longer life. That includes both strength training for stronger bones and muscles and cardio for a healthy heart. "Some of the best cardio exercises to do regularly include walking/jogging, swimming, or cycling. On the other hand, some of the best strength training exercises include squats, hip-hinging movements such as lunges, push/pull movements (i.e., push-ups, pull-ups), and planks," Brady shares.
We have a sample from Brady of a potential workout schedule that would work:
- Sunday: Yoga and walking.
- Monday: Strength training to work your quads and calves. Exercises that include squats/lunges.
- Tuesday: Strength training to target your shoulders and biceps. Exercises for this include shoulder presses, lateral raises, and bicep curls.
- Wednesday: Cardio, such as running, jogging, swimming, biking, etc.
- Thursday: Strength training to work your hamstrings, glutes, and hips. Exercises for this include glute bridges, deadlifts, and hip adduction/abduction.
- Friday: Strength training to focus on your back, chest, and triceps. Exercises for this include using the rowing machine, pushups, pullups, bent-over rows, and tricep dips.
- Saturday: Cardio HIIT (high-intensity interval training).
