How Many Days Per Week Should You Train?

By CJ Critney | Training | 7 min read

Is 3 days enough? Should you train 6 days? What about rest days? Here's exactly how often you should train based on YOUR goals and what actually gets results.

The Short Answer

For fat loss: 3-5 days/week (strength + some cardio)

For muscle building: 4-5 days/week (each muscle 2x/week)

For maintenance: 2-3 days/week (just stay active)

For beginners: 3 days/week (build the habit first)

More is NOT always better. Quality beats quantity. 3 hard days beats 6 half-assed days.

What Science Says

Study #1: Training each muscle 2x/week builds more muscle than 1x/week (same total volume)

Study #2: Training 6+ days/week increases injury risk by 40% vs 3-4 days/week

Study #3: Beginners who train 3x/week have better adherence than those who try 6x/week (they burn out)

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