Ever wondered just how many sweat sessions it takes to see your fitness goals come to life? Pull up a chair and let's unravel the mystery together in the latest episode of Tea with Tina! We're diving into the heart of every gym-goer's query: the elusive sweet spot of workout frequency for optimal results. Whether you're a workout warrior or struggling to squeeze in a single session, I'm here to share how starting with a bite-sized routine can lead to significant victories, and why a sprinkle of patience mixed with a dash of consistency are the secret ingredients in the recipe for sustainable success.
Get comfy as we explore the perfect potion of workout intensity and frequency, tailored just for you. If a jam-packed schedule is your reality, listen up for strategies to ramp up your routine without burning out. And for those who find sanctuary in daily exercise, I've got good news! We'll chat about the magic of active rest days—think leisurely strolls, not lung-busting sprints—that keep your body humming without hitting the red line. No guests this time, just you, me, and a treasure trove of tips that may just revolutionize your fitness regime. Grab your favorite drink and tune in for a heart-pumping, myth-busting session that's sure to get your gears turning!
Ever wondered just how many sweat sessions it takes to see your fitness goals come to life? Pull up a chair and let's unravel the mystery together in the latest episode of Tea with Tina! We're diving into the heart of every gym-goer's query: the elusive sweet spot of workout frequency for optimal results. Whether you're a workout warrior or struggling to squeeze in a single session, I'm here to share how starting with a bite-sized routine can lead to significant victories, and why a sprinkle of patience mixed with a dash of consistency are the secret ingredients in the recipe for sustainable success.
Get comfy as we explore the perfect potion of workout intensity and frequency, tailored just for you. If a jam-packed schedule is your reality, listen up for strategies to ramp up your routine without burning out. And for those who find sanctuary in daily exercise, I've got good news! We'll chat about the magic of active rest days—think leisurely strolls, not lung-busting sprints—that keep your body humming without hitting the red line. No guests this time, just you, me, and a treasure trove of tips that may just revolutionize your fitness regime. Grab your favorite drink and tune in for a heart-pumping, myth-busting session that's sure to get your gears turning!
Welcome to the Tea with Tina, your favorite podcast, where we talk all things health, fitness, lifestyle and maybe a little bit of tea gets spilled.
Speaker 2:
We chat all about this in a super casual environment.
Speaker 1:
So grab your beverage of choice, sit back, relax and enjoy.
Speaker 2:
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Tea with Tina podcast. A lot of my podcast topics come from client questions, things I see that people ask about in my community on Facebook, just like things that I have conversations with people about, because I'm like, oh, this would make a really good topic, you know, like a podcast topic or a post topic and one of those things, because as a trainer, we get kind of so caught up on knowing a lot of the things that they become easy to us, and what may be challenging to somebody just starting their fitness journey or somebody who's you know, really starting to get focused, now seems like everybody should know it, like from my perspective, you know, because we remove ourselves from being the client. So this one is a simple but powerful question how many days a week should I be working out to get results right? And I could totally see why this is a concern, because it's like what the heck? What do I do? And the answer is is you can work out. I mean, there's, there's some restrictions here, but as much as you want to get results, or as little as you want, right, because something is better than nothing. Let me start off by saying that if you are so busy and exhausted you're like I only have one day a week for like 30 minutes is this even worth it? Is it? Is it going to get me results? Well, it's definitely better than sitting there doing nothing, and I truly am a firm believer that if you start small, it opens the door for your confidence and your ability to do more in the future. So if you're patient with yourself and you try one day, and then you kind of, you know, after maybe a couple of weeks or months you're like you know what, I think I can squeeze in a second day, like I'm feeling really good about myself. So I'm going to try like a weekend day for a half hour, and then you can kind of build your routine. I've seen it happen time and time again. That's why I'm a big preacher on starting small.
Speaker 2:
Now there are some personality types that like to go cold turkey from things and they're a little bit more extreme. And if that works for you you know, you know your body, you know your mind that's cool. Some people can hop right in, but I know most people. They kind of like to slowly build up over time so they don't feel overwhelmed. And, like I said, when you put in more of the reps, you get more confident, you see more opportunity and you tend to like build a routine as time goes on and crime.
Speaker 2:
But in general, most of my clients do ask this question because I will say, for my in-person clients, we tend to train together about two times per week, us and then when they kind of go off on their own will like how many days a week should I be working out? I will say that most of my clients are successful when they train between three to five days per week. Okay, so anywhere in that range. And I will argue that if you're training less days per week, you want the intensity to be more because obviously you're gonna have more rest days and you won't be in the gym as much. And then, on the opposite of the spectrum, if you're training more days, you're probably gonna want to bring your intensity down a bit so you can sustain a good level of activity across all of those days. Okay, I do, do recommend at least one to two rest days per week. Okay, so one to two rest days. So you know, max, you're looking at six training days, although I do have some people that you know Working out, moving their body is a big stress reliever for them. They love, you know, like I said, just the idea of working out and moving their body and like they kind of hate just forcing themselves To take a rest day.
Speaker 2:
So I always encourage an active rest day. So what this would be is you know you're not killing yourself in the gym doing a circuit workout, lifting heavy weights, sweating. No, an active rest day would be more gentle movement. So you're still moving your body. This could look like a walk outside. You're walking the dogs. Maybe you do a yoga class, stretching routine, a mobility routine. You could clean your house something. We're gonna be a little more active. Maybe you're doing yard work. Whatever it is. That's gonna be an active rest day. So you're still active. You're not sitting on your butt on the couch like for all day just munching on like potato chips. You're still moving. You're still burning calories. It's just not necessarily Direct exercise, right?
Speaker 2:
So think about it that way too, and that's why I like to frame exercise as movement, because once you you hear movement, it really opens the realm a little bit more. I did a podcast episode on that actually a while back on, on exercise versus movement. It opens the realm on, like what you can do, because a lot of people when they think of exercise, they think of like, maybe a boot camp class or a class or lifting weights in the gym. But movement goes far beyond that biking, kayaking, canoing, like even those would count as active rest days for you. So, you know, fit it into your day and your routine as you can, no matter what end of the spectrum you're on with that. Now you might be going here and going, okay, Tiana, so that's cool. You told me about like one day a week's okay. Even up to like six to seven days a week is okay. You know, adjust for intensity, active rest days, but, like, how do I figure out how many days a week I should be doing?
Speaker 2:
Usually, this is going to revolve around limiting factors, for the most part, because if you had all the free time in the world, you probably would have like the most perfect gym routine. You could stay as long as you wanted, you could do as many days as you wanted, right? But the things that are going to limit you is time, time and your availability. So you need to look at your schedule, because most of us suck with planning, organizing and time management. So you have to look at your schedule time, block it out, whether you do it on pen and paper or like in an app like Google Calendar or something you know. Block off your work first and add your commute time in there, because that is time that you want to have available to do anything else. You know any kids obligations. Maybe you have appointments. Maybe there's blocking off certain time for you, like breakfast and getting ready, or you hang out with your significant other at the end of the night, or there's a date night.
Speaker 2:
Block off everything and then look at what times you have available. Is it going to be a lunch break at work? Is it going to be you're going to wake up early before everybody else? Maybe you're going to wake up an hour earlier to get your work outed? Are you going to, you know, pack everything and do it right after work so you can just go right to the gym from work? You know you got to figure out where it fits and then you all look and see how many days, realistically, is this going to work for you? Maybe your schedule is a little bit different depending on certain days. Maybe you're a hybrid worker and you work from home two or three days a week, and the days you work from home are great for you to get to the gym. So you're going to start with three days and then, if you can add more, you will. Maybe you're going to add a fourth weekend day when you're free. So I think that's how routines develop best is definitely start with what you can handle right now and you feel good with, and then, as time goes on, if you feel like you can make the time for more days and you're really excited about it, I think you can.
Speaker 2:
And I even tell people don't get overwhelmed by the idea of having like a formal workout plan set out, because I know a lot of people are like oh my God, I don't even know what to do when I get into the gym and, hint, hint, you might need a coach if you don't know how to structure workouts. I'm available online or in person. So feel free to reach out to me if you need help with workout programming. I'd love to help you. But you know I said if you just go into the gym and you're 15, 20 minutes of cardio, that's awesome Like plan for that. You know, just cardio. Go in, watch a YouTube video, listen to a podcast, whatever you're doing, and then you know, get in, get out and you're done.
Speaker 2:
It doesn't have to be crazy. It's about building the reps up, building the habit up, getting into the routine and, as I said earlier in the episode, it will grow as you put in the reps and you become consistent and you want to build your routine further. You know, babies don't start out just running, right, they crawl and then they walk and they fall and then they learn to walk and then they learn to run. And I mean, when you go into school, when you go into kindergarten, they're not teaching you calculus. You know, you learn colors and numbers and simple things and it builds up gradually over time. Everything builds up gradually over time. So your fitness routine and your habits are no different. So, yeah, that is what I wanted to cover today.
Speaker 2:
I will let you know that I currently am working out about four days per week because I am pretty busy, even as a trainer. Trainers are actually probably the people who are the most terrible with their workouts. I've heard of trainers just not working out for months because they're just overbooked with clients. But I do make time for myself. I'm selfish because if I'm not my best me, I'm not gonna be a very good trainer for you. So I always put myself first and make sure I get times for a workout, and before days seems to be good for me, and I get plenty of walks in there as well. That I don't count as formal workouts, but yeah, I just wanted to share that with you.
Speaker 2:
I hope that that helped a little bit. If you are wondering how many days you should be working out, but again, obviously the more that you do properly, because you can do too much and burn yourself out. But the more days you do generally, the faster you're gonna get to your goals. But if all you have is one or two days, I mean start there, because it's way better than nothing and it's gonna get the ball rolling for you, okay. So thank you for tuning into this podcast. If you enjoyed the Tea with Tina, be sure to give this podcast a follow and subscribe so you never miss another episode again. And until next time, guys, have a great rest of your day and we will chat soon. Bye.