4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Work Out Every Day

LAST UPDATED:  June 14th, 2022

One of the most common questions I get at the gym is:

Will I get an insane body if I exercise every day?

The hard work you do to train 7 days a week to achieve better results isn’t paying off.

In fact, if you train every day, you happen to sabotage your fitness goals and there are signs of excessive training. (1)

4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Work Out Every Day

1. You will increase the risk of injury

Working out every day and reducing your muscles recovery time can result in unnecessary injuries, such as muscle tendon.

Moreover, if you overtrain you can cause hormonal problems, too.

Overtraining can lead to adrenal gland problems and hormonal imbalances, which cause chronic fatigue.

2. You will hit a plateau

Besides physically visible consequences, overtraining also leads to a slowdown in weight loss or muscle growth, depending on your goals.

In this regime, your body works too hard and secretes stress hormones, such as cortisol.

Elevated cortisol levels often affect the accumulation of fat in the waist and obesity.

Chronic stress caused by everyday training may increase your appetite and craving for sweets and unhealthy foods.

On the other hand, some people may experience a loss of appetite.

In both cases, you won’t achieve your fitness goals.

Find out how to break a plateau here.

3. You will lose your motivation

Too much training is exhausting not only physically but also mentally. (2)

If you train without a rest day, you will probably encounter some problems.

When this happens, you usually feel exhausted, weak and the muscle pain does not seem to go away.

If you start to feel tired and unwilling to continue exercising, it’s time to take a few days off – or even a whole week – to recover.

In your recovery week, you can focus on light cardio, mobility, healthy eating, and sleep.

4. You will disturb your sleep

Rest is as important as an effective workout.

Good night’s sleep is essential for muscle growth.

If you exercise every day you will be sleep deprived.

Overtraining can lead to an increased level of the stress hormone level (cortisol) and that causes insomnia.

You should sleep for 8 hours in order to boost muscle growth and muscle recovery.

So, how often should you work out per week?

Well, that depends on your goals. (3)

One is sure, you shouldn’t workout 7 days a week.

If you want to lose weight you need to work out 4-5 times a week.

Ideally, 5 times.

But you need to focus on cardio exercise, too besides weightlifting.

You should do 3 strength workouts + 2 cardio workouts.

And by cardio, I mean running, cycling.

Deadlifting, squats, and bench press are the best weightlifting exercises.

To gain muscle mass you need to work out at least 3 times a week.

In general, the optimal number of workouts should be 3-6 times a week, depending on your fitness, your body build, and how eager you are to achieve your goal.

If you want to gain muscle mass then you shouldn’t exaggerate with cardio exercises for sure.

One cardio training per week is pretty enough.

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