A Perfectly Balanced Week of Workouts
In this post, we’ll talk about how you can achieve a perfectly balanced week of workouts. Everyone knows how important exercise is, with better quality sleep, boosts in brain power, increased levels of happiness, and lowered risk of countless diseases and illnesses, but it can still be difficult to find the motivation to get to the gym. A lot of times, the thought, “I don’t know where to start” will keep you at home, curled up on the couch. Find out more in this article about how you can commit to a weekly workout.
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Luckily, your perfectly balanced week of workouts is detailed below, ensuring you will maximize your workouts, and in turn, maximize your results, along with reducing your risk of injury.
7-Day Gym Workout Plan
Below is our 7-day gym workout plan that you can follow from Monday through Sunday. We recommend that you discuss your workout plan with your personal trainer before proceeding, so that you follow a workout plan that best suits you. They will help you develop a 7-day workout plan that will ensure you are not performing an exercise incorrectly and risking injuring yourself. Contact the professional trainers at Xperience Fitness for more information.
Monday: Upper-body strength training (45 to 60 minutes)
Strength is an essential component of any weekly workout schedule. While some of the equipment can be daunting, there are fitness professionals who can ensure you are doing a move correctly, or, you can do bodyweight workouts, workouts where you use your bodyweight for resistance. Strength training is crucial because it helps build lean muscle, increase bone strength, and prevent injury. Examples of upper-body strength training workouts with equipment are overhead presses, bench presses, and Arnold presses. Bodyweight workouts that will torch your upper-body include bear crawls, triceps dips, and plank-ups.
Remember to change up your strength weekly workout every three to four weeks to keep your muscles guessing and the results consistent.
Tuesday: Lower-body strength training (30 to 60 minutes)
The general rule when it comes to lifting is to allow 48 hours of recovery time between exercising the same muscle group. This is because when you train, you develop microscopic tears in your muscles that produce inflammation. Your body needs time to repair the tears, or you could be at risk for injuries and slower results. Focus on lower-body strength training on day 2, allowing your upper body muscles a break. Lower-body strength workouts guaranteed to make stairs feel like an Olympic event are shifting side lunges (with dumbbells), side-lying leg lift (with a resistance band), and, of course, squats.
Wednesday: Low-impact activity (30 to 60)
Generally, you do not want to do the same activity on successive days. So, a high-impact day should be followed with a low-impact day. This will ensure you give your muscles time to recover before you hit the heavy weights again, while still burning a lot of calories. Try out yoga, barre, light cycling or swimming.
Thursday: HIIT (20 minutes)
HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a fast-paced workout that burns as many calories as endurance activities in far less time. There’s even evidence that those who participate in HIIT-style workouts are far more likely to stick to their exercise routine because of the diverse movements. Try out a demo Q session for a controlled introduction to HIIT.
Why HIIT Should Be Your Next Workout
Friday: Total-body strength training (30 to 60 minutes)
When you do your week of workouts, you should aim to hit all of your major muscle groups, like quads, glutes, hamstrings, chest, upper back, and core, when it comes to strength training. Try complex exercises, multi-joint movements that will engage multiple muscle groups, like barbell squats, supermans, and triceps pushdowns.
Saturday: Steady-state cardio
While HIIT workouts have been stealing the spotlight, cardio is still vital for your health. A review published in Progress in Cardiovascular Disease found that running just two hours a week can significantly extend your lifespan. Another study, published in the British Medical Journal, found biking can also help you live longer while reducing your risk of cancer and heart disease by nearly half. Go on that run or grab that bike (or, if you prefer working out indoors, check out your local club for rows and rows of cardio equipment) and end your week of workouts strong.
Sunday: Rest
Fitness should be a lifelong commitment and you do not want to wear yourself out quickly or lose motivation. When doing your week of workouts, be sure to take proper time to rest, mentally and physically. Do not forget to foam roll and stretch to keep your muscles loose and less prone to injuries.
The Importance of a Weekly Workouts
Working out with weekly workouts is important for your physical and mental health. For the best results, you will want to build up to higher and higher levels of cardiovascular strength, flexibility and strength training. Weekly workouts allow you to have a plan of action for your workouts and goals.
A consistent workout regimen reduces stress and increases your mental well being. When you work out regularly, your body releases endorphins that enhance your mood. You have probably experienced these positive feelings after finishing a cardiovascular workout. You might also find that when you go for days or weeks of not exercising, your energy level decreases and your mood is not as heightened.
Sticking to a regular weekly exercise schedule will keep you feeling revived both physically and mentally. When you exercise with consistency, your muscles will develop gradually and your mind will experience reduced levels of stress and greater relaxation.
Week of Workouts for Weight Loss
The benefits of following a weekly workout is not only great for improving your physical and mental health, it is also great for weight loss. We recommend you regularly exercise both at home and at the gym. Your week of workouts for weight loss can be customized by your personal trainer, so if you have any questions, please reach out to us and we will be happy to help you get started on your weight loss journey!
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Weekly Workouts FAQ
When it comes to how many times a week to work out, there’s no simple formula that’s right for everyone. If you’re looking to raise your fitness level, your ideal number of days depends on how active you already are.
For example, you’ll probably see results from one or two days a week if you don’t work out at all. However, if you already do multiple days a week, those one or two days probably won’t be enough to maintain your fitness or make progress.
The exact number of days a week to work out varies depending on your set goals, but in general, three to five days a week will do the trick if you’re aiming to improve or maintain your fitness. Of course, if you’re just getting started and don’t exercise currently, that might be too big of a jump at first. Try starting with two workouts a week, which you can increase gradually based on your goals and how you feel.
If you’re just starting your fitness journey and want to see some good progress, you might do something like 2 or 3 days cardio, 2 or 3 days strength, with 2 rest days each week whatever combination of those you choose. Your week of workouts sessions will want to be varied between 30 and 90 minutes, depending on the activity. Most importantly of all though, the routine you choose will need to be one that suits your lifestyle, and therefore one that you can keep up.
If you’re new to your fitness journey and want to see some good progress, you might do something like 2 or 3 days of strength training. For individuals who have already started their fitness journey, you should be hitting a muscle at least twice a week to optimize muscle growth. A good base is 4 days a week with 2 upper and 2 lower days.
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