How much you work out depends on your schedule, but I recommend three to five times a week. I work
out daily, but I incorporate tremendous variety into my routine for a number of reasons. One reason is to
always keep it interesting. Another reason is to move the stress around the body. You don’t want to repeat
the same exercise every day, because that will wear on the joints, bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments.I generally recommend splitting up the week. For those of you who can only work out three days a week,
which I consider the minimum, either rotate Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Or you can do Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday. This allows one day in between for rest. This rest time gives the body an
opportunity to grow and repair from the damage caused by exercise. Within those three days, you can
rotate exercises, so Monday would be upper body and abs, Wednesday, lower body and abs, then Friday,
upper body and abs again. The following Monday, you could rotate so that Monday is lower body and
abs, Wednesday is upper body and abs, and then Friday is lower body and abs again.This allows that necessary rest time between exercises for optimal muscle health. Three days a week is the
basic minimum routine. On each day, the workouts should be split between cardio and resistance:
30 minutes of each is perfect. The cardio exercises should be rotated as well, so that Monday is the treadmill,
Wednesday is the bike, and Friday is the elliptical. This again allows variety so that you’re not bored, and it
spreads the stress around the body’s tissues so as to avoid overuse injuries that are so common.If you prefer to exercise more, then five or even six days a week is recommended. With more days, you
can split up your workouts more. For example, Monday, instead of just doing upper body, you do very
specific upper body such as chest and biceps with abs. Remember, abs are done every day to strengthen
your core. Then Tuesday you could do specific lower body such as quads, calves and abs. going on to
Wednesday, you’re back to upper body so that you’re doing upper back, triceps and abs; Thursday,
hamstrings and abs. Then Friday you can repeat your Monday workout so that you’ve come full circle and
have given your body ample time to rest. This is the best workout for the individual who does not have
time to spend two hours in the gym every day.The cardio exercise should be done after your strength workout. I prefer this for a couple of reasons. First,
you will not be as tired for your strength training, for which it is important to be well rested. A second reason
is sweat. After running on a treadmill or stair stepper for 30 minutes, your body’s sweat and salts are coming
out of your pores, which makes for a more challenging weight workout. The bar may be slipping from your
grasp; you’ll be sliding around in the machines, and so forth. So try to do weights first, then cardio. The only
reason I recommend some people start with cardio is that those individuals are very tight and tell me that their
muscles are cold in the morning. For these people, I think cardio beforehand may actually improve their
workouts. It tends to make them more limber and gets the blood circulating around the body.SECTION FIVE: Week 10: Exercise
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU WORK OUT?
By Luigi Gratton, M.D., M.P.H.