Is It Bad To Workout Every Day?
When you exercise, you feel so good when you’ve finished that it’s easy to get hooked. Both newbies and seasoned veterans of the gym often want to workout every day. Is it healthy to do or should you stick with every other day? The answer isn’t just one or the other. It’s more complicated than that. It all depends on the type of workout you do, your goals, and your fitness level.
The type of workout you do determines a lot.
Working out each day isn’t wise if you’re pushing hard or doing strength training. When you do exercises to build muscles, it creates micro tears in the muscle tissue that needs to heal. Healing is what makes muscles bigger and stronger. If you don’t give the muscles 48 to 72 hours, it continues to tear the muscles, and you won’t get the desired results you want or even cause a setback. Doing an intense workout every day. Alternating muscle groups allows you to do strength training every day. Do upper body one day, lower body the next, or divide your workout any way you want so you don’t work the same muscles within at least 48 hours.
Can you do an intense workout every day?
Just like strength-building workouts, don’t do high-intensity workouts every day. HIIT—high intensity interval training—can get results faster. They’re usually associated with cardio, like running. It’s not a specific exercise but a way of doing any workout, alternating between high-intensity and a recovery pace. Doing HIIT workouts every day can tax your body and lead to overtraining. That can result in burnout and injuries.
Train every day but alternate types of fitness exercises and intensity.
Walking, swimming, water aerobics, or yoga are usually less aggressive and intense. Alternate between a tough gym workout and these active recovery exercises. When you walk the day after you have an intense workout, it increases circulation and helps the muscles to heal. Doing flexibility training on those days can also benefit your body.
- Some people want to workout longer, besides working out every day. Long workouts, especially HIIT workouts or strength training, aren’t necessarily beneficial. If you do HIIT, do it 15 to 30 minutes a day, three times a week.
- If you love going to the gym, take your workout down a notch or two. Instead of doing HIIT workouts that include burpees, consider doing walking lunges.
- Instead of working out every day, stay active the day you workout. Don’t go home and lay on the couch. Instead, continue your normal day, whether it’s shopping, cooking, working, or playing with the kids.
- Doing some exercise every day at the same time can be good. It helps create a habit that’s hard to break. If you’re older, doing daily activity can help reduce the potential of losing any gains.
For more information, contact us today at Thrive Fitness!