How Many Exercises Should I Perform Each Workout?

Whenever you start a workout routine there should be a written plan so you will understand what to do and how many sets and reps of each exercise you should perform. You should even understand how often and why you should do these certain exercises.  If you have been out of the exercise loop for some time your body will need to adjust to the exercise slowly and you will want to build up endurance slowly to avoid injury to yourself.

Use the following guidelines for calculating the number of exercises to perform per workout:

If you’re just starting out, the best workout routine for beginners is three times a week with a day off in between to allow the body to rest.  To give yourself a full body workout you are working several major muscle groups that include the upper body, the middle section or “core” and lower body.  The exercises you select will be performed for up to twelve repetitions in each set.  And each body part or muscle group should be worked on with at least on compound exercise.  For example, if you were to work your full-body split exercise routine twice a week then you would do a total of 12 exercises per workout session, performing each exercise for twelve reps.  If you follow a three-day split, you will do up to twelve exercises per workout and if you work out four times a week you will do up to ten exercises per workout.

Most people are comfortable in a three day exercise workout week and feel that an hour a week is sufficient to maintain their goals of weight loss, muscle tone, strength building and exercise endurance.  As they get farther along in their workout they may add an extra fifteen minutes to give them self a chance to work on their cardio respiratory functions and include some running or bicycling in their routines a couple of times each week.  Depending on the weather, some elect to add this to their exercise routine when it is nice outdoors to enjoy the spring time and fall time weather for a break in the routine.

Try to build a workout plan that will not bore you easily and if you find that you do get bored easily then workout then do the exercises that will take up the most energy in the beginning to accomplish the best exercise workout routing possible that day.  You can alternate your exercise routines monthly if you like variety and some people do this to keep their routines different or to try new exercises.

Exercising your body is healthy for you and provides you multiple benefits in addition to losing weight.  You will feel better about yourself as you see the weight come off and as you see your muscles become defined.  Your clothes will look and feel better on you too.