How Long Should My Work Outs Be?
According to the American Heart Association, the baseline to keep your heart and body healthy is 150 minutes per week of moderate activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous activity. That averages out to about 30 to 50 minutes of moderate, steady-state exercise three to five days a week, or about 25 minutes of high-intensity work three days a week.
I agree with the American Heart Association but only to a certain point. Because there really is no such thing as an “ideal” amount of time that everyone’s workout should take. There are too many factors at play that can change things significantly. From the exact workout split being used to each person’s individual experience level, training needs, and goals, to factors that we aren’t even in control of (e.g. how crowded the gym happens to be, etc.).
As long as you take these few things into consideration, your workouts should be the “right” amount of time, always…
- Your workouts are designed intelligently rather than filled with unnecessary exercises that will only be detrimental to your progress.
- You’re not excessively messing around between sets and wasting a bunch of time that you shouldn’t be wasting (like texting, talking on the phone, taking selfies, and posting to your Instagram…)
- You’re not rushing through your workout just to get it over with ASAP (because then you probably don’t need to care about how long it ends up taking).
If you’re the guy that needs an answer, a typical workout for a typical goal will usually take between 30-120 minutes to complete, most often between 45-90 minutes. But more importantly, this doesn’t actually matter! What does matter is whether the workouts are designed the way they should be.
How Much Exercise Is Too Much?
Again, there’s no single answer that applies to everyone. Rest and recovery days are important for helping your body repair and strengthen itself, so be sure to take at least one or two per week. If you try to go full speed seven days a week, it will backfire on you.
Exercising too hard or too often (or both) can actually be counterproductive, sabotaging instead of maximizing your results by overwhelming your body. Adaptations like muscle growth, strength gains, and fat loss happen between workouts, not during them — so prioritize your recovery just as much as you do for working out.
What If I Only Have 10 Minutes?
You can still get a solid workout in, as long as you’re prepared to push yourself and you’re fit enough to handle the intensity.
Ten minutes is more than enough time to get in an effective workout — but it is going to be the most brutal 10 minutes…if you do it correctly! As you reduce workout time, you need to increase workout density and intensity. Workout density is more important than workout duration when it comes to many fitness goals.
if you’re someone who struggles to stay motivated, it can be a lot easier to commit to a 10-minute workout than to an hour-long workout — and a lot harder to find excuses to skip it.
So How Long Should You Work Out?!
Regardless of whether your goal is greater strength, more endurance, or a smaller waist, the bottom line is that you really shouldn’t stress about how long your workout should be. Instead, focus on pushing yourself during whatever minutes you can spare for a workout.
The key is to find the right balance for your body, fitness level, and goals. Challenge your muscles, heart, lungs, and circulatory system — just enough each workout to trigger adaptation. That’s going to change as you become more physically fit, so listen to your body, and exercise accordingly.
Instead of worrying if your workouts are too long or too short, you should be focusing entirely on making sure they are designed properly for your specific needs and goals. As long as you do that, your workouts will take exactly as long as they should.
