This is a rather difficult question to answer, because it depends on a plethora of factors. The recommended dosage of activity from the American Heart Association is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity. What exactly does this mean?

To be healthy one is required to do both cardio and strength training. Cardio gives us a strong heart that will pump blood and nutrients to the rest of our body. Strength training Keeps our joints strong and allows us to have the strength to more easily carry out our activities of daily life. According to The Fitness Professional’s Guide to Strength Training Older Adults by Thomas Baechle, “two days a week gives the best results for strength gains”. Cardio should also be performed regularly 2-4 days a week.

Defining the intensity of the activity

We should probably first define what moderate and vigorous intensity actually means. It would be sort of difficult to determine whether or not you had a good workout if you have no idea what you should be feeling.

To understand intensity we need to understand your rate of perceived exertion (RPE). If we were to add a numerical value to this rating then we can better understand how intense the workout was. We should rate the workout or exercise from 1-10. One would mean that the workout was so easy that you barely felt the activity at all. Ten would mean that it was so intense that you are collapsed on the ground in exhaustion and you can’t speak. You will also be so sore from the workout that you won’t be able to do anything else for several days.

Where should you land on the RPE scale

Typically you want to be somewhere in this 6-8 range. Obviously, you don’t want the workout to be so easy that you don’t get any benefits. If it’s too easy then your body will have no reason to adapt and become stronger. Too hard of a workout will also have negative consequences. Your body will be so broken down that it will only focus on healing itself over become stronger. So we need to find that middle ground where we give our body just enough of a stimulus that it will restructure itself to become stronger.

How should you NOT rate your workout?

The most common ways that the general population will use to rate the effectiveness of their workout is calories burned, sweat, soreness, and out of breathe. All four are easily achieved at the same and it can be a very ineffective workout. For example, do burpees for 30 minutes straight, walk at a steep incline on a treadmill for one hour, and rapidly hit every strength machine until failure for 30 minutes. One might get some cardio benefits out of these workouts. However, the gains from these workouts will likely plateau, and there is a good chance of injury from overuse, and overtraining.

If your goal is to win a burpee competition then by all means that is the workout you should be doing. Sticking to a program will have better results because there is a different intention behind the workout.  

Plan your workouts to have one focus.

If your focus that day is on strength then focus your workout solely on strength. Stick to your rest periods to allow your muscles to recover and stimulate your muscles to become stronger. If your focus is on cardio, then focus only on cardio. There are lots of way to do cardio, but your focus should be to get your heart rate up to increase your heart health and lung capacity. Attempting to do both at the same time will result in an ineffective workout. If this is your first time ever training in many years then you will start with reaping the benefits of both. However, these results will plateau eventually and you won’t make any more gains in cardio or strength. Why? To put it simply, you are using 2 different systems at the same time, your anaerobic and aerobic systems. Doing so will limit your ability to make gains in either system. As someone that lives in Las Vegas, this is like going to a buffet or going to a normal restaurant. The quality of the food from a traditional restaurant will almost always surpass the mass produced food at a buffet. Focusing on one thing at a time will have better results.

What your week of exercise will look like

The above chart is simply an example of what a week of working out can look like. There is an unlimited amount of variations for how your week of workouts can look. For example, your cardio days can last for more like an hour so that you only have to do 2 or 3 days of cardio, and you can fill in other days with other activities like yoga or walking.

How to determine your week will require some self-awareness. Some people operate better on a routine so they benefit more from the schedule I created above. Some people can be very flexible with their routine and still get everything done. As long as you are able to get 150 minutes of cardio, and 2 nonconsecutive days of strength training then you will be just fine. Just don’t do all of it in one single day, definite no no.

According to studies, two strength workouts a week seems to have the most optimal results. The most likely reason for this is the amount of rest between days of strength training. Your body needs 48-72 hours to recover from a workout and be ready to go into another workout. So if you were to workout too frequently you would likely fall into overtraining, which means you will go backwards in results and possibly be injured. One day a week will still have some results, but there is not enough frequency to elicit a change in your body.

Create your own schedule

Develop your own plan that incorporates the general rules that I have laid out in this article. Pay close attention to the intensity of the workout and focus solely on improving one aspect of your health at a time. If your first plan doesn’t work, then take a step back and make some adjustments. The point is only to find a schedule that works for your lifestyle. If you need some ideas for strength training, then click here to read my article on beginning strength exercises at home.

Citation

Baechle, T. R. (2010). Fitness Professional’s Guide to Strength Training Older Adults (Vol. 2). Human Kinetics.