Should You Workout Everyday?

This is a question we get quite often…the answer isn’t a simple yes or no. This depends on how intense your workouts actually are as well as other factors (like how seriously you take recovery outside the gym). However, for the 99% of average people who are training to be healthy, fit individuals- no you should absolutely not train every single day. A lack of recovery can cause LOTS of problems as well as slow your progress immensely. Fatigue is a cumulative issue…it WILL catch up to you!

Overtraining in itself can cause huge hormone imbalances, specifically in heightened levels of cortisol. Cortisol is known as a stress hormone- heightened levels can cause excess fatigue, joint pain, a decrease in strength and muscle gain, a decreased ability to burn fat and an overall crappy feeling. I speak from (lack of) experience from when I had the mentality of lifting heavy every single day without a single day of rest for months on end. Result? Felt like death, performed like death, got injured.

If you are training more than 4x per week, those extra 2 days should be 100% focused on recovery. This could be a slow, short jog. Light yoga or stretching. Casual, slow cardio etc. I said extra 2 on purpose…because at least 1 day/week you should be doing nothing (except maybe stretching). Rest is important…we have and will keep harping on the point that recovery is as important as your training. (Disclaimer: if your “workouts” are 20 min treadmill walks…train 50x per week).