How often do I need to do Personal Training sessions, EMS fitness sessions, or Pilates?
A question that comes up frequently when new clients start is “how often do I need to train?” Now this varies a lot depending on age, current activity levels, goals, and much more. But hopefully, we can help you make a decision on what is right for you and how to hit that sweet spot. Something to consider is how much your body can take. Over-training can lead to injury and prevent muscles from recovering and can inhibit progress and cause muscle atrophy. Under training or training with a lack of intensity will have very little effect on cardiovascular improvement and muscle development. Here’s some other things to consider:
Resistance training
This includes anything that works your muscles in order to promote adaptation and growth. This could include HIIT workouts, training in a gym, EMS training or just using your own body weight to challenge muscle and tendons. It is recommended that we should work on major muscle groups through a variety of different exercises and functional movements at least 2x a week to keep our bodies strong with the ability to deal with day-to-day stress and avoid injury.
Your goals
This has to be a big factor that will dictate how often you need to train. What do you want to get out of your training and what specifically do you want to achieve? For example, if you are looking for body maintenance and a basic level of fitness you may find 1-2 sessions per week is sufficient. However, for someone looking for overall growth and to build a significant amount of muscle than 3-4 times per week would be optimal to see results, allowing your body to rest and recover with some days off.
Exercise history
The above will differ depending on your starting point of course. Depending on what your starting point is and how much experience you have with training. If you are new to the game, you will be more susceptible to injury and muscle soreness after sessions as you are asking your body to do something unfamiliar and physically demanding. For this reason, it is always best to be cautious and start slow, building up to a more demanding routine as confidence and energy levels increase. For those who are more experienced and more understanding of what your body can tolerate, a more demanding routine can be implemented across 3-5 sessions per week.
Exercise intensity
For most people, there is no need to train for more than one hour at any given time. Intensity should be moderate to high in order to force sufficient adaption. This will be how you should approach resistance training.
Cardiovascular training will always be specific to what you want to achieve. Low-intensity steady-state walking (LISS) can and should be done by all to reach a base level of fitness. This will be appropriate training if you are looking to complete a long-distance walk or hike. The higher the intensity of the exercise the longer the recovery time required in order to repair damaged tissue, avoid injury and prepare for your next session.
EMS training
EMS brings a high level of intensity to your training in a short period of time. Using an electric current to amplify and help stimulate muscle growth. The machine acts as our nervous system to contract muscle tissue. Exercises are performed through 20-minute sessions. EMS is a fantastic tool to use alongside other forms of exercise. We suggest training 1-2 times per week for beginners and 3+ sessions for those who are fit and healthy. However, EMS is best used combined with other forms of training and 36 hours of rest is recommended between sessions.
We hope that has helped you answer the question, ‘How often do I need to train’? But remember at the end of the day, the most important thing to consider is consistency. Progress will vary depending on time and intensity but progress will be made if you are consistent! Whether you are training 1,2,3 or 4+ sessions each week, you should commit a number and give yourself 3-6 months in order to see results.
At Fast Track Fitness we offer a variety of different fitness options from Pilates to Personal training as well as EMS training if you are interested please call us on 07740 193 332.
