Should you work out every day?

Aiming to work out every day may sound quite extreme. But if you are trying to lose weight or reach a fitness goal, it might be something that you’ve wondered about. If so, then you have probably also considered whether or not it might actually be unhealthy to train every day, and risk injury or burnout. Or perhaps you are worried that it will lead to mental burnout and a loss of motivation.

The good news it that it’s perfectly possible to exercise every day in a healthy, long term way if you do it the right way, and many people do just that.

We have spoken to a fitness expert to get their top tips, as well as looking at the science to see what it tells us about daily exercise. And, of course, if you need new equipment in order to reach this new target, then just take a look at our guide to the best fitness trackers to find the right one to support your fitness journey.

Is exercising every day safe?

Working out every day can be perfectly safe and healthy but the key thing to remember is that you need balance. Crucially, you must not overload your body with too many high-intensity cardio workouts on back-to-back days. Pushing your body this hard every day will lead to injury and burnout, and whatever your ultimate fitness goal is, it will be counter productive. Even the very best athletes in the world do not train very hard every day.

Instead, they mix up other less intense efforts. That might be strength training, or ‘easier’ cardio workouts that help their bodies to recover. For instance, top marathon runners will incorporate ‘recovery’ runs where they run for a shorter duration, at a light enough effort to stimulate recovery in the muscles while carefully avoiding further fatigue. This approach is best for anyone who wants to exercise every day. Not only will you mix up different intensities of exercise, but you can also target different muscle groups. This will be beneficial for your whole body and allow all your muscles enough time to recover properly between workouts.

Jessica Baldwin, a lecturer at the School of Health and Kinesiology, University of Nebraska Omaha, says: “Everyone should aim to be active for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. To be more specific, cardiorespiratory exercises can be done every day. However, you should not work the same muscle group(s) every day with resistance training (also known as strength training). Muscles need between 24-48 hours to recover before working that same muscle group(s) again.”

Working out every day brings not just physical benefits but mental health ones too. A 2005 study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine found that daily physical exercise, particularly swimming, maintains and improves cognitive functions and memory, and even reduces the chances of dementia. Similarly, in 2007 researchers in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine found that daily treadmill training produced a significant enhancement in spatial learning and memory.

As for the physical benefits, they are legion. Daily exercise can help lower your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, colon and breast cancers, osteoporosis, and fractures. It can help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight, strengthen your bones and muscles and improve your balance, even later in life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), advises that all older adults can benefit from regular, moderate physical activity, even those with medical conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, obesity, and high blood pressure.

What are the negative effects of working out every day?

There is a key difference between working out every day, and working out too hard which can lead to overtraining. You can work out every day and not overtrain, or you could takes days off from exercise but still overtrain if you push too had on your active days. If you exercise at high intensity too many days in a row or too many days in a week, or if you work the same muscle groups on consecutive days, then you are more likely to suffer from negative effects such as soreness, injury or lack of energy.

Overtraining is certainly something to avoid, as pushing your body too hard can have unpleasant side effects, including feeling tired, depressed, having trouble sleeping, getting overuse injuries, losing motivation and feeling anxiety, according to Medline Plus.

If you train too hard and don’t fuel well enough, it can also lead to RED-S, or Relative energy deficiency in sport — which the British Medical Journal explains is the result of insufficient caloric intake and/or excessive energy expenditure.

However for most people, it remains true that the more you work out (if not too excess) then the more benefits you will feel. The American Council on Exercise advises that you be aware of overtraining syndrome (OTS). The signs to look out for include a decrease in performance, excessive fatigue, loss of appetite, chronic injuries and psychological stress.

The most important thing to remember is that overtraining syndrome or RED-S are the results of the imbalance in the way you train, not the actual decision to work out every day, which as explained can be done perfectly healthily. However, do bear in mind these negatives so that you know when to alter your fitness plan to avoid overtraining.

Tips for those who want to work out every day

So if you moderate intensity levels and use different forms of exercise, your daily schedule can be perfectly healthy. To help you achieve this, you can use the advice from the US Department of Health and Human Services which describes four different types of exercise that can improve your health and fitness. These are endurance, strength, balance and flexibility.

So when devising your weekly schedule, make sure that you include all of these, balancing high intensity cardio workouts like running with resistance exercises that target your upper body. So you might perhaps cycle one day, do a yoga or pilates class the next, or opt for a light cardio exercise with less impact, like swimming or easy cycling. In this way you are not only mixing intensities but training your whole body while still allowing it time to recover between harder efforts.

As for how long your workouts should be if you exercise daily, that will depend on your current level of fitness as well as your goals. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, published in 2018, recommend that adults should do at least 150 to 300 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise, or 75 to 150 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.

One way to plan your week would therefore be to divide this total across seven days, and allocate a certain time for each of your chosen workouts. The guidelines also advise that adults should do muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week, so include this in your schedule, too.

Once you have a plan, how can you ensure you avoid overtraining? Medline Plus recommends you ensure that you are eating enough calories for your level of exercise. You should also decrease your workouts if you are approaching a competition or race, make sure you hydrate when you exercise, avoid over exerting in extremes of heat or cod, and cut back on exercise or rest if you feel unwell.

You should also treat stress in the same way that you would a physical illness. Training your body under stress, whatever its cause, is more likely to lead to injury or burn out.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do to ensure you maintain your daily exercise habit healthily is to make sure you get enough sleep. As individuals our needs may vary, and life may get in the way, but try to put away screens before bedtime and aim if possible for eight hours a night.

Finally, you should also recognize when exercise has become a compulsion and, if it has, you should seek professional medical help.

• Read more: How to recover from injury

How to keep up working out every day

Even if you are highly motivated and plan to exercise a day, there are always going to be days when you simply don’t feel like it. Be honest with yourself about whether this is a natural and normal lack of motivation, or if you are genuinely too fatigued to exercise, in which case you should rest. But if it’s a motivational issue, then what can you do to tackle it, and prepare for a workout?

“Goal setting is one of the best ways to stay motivated to work out as you are tracking your progress,’ says Baldwin. “Be SMART – your goal should be Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-oriented. Tell your goal to a friend or family member too; this will help hold you accountable. Then, of course, reward yourself when you accomplish your goal.”

Fitness trackers can also be a valuable motivational investment as they provide immediate feedback on step count, heart rate, and caloric expenditure, though try not to get too fixated on the data. “Keep track of your steps and aim for 10,000 steps a day,’ says Baldwin. “Have your tracker send reminders to move when you’ve been sedentary too long, and set up your target heart-rate zones to know how long you’ve spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity intensity.”

Another great way to stay motivated is to work out with a friend, or take part in group exercise classes. According to a study in the Journal of Social Sciences in 2010, participants gravitated towards the exercise behavior of those around them.

“Having a friend to work out with will hold you accountable, make time go by faster and increase the fun factor,” says Baldwin. “Also, group exercises classes are a great way to try a workout you’ve never done before, or if you’re new to working out, since the instructor will show and tell you what to do. They also provide a fun, positive, and social atmosphere. Additionally, the group exercise instructor will surely keep you motivated throughout the entire workout."

Bibliography

Swim Everyday to Keep Dementia Away, Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2005)

Daily Running Promotes Spatial Learning and Memory in Rats, Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2007)

Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence, Canadian Medical Association Journal (2006)

The evolution of physical activity recommendations: how much is enough? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2004)

Effects of Perceived Fitness Level of Exercise Partner on Intensity of Exertion, Journal of Social Sciences (2010)