World Gym Athletics

You’re hyped. You just PR’d your deadlift and you can’t wait to come back and lift again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. More workouts, more gains, more PRs, right?  Full stop.   Is it really a good idea to throw down with a barbell every day? Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of lifting weights every day.   Benefits of lifting weights every day    The main benefit of frequent weight training is increased strength.    Stronger muscles: On today’s episode of “state the obvious,” we explain that more weightlifting equals more strength. In all seriousness, frequency might just be the variable you need to tweak in order to get stronger.   Healthier bones: Weight-bearing exercise is proven to improve bone density, which is a key factor in your ability to stay active as you age. In older people, lifting weights helps reduce the number of falls and fractures. In younger people, lifting weights is a preventative practice against osteoporosis.   Improved endurance: Improved muscular endurance, to specify. Lifting weights often in higher rep ranges (10-plus reps per set) improves the aerobic capacity of your muscles.  Better body composition: If you don’t currently lift weights every day (or at all), doing so could be the spark that ignites your metabolism. Weightlifting burns a lot of calories per session, induces post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), and builds muscle, all of which can help you achieve a leaner physique.   Pitfalls of lifting weights every day  You might find it hard to recover from workouts if you lift every day.  Inhibited recovery: Perhaps the biggest downfall to daily strength training is that your body doesn’t get a real chance to recover. This can lead to muscle overuse injuries or issues with muscle imbalances if you don’t carefully plan your workouts. Split workout routines can help skirt this problem, but the truth is, other forms of exercise — or a full-out rest day — can do your body a lot of good.    Persistent soreness: Lifting without allowing your body to recover in between workouts spells chronic DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness), unless you carefully schedule your workouts and optimize muscle recovery.  Diminishing returns: Lifting weights everyday can cause you to hit a plateau like a brick wall. If you aren’t manipulating variables in your workouts, such as load, volume or range of motion, you’ll quickly find yourself battling diminishing returns.   Boredom: If you’re reading this, you’re probably not the type to get bored of working out. But, hey, it can happen to even the most dedicated gym junkies, especially when they perform the same type of workout day-in and day-out.   Can you lift weights every day?  With a plan, you can do strength training every day. If you implement some basic best practices, you can certainly hit the weights every day and see phenomenal strength, mass and overall fitness gains from your efforts. Just keep these few things in mind to avoid the potential perils described above:   Change up your routine. If you must lift weights daily, don’t do a full-body lifting workout every day. That’s a recipe for muscular disaster. Instead, follow a split plan.   Follow the principle of progressive overload. Frequency isn’t the only factor influencing your workout results. Your body requires a constant challenge to adapt, which means making your workouts harder is key to presenting plateaus.   But, don’t go heavy every day. You don’t need to max out your deadlift, squat and bench every week. Allow yourself some lighter lifting days and you’ll be surprised at how strong you feel on heavy days.   Prioritize sleep and recovery. All your hard work is for naught if you don’t get enough rest or optimize your nutrition.   Talk to a World Gym personal trainer to learn more about creating a safe and effective daily workout plan.    Links for More Information/References  National Osteoporosis Foundation: What Is Osteoporosis?  Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) | ACE Blog  Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS)   Weekly Training Frequency Effects on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis  Effect of Resistance Training Frequency on Gains in Muscular Strength: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis   How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency   Resistance Training Frequencies of 3 and 6 Times Per Week Produce Similar Muscular Adaptations in Resistance-Trained Men   Fatigue and underperformance in athletes: the overtraining syndrome  Diagnosis and prevention of overtraining syndrome: an opinion on education strategies  

After a long road trip, your car engine takes a while to cool off, right? Your body is the same way: After a workout, it doesn’t immediately return to its resting state. It takes a while to cool down and restore homeostasis.  During this cool-down period, your body continues to consume extra oxygen and burn calories even after you stop moving. This is called the afterburn effect, and taking advantage of it could help you make the most of your workouts.  Understanding the afterburn Just like a car engine, your body needs time to cool off after a lot of work.  “Afterburn” is a buzzword for “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption” (EPOC). This phenomenon earned its buzzy name because “afterburn” accurately describes what happens in your body after an intense workout.  The demands of a workout spur your metabolism to increase in order to produce more energy, which requires increased oxygen consumption and chemical reactions, among other things. When you finish working out, your body’s engine is still revving — now that the work is done, the recovery process begins.  To recover, your body continues to consume a lot of oxygen. The excess oxygen you’re consuming helps your body restore blood oxygen levels, replenish muscle glycogen stores, begin the muscle repair process, and bring your body temperature back down to a normal level. All of these goings-on require energy, meaning your body must burn calories to facilitate these recovery processes. Certain types of workouts can keep your body in that post-exercise heightened state for a longer period of time, which can contribute to greater calorie burn after your workout. How to keep burning calories after your workout Follow four simple rules to get the best afterburn.  Now you know what the afterburn effect is, but the real question is: How do you actually generate EPOC?  All workouts have four main components:  Intensity: How hard are you working? Duration: How long is your workout? Structure: Are you doing a steady-state workout or intervals with rest periods? Modality: Are you doing cardio, strength training, or something else?  Research shows that the greatest afterburn occurs when: You work out at higher intensities — at least 75 percent of your VO2 max, or about an eight on the Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. You exercise for at least 30 minutes. You do short bouts of exercise (intervals) instead of steady-state exercise. You lift heavy weights or perform weighted or explosive cardio circuits (like our World Gym Athletics workouts).  Another factor to consider is novelty. The human body adapts and becomes efficient at performing the tasks it’s used to, so it’s important to add new movements to your routine. This forces your body to perform tasks it isn’t used to, thus work harder, and contribute to a greater afterburn effect. Impact of the afterburn effect  The afterburn effect is small but cumulative.  Work hard and keep burning extra calories after your workout. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, like most things in fitness, the effects of EPOC have been exaggerated and over-glamorized. EPOC exists, sure, but the impact isn’t as great as most people think.  For starters, the level of intensity needed to generate an impactful afterburn is high. That level of intensity hurts, and most people don’t care to work out that hard more than once or twice a week (or at all). Even at a high intensity level, most research shows that EPOC burns less than 100 extra calories per workout. Still, 100 extra calories after four or five workouts per week adds up — an extra 400 or 500 calories burned per week can definitely help you lose weight and get leaner. It really comes down to this: How many grueling workouts are you willing to do each week?  To learn more about the most effective types of workouts, talk to a personal trainer at your World Gym. References Comparison of energy expenditure elevations after submaximal and supramaximal running Effects of exercise intensity and duration on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption  Effect of exercise intensity, duration and mode on post-exercise oxygen consumption  High- and moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption in men with metabolic syndrome  Six Weeks of Moderate Functional Resistance Training Increases Basal Metabolic Rate in Sedentary Adult Women  Effects of exercise intensity and duration on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption  Misconceptions about Aerobic and Anaerobic Energy Expenditure Intensity of resistance exercise determines adipokine and resting energy expenditure responses in overweight elderly individuals