Should I work out every day?
Moving every day is healthy. Training hard every day is not. Muscles grow and joints adapt in the hours between sessions, so hard efforts need easier days around them.
A pattern that works for almost everyone: two or three strength sessions a week with a day between them, brisk walking or easy cardio on most other days, and one fully gentle day. That satisfies the guidelines with room to spare.
Watch for the signs of overdoing it: sleep getting worse, resting heart rate creeping up, small niggles that never quite heal, and dread instead of appetite for the next session. Those mean add rest, not willpower.
Source: World Health Organization, physical activity fact sheet
See a doctor promptly if
- Thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or feeling you cannot keep yourself safe: seek urgent help the same day
- Depression severe enough that you have stopped eating, washing or leaving the house
- New chest pain, unusual breathlessness or fainting during exercise. Stop and get medically assessed before continuing
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
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