How many days a week should you lift weights?
Most people get good results lifting two to four days a week. More isn’t automatically better. The number that works is the one you can keep up for months, because consistency drives progress far more than any single week does.
The short answer
- Two days is enough for a beginner to get stronger, as long as both sessions are full body.
- Three days is the sweet spot for most people. It’s enough volume to progress steadily and leaves four days to recover and live.
- Four days suits people who enjoy training and have the time. It usually means splitting the body into upper and lower days.
- Five or six days is for experienced lifters who’ve built up their recovery over a year or more.
Start from your week
Before choosing a number, look at a normal week. Count the days you could realistically get to a gym or clear 45 minutes at home, including the weeks with a late meeting or a sick child. Then pick one fewer than that.
Choosing a smaller number on purpose can feel like underachieving, but a three-day plan you complete every week beats a five-day plan you complete half of, and it builds the habit of turning up. You can add a day once the habit is solid.
How to split the sessions
The number of days decides how you divide the work.
| Days | Typical split | Each muscle trained |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Full body, full body | Twice a week |
| 3 | Full body three times, or push, pull and legs | Three times, or once |
| 4 | Upper, lower, upper, lower | Twice a week |
| 5 to 6 | Push, pull and legs run twice | About twice a week |
Training each muscle about twice a week is a good target for most people. That’s why two full-body days can match a four-day split for a beginner, and why three days of push pull legs trains each muscle only once. More on push pull legs.
Recovery sets the ceiling
Strength is built while you recover after a session. Sleep and food affect how quickly you recover, and so does the rest of your life. Someone sleeping six hours with a physical job won’t handle the same training as someone sleeping eight with a desk job, even if they’re the same age.
Signs you’re doing too much:
- Lifts going backwards for two or three weeks.
- Joints that ache, as distinct from muscles that are sore.
- Dreading sessions you used to look forward to.
- Sleeping badly despite being tired.
If those sound familiar, drop a day or take a lighter week before adding anything.
What about the other days?
Rest days don’t have to be still days. Walking, an easy ride, a swim or ten minutes of stretching help you recover and keep you in the habit of doing something. Keep them easy enough that they don’t affect the next lifting session.
Pick your days in advance
Fixed days work better than fitting training in whenever there’s a gap. Put them in your calendar like appointments. Monday, Wednesday and Friday is the classic three-day spread. Two days could be Tuesday and Friday, with the gap evenly placed.
If a session gets missed, do it the next day and carry on. Don’t try to fit two sessions into one day to catch up.
How Forge handles your week
When you set up Forge, you choose which days of the week you’ll train, anywhere from one to seven. The plan fits its sessions to those days, and rest days never break your streak, so a three-day week can still build a long one. I make Forge, so weigh that. If your week changes, you change the days and the plan follows.
Forge for iPhone
A plan for your goal and your week, sets logged in seconds, and one streak to keep going. Free to download.
Common questions
Is lifting two days a week enough?
For a beginner, yes. Two full-body sessions a week train every muscle twice and are enough to get noticeably stronger, especially in the first year.
Is it bad to lift every day?
Lifting hard every day leaves little time to recover, and most people get sore and stall. Daily movement is fine if most days are light, such as walking, mobility work or easy cardio.
Should beginners do full body or a split?
Full body suits most beginners training two or three days a week. A split like push pull legs makes more sense once you're training four or more days.
How long should I rest between lifting days?
Give a muscle around 48 hours before training it hard again. With full-body sessions that means a rest day between each one. With a split, you can train on back-to-back days because each day works different muscles.
Forge
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