“You get back what you put in…”

Jenny had a gym membership and went every now and then when she could fit it in around her busy work and social life.

Some weeks she’d go to 3 classes. Other weeks not at all. It averaged out around 1-2 times a week.

The results you can expect to get…

Imagine you started a new job. You only worked for 1 hour a week…I know, we’re pretending here. There are no real jobs like this. If you know of one, let me know!

How long would it take you to learn this new job? What kind of workload would you get through in one hour a week?

Now apply that same principle to your gym workouts. What result would you expect from 1 hour a week? I’ll tell you. Not a lot.

1 hour a week is almost nothing. It’s less than 1% of your available time. If you genuinely only have 1 hour a week to workout that’s ok, just don’t expect to get results from it.

What the government say….

It’s not often I would agree with what the government have to say on health and fitness, but they have a good point here.

They prescribe 30mins of activity, 5 days a week. That’s going out for a walk, doing some gardening, etc.

That is a bare minimum, to see progress we need to increased the intensity of the workouts, not necessarily the duration.

What is the best amount of training to do?

This really depends. On your goals. Your ability. Your previous experience. How quickly you recover. How much sleep you’re getting. How well you are eating. There are lots of factors…

However…If you want a general idea of how much exercise you’ll need to improve your fitness levels and look better. Here is what I would recommend:

• 2 x per week weight training
• 1 x per week cardio session, playing a sport, spin class, etc
• 1 x HIIT at home, gym class, sprints in the park, etc

Gym classes are a great way to stay in shape, usually offered free at your gym.

4 hours a week will give you the best return on your time and effort investment. It’s what I call the “sweaty sweet spot“.

Want better results, faster…?

If your goal is to transform the shape of your body, especially if you’re carrying a few extra pounds, I have a recommendation.

Train with weights 4 x a week and do a quick HIIT (tabata) 2 x a week at the end of those sessions.