Deciding how many days per week to work out is tough. The perfect workout plan will improve your fitness without infringing on your work schedule, family obligations or other aspects of life. That balance can seem impossible to strike, so what’s a person to do?

While standard recommendation for exercise across public health agencies is 30 minutes a day, five days a week, that advice is rather canned and doesn’t say much about different fitness levels or goals. So how many times should you go to the gym? And how many times is too many times?

The best workout schedule for you depends on a number of factors unique to you. Some of those factors include:  

• Your training age: how long you’ve been exercising

• Your training status, including markers like your maximum heart rate

• The type of training you’re accustomed to, and the type you want to do now

• Any health or medical conditions you may have

• Your schedule and how many days you can realistically commit to

• Your fitness goals

How often you should work out also depends on whether you want to do full-body workouts or follow a workout split. This makes a big difference as to how much volume your body can handle without edging close to overtraining syndrome—which can increase the risk of injury to your joints, ligaments, and tendons—or fitness burnout.

In general, fitness experts don’t recommend surpassing five training sessions a week for the average exerciser. Five days per week is plenty to help even advanced workout enthusiasts reach their goals and maintain their fitness. For some people, five days a week is too many and can lead to burnout, demotivation, or overuse injuries.

Working out five days a week for a beginner is a recipe for disaster. It’s better to gradually work up to exercising several days per week while you see how your body responds. For someone who is just starting out, it is recommended that they start with two 30-minute gym sessions per week and ramp it up from there. Start low and go slow! If that doesn't seem realistic, remember, completing a 15-minute workout is better than skipping a 40-minute workout entirely.

But the rule for both beginners and experienced gym-goers is to never to skip a Monday. Sounds silly but research shows that people think about and act on healthy activities more on Mondays than any other day of the week. A study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine revealed that there are more searches related to health topics at the beginning of the week, no matter the time of year, and more folks start exercise routines on Monday than any other day of the week, too. Plus, working out on a Monday is a great start to the week: you’re more likely to work out the rest of the week; you’ll kickstart good habits for the rest of the week; you’ll catch better zzzz’s; and you’ll boost brain power.

Understandably, Monday motivation is sometimes hard to come by. When the snooze button is calling your name, it’s easy to think of a million and one excuses not to lace up your sneakers and sweat it out at the start of the week. But by fitting in a workout, you’ll be rewarded in more ways than one: You’ve got 52 opportunities to make it happen this year.

Making the commitment to working out, getting in shape, and losing weight is very exciting, but it’s important to remain patient. You may feel you have the energy to work out every day, but this can quickly lead to burn out and may injure your body. It is important to provide a chance for your body to adapt and adjust to any gym routine. A couple of weeks to a month of slowly increasing your workout frequency will provide you a better foundation for longevity.

Curious to know how many times is too many times for you to come to the gym? Click the button below for a complimentary assessment by a Success Studio trainer to find out if you are coming in too many times…or not enough times…to get the full benefits of the gym.