For the purpose of this article, we won\u2019t be including stretching or warm-up sets in the total workout time, simply because there is too much variance here. For example, a stronger person who has been working out for many years will take longer to start feeling the effects of their strength training workout than a beginner. Their warm-up sets will take longer than someone who is just starting out.<\/p>\n
We also won\u2019t include rest time between sets, but it\u2019s important to remember that rest time should be for as short of a duration as possible. Your heart rate should still be up when you go in for your next set, and working a muscle to exhaustion is the only way to cause the small tears that lead to muscle growth over time.<\/p>\n
So, how long should a workout be? Read on to learn more about this.<\/p>\n If your goal is weight loss, the American College of Sports Medicine<\/a> recommends at least 200 minutes of physical activity per week. You can split this up in whatever increments work best for your busy life, but let\u2019s assume you\u2019re working out 4-5 times per week. So, your workout should be between 40-50 minutes per session.<\/p>\n While you can work out for longer periods less frequently, aiming for at least 4 sessions per week is a good way to start building the habit of going to the gym if you\u2019re just starting out. Consistency is key, and going more often will help you learn how to make workouts fit in your daily life.<\/p>\n Of course, life circumstances such as your diet, sleep, eating schedule, stress levels and menstrual cycle will undoubtedly contribute to your energy levels and, thus, how long your workouts will be, and that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n When it comes to cardio, the CDC recommends<\/a> at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise to maintain overall health and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. \u00a0A 30-minute brisk walk 5 times per week or a moderately paced run that lasts around 25 minutes 4 times per week should accomplish this goal.<\/p>\n Getting your heart rate up while working out is more important than how long your workout should be. Just like with any other muscle in your body, raising your heart rate is a good thing because it strengthens and increases the longevity of your heart. The level of intensity that raises your heart rate is going to vary from person to person, depending on their age and physical fitness. People who are fitter generally have a lower resting heart than people who are less fit. Fit people will also take longer to raise their heart rate than those who don’t exercise regularly. Did you know that just thinking about working out is enough to slightly raise your heart rate?<\/p>\n According to cardiologists at John Hopkins Medicine<\/a>, your target heart rate while exercising should be between 50-85% of your resting heart rate. Your average resting heart rate should be between 60-100 BPM or beats per minute. Your target heart rate while working out should equal 220 minus your age. You can use a tracking device such as an Apple watch or Fitbit to track your heart rate, and most cardiovascular equipment at the gym can measure your heart rate through your hands via sensors on the handlebars. <\/p>\n So how long should a workout be with an elevated heart rate? For cardiovascular health, once you\u2019ve reached your target heart rate, your training should maintain it for at least 20 minutes.<\/p>\n One of the best and most effective ways to lose weight and keep it off is to build muscle<\/a>. Building muscle will raise your metabolic rate and cause you to burn more calories while at rest, so you\u2019re essentially still \u2018losing weight\u2019 even when you\u2019re not in the gym. <\/p>\n Again, how long your workouts are isn\u2019t as important as the intensity of your workouts. The most important thing to focus on is that you\u2019re hitting each muscle group effectively and consistently. Japanese researchers discovered<\/a> in 2021 that 28-36 reps per muscle group per week was the most effective way to build muscle, spread out in whatever way works best for you. <\/p>\n Of course, a proper warm-up and cool-down period, plus adequate rest between sets, are vital for preventing injury during strength training workouts. <\/p>\n So, how long should a workout be to achieve hypertrophy? Between 45 minutes and 1 hour should be plenty of time for you to do a few warm-up sets, your main workout, which works the muscle group to exhaustion (with rest in between sets) and then perform an adequate cool-down and stretching routine.<\/p>\n HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. HIIT workouts are a favorite among busy individuals who want an effective strength training and cardio circuit in a short amount of time, and they can be surprisingly effective if <\/em>they are done correctly. The key here is high intensity. If you\u2019re just running out the clock without working to exhaustion, a HIIT workout won\u2019t be any more effective than walking around the block a few times and throwing in a few push-ups. <\/p>\n HIIT workouts consist of short, high-intensity movements followed by even shorter periods of low-intensity or rest. Most HIIT circuits are between 15-25 minutes long. They generally require little to no equipment. Rather, the individuals use their own body weight and momentum. Some common exercises include Russian twists, burpees, plyo push-ups (or some other modified push-ups, however, regular push-ups are just fine) mountain climbers and star jumps. In fact, most HIIT workouts do involve explosive jumping movements, so folks with knee, back or hip pain should avoid HIIT workouts until they\u2019ve been cleared by their doctor. <\/p>\n When done effectively, studies have shown that a HIIT workout<\/a> can burn as much as 12 calories per minute. That\u2019s over 200 calories in a 20-minute workout. <\/p>\n This is why if you only have 20 minutes to spare, your best bet is probably to do a HIIT workout. <\/p>\n However, keep in mind that longer workouts of 45 minutes to 1 hour are typically better for burning fat,<\/strong> because your body might be burning the sugars in its system for the first 20 minutes or so before it starts burning fat (unless you\u2019re already in ketosis).<\/p>\n As long as you\u2019re pushing yourself to the point where you\u2019re breaking a sweat, getting your heart rate up and feeling a strain on your muscles, your workout will take as long as it takes. A lot of people use time as an excuse to skip the gym, rationalizing that a 20-minute work won\u2019t make a difference, so they\u2019ll just go when they have more time. Remember that while a 20-minute workout might<\/em> not be as effective as a 45 or 60-minute one, what\u2019s really important is how<\/em> you spend those 20 minutes. 20 minutes is better than nothing, and if you\u2019re pushing yourself to exhaustion and working multiple muscle groups at once or incorporating some cardio, like with a HIIT workout, your workout can be more effective than you think. <\/p>\n To help determine the exact type of workout that\u2019s best for your body type, why not consider a DNA analysis from CircleDNA? Your DNA test results<\/a> can reveal a lot about how your body will respond to different diets and exercise regimens, which can help you make the most of your time in the gym. You\u2019ll learn which type of exercise suits you best, based on your genetic makeup, as well as any genetic strengths and weaknesses you have as it pertains to strength, endurance, sports and fitness.<\/p>\n How long should a workout be? This is one of the most commonly asked questions among people who are new to the world of physical fitness. With… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9067,1],"tags":[10208,5295,8042,9113,8392,8480,63,10210,4425,4741,9089],"class_list":["post-1316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","category-uncategorized-en","tag-busy-en","tag-cardiovascular","tag-circledna","tag-fitness","tag-gymtimidation","tag-lose-weight","tag-pessimism-en","tag-prioritize-time-in-green-and-blue-spaces-en","tag-should","tag-us-uncategorized","tag-workout-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.circledna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/circledna.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/content_images_2023_03_physical-activity.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nRecommended Duration of Physical Activity per Week<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/circledna.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/content_images_2023_03_duration-vs-heart-rate.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nDuration vs. Heart Rate<\/h3>\n
How Long Should A Workout Be To Build Muscle?<\/h3>\n
Burn Fat with HIIT Workouts<\/h3>\n
The Bottom Line<\/h3>\n
References:<\/h3>\n
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