Lifting weights is one of the best ways for anyone to build strength. Individuals interested in improving their body composition, getting stronger, or losing weights might turn to weight lifting as their primary form of exercise. In fact, many people prefer weight-lifting and anaerobic exercise like weight lifting compared to endurance and aerobic exercises like running, swimming, and cycling. 

The key to seeing strength and muscle improvements with lift weights is consistency. Showing up for yourself, either at your gym or at-home fitness area, is the first step, but the next is making sure you find yourself at your mat or with your weights throughout the week. This means coming up with a viable fitness plan. 

When you start something new like strength training, your first instinct might be to strength train everyday. You might wonder if too much activity can really be that bad or if committing to an intense weight lifting regimen will help you make the gains you want to see. 

Should lifting weights be part of your daily fitness routine? 

While weight lifting has many benefits — including building stronger bones and improving metabolism — you shouldn’t lift weights everyday. Like most good things in life, your daily fitness routine needs balance and lifting weights everyday can throw your system out of balance. 

Recovery is an essential part of your weight lifting routine — or any fitness routine. During recovery, your body takes the time it needs to repair and become stronger. Weight lifting everyday prevents your body from making these necessary repairs. Not making time for recovery often leads to injury. If you are injured, you will have to take even more time away from weight lifting. 

What happens when you lift weights? 

One of the main reasons you can’t lift weights everyday is that it could damage your body. That’s because lifting weights actually causes microtears in your muscles. When you get these microtears, the muscle tissue sends signals that it needs to be repaired. This repair process actually leads to increased muscle tissue. As you do this over and over, your muscles get bigger and stronger. 

The recovery process is essential for this to work. For your muscles to grow, you have to take time away from weight lifting. 

Creating a safe and sustainable weight lifting routine 

Even though you shouldn’t lift weights everyday, strength training can still be a major part of your weekly fitness routine. Individuals can benefit from the effects of weight lifting like improved balance and posture, as well as decreased risk for diabetes, osteoporosis, and heart disease. This means weight lifting is part of a well-balanced fitness routine. 

Most fitness professionals recommend 3-4 days of weight lifting per week. With 3-4 days, you will be able to target all of the major muscle groups and give yourself time to recover. There are a couple of different ways to approach your weight lifting routine, depending on what your health and wellness goals are and your daily routine. 

Full Body Fitness. If you want to focus on full body fitness each time you are in the gym, then we recommend lifting weights every other day, always giving yourself a day off in between to recover and let your muscles repair. With this approach, you will target all muscle groups in one workout, likely spending some time on lower body, some time on upper body, along with core work. This option is great for individuals with busy schedules, people who have other fitness focuses like running or triathlon. or anyone who wants to have “days off” from working out. 

Focus on Muscle Groups. Focusing on a specific muscle group for a workout is the other popular way to structure your weight lifting routine. With this approach, you split the muscle groups and work them on different days. For example, Mondays and Thursdays might be leg days whereas Tuesdays and Fridays are for upper body and core. With this approach, you don’t have to take a full day between workouts because you are, for example, allowing your lower body muscles to rest while you work your upper body. This is a great option if you want to spend more time in the gym and like the consistency of working out several days per week. 

Incorporate stretching and mobility 

As you design your strength training routine, it is important to consider stretching and mobility exercises. Incorporating stretching and mobility exercises into your weight lifting regiment can help your muscles recover better and ease the after-effects of weight lifting, like being sore. Stretching can also improve flexibility, which is important in lifting weights. 

Getting strong through weight lifting isn’t just about looking stronger, it’s about improving your functional health and longevity. 

Track muscle growth with ZOZOFIT 

Whether you are in the gym three days a week or five days a week, you can benefit from a way to track your progress overtime. Tracking muscle growth is easy with ZOZOFIT, an app that utilizes 3D body scanning technology to give you your real-time body measurements. You can watch as your muscles grow over time and see how your body changes. 

With the ZOZOFIT app, you can also set muscle growth goals. Setting a goal makes you more likely to follow through on your commitment. Additionally, tracking through an app like ZOZOFIT can also motivate you to keep going and continue seeing the results of your hard work. 

Many bodybuilders use ZOZOFIT to keep track of their measurements and see what areas of the body need improvement. The app’s unique ability to create a 3D mesh of your body lets you see yourself without anything extra. 

Using ZOZOFIT is a great way to keep tracking of your improvements with weight lifting, or your fitness in general.