Training · 5 min read
How Often Should You Train?
Marco Panetta
27 August 2026
One of the most common questions I get is how many days a week someone should train. People want a number, ideally a small one that still gets big results.
The honest answer is that it depends. Not as a cop-out, but because the right frequency genuinely changes from person to person. What matters more than the number is whether you can keep to it.
It depends on you, not on a rule
Your ideal training frequency comes down to a few things. What you're trying to achieve. How much time your life actually allows. How well you recover between sessions given your sleep, stress, and job. Someone with a physical job and two young kids has a different answer to someone with a desk job and a quiet schedule, even if their goals are identical. The best frequency is the one that works with your real life, not the one that looks best on paper.
Three you'll do beats six you won't
This is the part people get wrong. They pick an ambitious number to feel serious about it, train six days for two weeks, then life hits and the whole thing collapses. Three well-run sessions you actually complete, every week, for months, will beat six planned sessions you can't sustain. Consistency of a smaller number wins over the fantasy of a bigger one nearly every time. Pick the number you can keep on your average week, not your perfect one.
- Choose a weekly number you can hit on a normal, busy week
- Make sure you can recover from the sessions you schedule
- Two or three good sessions is plenty to make real progress
- Leave yourself room to add more later once the habit is set
- Don't judge the plan by your best week — judge it by your typical one
The best training frequency isn't the most you can imagine doing. It's the most you can actually repeat.
Quality over quantity
More sessions aren't automatically better. A focused session where you turn up prepared, work hard, and train with intent does more than two distracted ones where you drift between machines on your phone. If you only have three days, make them count. Show up with a plan, put the effort in, and recover properly. Done well, that's more than enough to keep getting stronger.
Start sustainable, build from there
If you're not sure where to begin, start with fewer sessions than you think you can manage and prove you can hold them consistently. Once training is a locked-in habit and you're recovering well, you can add more if your goals call for it. It's far better to start small and build up than to start big, fall over, and feel like you failed.
Written by
Marco Panetta
Strength and performance coach on Sydney's Northern Beaches, and online anywhere in the world. I build training around the person in front of me — not a template — so the plan actually fits your life and you can stick to it.