Beginners How Much Exercise Do You Really Need? By Paige Waehner facebook linkedin Paige Waehner is a certified personal trainer, author of the "Guide to Become a Personal Trainer"; and co-author of "The Buzz on Exercise & Fitness." Learn about our editorial process Paige Waehner Reviewed by Reviewed by Tara Laferrara, CPT on November 20, 2020 Tara Laferrara is a certified NASM personal trainer, yoga teacher, and fitness coach. She also created her own online training program, the TL Method. Learn about our Review Board Tara Laferrara, CPT Updated on November 22, 2020 Print andresr/Getty Images Experts are good about giving us exercise advice. The Department of health regularly updates physical activity guidelines telling us just how much exercise we need to improve our health, lose weight and more. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports has chimed in with its own guidelines. Even personal trainers, like me, offer the basics of how to exercise and you'll notice that most of these guidelines look about the same: Cardio about 3-5 days a week and strength training about 2 times a week. These guidelines are helpful, but often vague, leaving you wondering: How much exercise do I really need to lose weight? Exercise That Works for You What many of us want when we go on a search for exercise advice is specifics. We want to know what activities to do and for how long, how hard to work and how to do the exercises. We want someone to say, "Here's the workout schedule you need to get exactly where you want to go." While plenty of experts will tell you they have the answer, the truth is, no one schedule will fit your exact needs. So how do you figure out how much exercise you need? One place to start is with your goals. To help you out, I've broken down the guidelines for the three most common goals: better health, preventing weight gain and, of course, weight loss. The sample workouts and schedules included will help you make exercise a reality. Guidelines for Your Health The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, published by the Department of Health recommend: Do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week or do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Also do 8 to 10 strength-training exercises, 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week. Make It a Reality The following examples show how you can schedule your workouts to meet the guidelines: Just Getting Started This workout schedule is a good choice if you're a beginner and aren't quite ready for 5 days of cardio: Monday: 20 min cardio Tuesday: Total Body Strength Wednesday: 20 min cardio Thursday: Rest Friday: 20 min cardio Saturday: Total Body Strength Mix and Match This series takes things a bit further with more workouts and more intensity: Monday: 30 min elliptical, medium pace Tuesday: 20 min interval training (alternate walking and jogging, or this Beginner Interval Workout) Wednesday: Total Body Strength Thursday: 20 min intervals (alternate walking and jogging, or Beginner Interval Workout) Friday: Total Body Strength Saturday: Three 10-minute walks at a brisk pace Guidelines to Prevent Weight Gain While there aren't official guidelines for preventing weight gain, the ACSM's position stance on the subject suggests moderate-intensity workouts between 150-250 minutes (20-35 minutes daily) or about 1200 to 2000 kcal a week may help you maintain your weight. To see what this looks like in real life, check out the sample schedule below, which predicts calories burned for a 150-lb person: Sample Workout Series This exercise program includes a variety of cardio activities, all done at a moderate pace along with a strength workout and a yoga workout, for a complete and balanced program: Monday: Elliptical Trainer, 40 min at a moderate pace, 327 calories, 10-minute stretching, 40 calories Tuesday: Basic Total Body, 30 min, 100 calories Wednesday: Walking, 45 min at 4.5 mph, 322 calories, 10-minute stretching, 40 calories Thursday: Basic Total Body, 30 min, 100 calories Friday: Swimming laps, 20 min, 137 calories Saturday: Yoga class, 60 min, 170 calories Total Time: 245 MinutesEstimated Calories Burned: 1236 Guidelines to Lose Weight Now we get to the nitty-gritty, the amount of exercise you need to lose weight. You can see that it takes quite a bit of exercise just to prevent weight gain, and it takes, even more, to actually lose weight. The ACSM recommends 200-300 minutes each week of moderate-intensity exercise to lose weight. Keep in mind, though, that working harder for some workouts will give you more bang for your buck. To see it in action, the sample routine below shows how a 150-lb exerciser fits in 300 minutes of exercise a week: Weight Loss Series Monday: 30 min High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) - Alternate 1 minute running (10 mph or as fast as you can) with 2 minutes of walking (4.5 mph) for 30 min, calories 320. Basic Total Body, 30 min, 100 calories Tuesday: 60 min kickboxing class, 550 calories Wednesday: 30-45 min Lower Body Strength, 300 calories, 15-minute stretching, 42 calories Thursday: 60 min yoga class, 170 calories Friday: 45 min HIIT - Alternate 1 minute 10 mph with 2 minutes at 4.5 mph for 45 minutes, calories 480 Saturday: 30 min Upper Body Workout 150 calories Total Time: 315 MinutesEstimated Calories Burned: 2112 Making Sense of It All If you're a beginner trying to lose weight, you may be put off by the amount of exercise you have to do. The good news is, you don't have to start at that level. In fact, a great way to approach it is to start with a focus on improving your health. Those workouts are perfect for beginners and allow you to build a strong foundation of strength before you move up to the more strenuous routines required for maintaining and losing weight. Start with what you can handle and use the guidelines as just that: Guidance to set up a program that works for you. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Get exercise tips to make your workouts less work and more fun. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Sources: ACSM and AHA. "Physical Activity and Public Health Guidelines." ACSM. Jakicic JM, Clark K, Coleman E, et al. American College of Sports Medicine. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Appropriate intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Dec;33(12):2145-56. President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.Fitness Fundamentals: Guidelines for Personal Exercise Programs. www.fitness.gov.