How often should you workout?

An international caliber lifter probably lifts five days per week. He will workout more than once a day for a total of six hours, or so. It takes a few years to get to this level, however. Most people are not able to workout this much and still make progress. An advanced lifter that has to hold down a job might be able to workout four or five days a week with only one workout per day. That's still a lot of work! Almost everyone else should limit their workouts to no more than three times a week. Most times two workouts will suffice. Olympic lifting requires a lot of technique, so some workouts can be a little lighter. On the other hand, heavy muscle building exercises, such as squats or deadlifts, should not be done very often at all, unless, of course, you have acclimated yourself to such a high workload and can benefit from it. Excellent progress can be made on the deadlift by working it once a week or less. Some lifters will work the deadlift once every ten days to two weeks, and still progress on it. Whether you are doing Olympic lifting or not, the muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments need a lot of time to recuperate. Sometimes you can feel well rested, but the tissues of the body have not fully recuperated from the previous workout. At this point, too many hard, heavy workouts will cause injuries. It is vital that you get enough rest. Rest is also good to recharge your mental outlook. It can be quite overwhelming to feel you have to lift heavier and heavier weights all the time. Before you hit the weights again, there should be no soreness in the muscles. Your joints should feel good, too. Some signs of overtraining are soreness that lasts from workout to workout, being tired all the time or dreading your workouts. You can't take it easy if you want to improve, but make sure you have recuperated fully before tackling the weights again.