How Many Days a Week? (Weights vs Cardio)

When it comes to how to structure a basic program, I’m often asked how I would split up strength training and conditioning. While how much of each is dependent on your goals, such as focusing on building muscle, burning fat, improving cardiovascular health, or even trying to become a high performing athlete.

Speaking with Dr. Andrew Huberman, I explain that for the average gym goer, they should have ideally a 60/40 split when it comes to the strength training vs conditioning. Given a basic structure for workouts, a week would contain 3 days dedicated to resistance training with 2 days reserved for conditioning.

What a given week would look like is this:
Monday: strength training
Tuesday: conditioning
Wednesday: strength training
Thursday: conditioning
Friday: strength training
Saturday: off
Sunday: off

I think that this structure is ideal for the average person that is looking to train and get in better shape. While obviously this can change based on goals; I believe that for anyone simply looking to improve their body by building muscle and burning fat, this is the layout that they should follow.

When you want to build more muscle, there will be more focus on resistance training. If you want to burn dat, you would have more focus on conditioning. If you are looking to have a well rounded approach of building muscle,  burning fat, and improving your cardiovascular health; then I think that the layout I provided to Dr. Andrew Huberman is ideal, especially if someone is just starting out.

As you become more advanced in your training, your goals will likely shift and you can then bias one discipline over the other in order to achieve the workout goals that you have set.

Training is fluid and goals change, which means that your approach will have to change as well. This can be done within the workouts themselves as well as how you structure your workout program overall. I always say that you shouldn’t be married to one single way of training and that you need to change up what you are doing as your body becomes more and more adapted to what you are already doing.

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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).