WHETHER YOU'RE A hardened gym junkie, an off-season athlete, or a resolution-maker fresh to fitness, building out each workout session begins with a basic question: How many exercises should I be doing?
“The reality is for most people, whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced, between three and five,” says fitness director So, case closed, right? Not exactly. Yes, that will be the general guidance for most people—but it helps to understand , and when you (or other types of exercisers) might add more or fewer movements. After checking in with expert trainers and physical therapists, the most straightforward consensus about how many exercise you should be doing per workout was (as you might suspect): it depends.
The largest consideration, according to every expert we spoke with, is in your experience and training age. Are you a former high-level athlete? You can probably handle more. If your fitness background is more e-sports than real sports, likely fewer. And if you’re cross-training for an upcoming rec league season and juggling your workouts with competition, the number is likely even less.
For those just learning to lift, the fewer the number of exercises, the better. “Two or three [per workout] on the low end,” says , a private trainer in New York.
Sung assigns six to beginners across different workouts, each of which target a different , including push, pull, squat, lunge, hinge, and carry exercises. These will cover all your bases. Should time be short or six feels overwhelming, you can cut to your comfort level. “Anything,” he says, “is better than just sitting on the couch.”
The number of exercises per workout can increase with more training experience, , according to Dr. Michael Kastan, P.T., D.P.T., and a certified strength and conditioning coach at in San Diego. With a broad workout focus of upper or lower body, Kastan starts with a compound movement like a squat and then follows with one to three “accessory” exercises, which often target individual muscles (think: leg extensions, calf raises, and a glute-focused exercise).
For clients ready to tackle more, Sung will add a similar compound movement, albeit in a different plane of motion (bench press followed by shoulder press, or rows followed by pullups or lat pulldowns).
As you reach higher levels of proficiency and conditioning, many, including ’s Samuel, recommend avoiding the trap of adding exercises and instead beef up the number of sets and intensity. “You can't really learn or master and really feel and own the motions,” he says. However, Kastan will, on occasion, add an additional exercise as an alternative means of increasing difficulty. Consider this if, after completing your compound movement and two or three accessory movements, you feel you have double-digit reps still in the tank.
In the end, which route you select is an individual decision.
For the top end of fitness buffs—and taking into account sufficient recovery between workouts—cap the number of exercises to eight, and add in the ancillaries, time-permitting. Ensure unhurried cardio to warm up before the first lift and focus on mobility exercises following to build range of motion. Time in the gym is often constrained by other demands — an early meeting, a weekend wedding, or chores around the house. “A perfect world, we have three, four hours in the gym, but a lot of us don’t have that luxury,” Kastan says.
“They can do their compound lifts, their accessory work afterward, and still maintain a time-efficient model.”
Experience being equal, the end goal should ultimately inform the number of exercises per workout session. Building power? You’ll want a greater number of sets of an exercise with longer rest, greater weight, and lower reps. Conversely, those looking to burn fat and build endurance should select higher reps, less rest, lighter weight, and a greater number of exercises. “Strictly for weight loss, you can do a couple more motions,” ’s Samuel says. “For everything else, you shouldn’t."
Athletes adding gym work to build resiliency and improve performance are a special case, according to the experts. , and founder of , a biometrics analyzation app, sums up the common consensus of secondary workouts (meaning, training sessions that athletes are performing alongside practice and competition): “We don’t want to detract from what [athletes] do,” he says. “If you’re there over 45 minutes, it’s too long.”
Moreno recommends spending limited time on four exercises that strengthen the muscles on which your sport places the greatest demand. For the Olympic-caliber runners and triathletes with which he works, he often assigns single-leg heel raises, split squat variations, and deadlifts, with a fourth exercise of the athlete’s choice.
“The idea that you have to do more, based on the literature, is poor,” he says.
Sung will often schedule these gym sessions immediately preceding on-court or -field work, tailoring greater workloads in the pre-season and tapering down toward competition or race day. Kastan rounds it out: “Those guys are going to get worked out like crazy when they’re doing their primary activity,” he says. “I don’t want the accessory work to impede on their exercise.”
Once you clarify your fitness goals and experience, deciding on the number of exercises each workout is relatively straightforward. But if you’re still not confident, then the next best thing is to establish a plan, record your progress, and evaluate over time.
“Having a plan,” says Kastan, “can make it more efficient, more consistent, and in the end, more effective.”
