We place a big emphasis at ASC on injury prevention and athletic longevity.
Today’s article is a tip to avoid doing the same movement on consecutive days.
For example:
- If you do dumbbell squats on Monday, don’t do dumbbell squats again on Tuesday.
- If you run sprints on Wednesday, don’t run sprints again on Thursday.
- If you do dumbbell rows on Thursday, don’t do dumbbell rows again on Friday.
You should leave at least one day in between high-intensity movements. In fact, you generally only need to hit a movement (i.e. squats, sprints, rows, etc.) hard once or twice each week.
Each day should focus on different movements, like we do at ASC.
Our workout schedule is strategically designed to give you time to recover between workouts. We only do heavy strength training movements on Mondays and Thursdays, and we only sprint on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
This schedule and training approach reduces your chances of injury, helps you show up fresher for each workout, and makes you faster, stronger, and fitter over the long-term.
If you are doing workouts on your own in addition to ASC workouts, avoid doing the same movement on consecutive days if you are training at a high intensity and/or adding resistance beyond your body weight.
Could you do a bodyweight exercise (i.e., push-ups) on consecutive days? Sure.
Could you go for a light jog on consecutive days? Sure.
However, you are asking for trouble if you do the same heavy strength training movement (i.e., dumbbell shoulder presses) on back-to-back days, or if you do all-out sprints on back-to-back days.
Your body only gets stronger when you give it time to recover in between workouts.
Doing the same movement on consecutive days is not only unnecessary. It’s counter-productive and dangerous over the long-term.
About the Author
Pete Leibman is a well-being and peak performance expert and the Founder of Arlington Sports Conditioning (ASC). Over the last 15+ years, Pete has helped thousands of people get faster, stronger, and fitter. Pete is the author of two books and more than 300 articles. His work has been featured through Fox, CBS, Fortune, Business Insider, and many others.
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