what's the magic number?
 

what is the ideal amount of time your workout should be?? i try and make it atleast 4-6 times per week and atleast 45 minutes per session. but, sometimes i can only manage 30 minutes and i start to feel really defeated like it was a pointless workout.

what's the recommended amount of time your workout session should be? (for cardio)

I've read different requirements from various sources. Some say any exercise is better than none at all. Some say breaking up a 30 minute session is also beneficial. Some say at least 20 minutes of continued movement which elevates the heart. I still believe at least 30 minutes at least 4 days a week. I'd love to hear what others think.

20 minutes if you do HIIT, up to an hour otherwise.

I say it depends on what I'm doing. For me cardio 20-30 minutes max, 4 days a week. Low impact exercise (walking/gazelle) 45-60 minutes, 5 days a week.

The NASM recommends no more than 90 minutes per day. That totally depends on what you're doing and where you're at.

Overall, key factors are stage of fitness, fatigue, time and enjoyment.

Beginners should start with less time and less difficulty, obviously. As we progress, the body adapts and those shorter, easier work outs will do almost nothing to progress you to the next level so you must increase intensity, difficulty and duration.

A person who has been active for years needs to concentrate on mixing up their work outs in monthly intervals. One month, they may be working on stablization and endurance. Another month, hypertrophy. Another month, power and agility, making sure biweekly to work on all the different areas.

The most important thing is to mix it up so that you like what you're doing, or at least don't hate it enough to skip working out altogether. And to keep it at a level that is safe for you.

To sum it up, if you have 30 minutes every day, fine. Vary your activity enough to avoid over injury. If you have 90 minutes 2-3 times a week, do total body work outs in a circuit to get cardio and resistance training. Do what works for your schedule and for your mind.

thanks for your reply! i have this tendency to bee-line for the elliptical machine, so i really need to concentrate on switching it up.