How Many Minutes of Weightlifting Do We Need Per Week?

In today’s health-conscious world, the benefits of physical activity are widely accepted and promoted. But when it comes to resistance training—commonly referred to as weightlifting—the conversation becomes less clear. While most people understand that lifting weights can improve strength, boost metabolism, and support longevity, many still ask:

“How many minutes of weightlifting do I actually need each week?”

This question may seem simple, but it touches on deeper issues of time management, training goals, exercise science, and recovery. In this post, we’ll unpack everything from official health recommendations to advanced programming strategies to help you understand exactly how much resistance training is right for you—whether you're just starting out or looking to optimize your regimen.

1. Why Weightlifting Matters

Lean muscle mass naturally diminishes with age.

Your body fat percentage will increase over time if you don't do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose over time. Strength training can help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass at any age.

Strength training may also help you:

• Develop strong bones. By stressing your bones, strength training can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

• Manage your weight. Strength training can help you manage or lose weight, and it can increase your metabolism to help you burn more calories.

• Enhance your quality of life. Strength training may enhance your quality of life and improve your ability to do everyday activities. Strength training can also protect your joints from injury. Building muscle also can contribute to better balance and may reduce your risk of falls. This can help you maintain independence as you age.

• Manage chronic conditions. Strength training can reduce the signs and symptoms of many chronic conditions, such as arthritis, back pain, obesity, heart disease, depression and diabetes.

• Sharpen your thinking skills. Some research suggests that regular strength training and aerobic exercise may help improve thinking and learning skills for older adults.

2. What the Guidelines Say

The Canadian guidelines of health  recommends that adults:

• Engage in muscle-strengthening activities at least 2 days per week

• Target all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms)

• Combine strength training with 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity

However, these guidelines don't specify exact minutes. Most health professionals interpret this to mean at least 2 sessions per week, lasting 30 to 45 minutes each—totaling 60 to 90 minutes per week as a minimum for general health.

⚠️ Important: This is the minimum for health, not necessarily optimal for fat loss, muscle gain, or performance.

3. The Science of Strength Training Volume

Scientific literature often measures training not just by time, but by sets and reps. However, minutes are still useful for lifestyle planning.

According to research:

• 10–20 sets per muscle group per week is ideal for hypertrophy (muscle growth)

• Fewer sets (4–10) can maintain muscle or improve strength for beginners

• Workouts lasting 45–75 minutes, performed 3–5 times per week, are typical in well-structured programs

A 2021 meta-analysis in Sports Medicine found that training 2–4 times per week with sufficient volume per muscle group produced consistent strength and hypertrophy gains—especially when paired with progressive overload.

4. How Many Minutes for Different Goals?

Let’s break it down by specific fitness goals.

✅ General Health and Longevity

• Sessions/week: 2

• Minutes/session: 30–45

• Total: 60–90 minutes/week

Focus on full-body workouts that hit all major muscle groups. Ideal for busy individuals, beginners, or those maintaining baseline health.

✅ Fat Loss and Metabolic Health

• Sessions/week: 3–4

• Minutes/session: 45–60

• Total: 135–240 minutes/week

Add short rest intervals, supersets, or circuit-style training. Combine with cardio and a calorie-controlled diet.

✅ Muscle Gain (Hypertrophy)

• Sessions/week: 4–6

• Minutes/session: 60–75

• Total: 240–360+ minutes/week

Target 10–20+ sets per muscle group weekly. Consider split routines (e.g., push/pull/legs) for volume management.

✅ Strength and Power (Athletes)

• Sessions/week: 3–5

• Minutes/session: 60–90

• Total: 180–400 minutes/week

Emphasize lower rep ranges, compound lifts (squat, deadlift, press), and longer rest periods (2–5 minutes).

5. Quality vs. Quantity: What Really Counts?

More minutes don't always mean better results. What you do within your workout matters more than how long you're in the gym.

Focus on:

• Compound lifts (multi-joint movements) Compound lifts, also known as compound exercises, are any strength training movements that engage multiple muscle groups and joints simultaneously. They are considered efficient for building strength and muscle because they work more than one area at once. 

• Progressive overload (increase weights or reps over time) The progressive overload principle states that to see continued strength gains and muscle growth, you must gradually increase the stress on your muscles over time. This can be done by increasing the weight, reps, sets, frequency, or intensity of your workouts. It's a foundational concept in strength training and is essential for avoiding plateaus and achieving long-term fitness progress. 

• Controlled form and tempo Slowing down movements, holding contractions in certain positions, can really help with strength gain and muscle building.

• Minimal distractions (limit phone time or extended rests)

A focused 45-minute session with proper form, intensity, and effort can outperform a distracted 90-minute workout.

6. Designing a Weekly Plan Based on Time

Here are three sample plans for different time budgets.

💡 Busy Professional Plan (~90 minutes/week)

• Monday: Full-body (45 min)

• Thursday: Full-body (45 min)

💡 Intermediate Plan (~180 minutes/week)

• Monday: Upper Body (60 min)

• Wednesday: Lower Body (60 min)

• Friday: Full-body + core (60 min)

💡 Advanced Plan (~300–360 minutes/week)

• Monday: Chest + Triceps (60 min)

• Tuesday: Back + Biceps (60 min)

• Thursday: Legs (75 min)

• Friday: Shoulders + Core (60 min)

• Saturday: Conditioning or full-body pump (45 min)
  

7.    Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Overtraining: If you’re not building some recovery into your strength training routine, it’s possible your body will tank, leaving you feeling exhausted or unable to generate power during workouts. So give yourself a break sometimes. If you’re doing full-body strength training one day, Erik suggests taking the next day off from strength training and doing a different activity, such as cardio on your Peloton Tread or Peloton Bike. Or, if you want to do strength training every day, you could do upper body strength training one day, and then lower body the next. Just make sure you’re giving your muscles some well-deserved time off.

2. Skipping progressive overload: Light weights aren’t as big a problem as weights that are too heavy, namely because you’ll at least be able to learn the movement and form and it’s less likely that you’ll injure yourself. But light weights can still hinder your performance, especially if you’re an advanced exerciser, as you may not fatigue the muscles enough to see results, Matty points out. The caveat? If you’re new to strength training, starting with a lighter weight is important so you can learn proper form; as you get stronger, you can progress.

3. Not warming up: If you haven’t warmed up, your muscles will be cold, and that could set you up for two problems. First, your range of motion through your joints won’t be as good. “Without that range of motion, you won’t be able to move as fully through the exercises,” Erik says. Secondly, you increase your odds of getting injured. Get warm by doing full-body warm-up moves like squats, spider lunges, and inchworms first.

4. Neglecting major muscle groups: Its important to include compound movements in your routine because they develop the base of a strong body while also burning the most calories per minute of working out. Not only that, by training these muscle groups, you will be able to become generally stronger and smaller muscles like biceps and calves will be cross targeted by working these movements.

5. Inconsistent programming: Random workouts = random results. If you do the same strength training routine day in and day out for months on end, you’ll quit seeing results. As your body gets used to an exercise, it adapts, which essentially means one thing: It doesn’t have to do as much work to get the same result which can hurt your progress.

8. What About Recovery and Rest?

Your body needs time to rebuild and adapt to the stress of training. For most people:

• Rest each muscle group at least 48 hours between sessions

• Get 7–9 hours of sleep per night

• Prioritize hydration, protein intake, and stress management

Signs you’re not recovering well:

• Chronic soreness

• Fatigue or sleep disturbances

• Loss of motivation or performance

10. Conclusion: Your Time, Your Goals

The number of minutes you need to lift weights each week depends largely on your goals, lifestyle, and current fitness level. But whether you’re lifting for 60 minutes or 300, the keys to success are the same:

• Consistency

• Proper programming

• Quality execution

• Adequate recovery

Start where you are. Build smart. And remember—even a little bit of weightlifting can make a big difference over time.

"You don’t need to train like an athlete to benefit from weightlifting—you just need to start."