Yes, You Can Lift Weights Every Day. Here’s How. - The Best AI Personal Trainer & Workout Trackers

Can you lift weights every day? If you’re curious about this, you’re not alone. The topic gets thousands of searches a month on Google alone. So, let’s answer the question.

The short answer is yes—you absolutely can. And when you do it right, lifting weights daily can lead to the best progress of your life.

I know this because I’ve been lifting weights daily for a few years now, only missing workouts when life gets in the way. At 50, I’m now stronger than I was in my 30s, running faster, lifting heavier, and feeling more energized than ever. In fact, embracing an everyday strength training routine has been one of the best decisions I’ve made for my fitness. But there’s a catch—you need to do it the right way to avoid burnout and injury.

Let’s dive into why lifting weights every day can be beneficial and, more importantly, how to structure your workouts for sustainable, long term progress.

Table of Contents

Why Lift Weights Every Day?

Here’s why lifting every day is awesome. Lifting weights daily may sound extreme, but it has some fantastic benefits. It keeps me energized, strong, and free from stiffness and soreness, which makes me better at everything from running to surfing and BJJ (Brazilian JiuJitsu).

Training every day isn’t just about physical strength; it’s about mastering the skill of lifting. Think about it: just like throwing a ball, doing squats, pullups, and other exercises is a skill. To get better at any skill, you need to do lots of reps with good technique. When I train daily, I’m putting in more reps per week than if I only lifted three times a week, and that repetition improves my form, increases my strength, and makes me progress faster.

I didn’t always train like this, though. I used to believe in the conventional wisdom of taking multiple rest days. But my progress stalled, and I often felt stiff and lethargic. It wasn’t until I structured my routine for a daily weightlifting routine that everything changed. The key to lifting weights every day without burning out is to structure your workouts correctly. Here’s how I do it—and how you can, too.

How to Lift Weights Every Day

Here are the essential principles I follow to make an everyday strength training routine sustainable. Incorporate these, and you’ll be on your way to steady progress.

1. Keep Your Workouts Simple

When training every day, the goal isn’t to exhaust yourself with a dozen exercises. Instead, keep things simple by doing an exercise from each of the categories listed below.

By focusing on these movements and maybe adding a couple of exercises for smaller muscle groups, each session becomes a full body workout that’s challenging yet brief enough to prevent burnout. This approach makes your daily weightlifting routine effective and manageable.

I like to mix up the exercises every workout to keep things interesting, but you don’t have to. What matters is hitting the key movements each day.

Push or Press: Include movements like bench press, overhead press, or pushups.
Row or Pull: Incorporate exercises like pull ups, barbell rows, or dumbbell rows.
Squat or Lunge: Alternate between squats, lunges, and step ups.
Hinge Movements: Add deadlifts, kettlebell swings, or cleans for posterior chain development.
Smaller Muscle Groups: If you have time, add exercises for biceps, triceps, and calves, but keep these brief—just a couple of sets.

Tip for you: Sometimes, I do my arm, calf, and core exercises in a second workout. This way, I get in more volume without feeling worn out. I’ll explain how to safely train twice a day in a future article.

2. Leave A Few Reps ‘In the Tank’

You might think lifting weights every day means going hard every time. Not true! If you push yourself to failure every workout, you’ll burn out quickly. The key is to finish most sets with 12 reps left in the tank.

I learned this the hard way. Early on, I went all out every session and quickly felt fatigued and unmotivated. Now, I limit how often I push to the max.

Here’s how I do it:

Out of a given week, I’ll push really hard with 23 exercises at most, usually compound movements like split squats and clean and press.

For the rest of my exercises, I keep the intensity at a level where I’m working hard but could still knock out a couple more reps if needed.

This approach has been a game changer. It allows me to recover quickly and come back fresh for the next workout. Plus, it makes an everyday strength training routine sustainable in the long run.

3. Plan Your Workouts Properly

To prevent your body from hitting a plateau, I plan them by following an undulating periodization model. This means cycling between low, medium, and high reps every workout in your daily weightlifting routine.

Here’s how it works:

High Rep Days: Lighter weights, 1215 reps per set to focus on muscular endurance and form.
Medium Rep Days: Moderate weights, 810 reps to build both strength and size.
Low Rep Days: Heavier weights, 15 reps to focus on maximum strength.

I’ve found that using this approach has helped me break through plateaus. It ensures I’m constantly challenging my muscles in different ways. To take the hassle out of planning my lifting weights daily routine this way, I use an AI personal trainer I created.

Its name is Endura.

4. Move In Every Direction

Most workouts focus on up and down movements like squats, bench presses, and rows. But real athleticism requires you to move in every direction.

Training in all directions, not just forward and backward, is crucial for balanced strength and reducing injury risk. Plus, it’s how we move in everyday life—whether it’s putting away groceries or playing sports.

Here are different types of exercises for each movement direction:

Up and down: Squats, lunges, and rows.
Side to side: Lateral lunges, side planks, and lateral raises.
Rotational: Exercises like Russian twists, woodchops, and kettlebell windmills.

My Experience: Since I started incorporating more side to side and rotational movements into my workouts, my strength and mobility have improved. I no longer have the hip pain that used to bother me for years, and I feel more confident in my athletic abilities.

5. Keep Your Workouts Brief

One of the best ways to keep lifting weights every day manageable is to keep your workouts short and focused. I used to think that longer workouts meant better results, but the opposite is true.

For Beginners: Start with about 6 sets total in your workout, then gradually increase as your fitness improves.

For Intermediate and Advanced: I typically perform around 12-15 sets per session. Eighteen sets is about my max, and I don’t do this many sets per workout for more than 23 weeks at a time.

The key is to work hard but leave room for recovery. Over time, you’ll be surprised at how much progress you make without needing to grind out marathon sessions.

6. Avoid Doing Two Heavy Exercises for the Same Muscle Group Per Workout

Mix up your workouts so you’re not overloading the same muscle group in a single session. This has been critical for my recovery and progress.

For example:

Instead of squats and deadlifts in the same workout, do squats with kettlebell swings.
Rather than doing bench press and heavy overhead presses together, pair bench presses with lateral raises.

This strategy ensures that no single muscle group gets overworked, helping you recover faster and sustain an everyday strength training routine.

7. Get Your Rest

Sleep is your secret weapon, especially when following a daily weightlifting routine. Aim for 7-9 hours a night to allow your body to recover and grow stronger.

If you’re like me and also do cardio or train other sports, try to separate these workouts by several hours. For example, I usually lift weights before I run. If I’m training BJJ that day, I try lift weights before and then do cardio after jiu jitsu class.

8. Make One Workout A Week Unique And Fun

Once a week, I break the monotony by taking my workout outside to the park or beach. This session is more about play than lifting weights daily.

During this workout, I’ll sometimes do farmer’s walks for a few miles, medicine ball or kettlebell throws, or walking lunges. It keeps things fun and helps me train like an athlete. It’s also my favorite workout of the week.

My Personal Experiences Lifting Weights Every Day

Here’s what lifting weights every day has done for me:

Strength: I can split squat 200 lbs for 5 reps per leg. I started at 100 lbs less than a year ago.
Mobility: My shoulder and hip mobility has improved significantly, which helps with my BJJ.
Energy: By following these principles, I have more energy, even with the stress of running my own business.

Using Endura to Lift Weights Every Day

Endura is my not so secret weapon. It uses AI to create custom workouts that align with the strategies I’ve shared here, making daily training more manageable and effective.

Here’s what Endura does for me:

Custom Programming: It designs balanced, total body workouts based on my fitness level, goals, and recovery status.
Intensity Modulation: Endura adjusts each workout using the principles of undulating \periodization, ensuring I don’t burn out.
Exercise Variety: It includes exercises in all directions to keep me balanced and agile.

Sample Workout from Endura:

Here’s an example of a workout designed by Endura that follows the principles in this lifting weights daily routine. It’s for a moderate rep session.

Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 sets of 8 reps per leg
Push Press: 4 sets of 8 reps (moderate weight, leave 23 reps in the tank)
Kettlebell Swings: 4 sets of 8 reps
PullUps: 4 sets of 8 reps
Planks: 3 sets of 30 seconds each

This workout is just one example of how Endura helps me maintain daily training. It balances strength, mobility, and intensity, making it sustainable.=

Give Lifting Weights Every Day A Try

So, can you lift weights every day? Absolutely. With the right approach and structure, it’s not just possible—it’s life-changing.

Endura has been pivotal in helping me stay consistent, balanced, and progressing. If you’re ready to take your training to the next level, let Endura create a custom workout plan for you.

Get started with Endura today and make every day a great day to train!

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Curt Pedersen

I’ve been fascinated with human performance and striving to help myself and others perform our best since I was a skinny and weak 90 lb high school freshman. This led to studying exercise science and biochemistry in college and graduate school and working with countless men and women to get leaner, stronger, and fitter. I’ve also published more than 1,000 articles on physical fitness and performance for dozens of publications including: Stayfitcentral, Business Insider, Lifehack, and Breaking Muscle.