In part one we covered the foundations — why you need both strength and cardiovascular training, how to find a routine you'll stick to, and why consistency will always outperform perfection.
Now let's get specific. Because knowing what to do is one thing — knowing how much, how hard, and what to prioritise is where most people get lost.
Your Goal Shapes Your Training — But Doesn't Reinvent It
Before we get into the detail, there's something worth saying clearly: whether you want to lose fat, build muscle, or simply feel better — the training programme itself doesn't need to look completely different depending on your goal. What shifts is the emphasis, the volume, and crucially, what you do around the training.
The fitness industry has done an excellent job of making fat loss look like endless cardio and light weights, and muscle building look like heavy lifting with no running in sight. But that's not what the evidence supports.
Yes, weights are essential for building muscle — resistance training is the primary stimulus for hypertrophy, and that doesn't change regardless of your goal. But training is one variable among several. Nutrition, sleep, stress, and recovery are what determine whether that stimulus produces fat loss or muscle gain. The programme provides the foundation. Everything around it shapes the outcome.
This means you don't need to completely overhaul your routine every time your goal shifts. You need to train consistently and well — and adjust the context around it.
What Really Matters for Cardio
How much
The baseline is 150 minutes of moderate effort per week, or 75 minutes at higher intensity — this is the minimum, not the target. In practice, that looks like 3–5 sessions per week, ranging from 20 to 60 minutes depending on intensity and how your body feels that day. Even two consistent sessions will move the needle if that's genuinely what fits your life right now — but aim to build toward that baseline over time.
How intense
Lower intensity, steady-state cardio — the kind where you can hold a conversation but feel like you're working — is excellent for cardiovascular health, fat metabolism, and recovery. It's sustainable, less taxing, and underrated. Higher intensity cardio, where you're genuinely breathless, produces strong adaptations in less time and has well-documented benefits for fitness and metabolic health.
Both have a place. The mistake is doing everything at medium intensity — hard enough to feel tiring, not hard enough to drive real adaptation. Go easier on your easy days and harder on your hard days.
A word on cardio and appetite
Something that doesn't get talked about enough — cardio can make you hungry. Higher intensity sessions in particular can drive appetite significantly in the hours after, which catches a lot of people off guard, especially those doing cardio specifically for fat loss. Lower intensity, longer sessions tend to have a more modest effect on appetite. This doesn't mean avoid cardio — it means be aware of it, and don't let unexpected hunger derail your nutrition without understanding why it's happening.
On timing
There's a lot of noise about whether morning cardio burns more fat or whether fasted training is superior. The honest answer is that the effect is modest at best and the research is mixed. What matters far more is that you do it at a time you'll actually show up for. More on this in a dedicated post soon.
What Really Matters for Strength
How much
Two sessions a week is enough to build and maintain muscle and to get the full health benefits of resistance training. Three to four sessions allows for more volume and faster progress. Beyond four, recovery becomes the limiting factor for most people — more on that in an upcoming post on overtraining.
How intense
Effort matters more than weight. The research on hypertrophy is clear that training close to failure, regardless of the load used, drives adaptation. This means you don't need to lift heavy to build muscle — you need to lift with sufficient effort that the last few reps are genuinely challenging. A lighter weight taken close to failure builds muscle just as effectively as a heavier one done the same way.
This is important for anyone who's nervous about starting. You do not need to lift heavy straight away. Beginning with bodyweight movements, mastering stability and control, and gradually adding load over weeks and months is not the slow route — it is the right route. Injuries come from ego, not from patience.
Progressive overload over time
The body adapts to stress — so you need to keep providing a slightly greater challenge over time. This doesn't mean adding weight every session. It might mean one more rep, a shorter rest, a slower tempo. Small, consistent progression over months is what produces lasting change.
On timing
Most people feel physically stronger later in the day when the body is fully awake and fuelled — but the best time is always when you'll consistently show up.
Putting It Together
A simple, effective week might look like:
- 2–3 strength sessions, with at least one rest day between each
- 2–3 cardio sessions, mixing lower and higher intensity
- Mobility woven into warm-ups and cool-downs
- At least one full rest day — non-negotiable
No complicated periodisation, no colour-coded spreadsheet. A structure that covers the essentials, leaves room for life, and is sustainable over the months and years it actually takes to see real results. That's the whole point.