How Much Should You Increase Your Running Each Week?

Once running starts to feel good, the obvious next question is how fast to add more. The federal Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans do not give a single magic number, but they do give a clear principle and a worked example, and both point in the same direction: judge each increase by its size relative to what you already do.

1. The principle: the gap is what matters

The guidelines define overload as the amount of new activity added to a person's usual level. They then state that the risk of injury to bones, muscles, and joints is directly related to the size of the gap between those two levels.

In their safety chapter, they turn that into advice: pay attention to the relative size of the increase in physical activity each week, because it is related to injury risk.

2. The guidelines' own example

The guidelines illustrate this with jogging. A 20-minute weekly increase is:

Their conclusion is that the same 20 minutes is safer for the person already doing 200 minutes than for the person doing 40. The minutes are identical; the relative jump is not.

That is why a fixed rule like "add 20 minutes a week" does not work for beginners. For someone running 40 minutes a week, it is a large step.

3. Working out your own step

You can apply the same logic to your own numbers. Here is what a 10% increase, the smaller of the guidelines' two examples, looks like at different starting points:

The guidelines do not set 10% as a required limit. They use it as the example of a safer increase compared with 50%. But the table shows something useful: at beginner volumes, a cautious step is only a few minutes a week, so progress feels slow on purpose.

4. What to increase first

The guidelines' advice for adults who are starting out gives an order:

1. "Start low and go slow." The guidelines use this phrase for people who are currently inactive: begin with lower-intensity activities and build gradually.
2. Increase duration and frequency first, meaning minutes per session and days per week of moderate activity.
3. Later, if desired, increase the intensity.

For runners, that suggests building time on your feet before trying to run faster. Speed can come after the habit and the volume are in place.

5. Choosing lower-risk activities alongside running

The guidelines note that the safest activities are moderate intensity, low impact, and free of purposeful collision or contact, and they list walking, gardening or yard work, bicycling or riding a stationary bike, dancing, swimming, and golf as the activities with the lowest injury rates. Mixing some of these into your week lets you add aerobic minutes without adding to the high-impact part.

NIA's advice for aerobic activity follows the same pattern: gradually build up toward the weekly target. It also lists warning signs: aerobic activity should not cause dizziness, chest pain or pressure, or nausea.

6. A sample month for a beginner

Here is an illustration for someone who currently runs about 45 minutes a week, using roughly 10% steps. The numbers are rounded for convenience:

Four weeks of small steps add 15 minutes a week, a 33% increase overall, without any single week jumping by more than about 11%.

7. Key takeaways

• The Physical Activity Guidelines link injury risk to the size of the jump from your usual activity level.
• Their example: adding 20 minutes is a 10% increase at 200 minutes a week but a 50% increase at 40 minutes.
• Judge each weekly increase as a percentage of what you already run, not as a fixed number of minutes.
• Increase minutes and days first, and add speed later.
• Low-impact options like cycling and swimming add minutes without adding running impact.

This article is general information, not medical advice. Talk with a doctor before starting a new exercise routine, especially if you have a health condition.