Rest

[rupy]

How long should I rest the previously worked muscles after I have hit the gym? Usually I wait until my muscles aren't sore anymore before targetting them, but this can sometimes take 4 days and even 5/6 with my legs.

Is when the muscles are no longer sore the right time to hit them again (ie, they have finished repairing)

 

[Squaggleboggin]

You'll most likely find this to be less and less of an impairment as you advance with your lifting. For example, I lift six days a week. Three days are light, three are heavy; I still never get sore even though I train everything twice a week (although it's really more than that because I use compound exercises that hit pretty much everything).

To answer your question, most people do wait until they're no longer sore. You don't need to train legs more than every five or six days a week though. If it does take that long to recover from the DOMS, it shouldn't impair anything. Technically speaking, however, I believe the actual reparation process concludes within 48 hours of the end of the workout in general, even if DOMS lasts longer. Therefore, I'd say it's safe to work a muscle every 48 hours speaking strictly of this. I wouldn't recommend this though, especially to someone just starting out.

 

[rupy]

Cool, thanks for the info.

I just worry cos I do other non-gym excersize regularly which is difficult when the muscles are so sore. Working the muscles while they are sore/repairing actually has a negative effect I hear, but how badly?

Ps. Im not that much of a noob - been lifting casually on/off for 2 years now

 

[CowPimp]

This largely depends on the level of effort exerted, the volume used, implementation of deloading phases, etc.

Many people only train each body part once per week. It sounds to me like your are using a high level of effort and enough volume that you may very well be best off training each body part once every 5-7 days or so.

 

[CowPimp]

Cool, thanks for the info.

I just worry cos I do other non-gym excersize regularly which is difficult when the muscles are so sore. Working the muscles while they are sore/repairing actually has a negative effect I hear, but how badly?

Ps. Im not that much of a noob - been lifting casually on/off for 2 years now

Actually, this is not necessarily true. Low intensity exercise that stops well in advance of muscular failure is beneficial to recovery due to the increased bloodflow to healing muscles. Many professionals advocate active recovery.

What type of activities are you performing in addition to lifting?

 

[Squaggleboggin]

Like CP said, working them lightly usually has a positive effect becaus of active recovery. If you're going to failure every day, however, that's a different story...

 

[rupy]

What type of activities are you performing in addition to lifting?

Pride fighting, mixture of brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai and wrestling.

That is awesome news. Thanks for all help guys!

 

[CowPimp]

Pride fighting, mixture of brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai and wrestling.

That is awesome news. Thanks for all help guys!

If you are just doing this on your own, then I would advise you to keep the level of effort reasonable. If you are taking classes, well, then you probably have no choice but to push yourself pretty hard. If that is the case, it may be sub-optimal for your strength/mass goals, but you should still be able to make gains.

 

[Maynard Keenan]

I think the longer you train the less rest you need to heal. Ive been lifting for 13 years and sometimes I train everything 3x a week sometimes. When I started out I lifted everything once a week. Now in oreder for me to grow I have to hit everything harder and more frequently. After 2 weeks of everything 3 x a week I go back to everything 2 x a week. Ill shock my system with the 3x a week every 2 months or so. I am still continuing to grow after 13 years and still get sore every workout. There is a lot of times Ill even train 10-12 days in a row. I know ive overtrained if I cant sleep when im exausted, lose my appetite, or sweat for no reason.