Rest time

[Josh]

Hi all, I understand that rest between workouts, where recuperation from a workout happens, is important in order to grow muscles. If we do not give enough rest for complete recuperation then muscle growth will not happen (or at least not optimally). But how much rest is enough? How do we know when we are already completely recuperated and ready for the next workout? How long a rest between workout normally is? And what about if we rest longer than necessary (thus already completely recuperated and then wait several more days before training again), would this negate muscle growth? If so, how many days beyond complete recuperation can we wait before muscle growth is negated?

- Josh

 

[Charger]

Josh,
Do you keep a log? This helps, use your log to determine if you are making gains. If you are unable to make gains, adjust time. If gains stop or go backwards you are over training. For most once a week is best. Age, body type, amount of sleep, nutrition, these all affect the time and ability to recover.

 

[Skib]

I wait AT LEAST 48 hours

but usually end up working each muscle no more than twice a week

 

[Comedown7]

If you are worried about overtraining, the best indicator is sleep.

How easily did you fall asleep?
Did you sleep peacefully?
Did you wake up energetic and ready to start the day?

If you answered negatively to any of those, there is a good chance you are overtrained. If so - rest is the best thing you can do for your body. If not - get your ass in the gym!

Another note on overtraining - if you are a somewhat experienced trainee (i.e. you've been doing this 2 years or more) and you are lifting for the same major muscle group more than once during a week - there is a great chance you are overtraining. If you are on a cycle, however, 2 times may be optimal (depending on the cycle).

 

[Josh]

Okay, thanks all for the advises.

- Josh

 

[Arnold]

also, there is no set number of days, everyone will recuperate at different rates, this is especially true when talking about a young lifter vs. an older lifter.

there are many variables at hand, but a good number to start with is around 5 days rest. you may find that this is not enough, or that it's too much, or it may differ with each bodypart, cause some of muscle naturally recuperate quicker than others.

personally, I hit each muscle group one time per week.

 

[Josh]

Okay, so in order to find out the minimum recuperation period the way is by measuring the gains we make (if no gain then recuperation is not enough, if gains are attained then recuperation is enough). And I conclude if recuperation period is reached then we are ready for the next workout to obtain more gains. Now is there any point after that recuperation period where the gains are sort of negated, so it is actually too late for the next workout? If so, how long? Or if it's individually different, what are the signs of this "over-recuperation"?

- Josh

 

[Mudge]

Over-recouperation would probably be hard time finding gains. When I go "too long" I litterally feel like I've lost half of what I've worked for. So for me there is a balance between punishing myself through my sets, and the number of days I work out and have off during that week. For me right now thats 5 on 1 off, but am working more towards 5 on 2 off (in the middle somewhere) recently as I work harder in the gym.

Like HST, relatively low volume (sets and reps) but more frequent workouts during the week, covering the whole body 2-3x per week.

I suppose its kind of a lame answer, but one thing that is difficult is that this is a learning experience for everyone, and you are the one that has to figure out the tricks that work for you to make this a success. So I think this is instinctual, but if you lay out your routine and post it, there should be a fairly easy way to compare with others and get some feedback. Then from there you can decide what to do...

 

[Josh]

In my readings I seem to get 2 different views about rest time or recuperation. One seems to say that a weight session, even though we only work on 1 or 2 muscles, actually drain the energy from the whole body, and thus we need to rest fully before going to the next workout which work different muscles than the last ones. This way we may need to rest say 5 days between workouts, thus we may end up working a muscle every 10 or even 15 days. Another view seems to attribute the energy used as local to the muscles being worked on, so as long as we work on different muscles we can have shorter off days between workouts. This way we may workout say 3 days a week, working on different muscle groups each sessions, thus each muscle will be worked on about once a week, but the workout sessions themselves are more than once a week (enough recuperation per muscle but short rest time for the whole body).

So now my questions, which view is correct? Or does it dependent on the type of workout we are doing, or on any condition at all?

- Josh

 

[ZECH]

No you misunderstand. Rest time is between body parts. If you do chest on Monday, you should wait about 5 days before working chest again! But you can do biceps on Tuesday. Rest Wednesday. Do legs Thursday. Shoulders or back Friday/Saturday. Rest Sunday. Repeat Chest Monday. Get it?

 

[Malachor]

i usually know i'm ready to hit that set of muscles again when i start wanting to do exercises again for that muscle. maybe sound weird, but i will start thinking of squats a lot a day or so before leg day and i know i'm ready.

i work each muscle once a week with the occasional added day here and there to spice things up.

 

[Josh]

How about muscle soreness, can this relate to recuperation (enough or not enough)? If my muscles still sore from the last workout, should I still work on them when the time comes (which means soreness does not indicate insufficient recuperation), or should I wait until I feel no sore at all (which means soreness indicates insufficient recuperation)?

- Josh

 

[Mule]

I like the 2 days on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off. Some times if I feel like I might do 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 1 off and so on.

 

[Dale Mabry]

Do this:

For whatever you are doing now, figure out the volume you are doing for each exercise (add total reps up). After a week, test it again with the same weights. For most people, ir will either stay the same or increase. So say you do back on Monday, do it a week later on Monday. Then, if volume is the same or higher, try back again on Saturday. Keep doing thisuntil you find the point where volume decreases. When volume decreases, you will have found the rest period that leads to overtraining, so rest longer than that period. It may be 1 week, it may be 3 or 4 days, this generally is dependent on how many sets you do on that body part per workout and it will also depend on the muscle group being used. www.t-mag.com has a new article on overtraining up this week, it seems to be pretty good and logical.

Also, you are correct, your CNS will need to recover, even if you are not working out the same muscle in back to back days. This is generally not too big of an issue, but if you workout at a high intensity on back with high volume on Monday, you can expect a pretty shitty chest workout the next day if you decide to do it then.

 

[Josh]

Originally posted by Dale Mabry
For whatever you are doing now, figure out the volume you are doing for each exercise (add total reps up). After a week, test it again with the same weights. For most people, ir will either stay the same or increase. So say you do back on Monday, do it a week later on Monday. Then, if volume is the same or higher, try back again on Saturday. Keep doing thisuntil you find the point where volume decreases. When volume decreases, you will have found the rest period that leads to overtraining, so rest longer than that period.

Am I to conclude, then, that muscle soreness is not related at all with recuperation? Thus, even though the muscle is still sore, but if the volume is the same or higher, then recuperation is complete despite the soreness, and I should go ahead with the next workout? And conversely, the muscle may not be sore anymore and yet volume can be decrease, signaling that recuperation is not yet complete despite non-existence of muscle soreness, thus I should not proceed with another workout?

- Josh