Rest
-Here I will describe how to put on more mass by upping protein and carb intake, and using lifting techniques such as super-setting to experience optimal gains.
Rest and recovery from strenuous workouts are often neglected and misunderstood concepts in fitness. You want a bigger chest so you do set after set of heavy bench presses every day. You want abs like Janet Jackson so you do 200 sit-ups every single day, that?s the ticket right? Wrong! Doing too much too soon inevitably leads to overtraining and eventually injury.
Let?s look at what?s going on in your muscles when you work them out. Resistance training causes little microscopic tears in the muscles you use to perform your exercises. This is called microtrauma. Microtrauma, like any wound on your body, takes time to heal. Think about how long it takes for a small scrape on your skin to heal. In fact, muscles take anywhere between 2 to 18 days to fully recover from a strenuous workout and it depends on the size of the muscle, the intensity of the workout, and your unique recovery abilities.
Putting a muscle through a strenuous workout before it has fully recovered has the same effect that re-injuring a scrape wound has on your skin. It makes it worse. Not getting enough rest between workouts quickly leads to overtraining, a stale state where further progress can?t be achieved without extensive recuperation.
Overtraining should be avoided like the plague. Wait at least 2 days before your next workout. Listen to your body, don?t work out a muscle if it is sore. Instead, wait a day after it is no longer sore before working it out. Periodize your training by scheduling a few ?light? workout days every 2 to 4 workouts.
Even if you are giving your muscles adequate rest, microtrauma can still accumulate over time if your workouts are always performed with all-out intensity. This too can lead to overtraining. Careful periodization is the ticket to achieving long-term consistent results.
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