Body needs REST to RECOVER & GROW

So your diet is good, you’re training intense BUT yet you seem to be stuck at the same point. What gives??

It is important to allow enough time to pass between workouts and let your body recover. To build size and strength you must stress the body by lifting a heavy enough weight so body will adapt to the demands placed upon it.

Now it is time to allow the body for a recovery period. After the muscles have recovered you will be able to lift more weight or increase reps because the body has overcompensated for the initial stress and has built a ‘reserve’. Think of shooting around a basketball for an hour, your body is bound to be soar because it is not typically use to that sort of stress. Now go back to shooting around the basketball for another hour two days later. Your recovery period for the second shoot around will adapt a lot sooner. Your body won’t be experiencing the same aches and pains as it did after the first shoot around. You need to understand how the body works to fully appreciate the importance of allowing your body to fully recover before you next train.

Some important facts about recovery:

• Once you have stressed your body, you need to give it time to allow it to recover
• If you don’t rest long enough, the body will not recover and you won’t be stronger than your last training session.
• Some people believe 48 hours is plenty for recover, I prefer to train one body each day, giving a minimum 3-5 day rest period until I train that muscle group again
• The more intense your workout is, the more you stress your body and the more time is required to recover.
• Your age, lifestyle, jobs are all important factors to consider with regards to recovery time. Some people may put their bodies under stress outside of the gym as well.

Overtraining is the consequence of training too frequently. Your body will never be able to reach its full potential this way. More is not always better. I understand that ‘high’ one gets of being in the gym. You feel alive. It’s totally understandable to want to be at the gym constantly, to better your life BUT the fact is your body needs rest in order to take it to the next level.

There is a popular theory that one should take a week off from training after intense months of training. Studies suggest a week of rest after 4-5 months of intense training. I’ve always been curious about this theory but I have to admit, I’ve been too afraid to stop training. I guess I feel I may lose what I have worked so hard for. I have come to the realization that this thinking is ridiculous. In order to full understand this theory I will take an entire week off from my training and rest and recover. Of course I still must follow my diet to obtain the full benefits of this theory. I am interested to see if I come back stronger, tighter and fuller. I believe this will be very beneficial; I have not taken time off from the gym in 3 years. My body is calling out for me to stop and rest. I’ve taken a few pictures as of today so everyone can see the difference and hopefully by me experimenting with this theory first hand it can benefit everyone with their decisions to incorporate some recovery time. Remember you GROW OUTSIDE OF THE GYM.