Yep, turns out that strength and muscle gains actually occur outside the gym, during periods of rest, not inside the weight room, according to the American Council on Exercise ACE.
The recovery period could extend to two to three days, or even a week, depending on the type and duration of the workout, according to research from the ACE Scientific Advisory Panel. Some professional athletes incorporate several weeks of rest after a competitive season. Other factors include how intensely you work out, how often you work out, what you eat, whether your body is used to the particular movements, and the duration of exercise.
Still, your muscles may not need to take a total break from movement in order to fully recover. Some experts say that active recovery — such as massage and light exercise — is often more effective than passive recovery, or complete rest.
Good, low-intensity exercise can include swimming laps, yoga, taking a walk or a light jog, an easy bike ride, even flying a kite — anything that gets your blood flowing without overworking your muscles.
You can also look to more mellow treatments to speed recovery, including icing, heating, static stretching, and massage therapy. One survey found that athletes used activities such as massage, cold water immersion, contrast baths, and stretching as recovery methods. Sleep, however, topped all other recovery methods in popularity. Crowther F, et al. An interesting finding from a small study: Active recovery and cold-water immersion showed equal effectiveness in reducing post-exercise inflammation and soreness.
The effects of cold water immersion and active recovery on inflammation and cell stress responses in human skeletal muscle after resistance exercise. When you're young, it's easier to go back-to-back days, simply because your recovery ability is so great. As you age, you will typically need to find a better balance, with time off between sessions. As lifters get mature, they usually find that they need more volume or intensity to disrupt homeostasis and force the body to adapt.
The combination of increased age, plus the increase in exercise stress forces you to take more time off between sessions to create an adaptation. Yes, there are exceptions. Some people can train every day and get away with it.
And yes, there are definitely ways to enhance your performance via pharmaceutical means. By and large, however, most people who are really pushing their body are going to train times per week, taking a day off between workouts to rest, recover, and prep for the next session. Let's take this concept even further.
At the famed Westside Barbell in Columbus, Ohio, you'll find some of the most elite strength athletes in the world. Their system calls for four training sessions per week—two very high intensity max-effort days and two moderate intensity, higher volume sessions. If your goal is to build more muscle rather than maximum strength, you will follow a traditional bodybuilding-style split. Furthermore, if you use a bodybuilding split, you should give yourself a day off after those heavy workouts to ensure that you maximize your ability to recover.
Something like this may work well:. Your goal is to find a training approach that lets you train hard each and every time you're in the gym. If your goal is to lift heavy things and look good for as long as possible, make recovery a key part of your training when you lay out your workout schedule.
Before I let you go, here are a few pointers on several factors that can also help maximize the post-workout recovery process. Schedule a complimentary fit evaluation so we can get to know you and your goals and build you a customized training program to reach them. May 13, Back in the day, I used to throttle myself in the gym.
What Drives Muscle Contraction? The nervous system—namely, the autonomic nervous system, or ANS—consists of two branches: The sympathetic nervous system, or SNS, is the fight-or-flight branch. If you want to run fast, jump high, or lift heavy things, you activate your SNS to help you do it. The parasympathetic nervous system, or PNS, is the rest-and-digest branch. If you want to chill out, relax, and recover, you need to activate the PNS.
Exercise is an important aspect of maintaining a healthy, functional body, but there is also a time and place for letting ourselves rest. It can help boost your mental morale, kind of like what a Friday does at work. Just how many rest days we need each week is not a one-size-fits-all model. One study found that it took 72 hours of rest — or 3 days — between strength training sessions for full muscle recovery, while research from the ACE Scientific Advisory Panel says that a recovery period could be anywhere from two days up to a week depending on the type of exercise.
This number will vary based on certain factors like your fitness level, age and type of exercise and intensity of your workouts. In addition to scheduled rest days, there are other times when it may be best to sit it out.
This is an important time to really listen to your body. This puts added stress on the body and leads to your overall stress-load increasing. For some people, this can actually exacerbate symptoms. Destination Email. Your Name. Your Email. I'm taking charge is a blog that aims to help people in their journey to fitness through articles on training, nutrition, motivation, exercise and healthy recipes. Get inspired with all the latest articles and reviews delivered directly into your inbox every week all year long.
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