Resting just as long as needed after workouts or between faster gains sets is essential for muscle growth and performance. But too many beginners do not respect this rest period, being on the verge of overtraining, wanting or believing they are doing well.
Yet the very principle of bodybuilding is to damage the fibers, then give them time to repair themselves. Their healing requires about 24 to 36 hours. Once repaired, the body always anxious to facilitate the next effort will “overcompensate” by thickening the existing fibers.
It will also create faster gains new muscle fibers, which gives volume to the muscles. This necessary time of overcompensation still takes 24-36 hours depending on metabolisms and muscle group size. If we shorten this resting time, we will not allow the fibers to consolidate and grow.
As a result, growth will not be optimal, performance will be diminished and the risk of injury increased.
Imperative rests for beginners
Professional athletes can generally train 6 days out of 7 without damage. Beginners, on the contrary, have every interest in spacing out their sessions with one or more days of rest. An intense full body workout will require 72 hours of recovery, for example. As you progress, you can reduce this recovery to 36/48H.
It is also possible to gradually alternate the sessions dedicated to different muscle groups. This technique allows you to fully rest the lower or upper body every other day.
Even if you start with two to 3 strength training sessions per week with a rest day between each, keep in mind that full recovery requires 48 hours. It is therefore in your best interest to rest the whole weekend.
Glutamine as reinforcement
Although already very present naturally, glutamine can be taken as a supplement when you do a lot of sport, particularly weight training , in order to improve your recovery.
Indeed, glutamine is part of the amino acid family and is the one that is most present in the blood and muscles, at around 60%. The role of glutamine is essential since it will contribute to improving the reconstitution of muscle glycogen stocks. Knowing that glycogen allows muscle replenishment through recovery, glutamine is, therefore, ultra-important for optimal recovery.
A higher intensity for the confirmed
The more you progress, the more you will need to increase the stimulation of your muscles by training them more often or harder. There are different ways to increase the effect of your training.
First by using advanced training techniques: number of sets, supersets, increasing loads faster gains But by increasing the frequency to 4 to 5 days a week, you can divide your sessions and target different muscle groups on certain days and let them rest the next day.
This without affecting your recovery capital, which means that each muscle group has its quota of rest at least every other day, or even 48 hours. This training protocol is the one that seems to give the best results.
Combined techniques in pre-competition
Other techniques can increase the stress on your muscles and therefore the effectiveness of your training. It is then a question of using, on the one hand, the negative repetitions (or the eccentric force) on the other hand the decreasing series. The first consists of retaining the load until the end.
The second is intended to exhaust faster gains all the fibers intensely. These ways of doing things lengthen the muscle fiber and cause it greater damage both in contraction and in extension. This intensifies muscle micro fissures.
This is true provided the rest time is longer to allow him to fully recover. and avoid injury or overtraining. These techniques are therefore to be used on an ad muscarinic receptors hoc basis over short periods. They force the muscle to grow and adapt to change.
Increase the number of fast fibers
These are the type II fast fibers solicited by bodybuilding, the type I slow fibers being those of endurance sports. It is their ability to contract more or less rapidly that qualifies them as such.
It is the fast fibers that give the force since they contract more quickly. Slow fibers are made for long distances. Among the fast fibres, there are even very fast ones called IIX.
Studies even suggest that the type of repeated faster gains training can influence the number of fast fibers and their development. Even fast fibers can mutate and become very fast fibers. In the same way, the rest time can also influence the number of fast fibers and therefore increase the resistance.
The best technique is therefore to alternate heavy training and complete rest. This is especially true when preparing for off-season competition to increase strength and muscle growth
Don’t forget sleep
Rest days should be noted in your diary just like training days. As they are an integral part of your program, it is on the side of your nights that you will have to look.
Adequate sleep is fundamental and we realize it especially when it runs out. But with regard to muscle gain, it is essential to spend good nights of 8 hours minimum, between 8 and 9 am ideally.
This needs to be part of your plan too, because faster gains the body builds muscle tissue precisely when you’re not training. That is to say precisely during the days of rest, or while you sleep. Your new motivational phrase is: No rest, no gain !
