The Importance of Muscle Recovery – A Nubodyz Publication

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Seattle, Washington 08/16/2009

While strength training seems simple on the surface, its complexities extend far beyond simply grabbing a free weight or a resistance machine and pumping out a few reps; it is nothing short of a science. We must learn which exercises to perform, how to properly execute them, when we should workout, for how long we should workout, and equally important, when we should not workout a specific muscle group.

Kind of a surprise hearing something like that, isn’t it? We invest so much time and energy into working out our muscles we haven’t even considered when we should NOT work them out. Especially when it comes to areas of particular interest and importance to us; generally speaking, for guys it’s your bi’s and for women your thighs. Now aside from the fact that I just couldn’t help but insert that clever little rhyme that just popped into my head, the truth is, there is some REAL validity to that statement. I speak to men and women all the time and there are certain areas, like the ones aforementioned, that are of particular importance to them; so what do they do? They spend a considerable amount of time focusing on those particular body parts. And when they still aren’t happy with how that area has developed, they spend even MORE time exhausting those muscles. This is a huge mistake, and I will explain why.

While many people believe we are building our muscles when we perform strength training exercises, what we are actually doing is breaking down muscle fibers by creating microscopic tares in them. This induces a muscle building process called protein-synthesis which uses amino acids to repair and reinforce muscle fibers. It’s not actually during the exercises themselves where development takes place, but outside of the gym while we rest and these tares are able to rebuild. To maximize the effects of your workout, it is crucial that you spend this rest period wisely. What that means is that you take in plenty of healthy foods and get a good nights sleep. If these two variables are not adequately met, you will severely limit your progress. It is pointless to put in the grunt work in gym; blood, sweat, and tares, so to speak, only to short change your results because you didn’t make the right decisions with the easy stuff that requires minimal effort outside of the gym. So, at this point you might be wondering “well, how much rest do my muscles need then?”

Believe it or not, your muscles need at least 3 or 4 days rest; that is if you are working them out properly and really fatiguing them. Now, before you get all excited thinking that you only have to work out twice a week let me stop you right there. The particular muscle(s) you worked out that day needs 3 to 4 days rest minimum, not your entire body. This is why it is appropriate to separate your body into sections, working out each particular muscle group once per week. For example, if you were working out 4 days a week, an appropriate split might look like the following: Day 1: Chest, Triceps, Day 2: Shoulders, Abs, Day 3: Back, Biceps, Day 4: Legs. It is important to note that legs should always be their own day as they are the largest muscle group.

When determining how to separate your body into sections it needs to be methodical; don’t draw straws, flip a coin, or roll the dice. The split I used in the example above is a popular one and I’ll explain why. When we perform a strength training exercise, sure we are primarily focusing on one particular muscle which is carrying most of the load, but there are other muscles being recruited to assist the movement. The muscle which helps out the second most has been cleverly termed the Secondary Muscle. If you perform a Chest Press (or any chest exercise), the Primary Muscle being used is your chest, hence the name. However, your triceps assist a little as well; they are the Secondary Muscles. If the inverse occurs and your are performing a triceps exercise, your chest will serve as the Secondary muscle. This is why I have grouped chest and triceps on the same day, so that they are able to recover together. The same relationship goes for back and biceps.

Not allowing muscles to fully recover is, without question, one of the most common mistakes I see and it is often a very difficult concept for people to accept. If this is something you feel you are currently doing, I can’t stress how important it is for you to be open to new things. I know how difficult it might be to make yourself go from working out your biceps, for example, two or three days a week down to only one if that’s what you are used to, but it really will improve your results. More is not always better. Working out isn’t just about gumption, far from it; it’s also about strategy, education, and open-mindedness. I’ve tried to help many people in the past (mostly men) who told me that they “had their own routine.” This would be supplemented with something along the lines of “been doin’ it for 5 years, upper body one day, lower body the next, alternating for four days a week.” What they don’t mention is that they have also had the SAME figure for 5 years! This approach makes no sense, and how long you have been doing it doesn’t justify it either. It would be just as silly if a mechanic told you that you really needed to change the oil in your car… “No thanks, been using the same oil for 5 years!” Yeah, ok pal, good for you.

Admittedly, I was a little bit stubborn when I first started working out and I had my comfort zone or routine. Accepting that maybe I was working my muscles out to regularly was a challenge for me to accept, but you have to be willing to try new things. If you don’t, you will never get the results you are looking for. There is a saying, “same workout, same body.” I want you to imprint that into your memory. As crazy as it sounds, you might not be reaching your full potential because you are working out your muscles to frequently. Don’t spin your wheels anymore. Start incorporating the training split I have outlined above and prepare yourself for real results!