Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The Importance of Muscle Recovery

Many people have the wrong impression of how lifting weights and exercising helps the body build muscle. It is not during the workout that muscles are built, but after the workout during the time known as the recovery period. When you work your muscles, fibers are torn down. During recovery those fibers are repaired, which leads to muscle growth. If you do not allow adequate time for muscle recovery then you will not see the results that you desire.

In addition to allowing for muscle growth, the muscle recovery period also help protect your muscles from strain and injury. When your muscles get worked hard they are more prone to injury. If you try to work them without recovery time then you face the chance of getting muscle strain injuries.

An injured muscle can take weeks, even months to heal. That could keep you from working out. You don’t want that to happen. When a muscle is injured it can stop you from working out completely. For example, if you hurt a large muscle like your quadriceps, then you will have trouble doing any exercises that use this muscle, even cardio. This could really set you back in your fitness program and even cause you to lose muscle you have already built.

It is important that you pay attention to your body and its needs. Muscles need time to heal. Even when you get a good workout, muscles are damaged. As mentioned, it is this damage that causes your muscles to grow. Trying to work your muscle too much, though, causes harmful damage that will take a long time to heal. That is why recovery is so important.

The best way to allow muscles to recover is rest. Typically, a strength training workout will involve working a muscle group until failure. This means doing an exercise until you can no longer do it with good form. Your muscles get a really good workout from this type of training. After working a muscle group you will want to rest it. This means not doing any more exercises that focus on that muscle group for a certain period of time. The general rule when it comes to muscle recovery is to allow at least 24 hours between workouts. This doesn’t mean that you can’t workout every day. What it means is that you should not work out the same muscle group two days in a row.

Most people put together a workout that alternates between upper and lower body exercises. Others may simply work different muscle groups each day. Here is an example of a 5 day workout:

Day 1: triceps, biceps

Day 2: quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes

Day 3: abs, lower back

Day 4: shoulders, chest, back

Day 5: calves, forearms

No matter how you choose to schedule your workout, it is important to allow for at least a day of rest before working a muscle group again. The only exception to this rule is the abdominal muscles, which can be worked without the need for muscle recovery.



Source by Jonathan P Lerner



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