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how long do muscles REALLY need for rest?

thujone

thujone

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
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i get a bunch of conflicting opinions, some say it's 3 days some say it's a whole week. few can back it up with good enough reasons for me to pay attention to, so really, how much rest should a muscle group get for growth before i can work it again?

oh also, does protein mitigate wait time? by how much?
 
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It just depends on your goals and level of development. Athletes train everyday. You probably shouldn't.
 
I hit the same groups every 3 or 4 days. I think 2 days rest for a muscle group is enough. The above post is pretty spot on.

Muscles do learn to recover faster if you start to train more often, so its really different for each person.
It's kinda like the first time you hit the gym - your sore for like a week, but then your body learns to repair faster as you keep at it.
 
how long is a piece of string?

it depends on the stimulus (ie the intensity, volume, etc of your training) and your diet/recovery.

diet/recovery have to be on point otherwise 2-3 or more days it won't matter you won't repair damage to the muscles and no hypertrophy will be induced. At best you will maintain strength at worst you will backslide.

fwiw, I hit the same muscle groups twice in 8 days and the intensity is high with low volume. I hit 300-400g of protein 400-600g carbs and ~100g fat a day and try to get 9-10 hours of sleep a night...and about a gallon of water a day.
 
Clean_Cut said:
I hit the same groups every 3 or 4 days. I think 2 days rest for a muscle group is enough. The above post is pretty spot on.

Muscles do learn to recover faster if you start to train more often, so its really different for each person.
It's kinda like the first time you hit the gym - your sore for like a week, but then your body learns to repair faster as you keep at it.
Click to expand...

the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is not tightly correlated to muscular hypertrophy, fwiw.
 
I hit the same muscle group every other day, been doing it for years. Seems to work fine for me.
 
^ out of curiosity how much lean mass have you put on this year doing that

or what were your strength gains on lifts like squat for instnace
 
thanks guys, i've been typically leaving 48 hours between workouts myself and it seems to work on chest and shoulders but it's not putting much beef into my arms. i guess if i give it 72 hours between then i could still fit in 3 sessions a week.
 
here's my split if u curious

A:
chest - decline press
shoulders - incline press or front raise
back width - pullups
back thickness - BB rows or deadlifts

B:
biceps - BB curls
forearms - pinwheels
legs - front squats!

I do those mon/wed/fri rotating them (first week ABA next week BAB, repeat). Its really great split!
 
hmm i dont think im that organized but i do

curls
bench press
incline press
one-arm rows
overhead press
lateral raises
and pullups if i have any juice left

i stack up as much weight as i can do 7 reps of without extra movement.

planning to add ab and back sessions in between just need to figure out a good routine for that
 
how often do you do those?

You dont do anything for your legs? You need to stimulate your leg muscles they are largest muscle groups on your body and as a result of stimulating them with heavy resistance training your pituatary gland will release more growth hormone while you sleep, causing you to grow larger muscles all over your body.

you need to get organized. You're doing too much to be able to grow optimally. imo here is a good routine for you.

A: squats (3x5), bench (3x5), deadlift (1x5), curls (2x8-12)

B: squats (3x5), OH press (3x5), Pullups weighted (3x5), ab stuff

and rotate those say every other day. Or 3 times a week like I do.

best to you
 
Matsuo Munefusa. said:
how long is a piece of string?

it depends on the stimulus (ie the intensity, volume, etc of your training) and your diet/recovery.

diet/recovery have to be on point otherwise 2-3 or more days it won't matter you won't repair damage to the muscles and no hypertrophy will be induced. At best you will maintain strength at worst you will backslide.

fwiw, I hit the same muscle groups twice in 8 days and the intensity is high with low volume. I hit 300-400g of protein 400-600g carbs and ~100g fat a day and try to get 9-10 hours of sleep a night...and about a gallon of water a day.
Click to expand...

300 -400g of protein? holy fuck
 
Matsuo Munefusa. said:
how often do you do those?

You dont do anything for your legs? You need to stimulate your leg muscles they are largest muscle groups on your body and as a result of stimulating them with heavy resistance training your pituatary gland will release more growth hormone while you sleep, causing you to grow larger muscles all over your body.

you need to get organized. You're doing too much to be able to grow optimally. imo here is a good routine for you.

A: squats (3x5), bench (3x5), deadlift (1x5), curls (2x8-12)

B: squats (3x5), OH press (3x5), Pullups weighted (3x5), ab stuff

and rotate those say every other day. Or 3 times a week like I do.

best to you
Click to expand...

that actually sounds like a pretty good routine. i've heard good things about squats for growth too just haven't really considered putting it into my workout. i'll try what you suggest for a month and report with results when october approaches.
 
Best benefit/time is 3 times a week, separated by a day each. same days every week (IE, mon, wed, fri)
 
thujone said:
that actually sounds like a pretty good routine. i've heard good things about squats for growth too just haven't really considered putting it into my workout. i'll try what you suggest for a month and report with results when october approaches.
Click to expand...

awesome man! good luck! Just make sure you are eating enough protein, carbs, and fat and getting 8 hours of sleep if you can. Otherwise you will stall on progress.

No matter what you are doing when you are training your goal is to beat the last workout whether in reps or weight. The marines have a saying (so my brother tells me): "The only easy workout was yesterday's workout"

I want to put that saying up above the squat rack.

ps if you can afford starting strength (the book) then by all means buy it. He lays out a similar strength program as above but goes very into depth on form and progression.
 
there's another strength program thats good too thanks yugene.

beastly strength gains = good size gains.

dont care who you are if you go from 135 DL to 315 DL then your back and legs will look much much better (provided you didnt eat too much food and get fatter).
 
Listen to this guy he's the best trainer I've ever had! :)

I do my best with about 2-3 days between workouts. But I don't work the same muscles out every time so I end up resting the muscles maybe 4-6 days or so between. Matsuo showed me how to get organized at the gym and what muscles to target and I am probably stronger (and hotter) than I've ever been in my life.
 
RIGHT HERE

I gotta stop spamming this dude's site =D ... It's free and he gives the best basic advice I've ever found. Make an altar for your new god and start lifting! He has also has a beginner / intermediate program and lots of advice on nutrition, including intake calculators.

Any advanced lifters should try the superset programs, I love 'm..

On splitting: I do each muscle group once a week. I can probably do em once every five days but I do 4-5 hours of strength training already.
 
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