Muscle Recovery/Overtraining

[MOTHER DUCKER]

How long do muscles usually take to recover from workouts i have heard various information. I go to the gym Mon to Fri for 1 or 2 hours.. So is it best when weight training only to work 1 area once a week to allow a proper recovery as i hear that you only gain in the rest stage.

Say Shoulders: Monday
Arms: Tue
Legs: Wed

Etc..

[BrooklynBomber]

Depends on how you train, how you eat and what you train. It is also depended a lot of personal physiology and training capacity of an athlete, so its very hard to give you solid guidelines. But there are some general rules.

[BrooklynBomber]

Also, one week is way too long to recover.
For example my split would look like this
Monday; Legs and shoulders -- both legs and shoulders are usually the ball busters for me, since I work them very heavily, but since neither group is interconnected I can go heavy on both
Tuesday:Back and Chest -- back and chest are my stronger groups in sense that they recover quite fast and are muscle antagonists, which are the best to work together as they stimulate each other's performance
Wednesday(maintanance day) -- arms day and the only time I work on isolation movement for biceps and triceps
Thursday -- same as monday
Friday -- OFF
Saturday -- big day when I work back and chest as well as biceps triceps. The workout goes for 2 hours and I have a snack after 1st hour.

Now, this is a split I developed for myself, its not perfect, but it caters well to my specific living conditions.

[MOTHER DUCKER]

Also, one week is way too long to recover.
For example my split would look like this
Monday; Legs and shoulders -- both legs and shoulders are usually the ball busters for me, since I work them very heavily, but since neither group is interconnected I can go heavy on both
Tuesday:Back and Chest -- back and chest are my stronger groups in sense that they recover quite fast and are muscle antagonists, which are the best to work together as they stimulate each other's performance
Wednesday(maintanance day) -- arms day and the only time I work on isolation movement for biceps and triceps
Thursday -- same as monday
Friday -- OFF
Saturday -- big day when I work back and chest as well as biceps triceps. The workout goes for 2 hours and I have a snack after 1st hour.

Now, this is a split I developed for myself, its not perfect, but it caters well to my specific living conditions.

That sounds good.. unfortunately gym is off peak so i can't so weekends unless i put my hand in my pocket

But basically your working Main areas twice a week?

My diet is pretty good imo, so i have no worries there its pretty healthy and i get lots of protein. You haven't mentioned but i guess you do some cardio aswell? if so what do you do? running? swimming etc

[BrooklynBomber]

That sounds good.. unfortunately gym is off peak so i can't so weekends unless i put my hand in my pocket

But basically your working Main areas twice a week?

My diet is pretty good imo, so i have no worries there its pretty healthy and i get lots of protein. You haven't mentioned but i guess you do some cardio aswell? if so what do you do? running? swimming etc

Yes, I do. And when it comes to arms, most of my training is actually done on big compound movements during the shoulder/back/chest days. When I do arms days, it is usually 60%-70% of my max but for many reps, I try to dial in at least 45(55-60 is optimal) repetitions for every exercise. I usually do 3 exercises for each muscle group on a training day, except for legs which go for 4 exercises.

[Klemman]

Most people who lift weights make 2 big mistakes. They don't provide enough stimulus for the muscles to adapt and increase in strenght and they don't allow enough time for recovery. (if size is your goal, it is a function of diet in addition to exercise- if that is YOUR goal, we'll deal with that on another post).

Forget these fitness industry buzz words.. (Split Routines, Muscle Confusion).

These principles were based on programs that body builders who already had a base level of muscle developed in the 1970's and 1980's. They were needed because they were looking for ways to shock their bodies into new growth. These programs were successful for them because they were also taking steroids.

The programs were then commercialized by the supplement and publication industries (Joe Weider and company) because the average person looking for the "secret" were willing to pay lots of money for that "secret".

As I initially mentioned, for gaining strength you need to force your muscles to recruit more muscle fibers for movement by providing enough stress to create an adaption by your nerves and muscles to meet those stresses in the future.

The body only realizes an adaption needs to take place when there is damage to the muscle tissue. The caveat is that time needs to be taken for the muscle to be repaired. You can't do that when working out every day, even if it is a different muscle group. If you are a boxer/martial artist/athlete, then there is an even greater strain on your body to adapt.

So 2 questions need to be asked if you've been training. Are you consistently making gains in the amount of weight you are lifting? Do you feel energized at the start of every workout or do you feel lackluster before you even start? If you answered no to either question then you are probably over training.

[Klemman]

My suggested routine:

Full body workout 3 times per week.

Each workout consists of: One compound leg movement, one pushing exercise, one pulling exercise, one core exercise, and that's it.

If you have to warm up a little bit with lighter weights for each exercise, that's fine but use a light weight. Do not do warm up exercises to failure. All you are doing is increasing the blood flow to an area, and maybe practicing form. Keep the reps in warm up sets low.

For the exercises itself, do no more than 5 reps, and no more than 5 sets per exercises. The weight should be enough so at the end of each work set, your last rep should be difficult enough so that you can complete it with good form, but any additional reps would require assistance or cheating. There may be some trial and error initially to get the right weight.

Put at least one day of rest between each workout. Based on what you mentioned, M,W,F, and some other physical activity on weekends would workout great.

I've trained many athletes with this program. They are amazed at the gains they make, while feeling refreshed and able to go to the limit with their main sports.

Pushing Exercises include:Barbell or dumbell
Standing Military
Bench presses (flat, incline, decline)
Dips
Push presses
Jerks

Pulling Exercises:
Rows
Pulldowns,chins,pullups
High Pulls, Upright Rows
Romanian Deadlifts

Compound Leg Movements:
Squats
Deadlifts
Cleans
Snatches
Bavarian Split Squats

Core Movement:
Abs and lower back

[Jack3d]

Typically Major Muscle groups should be rested 3 days before they are trained again.

However this depends a lot on how heavy/intense you are lifting, how much and how well you are eating, how much sleep you are getting etc.