Teenage Workout

Rests importance?

You’ve probably heard mentioned multiple times that rest is important in exercise. In fact, you could say it’s almost as important as the training itself.

As said before in a previous post, muscles grow by tearing and repairing. When performing a vigorous and repetitive exercise you are in fact tearing your muscles. As these muscles then repair, leaner, more stronger muscle takes it’s place. The efficiency of this cycle is crucial to your gains.

By not giving yourself enough rest between exercise, you don’t give your muscles adequate time to repair themselves. Remember, you don’t build muscle in the gym, but as it’s repairing, during rest. So not only is not having enough rest going to limit your gains, but it could also be dangerous.

Just like eating too much chocolate makes you ill, too much exercise can do just the same. It could also give you long lasting pain which may stop you from doing certain workouts for a period of time.

How much rest?

On average a muscle needs 24-48 hours to completely recover after a heavy workout. There’s no exact science to this as it varies from person to person though this is the rough figure.

If you feel the need to workout somehow every day, you can overcome the rest period by exercising different muscles every day. So for instance on Monday – abs, Tuesday – biceps, etc. This technique requires a little know how; though you may be focusing on your biceps for instance, secondary muscles such as your shoulders or chest may still be used depending on the exercise, thus some muscles may not get the rest they require.

Can you reduce rest time?

Short answer. No. But you can prolong it by not eating/drinking enough protein.

2 Responses to “Why rest between exercise is crucial”