When it comes to working out, sometimes less is more, especially when it comes to strength training. Going to the gym and working out every day can actually set you back on your quest to gain muscle and strength, as well as look good.
Rest Between Sessions is Essential
If you head straight for the squat rack every time you work out, think again. Sure, it’s one of the most essential exercises in your regimen but doing it every day can cause more harm than good. That’s because every time you work out, you create microscopic tears in the muscles you targeted. Even if you don’t target the same muscle groups during each workout, your body still needs time to rest. Wait at least 48 hours between strength sessions to target the same muscle group. Even if you don’t target the same muscle groups every day, most fitness professionals recommend that you lift weights three times per week, four at the most. Split sessions allow you to train more frequently if you target different muscle groups.
Why Your Body Needs Downtime
Daily strength training denies your body the rest it needs to heal those microscopic tears. Strength training is all about balance. When you take time off from working specific groups of muscles, or even your whole body, you give those muscles time to repair themselves so that they can come back stronger than they were previously. Proper training is designed to stress your muscles so they will become stronger, but overtraining overstresses them, causing damage to the muscle fibers. Another important tenet of resting your muscles is giving them the fuel they need to repair themselves and gain strength. When you over train, your body enters a state of muscle breakdown, which can actually decrease strength. Muscles need protein to repair themselves. Although the most critical time for consuming protein is within the first hour after your workout to ensure that your metabolism remains high, sufficient portions of protein in between weight-lifting sessions will aid in muscle repair.
Signs That You Are Overtraining
Whenever you increase the intensity of your training, either through the number of repetitions, length of time or through the weights themselves, your muscles are bound to become sorer following your workout. That’s an indication that you need to lay off your training and let your muscles repair. However, something called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is an indicator that you have overdone it and need to rest. DOMS, sometimes called muscle fever, occurs 24 to 48 hours after an intense, unfamiliar workout. Researchers once thought that it was caused by the excessive microtrauma that muscles go through during strength training, but the current theory is that DOMS is caused by metabolic stress. Either way, it’s an indicator that you’re overdoing it.
Balance is the Key to Efficiency
Make sure that you balance your strength workouts with cardiovascular workouts to burn calories. Take a day off on the weekend from all exercise to allow your body to recoup. After all, the goal of strength training is to make your cardiovascular system more efficient. On those rests days, however, you can focus on hobbies that take a much less toll on the body, as it’s much more efficient to take part in online sportsbetting.