When it comes to building quality mass, nothing could hurt your efforts more than over training. The recovery part of the muscle building equation is by far the most misunderstood. Muscle building will always be about two things primarily, breaking down muscle through overloading, and allowing enough time for the muscle to heal and rebuild itself. The reason the muscle will do this is in anticipation of future workloads. The muscle evolves because the body strives to become more efficient. Building larger stronger muscles increases efficiency, (i.e you can perform the same work with less effort) but this can ONLY take place when adequate rest is given to the muscle, coupled with high quality nutrition to support the training effect.
Almost 95% of individuals who regularly frequent the gyms are over training. You may have even seen many of them, guys who looked better 12 months ago. They had great physiques, large full muscles, but now appear withered away, gangly and sickly. Muscle loss is a clear indication of over training and restricting calories too much.
So how often should you train a muscle group?
There is no "one answer" to this question, because it all depends on the quality of the training, in particular the amount of overload, and this is a subjective matter that differs greatly from one individual to the next. However there is a good guideline. "The more you can overload the muscle, the greater the rest period needed." The human body is designed to work in bursts of energy followed by periods of recovery, just the same way as a mountain lion doesn't climb mountains all day, or a fish swim against the current constantly. Recovery is essential to muscle building, and the recovery period will change as the muscle grows stronger and is able to achieve greater degrees of intensity and more overload. When training large muscle groups more weight is used causing more microscopic muscle damage. As a result more rest is needed. Let's imaging you are using 150lbs on the bench press. You are completing four sets of 8-12 reps with a timed 90 second rest interval. If you are using correct form you will have created the desired micro trauma (muscle tearing) that catalyzes growth. Three days later you return to the gym and attempt to repeat the same chest workout. This time however you are struggling on the third set, and by the fourth set you cannot complete what you did three days ago. This is happening because your muscles have not yet recuperated from the damage of the first workout. But your ego tells you that you are being a wuss, so you push through adding more sets with slightly lighter weight, and the cycle of over training begins. So now you are lifting less weight with higher frequency and this has a direct impact on how your body will look. This type of training is called regressive overload. To build muscle the overload must be PROGRESSIVE. Take more time to rest that muscle. Come back stronger and increase the weight.
What is muscle overload?
This should not be confused with the amount of weight lifted. There are more ways than you can imagine to overload a muscle, one of which happens to be increasing the weight. Overload is the stress that is placed on a targeted muscle. For example, a person who bench presses 250lbs for 5 reps, may be able to achieve greater pectoral overload when bench pressing 180lbs for 12 reps, due to greater isolated stress placed on the pectoral muscle. Furthermore, that same individual may achieve even greater overload by performing 65lb dumbbell flyes for 10 reps due to an increase in the amount of rotational force (known as torque). This force can overload the pectoral muscle more effectively than any pressing movement which requires less torque. So overload can be achieved by
1. Increasing the amount of resistance
2. Increasing the amount of isolation
3. Choosing more effective exercises
4. Amplifying the intensity of an exercise
5. Shortening the rest interval
Three of my favorite techniques for increasing the intensity of an exercise are
1. Drop setting (after reaching failure with a weight, drop the weight by 20% and keep going, repeat this twice eg 50lb db flyes, 40lb db flyes, 30lb db flyes done in succession)
2. Giant setting (a type of super set that involves 3 different exercises for the same muscle group done in succession with no rest in between eg dips to bench press to incline db flyes. This type of training is extremely intense so use a spotter and rest 3-5 mins before repeating)
3. X-reps. X-reps are a type of set where you utilize different positions of flexion throughout the movement. You begin by performing regular reps until you reach failure. You then shorten the movement and perform bursts or pulses where the weight is moving 6-8 inches for 8-10 reps. Finally you hold a static contraction where the weight is held still about 6 inches from the starting point for 10 seconds. The lactic acid build up is intense but the results you can achieve are astounding from this type of training. Rest 3 mins between sets. If you have never done this kind of set use a spotter. You might be sore for a few days, but it will help jump start your results if your workouts have been stagnant for a while.
As your muscles heal, they will become larger. Larger muscles increase your resting metabolic rate, so you burn more fat sitting around at home. Your larger muscles are now stronger so you can increase the overload (progressive training). The increased overload creates more damage to your muscles. As a result you now need more rest. People who over train do the opposite. They interrupt the recovery process and therefore cannot overload the muscle, so they use lighter and lighter weights for higher reps and more sets. This regressive style of training results in muscle loss. Muscle loss results in lower resting metabolic rate, so you now burn less fat on a daily basis. This cycle will have disastrous effects on how your body looks.
When I first begin training after a lay off period I will begin with three days a week. This is usually Mon Wed Fri. Let takes chest for example. I will train chest Monday Wednesday and Friday because I am typically not strong enough at this point to do much damage and can recover chest in a few days. After 3- 4 weeks I am getting stronger and increasing the weight. I now increase the rest period between chest workouts to allow proper recovery from the overload. I train chest Mon and Friday. Three weeks later I am stronger still and am benching much more weight. I need more rest to recuperate. I now switch to training chest once a week, Mondays only. This is a typical periodized split done correctly, and the results speak for themselves. As I mentioned earlier the stronger your muscles become through progressive overload the more rest that muscle group requires before training it again. If you cannot repeat a workout you performed earlier, stop training that muscle immediately. Work on something else until it has fully recovered.
