Rest in bodybuilding! Rest between workouts and the consequences of a long break between classes

Do you train tirelessly and have no idea what it's like to take a break and miss a class? Such perseverance, of course, deserves admiration. But be careful: such an approach can be fraught not so much with benefits and beautiful forms as with serious negative consequences for the body. What exactly? Let's figure it out together.

It turns out that if you "abuse" fitness, then Negative consequences for the body can manifest itself at the physical and psychological level. Experts combine all these symptoms with the term "Overtraining Syndrome".

How to train properly to achieve maximum results in a short time? Ekaterina Krasavina, the world champion in bikini fitness, will tell about this.

What does it look like in practice? When you don't give your body time to recover from intense exercise, some negative changes begin to occur in it. For example:

You will get tired faster. This is because persistent and frequent training depletes glycogen stores in the body. And glycogen serves as a source of energy for your body. Professional sports trainerJan Milano(Jan Milano ) argues that a decrease in glycogen stores can also help reduce the production of lactate (lactic acid), which serves as an energy carrier in the body.

Extra deposits may appear at the waist. Paradoxically, but the fact is that by exhausting yourself with training and not letting your body rest, you provoke the deposition of excess at the waist. This is due to an increase in the amount of corticosteroids in the body. Among them, cortisone and cortisol are necessarily present - stress hormones, the presence of which not only does not contribute to weight loss, but can even provoke an increase in body fat.

Jan Milano also notes, elevated level corticosteroids also inhibits immune system, so overexertion only makes you more likely to get sick.

Your heart is working hard.“If you train without rest, then the heart rate increases,” says Jan Milano. Be attentive to your heart. Take a break.

The quality of your workouts is declining. R group fitness leader Michelle Opperman(Michelle Opperman) says that when you don't include rest in your training program, your ability to exercise correctly, build muscle and get stronger is reduced because your muscles literally don't have time to recover. And if you continue in the same spirit, then everything will only get worse, up to the loss of the already gained muscle mass.

You will not feel the best.In the process of training, microtraumas are formed in the muscles, which only time can heal. If you do not give the muscles the opportunity to recover, then this will be fraught with inflammation and extremely painful sensations. Michelle Opperman says that the pain may not leave you for several days, as well as the feeling of physical exhaustion, so doing even the most routine things will be difficult.

Overwork does not contribute to clarity of mind.Fatigue will entail psychological changes that you will notice even faster than physiological ones. Depression, dissatisfaction, decreased concentration, loss of motivation and a sense of vigor - a complete set for everyone sports achivments came to naught.

In sports, persistence is certainly necessary, but it must be done wisely. Do not deny yourself the necessary rest, learn to relax - master yoga, meditation, get used to leisurely walks. Make rest an obligatory part of the training schedule and you will see that all sports peaks will submit to you!

Muscles don't grow with exercise. While you are working with a barbell, your muscles do not grow, and the fact that they visually become larger due to a rush of blood is a temporary effect that will come to naught very quickly. tear . This is generally a huge stress for the body, which means that you need appropriate rest and nutrition - and only in this case there will be some sense. Rest between workouts drastically affects their result. On rest, the body splices damaged muscle fibers, simultaneously making them thicker and stronger so that they can withstand such a load the next time they encounter such a load. In addition, the body replenishes energy reserves (even adding it slightly from above - a process bodybuilders call overcompensation). In general, it is on vacation that your body becomes stronger, more energetic and bigger.

Don't exercise too hard

However, not taking the trouble to study the materiel, many enthusiasts run to gym, without having time to recover, and load the exhausted muscles with new weight, increasing the already considerable stress for the body. As a result, of course, it does not become stronger, as it was originally intended, but, on the contrary, weakens. Most people want to get big and strong at the earliest. as soon as possible and it seems to them that for this they need to train a lot. This is an illusion, they say, the more you work, the better result. Oddly enough, in bodybuilding this is not entirely true. On the contrary, the more you rest, the faster you grow (however, you should not take it so literally and fall on the sofa for a whole month after the first workout). This is not an office, and the number of working hours does not affect the salary. In bodybuilding, things are a little different, and it is necessary to understand this now. Excessive work can only lead to the fact that everything will worsen, the exhausted body will look for energy reserves and begin to eat your own muscles. Negative growth dynamics is not at all what we need. Many people, having not seen results in the first week, decide that they simply do not work hard enough, and begin to literally disappear in the gym for days, believing that they are not training productively enough, and that their the body needs a big load. High motivation is good, but you need to add more knowledge of bodybuilding theory to it so that it doesn’t lead you into a hole. Don’t forget about rest between workouts! The body must recover, without this there will be no growth. However, for the especially impatient there is good news: rest between workouts does not always mean doing nothing on the couch. Let's talk about what it can be a little lower. Hiking, maybe a light jog, cardio equipment - this is what outdoor activities mean. The main thing here is not to overdo it and feel your measure. You should not turn an easy workout into a grueling marathon, this will not lead to anything good. If you wish, you can even work a little with the barbell. Set the minimum weight, and do 12-15 repetitions to slightly stretch the muscles. The main thing is to avoid overloading the body. In the phrase “active rest”, rest is still in the first place. An ordinary day off, spent without much physical activity. Of course, this does not mean that you need to lie down on the sofa and refuse to even take out the garbage, as this does not coincide with your concept of the words passive rest. It's just a normal day, no workouts, no runs, no cardio.

There are many things that can help the body deal with stress. These include, for example, contrast showers, massages, hot baths, and more. And if resting between workouts doesn't give you enough time to recover, supplements can always help.

Several factors influence rapid and stable progress. In addition to a correctly chosen program, a balanced diet and a course sports nutrition should also be added here good rest. Often, many amateur athletes do not understand the importance of this nuance, assuming that intense loads at the limit of the body's capabilities are the way to success and build a body. This mistake is quite common, and now we will consider why and for what exactly rest in bodybuilding is so important, and how much rest is necessary.

"Varieties" of rest in bodybuilding

Before proceeding to describe the benefits and necessity of rest, we should separately consider what exactly can be attributed here. The list is as follows:

Dream

The minimum required for the full functioning of the body is 7-8 hours. With high-intensity loads, the appearance of chronic fatigue, overtraining, loss of strength - it is recommended to increase this time, or reduce the level of loads. Sleep, ideally, is necessary in a biologically suitable period for this - from 21.00 to 06.00.

Rest between workouts

Loaded muscles should rest - even a beginner who bought a subscription yesterday knows this. That is why it is necessary to plan the training program correctly, providing each muscle group with a sufficient amount of rest.

Rest between sets

One more is enough important nuance. Rest between sets is one of the most controversial issues in this sport. The reason for the appearance of disputes and conflicting advice is quite simple: for each person, the rest time between sets is determined strictly individually. If 30-40 seconds is enough for one athlete to take up the bar again and complete the set, then another one and a half to two minutes may be required before he can perform the exercise. Naturally, each of them will prove his case, arguing this with his own experience and citing numerous examples and facts. Of course, you should listen to them, but you yourself should decide on the duration of the rest, based on the individual characteristics and capabilities of your own body.

The benefits and necessity of rest

Now let's consider what exactly is so important and necessary for a good rest.

Sleep and breaks between workouts

To begin with, we will consider the importance of this process for the first two points described above - sleep and rest between workouts. To put it briefly and simply, we can distinguish next rule: muscles grow during rest.

When you work out intensively in the gym or on the street, your muscle fibers are injured and destroyed. Every workout, every set, every rep creates micro-tears in them. How harder exercise and more weight- the stronger and deeper they are. But the process of their merging, healing is the process of growth. And this happens precisely during rest, when your muscles are at rest. Moreover, muscle fibers are not just restored to the state in which they were before training - they become a little stronger and larger. This process is called compensation (or, as many bodybuilders call it, supercompensation), and it is at this time that muscles grow.

If you do not give your muscle fibers enough time to recover, and again go to the gym, this leads to the exact opposite result. Superintense loads lead to the fact that the process of catabolism (disintegration) of muscles is “activated” in the body. If you do not go into biological and anatomical details and explain its essence briefly: having used up energy and not fully restored it, the body begins to use muscle protein (the “foundation” of muscles) to obtain amino acids (“fuel” for muscles) to do work.

For the same reason, it is necessary to correctly select the duration of the workout, which we will discuss separately below.

Rest between sets

The need for a sufficient amount of rest between sets lies in other properties of our body.

To perform each approach, each repetition, our muscles use several sources of “energy” in sequence. In the first seconds of work - this is ATP (adenosine triphosphate, synthesized in the body of each of us), then - CF (creatine phosphate, synthesized in the body), which provides intensive work for several tens of seconds. It is for this reason that the duration of the approaches should be approximately 20-40 seconds - after that, glucose begins to be used as "fuel", which does not provide the proper "amount" of strength, and the performance efficiency begins to decrease.

When you stop after "burning out" your ATP and CF stores and take a break, they are quickly restored. On average, it takes from 1 to 5 minutes - individually for each person.

For this reason, by the way, the rest between mass sets should be such as to ensure the full recovery of these reserves (i.e., an average of 2-3 minutes). Since the work during weight gain is performed with large weights, you will only be able to fully lift them when ATP and CF are used as “fuel”.

Workout duration

For the reasons described above, the optimal duration of a workout should not exceed 1.5 hours. The bottom line is that for about such a time of intense exercise, the full supply of ATP and CF in the body is enough - then it is depleted and ceases to provide the muscles with the necessary amount of "fuel". Consequently, performance decreases and muscle catabolism begins.

Summing up all of the above, you can make a list of basic tips that will help in achieving a quality result.

1. Sleep at least 7-8 hours a day, best of all - from 21.00 to 07.00.
2. Plan your training program properly. Each muscle group must rest for at least 1 day.
3. “Listen” to your own body: if you feel that you haven’t recovered enough from the previous workout, it’s better to postpone the lesson until tomorrow.
4. Do not exercise for too long - one and a half hours will be enough to fully load the muscles.
5. Take sufficient breaks between sets.

Eat right: ATP and CF are synthesized from substances that enter the body with food. Their supply will be higher if you consume foods that contain the necessary elements (or special supplements - for example, creatine monohydrate).

Despite the fitness of the athlete, the physiological principles are equal for everyone. The main such principle is that muscle tissue does not grow during exercise, but during the rest period. Literate rest between workouts is very important for any athlete, since not a single athlete has built even a little muscle during the training itself,

After the athlete has reached home after intensive strength training, his condition, as a rule, is slightly worse, in contrast to the state before training. Exercise stress promotes damage to muscle tissue, depletion of energy reserves and suppression of the central nervous system. With improper recovery, lack of sleep and nutrient deficiencies muscle growth you can't see.

During the recovery period, your body grows muscle tissues that were damaged during training, thereby making them more hypertrophied and stronger. In addition to muscle growth, there is also a repair of energy reserves and an improvement in the ability of the central nervous system to stimulate the maximum number of motor units (myofibrils). In other words, all the positive changes in the muscles occur only after training.

Even so, some athletes don't give their bodies enough time to rest between workouts.

Insufficient recovery, oddly enough, may be due to the fact that progress in muscle growth is most often due to excessive motivation to achieve the goal. Let me explain: not everyone wants to wait until the body is fully restored after the training, so such people most often tend to go to the gym as often as possible without proper rest.

The more emotions are involved, the less rationally a person approaches classes. This is how our perception is arranged: allegedly, prolonged loads give a greater result.

From an early age, parents and teachers demanded that we diligently engage in education, complaining that long and painstaking work would help us succeed in life. After graduation and going to work, a person involuntarily understands that a large number of work brings more dividends from it. However, with regard to the training process, excessive intensity and duration can not only stop progress, but even have the opposite effect.

The “longer is better” mindset should not extend to your classes. Moreover, not everyone understands this and, most interestingly, with inadequate recovery, on the contrary, they increase the number of workouts per week. Overly highly motivated people, for the most part, may notice a slowdown in their progress due to irrational recovery and high-intensity loads.

Given all of the above, when drawing up a competent training program, you need to include in your training plan the number of days of rest you need for you. By the way, the very concept of "rest day" does not always mean "rolling on the couch." Below are 3 options for post-workout rest

Best
leisure

Implies activity during the day that does not contribute to the appearance of stress. Leisure between workouts includes games on fresh air, walking, light running, slow swimming, etc. Such activity allows the athlete to recover faster, as blood flow in the muscles improves and metabolism increases.

The main factor of such rest is its low intensity. Some athletes even during the rest period manage to get tired as well as during intensive training. As a rule, this occurs against the background of training during the rest period.

Therefore, if you decide on such a workout, which is part of an active holiday, increase the number of repetitions in the approach (up to 15-20), of course, without failure approaches. Irrational also turns out to be sprinting during the rest period. Interval and explosive training contribute to the violation of recovery functions, therefore, they interfere with both the nervous system and metabolism in general. The result of this is poor post-workout recovery and reduced performance from the next session.

Passive rest between workouts

Passive rest means a regular day off with the exclusion of any activity. However, do not take things to extremes, lying on the bed, if you don’t want to, also makes no sense. Better take a walk, go shopping, walk the dog, etc. Passive recovery is a typical day when a person does not exercise and does not engage in outdoor activities.

Additional ways
recovery

This option implies additional ways to recover after high-intensity training. These include: massages, baths, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, etc.

All these methods will be extremely useful in some cases: with high intensity training, long-term training, short recovery time. That is, in cases where the accumulated fatigue exceeds the recovery capacity.

Examples
recovery methods

Examples
active rest

Used during workouts that tend to have a significant impact on the nervous system (high intensity, explosive, low volume training). Active rest between workouts is necessary when muscle tissues do not need quick recovery, since the purpose of such rest is to repair the work of the central nervous system. Light training does not have a significant effect on the central nervous system, thereby reducing the repair time and normalizing metabolic processes. It is not recommended to use active recovery methods during high-volume training.

Examples
passive recreation

Additional Recovery

First of all, you should know that your body adapts to both stress and stress. various methods recovery, due to which the return on the latter may decrease. Therefore, it is recommended to use them when the need really arises, that is, during periods of significant physical exertion.

"Leveton Forte"
for faster recovery
after training

Use the natural preparation "Leveton Forte" during high-intensity workouts. Important Features drugs are his natural composition and maximum impact on testosterone levels. Accelerated muscle growth, the fastest possible recovery, intensive adaptation to stress and the prevention of respiratory diseases are just a small part of the benefits of the drug. You can verify this by trying Leveton Forte.

In addition to Leveton Forte, athletes are recommended to take Levzeya P, Elton P, and Apitonus P for recovery. The presence of vitamins and antioxidants in these preparations can reduce the recovery period between workouts. L-carnosine, which is one of the components of the Elton Forte preparation, is a powerful antioxidant that increases the athlete's endurance, adapts his body to stress, enhances immune functions and stops the aging process.

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Athletes-vegetarians today are of little surprise. Many sports stars consciously choose this path and only win. Much more surprising is the fact that this practice existed long before vegetarianism became mainstream. The great athletes of the past basically refused meat, but at the same time they continued to beat record after record. Who are these heroes, and in what ...

Experienced athletes say that the most important parameter for successful training is their regularity. Everything is quite obvious - train constantly and the result will come into your hands. But here, in fact, the most interesting begins: some guys, in principle, cannot comply with the strict requirements of the sports schedule for months and years, and if one of them remains in bodybuilding, then his training has a noticeably “torn” character in time; others, on the contrary, follow the well-known recommendation so tightly and committed that even after several years they can boast of not even missing a workout, despite many days training split.

One thing unites both the first and second ones - a lack of understanding that for the best, and fastest, result, it is more important not to follow inner convictions, often of a spontaneous nature - to skip or not skip workouts, to do it according to mood or at the behest of a whim - but on the contrary, to find a "golden mean" that will allow you to train for a long time and not overload your own psycho-emotional sphere too much. It is remarkable that the search for this very “middle” does not lie in the plane of personal psychology, but rather in the field of physiology.

The point is that gaps in training, or rather, planned breaks and vacations, should first of all serve common purpose training - timely and full recovery. And in this matter, nothing can be superfluous.

Loading skeletal muscles, ligaments, tendons and even the skeleton during training, the athlete is simply obliged to give his own body time for life-giving and regeneration that brings results. As tools for this work, nutrition and time for recovery are at his disposal, both of which are within his full competence. Moreover, only he, even sometimes resorting to outside consultations, can say with absolute certainty whether the restoration has passed all its stages. This is necessary only for one purpose, so that the loads in the gym not only load the body, but competently alternate with the process of its recovery, which is no less significant for the growth of muscle mass and strength indicators than the training itself. For this significant reason, a training split should always be tailored to the individual's personal recovery needs. Otherwise, he will not see success in bodybuilding.

But also this human body will be few. Making attacks on the resources of their own body for many months, bodybuilders thereby load not only the musculoskeletal system. In the high intensity mode, the whole being of the body works: the digestive and excretory organs, the cardiovascular and respiratory system, and what is more important for an athlete, who is interested in results no less than in his health, is a complex system of hormonal regulation of the body. And when it comes to recovery, then forget about the restoration of vital organs and the functioning of the glands internal secretion it is simply impossible and is fraught with the failure of the body, the first sure signs which always serves as a drop in the effectiveness of training, a decline in mood and strength, in a word, all signs of overtraining.

In order to enable this important point full recovery of the body from hard and long workouts, just as it is done when compiling a weekly split, it is necessary to add special periods of complete rest from loads, any: anaerobic and aerobic, to the program. Thus, giving the body time to recover to its previous level of performance, as well as further strengthening its strength reserves for new, yet upcoming loads. You don't need much for this - it's enough to interrupt every three to four months for a restorative vacation, preferably, thus completing the next training cycle.