We talk a lot about getting the most out of our work outs and how to really Dig Deep and Bring it — but did you know that working out is actually NOT when our muscles grow and get stronger? Working out breaks them down. The intense workouts put stress on our muscles, which cause them to respond by growing. But they don’t (and CAN’T) grow when we are actually working out. Its when we REST that our muscles grow and get stronger, as the damage we did to them during our workout is repaired and healed. During the repair process, our muscles respond by getting stronger and growing to enable them to handle the next workout better.
But what if we never take the rest we need? Then our muscles can’t recover, can’t get stronger, and can’t grow! That’s no good!!!
So what does “rest” look like? It takes several forms, all of which are important to getting the most bang for your workout buck.
First, rest obviously takes the form of sleep. At night, while you are asleep, your muscles get the most rest, recovery, and growth. If you are depriving yourself of sleep, it will not only make you feel lousy and deplete your energy, but it can slow your results. Most people need 7 hours of sleep to function best. Some like more (some like a lot more), but honestly that’s just a habit more than a “need” for sleep. Some can actually get by with less than 7 hours — studies have found that 10% of people can actually function with no ill effects on 5 hours of sleep with no accumulated sleep deprivation symptoms — but that was ONLY 10%! Many of us like to think we are in that 10%, but in fact we are sleep deprived and hurting our body’s ability to run at 100%.
Trust me, getting 7 hours of sleep takes work for me. I get up at 4:30 every morning to read, workout, and answer questions that were posted on my website overnight. So that means I need to be lights out at 9:30 — that doesn’t always happen. And with 5 small kids, there are nights where I’m up once, twice, three times a lady …. (bad song reference — maybe I’m sleep deprived!).
But I monitor how much I’m sleeping, and if I have a couple short nights (5-6 hours), I make an extra effort to make it up by getting 8 hours for a couple nights, because sleep deprivation is an accumulated symptom. The longer you go, the more run-down you’ll get.
Second, rest takes the form of recovery time between lifting workouts. This is the good old “48 hour rule” — the rule that plays havoc with our hybrid schedules LOL! Simply put, if you do resistance lifting for your biceps on Day 1, then your biceps need to rest on day 2. You can work them again on Day 3 (48 hours later). This is why most hybrid schedules (and the original P90X schedule) will alternate lift days and cardio days. Lifting on consecutive days can be done if it does NOT overlap the muscle groups (one good example is the workouts “Chest/Shoulders/Tris” and “Back/Bis” — those can be done on consecutive days). But you can’t do pullups one day, then curls as part of the next day. And you can’t do pushups one day, then tricep work the next. You may think that by training harder, lifting more often, that you will build more muscle, but the opposite is true! You will actually be robbing your muscles of their chance to get stronger. Follow the 48 hour rule!
By alternating lift and cardio days, as well as taking a rest day or an ab-only day, it also gives your joints and ligaments some good spacing between being worked hard. An ideal workout calendar for me is 3 lift days, 2 cardio days, and 2 “other” days (like yoga, abs only, stretch, etc). This keeps my knees and ankles (yes, I’m an old man LOL!) from getting sore, keeps my muscles from wearing down, and still keeps me pushing play and seeing results every day.
Also, it’s important every few weeks to rest from your regular routine. Is the recovery week necessary? I get asked that a lot. And I totally get it. I remember when I was on my first round, and I was so fired up to get maximum results in a 90 day period that I wanted to push and push and push myself to the limit. The idea of taking a “recovery week” did not appeal to me. Why not just keep lifting hard? Wouldn’t that give me better results?
Well, I trusted in what the smart folks at Beachbody designed, so I took the recovery week, and I learned a couple things:
#1 — The recovery week is actually a tough week! It’s not a bunch of sitting around and stretching. Core Synergistics is an hour long, and it’s tough! The cardio is a little easier without Plyo on the schedule, but it still gets the heart rate up and the sweat flowing.
#2 — Giving the major muscle groups a week off actually gets them stronger, fully reinvigorated, and ready to take it up a notch as you start the next phase. I was shocked with how much stronger I was coming out of the recovery week.
I will always take my recovery weeks. While I love pushing myself, I must remember that muscles grow while resting, not while working. If I never give the muscles the extra rest they need after 3 weeks of hard lifting, my results will actually suffer! I know it sounds backwards, but it’s true.
It’s not just about the lifting. It’s about timing the workouts, timing the nutrition, and timing the supplements. So much goes into a successful physical transformation. And since the folks at Beachbody have put it into a complete plan for us, my advice is to follow their plan! Take the recovery week! Alternate lift and cardio days to rest the muscles. And supplement properly to refuel yourself and bounce back faster (with a post-workout supplement like Results/Recovery or something similar).
Don’t get me wrong, you can substitute, do more intense cardio (like Insanity, etc.), and create hybrids, but no matter what you develop as your training schedule, give your body those recovery weeks it needs and you’ll see better results in the end!
And what about taking time off between rounds? How long do I take between rounds, and what do I recommend?
Many will say to wait a week before going into the next round. I tried this after my first round and it didn’t work well for me. I felt I was losing momentum and rhythm. Since the final week of every round is a recovery week, that’s enough for me. I’ve always gone right back to the next round with no break. But if you feel your body needs a break for a few days, or even a week, that’s fine. Then get back at it!
So, should you bring it with every fiber of your being when you workout? ABSOLUTELY! Should you go as hard as you can? ABSOLUTELY! But should you also be smart enough to let your body heal from that assault and get stronger before you brutalize it again? You bet!
*Side note — cardio is a bit of a different animal. You aren’t doing cardio to build muscle. In fact, cardio won’t build muscle. So the 48 hour rule doesn’t apply to cardio. And in fact, you can do all the cardio you want (within reason). The key thing though, when I get asked about doing extra cardio, is to ask if the person has the TIME and the ENERGY to do the extra cardio. Do you like to jog in addition to P90X? Fine! If you have the TIME and the ENERGY. Do you play a sport? Fine! If you have the time and the energy. Do you want to swim, cycle, etc. in addition to the workouts. Fine! If you have the TIME and the ENERGY. We don’t want to let additional cardio wear out our ligaments and joints, and we don’t want to get run down to the point that our main workouts suffer. But if you aren’t having that problem, go ahead with extra cardio. I never did it myself. I didn’t have the time, and I decided to dial in my diet for max results so doing extra cardio to further burn calories wasn’t necessary. And I don’t believe extra cardio is necessary for any of you either. But if you like it, it doesn’t hurt a thing. Go for it!
I hope this makes sense and reminds you of yet another important aspect to maximizing your results!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
