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Importance of Rest from Your Workouts

By: Karen Van Shieck

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Relaxation and rest are critical to a successful fitness program. That means that you can chisel yourself into a hard, sexier body just by vegetating. You rip your muscle fibers when you workout. As the fibers regenerate, they become bigger and stronger. It is during this recovery period that your body changes.

I always remind my clients to rest, stretch and listen to their bodies...

Get enough sleep
When you go to bed, your body and mind rejuvenate. Your normal hormone levels are also disturbed when you are sleep deprived, thereby, depleting you of required energy to get you prepared for an efficient workout. You will surely get an unproductive workout and crave sugar as a substitute source of energy.

Based on a study at Stanford University of 1,000 subjects who did not get sufficient sleep per night, the subjects had a greater body fat content compared to the control subjects who had at least seven hours of sleep each night.

Give yourself days off from your workouts
Give yourself a minimum of 24 hours between workouts. Take a minimum of one day off weekly. You can still get an exceptional figure from weight training twice every week. Do not strength train more than five times a week because all your hard work would not get you anywhere if your do not let your body recover.

A huge percentage of bodybuilding professionals have confessed that their biggest mistake when working out is over training. Your muscles are going to require rest if they need to regenerate. In situations like this, muscles that are worked to frequently do not have time to heal, no muscle gain will occur. If you are training everyday with a lot of vigor and intensity you are surely going to over strain yourself. Any part of the body that is pushed to complete muscular failure could take anywhere from five to ten days to renew it.

Keep in mind that you can still over train even if you work another part of your body the next day. As an example, if you work your quadriceps to failure, then attempt heavy bench presses the very next day, you can still inhibit your muscle growth. After a hard workout of the leg, the human body starts the process of recovery from the blow it has received by the workout.

You cannot rely on your system to get over an arduous workout the accompanying day unless you ingest steroid hormones or other stimulants to handle the catabolic operations applicable within your body. Make rest and recuperation a part of your exercise regimen.

Do not neglect spasms and pains
You are just setting yourself for injury when you ignore muscle tenderness or tightness. If you feel any distress while training, stop. If you feel tightness, stop to stretch the tight muscle. Better yet, stretch after your warm-up and at the end of your workout to keep your body functioning at its finest.

Withdraw from taking painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs
Delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS as it is called by exercise physiologists, is characterized by sometimes muscle tenderness, muscle weakness and a decrease in range of motion. It usually peaks about 24 to 72 hours after an extreme cardiovascular or strength exercise event. Whereas, anti-inflammatory drugs do look as if they can reduce muscle soreness during DOMS, further examination shows that they could slow down the ability of the muscles to repair the damage.

Eat properly
According to a study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, subjects who snacked with a 4-to-1 ratio of carbs to protein within 30 minutes of their workout, offset muscle damage the most. This is because, after a workout, when the body is damaged and exhausted it needs to be repaired immediately. Therefore, it requires immediate nourishment.

Get the most immediate bounce back by drinking your meal in fluid form because your body absorbs liquid more efficiently than solids. Most grocery stores sell ready to drink protein shakes at reasonable prices. Make sure that fat and sugar contents are under 2 grams per serving. Consume your shake with an apple, small banana or one and half cup of berries.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Rochester Athletic Club NY, Rochester Health Club NY and Rochester Personal Training NY dedicate their services to fitness and health. Rochester NY Health and Fitness Center, Certified Personal Trainers of Rochester NY and Please Rate this Article

 

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