How Much Rest Between Workouts is Best For Muscle Growth?
For skinny guys and girls who are looking to pack on rock solid muscle mass getting your nutrition plans and exercise routines worked out is hugely important...but what's also probably as important is knowing exactly how often you should be training and how much rest you are getting between workouts.
Many folks fall into the trap of either overtraining or undertraining since they haven't placed enough of a priority on workout scheduling...and so end up either pushing their muscles too much or not pushing them enough.
Here we're going to take a look at how much rest you should be looking to get between your workouts and why ignoring this advice can cause you serious problems in the long run.
How Rest Time Can Affect Your Muscle Building Results
Rest time can have a large impact on your ability to gain muscle mass, since it is only while we rest that our bodies are able to repair our muscles aiding future growth.
Spending every day down the gym, while it may seem like a good idea (the whole "more is better" notion), will actually prevent your muscles from ever fully being able to recover and for you to reach your potential.
Not to mention the fact that your workout performance will be poorer and so you won't be lifting as heavy as you should, and also that you are more liable to suffer injuries due to insufficient rest between workouts.
How Much Rest Between Workouts?
I would recommend that you look to try and structure your workouts with a view of getting at least one off-day between each of your workouts. This would result in you working out every other day, and getting a full 48 hours between each workout (providing you work out at the same time each day).
At least 48 hours seems to be a good amount of rest between workouts and enough to let your muscles recover.
The Best Way To Structure Your Workouts
The easiest way to structure this is to perform all-body workouts instead of split workouts - split workouts tend to alternate between upper body and lower body, often having you working out for 6 days per week.
In the case of splits, even though you may think you are resting your lower body muscle groups, you may be inadvertently working them, or vice versa. For instance, Squats are a predominantly lower body exercise, but they also significantly work the back and upper body.
Also, your abs and other core muscle groups will be working hard every day, as many exercises will be employing these muscle groups.
By performing all-body workouts 3 - 4 times per week you can a) spend less days down the gym, b) keep your rest time between workouts consistent, c) avoid overtraining, d) work out all major muscle groups equally, and e) focus on compound exercises that will help you to build muscle faster.
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