In order to make your muscle training mellow, firm, rigid and flexible, and keep it for a long time, you must understand the relationship between the two most basic elements of bodybuilding training: the arrangement of exercise and the recovery after training.
The amount of exercise refers to the stimulation of training on muscles, that is, the protein decomposition in muscle tissue is promoted through training. The function of recovery is to synthesize myofibrils and supplement a certain amount of protein, thus making muscle fibers stronger.
Muscle growth is accomplished through recovery period.
Muscle recovery and growth have a certain cycle, and training can only be arranged after the end of a cycle to achieve good results. If the muscles are not fully recovered and supplemented with nutrition between two trainings, the muscles will not grow, but will become stiff, which will affect further training. In other words, the real muscle growth takes place outside the gym, not inside.
Second, recovery time.
Some muscle tissues need 48-72 hours to recover under the conditions of adequate nutrition. Smaller muscles such as biceps brachii can recover within 48 hours, quadriceps femoris and back muscles can recover within 72 hours. Usually you can get a good recovery after practicing a muscle for 72 hours. It should also be understood that the recovery process runs through the whole body and all its systems, and is not limited to a certain muscle tissue. So training the next day is the best.
In addition, it should be pointed out that the longer the training time, the better the effect. The length of training time varies from person to person, and different ages, training purposes, physical fitness and nutritional status will have an impact.
In order to let the muscles have a full rest and absorb nutrients, it is sometimes necessary to stop training for a few days, especially if the endocrine system is out of balance due to overtraining. This is also the reason for training the next day. This is to give the whole nervous system enough time to recover in order to organize the next battle. And what you get is not only mental relaxation, but also physical comfort. The symptoms of overtraining are comprehensive reactions, mainly muscle fatigue, and worse, it will damage your other systems.
Third, the adjustment of training plan.
After you train for a period of time, the old training plan should be adjusted. Because muscles adapt to the stimulation intensity of the initial training plan, to further improve, it is necessary to increase the training intensity. But the recovery ability of the body does not increase with the increase of training intensity, strength and muscle.
For beginners, the arm circumference at the beginning is 33 cm, and you can lift 40 kg. After several years of practice, the arm circumference reaches 46 cm, which can be lifted 160 kg. It shows that the training volume and intensity have increased by 400%. However, the toughness did not reach this level, perhaps only increased by 50%. That is to say, when the arm circumference is 46 cm, the body suffers more fatigue than when the arm circumference is 33 cm. The stronger a bodybuilder is, the greater the fatigue caused by high-intensity training. This is why it takes longer to recover the arm circumference of 46 cm than that of 33 cm. If the latter can recover in two days, then the former needs 5-6 days to recover.
In order to make progress, you must increase the intensity of training, but the increase of intensity will bring more pressure to your recovery ability. So you must reduce the number of training groups while improving the training intensity. Of course, it depends on whether you increase muscle strength or muscle endurance.
Fourth, the diagnosis and treatment of overtraining
Not fully recovered after training, indicating overtraining. Typical symptoms are persistent fatigue, easy to get angry, poor sleep, bad stomach bittern, joint pain, headache, nausea and listlessness. Any symptom will reduce your enthusiasm for training and make you unable to do your best. Addiction to the gym is a precursor to this symptom. If you hit a wall during your recovery, the only treatment is to leave the gym completely until your training enthusiasm is rekindled. Of course, it's best not to touch this wall.
When you recover, you should analyze the training plan and re-plan the content of future training courses, either reducing the training density or reducing the training intensity. When you return to the gym to resume training, you must stick to the new training plan and completely abandon the old training plan.
Adequate sleep is essential for recovery. When sleeping, the balance of pH in the body will be quickly restored, the nervous system will be repaired, and growth hormone will be secreted.
A balanced diet is the best guarantee for the best training. If you separate diet from training/recovery, 56%-60% of your calories come from carbohydrates and 25%-30% from fat. The main compensation means to promote recovery is to eat foods containing vitamins B and C. Vitamin B helps to absorb protein and various amino acids, and vitamin C helps to improve the immune system and prevent colds, pharyngolaryngitis and various infections. The destruction of the immune system is also the result of overtraining.
If you don't fully recover, all your training will be in vain. You will lose your muscle circumference and strength and feel listless. You know, your progress depends not on training harder and spending more time than others, but on your muscle recovery.