Welcome to the training expert Q&A section for October 2007. Each month we take a training question from the forum or one recieved via email and answer it in detail here. Would you like to get your question answered in next months issue? Simply register for free at the forum and post it up! All good questions will get answered here. This month's training question is below:
October Training Question:
I train each muscle three times per week. But why aren’t I growing?
Answer:
One of the most important training principles is “rest and recovery.” The majority of training adaptations occur during recovery. When you first start training the body requires more rest than experienced trainers. The body becomes more resilient with experience and recovers quicker.
Research has shown that the body requires a minimum of 48 hours of recovery before training for the same bodypart again. Depending on several other components like training intensity, nutrition, the recovery time may be even longer.
Typically the maximum recovery time will be about 72 hours. There are multiple approaches and considerations to recovery and one of the most popular and effective approaches to recovery is “active recovery” which involves low intensity training for a week or two after some six months of hard training. Other major considerations to total recovery is sleeping 7-8 hrs per night, keeping stress levels low, and make sure that both nutrition and hydration are optimum.
Get your questions answered, join our forum free now!
About Doug Lawrenson:
Doug Lawrenson is our resident diet guru & fitness over on the Muscle&Strength Forum. Doug has had experience as a bodybuilder, coach and judge at national competition level. If you have questions for Doug or need some advice you can chat to Doug on the forum. Doug is on the forum almost every day!
Doug has written some in-depth and informative articles that have been featured on Muscle&Strength.com. To read some of his articles, check out the diet & nutrition articles section of this this website.
