Give time for Muscle Recovery

It’s Wednesday night. Loud music fills the gym. People all around are doing their regular workout. Not Abner. For him, its the power weights. Thats what he joined the gym for anyway. He intends doing multiple set exercises on all his major muscle groups. His favorite song plays. He’s in the groove. This is it. He pumps iron like he has never done before, even though his body feels sore. No pain, no gain, he thinks. Then, it happens. Suddenly. All his energy is drained. He just cant get to lifting another weight. However, light it is. Time to come back to reality. Time for a break.

Countless people around the world come face to face with this phenomenon. Instead of gaining muscle after a series of workouts, there is a sudden rush of inactivity, a sudden inability to do anything. This is because when you undergo a rigorous workout, there are tiny tears that develop on the muscle fiber. This leads to a loss in muscle carbohydrates, which in turn disturbs the cells, calcium balance. All of this contribute to soreness in the muscles and a feeling of weakness. After a regular workout, the immune cells in your body respond to the muscle worked upon, and this causes your muscle to swell. The carbohydrate stock in your muscle being used up, it takes around a week for it to return to normalcy. And only after this does your muscle gain increase from how it originally was.

Different people exercise using different techniques and different levels of intensity since individual needs are different. For example, a person who works out to remain in shape works with much lesser intensity than a power lifter. Also, the recovery needs of people also differ. It is imperative to know what level of weightlifting one intends to do. This will determine the kind of workout and the time one needs to give for muscle relaxation. For example, an individual who works out to increase the volume of muscle needs to lift weights on a regular basis. Hence, the weights he lifts must weigh moderately, so that the relaxation period is shorter. In the same way, for some one into power lifting, while the weights definitely would weigh more, the time for relaxation also increases. This would mean that the heavier the weights the longer the relaxation period during sets.

Give time for muscle recovery as it is of utmost importance. Many people make the mistake of following a workout schedule based on the calendar. This is harmful as the body comes under intense strain, if the muscle is sore or stiff. Rather workout only when your body is relatively relaxed. Instead of burning out, take another day or two’s rest. Another method one can employ is to do different muscle-group exercise on different days. This will keep your workout constant.

There are also other factors like genes, rest, food patterns etc that differ from individual to individual. So do not worry if it takes time for you to recover from muscle breakdown. You could also eat healthy food between workouts that would promote the recovery process. Finally, do light exercise during intense workouts, as this facilitates the flow of blood in the body, leading to faster recovery. Even light activities like stretching and indulging in an ice bath prove beneficial as they reduce muscle soreness. And yes, drink lots of water.