A common mistake made by those who are looking to change their body composition is overworking their muscle groups. Not giving your body enough rest can be counterproductive for both weight loss plans and weight gain goals. However, if your muscles are not getting significant downtime during a bulking period, your results can be drastically hindered. If you ever find yourself not able to pack on the pounds like you are wanting, you may need to work more rest days into your schedule. Here is everything you need to know to answer the question, ‘how much rest does my body need to gain muscle?’
How Many Rest Days Should You Take?
There is no one size fits all setting on how to formulate your less active days, and how you do that may drastically differ from one person to the next. The majority of health and exercise experts qualify two days of rest as a sufficient amount of idle time for your muscles to recover. Still, you should always listen to your body if it is telling you that more rest is necessary. You are putting yourself at risk for many side effects of excessive exercising if you try to push your limits too often.
Active Rest
If you are coming up on one of your rest days, this does not necessarily mean you can’t work out, but you do want to ask yourself, ‘how much rest does my body need to gain muscle?’ You do want to be sure you are having a less strenuous active period compared to a heavy lifting session, and you can do this by taking a brisk walk, light run or quick yoga and stretching routine. Active rest will ensure you are still burning calories without putting extra stress on your muscles. Be sure to add Le-Vel Thrive products into your routine to ensure you are offering your body with the best supplements necessary to be in top shape, improve your joint and immune system function and support muscle growth.
Be Sure You Rest Specific Muscle Groups
Not only do you want to take the time to give your whole body a break, but you also want to cut your muscles some slack for at least 24 hours after you hit a specific group. Ideally, you should offer your body around 48 hours of recovery time if you can- up to 72 hours, depending on how you feel. For example, if you were to focus on legs one Monday morning, it would be in your best interest to wait until Wednesday morning to work your glutes and quads again. The soreness you feel after a lift is due to damage in your muscle fibers, and you want to be sure you are giving an ample amount of time for recovery.
Rest and How You Eat
Generally speaking, weight loss/gain is based 75% on what you eat and 25% on your exercise routine. If you are fueling your body with a variety of well-rounded nutrients, it will directly affect how your muscles recuperate. To be highly efficient in your active recovery means you are paying close attention not only to how much rest does my body need but also to what you feed your muscles. Your water intake also has a direct correlation to how your body responds to stress- the more, the better. Taking advantage of what healthy eating and drinking habits can do for your well-being is a useful tip in minimizing your rest days.
Summary
If the information above doesn’t point this out enough, there is a fine line between building body mass and overexercising. Take notice of your meal choices, water intake and resting periods- these are huge components to get you the results you are wanting. Take advantage of the vast research that is available and the professionals that are trained in offering advice to apply to the regime that will work well for you. We even wrote a few posts about some of the top ways to enhance recovery. Always consult your doctor for medical guidance on how to properly care for your body. As soon as you start to chip away at the stigma around having a lazy day, you will be well on your way to the figure of your dreams.
Tags: build muscle, rest
