strength training

rfechter

I am sure it has been mentioned before but is there any rule on how often you should strength train? Do muscles need a day of rest between days of training? I see that a lot of members on MFP do some strength training daily. I typically only complete 2 days of strength training a week.

operation_cute

When I was asking about frequency of strength routines, I was told 3 times per week full body, heavy lifting I Throw in about 5-10 min cardio to bring up my heart rate, do my routine, then enjoy some time in the pool, since I started the weight is actually dropping faster than I'd like haha

edit: oh and to answer the question about rest days, you should give your body between 24-48 hours rest between each strength workout, I strength train mon wed and fri then have a just cardio day on sundays and thursdays which gives me 2 days of just total rest

ozzy_q

Zooktography is pot on, at least a full day's rest between strength training sessions is ideal!

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

It depends if you're doing full body workouts or split. I do a four day body part split so every muscle group gets 72 hours of rest even though I lift every day. With full body workouts give it a daycin between. When you're new to lifting your recovery time is much shorter.

Docmahi

as others have said it depends on your split - I'm doing a push/pull/legs/off split right now, but for a beginner I would want them doing a 5x5 program which you really need a solid full day in between sessions to recover

aelunyu

I used to take 2-3 days off....then eventually I just stopped setting rest days in stone. I take a rest pretty naturally somewhere around the 6-10 day mark, though I've gone 31 days without a break before. I've never overtrained or seen a stunt in progress because my muscles were not recovered. The longer you've been training, and assuming you are not going max effort everyday, the faster your body should be able to adjust to training bouts.

The primary thing to consider is if you are enthusiastic about your training sessions. If intensity or the motivation to train suffers, or there is some physical element hinting for you to stop, it's probably something worth resting for. If you go to sleep at night thinking about the nuances of your morning workout, and getting excited about it. You are in a very good, primal place...in which case..who needs rest?

aelunyu

And yes, I do generally upper/lower. Sometimes i work my legs out 3 times a in a week. I actually got more development from the increased frequency rather than once a week.