Active Recovery days?
Halziees
Posts: 42 Member
So... I am trying to gain some new muscle. I am lifting 4x/week currently, and following the Power Muscle Burn lifting program. I put in about an hour and a half lifting every session... that includes warming up with cardio for 10 minutes prior to work out, then warm-up sets.
My question is... on my off days, do I just rest entirely? Or do I still put in some concentrated effort towards cardio? I am a fidgety person in general, always take stairs, walk to the store instead of drive, park far away when I do drive somewhere, etc.
But I feel supremely lazy not doing something purposeful on my off days. Should I be doing like 30 minutes cardio on off days? Or is it better for muscle growth if I just relax and let myself heal up on those days, relying on my general nervous energy/moving about all day to be enough in terms of active recovery?
My question is... on my off days, do I just rest entirely? Or do I still put in some concentrated effort towards cardio? I am a fidgety person in general, always take stairs, walk to the store instead of drive, park far away when I do drive somewhere, etc.
But I feel supremely lazy not doing something purposeful on my off days. Should I be doing like 30 minutes cardio on off days? Or is it better for muscle growth if I just relax and let myself heal up on those days, relying on my general nervous energy/moving about all day to be enough in terms of active recovery?
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Replies
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There are mixed feelings about this, but I think that in general, Active Recovery is the most current way of thinking even if you are trying to gain. Personally, I don't like sitting on my butt all day, thinking about my DOMS. If I get up and move, I feel better mentally and physically. Active rest has been shown to decrease the effects of DOMS also (one of the very few things that does).
Just keep in mind that any extra activity you do means extra calories burned. You will have to play around with your intake to make sure the scale continues in the right direction.0 -
I find gentle walking helps, as well as foam rolling and stretching (make sure you warm up before stretching if you're stiff or tight before you start - from experience this can be a recipe for pain!). Giving your body proper time to rest and rejuvenate is really important though so don't feel you have to push yourself 7 days a week.0
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Do mobility work and yoga. You don't burn that many calories and it will help you lift better.0
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There are mixed feelings about this, but I think that in general, Active Recovery is the most current way of thinking even if you are trying to gain. Personally, I don't like sitting on my butt all day, thinking about my DOMS. If I get up and move, I feel better mentally and physically. Active rest has been shown to decrease the effects of DOMS also (one of the very few things that does).
Just keep in mind that any extra activity you do means extra calories burned. You will have to play around with your intake to make sure the scale continues in the right direction.
thank you! keeping my calories sufficient enough seems to be my main issue at the moment... so I am thinking maybe I will cut cardio to just one day per week, not counting my usual walks and such, and see how things go? I agree tho, when I have pretty significant DOMS, getting up and moving helps a whole lot. so maybe my purposeful cardio is best saved for the day after leg day, haha.I find gentle walking helps, as well as foam rolling and stretching (make sure you warm up before stretching if you're stiff or tight before you start - from experience this can be a recipe for pain!). Giving your body proper time to rest and rejuvenate is really important though so don't feel you have to push yourself 7 days a week.
thanks for the advice! I do often feel like I have to go-go-go every day, so this is helpful to hear.
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I farm so I have to move about on my lifting and non-lifting days - I don't find that it has held back my progress...0
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There are mixed feelings about this, but I think that in general, Active Recovery is the most current way of thinking even if you are trying to gain. Personally, I don't like sitting on my butt all day, thinking about my DOMS. If I get up and move, I feel better mentally and physically. Active rest has been shown to decrease the effects of DOMS also (one of the very few things that does).
Just keep in mind that any extra activity you do means extra calories burned. You will have to play around with your intake to make sure the scale continues in the right direction.
THIS
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Most folk thing there body is a machine and the truth is your body is not a machine. Always give your body time to rest and heal itself. You'll thx yourself down the road!0
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Active recovery is fine, as long as the "recovery" part of the phrase is focused on more than the "active" part. By that I mean don't go all out. It's okay to want to stay active, your muscles will recover quicker though the more you rest. I would do some mobility work, yoga, stretch, etc. maybe a light walk... nothing too strenuous though!0
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Really good advice by yessimpson & sjohnson_1. I personally feel that stretching, yoga, foam rolling, just walking is all good for long term progress.
I've seen before often where people advice to do cardio on offdays, which I feel is a bad idea if you do this routinely.
Doing cardio (if you choose) on the same day as lifting (if you choose) is the probably the best as long as you do relax in general the following day. Although keep in mind one will suffer slightly, so its in your best interest to do first what is more important to you.0 -
If you lift heavy and want your muscles to recover, you need dem rests. It's boring, but...the gainz.
Lol I'm sitting here right now after squatting last night and I'm like, *kitten* I wanna lift. But nah. Gotta rest for the gainz.0 -
So... I am trying to gain some new muscle. I am lifting 4x/week currently, and following the Power Muscle Burn lifting program. I put in about an hour and a half lifting every session... that includes warming up with cardio for 10 minutes prior to work out, then warm-up sets.
My question is... on my off days, do I just rest entirely? Or do I still put in some concentrated effort towards cardio? I am a fidgety person in general, always take stairs, walk to the store instead of drive, park far away when I do drive somewhere, etc.
But I feel supremely lazy not doing something purposeful on my off days. Should I be doing like 30 minutes cardio on off days? Or is it better for muscle growth if I just relax and let myself heal up on those days, relying on my general nervous energy/moving about all day to be enough in terms of active recovery?
Rest completely otherwise you will not gain weight or muscle as fast as you want.0 -
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After my earlier post and just out of curiosity, I turned on the feature on my cellphone that measures my steps and it turns out that on a typical workday (which is most days, being a farmer), I walk 5 miles or therabouts.
This doesn't seem to have hampered my progress...0 -
I think going for a long walk or doing one of the gentler types of yoga, something like that, would be nice for the off days. I understand what you mean. You want to keep moving, but you don't want to build up repetitive motion injuries or keep your muscles from building.0
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I like you!If you lift heavy and want your muscles to recover, you need dem rests. It's boring, but...the gainz.
Lol I'm sitting here right now after squatting last night and I'm like, *kitten* I wanna lift. But nah. Gotta rest for the gainz.
I'm restin for da gainz too (with a glass of Malbec) Gainzzzzz
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SteveJWatson wrote: »I farm so I have to move about on my lifting and non-lifting days - I don't find that it has held back my progress...
Yeah but no but yeah but....you're special innit!
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Springfield1970 wrote: »SteveJWatson wrote: »I farm so I have to move about on my lifting and non-lifting days - I don't find that it has held back my progress...
Yeah but no but yeah but....you're special innit!
I'm attributing my success to the magical powers of beer...0 -
So... I am trying to gain some new muscle. I am lifting 4x/week currently, and following the Power Muscle Burn lifting program. I put in about an hour and a half lifting every session... that includes warming up with cardio for 10 minutes prior to work out, then warm-up sets.
My question is...on my off days, do I just rest entirely? Or do I still put in some concentrated effort towards cardio? I am a fidgety person in general, always take stairs, walk to the store instead of drive, park far away when I do drive somewhere, etc.
But I feel supremely lazy not doing something purposeful on my off days. Should I be doing like 30 minutes cardio on off days? Or is it better for muscle growth if I just relax and let myself heal up on those days, relying on my general nervous energy/moving about all day to be enough in terms of active recovery?
You can have an active rest day but I think that's different than putting some concentrated effort towards cardio. As an example, I have two kids...a dog...a house with a yard, etc...I'm not sitting around on my *kitten* doing nothing ever.
My dog doesn't care if it's my rest day...she still needs to go for her walk. My kids don't care if it's my rest day...they still want to play with dad or go to the zoo, etc. My grass doesn't care if it's my rest day...it still needs mowed. The weeds don't care if it's my rest day, they still need pulled. The air conditioner doesn't care if it's my rest day...it still needs fixed. Etc, etc, etc, etc....
Yes..rest from vigorous and even moderate activity...but seriously...this notion that one has to simply do nothing is ridiculous...who has the kind of life?0 -
SteveJWatson wrote: »Springfield1970 wrote: »SteveJWatson wrote: »I farm so I have to move about on my lifting and non-lifting days - I don't find that it has held back my progress...
Yeah but no but yeah but....you're special innit!
I'm attributing my success to the magical powers of beer...
Beer, fresh country air!
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Powerful0
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