Muscle Recovery Time

How much time do you really need to recover from a workout to achieve the best result? Unfortunately, this answer is not as cut and dried as the fitness industry would have you believe.

Despite all the rigorous scientific research to find the optimum recovery time, the simple truth is that we are not robots. Now, do these guidelines help? Of course. The people who print these are trying to help the general public by setting up a regiment that they can follow. And yes, this is extremely helpful. However, if you are constantly hitting plateaus, or you are not achieving the results you desire, you need to step back and reassess if the regiment is right for you.

For example: I like running. I have no trouble going out and running 15 miles one day, and working out later in the day. Recently I ran a marathon. The next day I stretched, did a short run and worked out. The following day I was back to my regular routine of exercise. This is not abnormal nor is it bad, despite someone may want to say about over-training. For some this may be way to much, but for me it works. 

The mainstream idea of over-training has one fatal flaw…..over-training is done when the person training has no idea of what their body needs and so they just simply push it too far without thinking. And yes, if you over train, you will end up getting hurt, or slowing down your progress. However, the amount of time needed to recover differs with each person.

When you learn to listen to your body over-training becomes a thing of the past. The more you look, the more you find people who somehow are able to recover faster, do more, go longer than what the science says is possible. This is nothing but humans being humans. We as humans do not fit neatly into little boxes all the time. If you begin to listen to yourself you will find that sometimes you need far less recovery time and others you need more. Some people can constantly recover faster while some people constantly need more time.

The bottom line is this. Regiments are set up for the reason of helping you achieve the results you desire. That being said, you have to begin to listen to your body and know when it is ok to do more, rest less, and push yourself and when you need more rest and more recovery time.