Rest and Recuperation for Building Muscle By Mo Mendez
As you look over the difficulty of the heavy training required for putting on muscle mass you might have a tendency to become discouraged. But there is good news. All of the heavy-duty training that is necessary for more muscle mass also requires more rest and recuperation time. If you are training to get lean and mean, you rest less; if you are training for muscle mass, you rest more. The heavier weightlifting sessions require that the body be well rested. The body does not actually grow during heavy weightlifting; rather it is torn down. If you continually lifted heavy with no rest you would wreck your body in a hurry. Rest and recuperation are very important - vital elements of the mix for massive gains. Your body's basic time of growth occurs during sleep, so it makes sense to get a lot of sleep if you wish to maximize your growth potential. The more sleep the better, up to a point. Of course, not everyone's work schedule permits the best in a full night's sleep, but naps are also beneficial to keep the body fresh and growing.
In addition to allowing for abundant sleep time, some trainers point out the necessity of taking it easy when you are not lifting weights. This is particularly true if you have a difficult time gaining weight. Extra activities can drain your energy level and detract from the growth process. Taking it easy outside the gym is part of the program for gaining massive muscle size in a hurry. The more rest you have between training sessions the more rapidly you will make good progress.
One of the biggest threats to gaining muscle size is overtraining. Overtraining is just that -training over the limit of your body's ability to recuperate. Overtraining reverses your muscle growth and can cause injuries. Boredom is also a problem with overtraining. It is important to balance your training to avoid overtraining and yet get sufficient training time in to push the muscles to a new level of growth. This balance is a delicate item - it takes some work to achieve. The programs in this guide will help you balance your training so that the muscles are getting a full blast of iron yet enough time off to grow.
Should you engage in aerobic training during a size-training program? Generally, the less the better; however, there are a couple of great aerobic exercises you can use to keep the fat trimmed off and the muscles evident.
The behind the scenes training and preparation right up until Mo's overall win at the 2003 Musclemania Atlantic! Mo shares his secrets in this exciting new DVD release - Get your copy today! (1 hour)
