Monique Rana - How to Rest after a High Intensity Full Body Workout

If you are doing a full body high intensity training (HIT) workout with weights, using proper form/technique and going to “muscle failure” – where you cannot lift another rep without using poor form- there should be rest times in between your gym sessions.

After a good strength training session your muscles actually become weaker. During the recovery period, they gradually gain strength and become slightly stronger than before. For a good exercise session to produce desired results, it must be followed by a non-training period that permits the muscles to fully recover and reach higher strength levels.

BodyTech recommends a rest day after an intense full body strength training session for maximum results. The key principle is not to train the same muscle groups every day. You need 24-48 hours rest/recovery for muscles to respond.

Recovery ability involves certain chemical reactions at a cellular level, these reactions are necessary for your body to over compensate and become stronger and leaner. Rest and recovery can be applied in a few different ways, throughout your programme- namely via rest days, rest weeks and de-load training (aka active recovery).There are two ways you can perform this so called deload training. You can either reduce intensity/frequency or just do something completely different for a week.

Rest days are critical to sports performance for a variety of reasons. Some are physiological and some are psychological. Rest is physically necessary so that the muscles can repair, rebuild and strengthen. For recreational athletes, building in rest days can help maintain a better balance between home, work and fitness goals.



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