How long does it really take for full muscle recovery?
Any ideas?
Have you ever been given advice that you should let a muscle fully recover before working that muscle again?
Hopefully, you haven't given that advice to others.
Have you ever been told that it takes about 7 days for a muscle to fully recover from a workout? Therefore, you should only work a muscle once per week.
Have you heard that before?
Most likely, you have because it's all over the Internet, all over magazines, and all over forums and message boards.
What's the REAL Truth? Does it Really Take a Muscle 7 Days to Recover?
Is there any truth to the above?
Does it really take 7 days for a muscle to fully recover from a workout?
Alright, I've asked too many questions. Now, it's time to get to the answer and the truth once and for all.
There is no truth at all to the above statements. They were made by someone who has no idea what he/she is talking about. He/she is simply repeating what some other so called “expert” told he/she.
That's all.
Muscle recovery is dependent on too many factors for someone to say that it takes 7 days to fully recover from a workout. 7 days isn't even a good guideline that fits the majority of people.
7 days is simply a number someone came up without any evidence at all. It fits the weekly schedule well, so someone randomly chose this as a guideline.
Let's look at two scenarios to prove my point…
Muscle Building Scenario #1
Let's say you completely trash a muscle group by going to complete failure and working it for a few hours one day.
You do drop sets, supersets, giant sets, and rest/pause sets to completely exhaust the muscle group.
Let's also say that you aren't accustomed to this type of workout.
Over the next several days, you are very sore and can barely move that muscle group without pain.
You think that's good since some “expert” on a message board told you that soreness is good.
They tell you the more sore the better. So, you're happy until you spend the next several months working so hard for hardly any results at all.
Muscle Building Scenario #2
You work the same muscle group with 1 exercise for 3 sets that are close to failure but not complete failure.
The weight you use is significant and provides a muscle building stimulus.
You are accustomed to this type of workout, but the weight is heavier than ever.
You get a slight stiffness in that muscle group a day later but nothing too extreme. You do everything perfectly in regards to rest and recovery.
This scenario follows the WLC System guidelines as the first scenario does not.
Which Muscle Building Scenario is Better?
After reading through the two scenarios above, do you really think it takes 7 days for the muscle to fully recover from both of those workouts?
It's going to take much longer to recover from the first scenario than the second, right? That is correct.
How can anyone suggest that each and every scenario takes the same amount of time for a muscle to recover from a workout?
You just can't! It depends on too many factors.
A muscle can take more than a week to fully recover from a workout. It can take much longer in some instances for a muscle to fully recover. Why do we need to wait until a muscle fully recovers in order to work it again?
We do not. Do we really have no faith in the human body to handle another weight lifting workout before a muscle fully recovers?
Does it look like Olympic lifters waste away from working a muscle group several times per week? It sure doesn't look that way to me.
Don't Underestimate the Power of the Human Body
The human body can continue to repair a muscle even when that same muscle is damaged again through another weight lifting workout. Have some faith in your body!
There's no reason to wait 7 days before you work a muscle group again.
Science has even suggested that the muscle building process is greatly enhanced through another workout before the muscle is fully recovered. Amazing, huh?
You have all of these so-called experts out there giving bad advice to people. People are wasting years of progress because of these myths.
The muscle building process takes place directly after your workout for about a 48 hour window.
After that, the muscle building process is slowed almost to a halt — not completely stopped but it's crawling.
If you worked your chest on Monday afternoon, the huge majority of the muscle building process has been completed in your chest by Wednesday afternoon.
But, you listened to the Internet expert and waited until next Monday to work your chest again. You just wasted 5 full days waiting for your chest to fully recover for no reason at all.
STOP Wasting Time and Start Getting Faster and Higher Quality Results from Your Time in the Gym
Every week… you waste 5 full days when only working each muscle group once per week.
You waste a total of 260 days per year waiting for nothing to happen when you could have been building more muscle.
Our programs work each muscle group more frequently than once per week. You get more muscle building opportunities, and you don't waste time.
Why would you wait around each week for nothing to happen?
Go out there and make it happen.
No more wasting time with the WLC System. It's time to change the ways of the world. Start using our guidelines here at WLC, and you'll see why you should have started this a long time ago.
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beth says
atI’ve been working out for years and although I’m strong I have difficulty getting those nice cuts in my arms and legs. I know this is because of my diet and have try ed so hard to change without success. The reason for this is, although I don’t eat junk I hate vegetables. “ALL VEGETABLES “. I have just come to the realization that without proper food I’m doomed. Do you have any helpful suggestions, for such an unusual case lol
Jon says
atIt all comes down to volume and frequency. If you don’t hit a body part too hard, but hit it 3 times a week, you’ll be fine. If you do a bodybuilder split and completely annihilate each body part, yeah it will probably take a week. I have gotten great success with both forms of programming, though I think that I enjoy high frequency the most.