Recover(Rest) days

In regards to muscular growth you must give your rest days the same respect you give your training days. Going to the gym and training is what stimulates the muscle to grow, but without rest the stimulated muscle doesn’t have the opportunity to repair and recover, in return making it stronger . Think of the muscle as a scab. Once there is a wound(muscular damage) there needs to be a period in which that area is untouched allowing for the area to actually heal. If we keep picking at the scab(Overtraining) then it will impede the ability for the scab(stimulated muscle) to fully heal. Now how many rest days, when, and why you take them are very important.

There are many variables that vary from person to person that dictates rest days and when they should be utilized. For example, how hard you train, what you do for work, what you do in your free time, and of course your genetics.

If you go to the gym and have low intensity(in layman’s terms not training hard) during your session then your frequency of training can be at a higher rate because your not really creating any muscular damage. You may create some stimulation but nothing that is creating trauma that requires days to recover from. This does not mean you will not grow, but you will without a doubt impede the rate at which you do. This is why the people who look like they are training with a purpose and giving it their all look different than the people who talk in-between each set and are checking their phones. The higher the intensity the higher the overall stress level is on the targeted area and central nervous system which will produce more growth but will require more time to repair and recover so your frequency would have to be much lower in order to meet that demand.

Now when it comes to what you do for work if you have someone who has a physically demanding job like a construction worker then rest days will most likely be more prominent in their split because their body is going through more stress than say someone who works at a desk in which their body gos through less stress allowing for more overall recovery.

In regards to what you do in your free time, if you like to go bicycle riding, hiking, or running on your rest days then your output is going to be higher which is going to take away from your recovery. Now that doesn’t mean that you should just sit and do nothing on your rest days but a high heart rate with vigorous activity on your off day will impede your bodies ability to rest/recover/grow. But a calm walk or hike could have the opposite affect and could actually help recovery. But overall rest days are rest days for a reason. We want to rest and allow for out bodies to properly recover.

As far as genetics there are some people that can just handle more frequency than others. A great example of that is Ronnie Coleman. Ronnie trained 6x a week 2hrs at a time at a high intensity with a full time job as a police officer. Most would not be able to handle that frequency without a job. But this is a great example on how some people are just genetically able to train more and get away with it. But most need a day off every few days, especially if you are consistently progressive overlaoding.

Now other then the obvious recovery aspect rest days have other reasons as well. If you feel overrun, tired, and just generally fatigued then instead of going to the gym even if its after a rest day you might be better off allowing for more time to recover and get back to feeling normal. Your body is telling you that it is fatigued for a reason, pushing it is not going to be in your benefit.