+ 9 How Long does it take you to FULLY Recover a muscle group before being able to train it again?
As I feel like I am Aging into a Dinosaur, I am noticing that muscle recovery is taking longer and longer these days. I swear it never use to take this long before I could hit things hard again (no homo).
I know there are a lot of factors and variables that come into play here, such as the exercise(s) you are performing eg. Recovering from a Deadlift session is going to take longer than recovery from a Bicep session, Age, Daily protein intake, training session length, sleep quality, Strength of the compounds you run and so on ....
But lets assume an average amount of time you can bank on in terms of rest days away from that particular muscle group, proper rest, usual routines and no outside factors disrupting things - how long do you generally take to recover a muscle group before you can safely hit it hard again without the risk of injury? 
(Remember to hit the 'Vote' button guys to make it count in the tally - & REMEMBER you cannot see the votes yourself until you Vote!! Haha)
How long does it take you to Fully recover a muscle group before being able to train it again?
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3 days (43% of votes) 2 days (20% of votes) I do full body M-W-F and it works for me. Toss in some HGH and BPC-157 and you might not have to wait 4 days like 16% of people on here voted.
Do you find the BPC helps for healing in general? May actually be worth adding into a normal steroid cycle
For me personally at 43 years old, once every 4/5 days if doing all my volume in one session, 3 days if I split it up to 2x per week.
All I know is that I overtrain
Its all about finding that fine line where you damage the muscle enough for it to be a productive workout, but that you haven't gone too far to mess up upcoming workouts. Always better to stop a little short than to go way overboard I have found.
I have a dedicated chest day and then a dedicated shoulder day 3 days later; usually Mon/Weds. That lets my focus on flat and decline lifts to really hit my middle and lower chest. Then I do overhead barbell press, incline bench + some isolated accessory lifts really targeting the delts.
After a collar bone injury a few years ago my left rotator cuff won’t allow me to fully train “press” motions to potential if I try to do it in one day.
I split legs/squats and deadlifts/back like that too. I’d end up with a fucking hernia if I did deadlifts and squats on the same day at weight.
I also find if my shoulders are stiff in any way, it really limits what I can press on bench - totally kills any bar speed and power. Shoulders have to be the worst body part for injuries of all kinds, and the most delicate. Yeah totally agree - try doing squats after a deadlift session with your back trying to cave in constantly, plus your CNS should be shot after doing deads too. Then again we are all built differently and can tolerate different amounts - I've seen many guys on here that can work a full day in construction and then go and hammer out deadlifts in a gym afterwards!! Don't know how they do it.
Like fucking Eddie Hall when he was an up and coming strongman would work 12-15 hour shifts as a diesel mechanic then go train for 3 hours! Absolutely insane!!
Yeah working on the fuckin Articulated Trucks all day long!!! The guy has always been on another level lets face it - that video of him benching 265kg for 6r on the bendy bar was the most nutty thing I ever saw, he was laid flat backed too on the bench. That guy has done so well for himself nowadays its untrue with all the Youtube stuff. He is very entertaining though. I know which UK Lab he supposedly uses too.
The way you put that, makes sense to me. I needed that tip Press, good looks:)
'Coach Press' LMAO
and so it is Coach:)
Now Drop to the deck and give me 100!!
lol, 100!? That’s a tall order coach.
We’re gonna have to break that up a bit. I just got out of bed, so that’s one. I owe you 99
I am talking Press-ups not Burpees bro
It’s a press-up when you sleep on the floor Coach
What the Hell's goin on here - my students don't sleep on the damn floor?!!!
I can’t tell! I just did! 23Sparta isn’t just handle Coach, it’s a lifestyle
I'll send ya some Bitcoin over to buy a Bed my man!!
Lmao!!!! Press, you already know I’d just buy gear and still sleep on the floor
Hey!!! You still owe me 99 ...
98…. your message made me get up off the floor to go take a piss
LMAO You make it sound like you are living in some kind of deprived squat mate - I hope you are able to get everything you need pal.
LMFAO!!!! I’m dying right now Press, I can feel your concern from across the pond as I use a candle to warm up my can of beans lol. I can assure you brother, I am doing very well out here, but do live a very militant and disciplined lifestyle
HAHAHAHA I'M DYING!!!!
Is it at the point bro of having to hold your piss in whilst you eat the beans, then using the empty can to gather your piss so you can heat that up over the candle too????!!! Lmfao
Spot on Press! Heat my beans, hurry up and eat them before the candle goes out so I can gather up and warm my piss in the empty can which will then allow me to fix my crashed gear. It’s miserably cold under this bridge
Bro you are supposed to drink the piss to save yourself before using it to fix the gear!!!! LMFAO
I can’t drink the piss. I have to record my girlfriend drinking it and post the video on onlyfans. This will allow me make a few bucks for more beans, candles and gear
Mate You are Hilarious - Wicked sense of Humour!!
You as well Press…. wicked af
HAHAHAHA TRUTH!!!!
Dang I see a lot of 3+ days here I’m never sore after the second day maybe I’m not going hard enough
Some people just have better natural recovery ability than others do, plus you have all the other deciding factors that affect recovery times like how demanding/laborous your job is, how well and how much you can eat during each meal, how much sleep you get every night, if you have children meaning you cannot rest up and do nothing as much, if you socialise a lot, what bodytype you are - A Mesomorph will trounce an ectomorph every single time in recovery ability.
I was a solid 3 days for pretty much everything until 31 y/o, 3 just isn't enough anymore. I'm like 70-80% healed enough to honestly hit a muscle well after 3 days rest. It could be sleep or something I'm doing out of the gym though. Also, if I'm playing hockey, I can't do a hypertrophy/bodybuild program well, my lifts are like 20-30% less.... Wish I could do both, love both.
I hit a soul crushing leg day last Saturday with my boy who is much more advanced than me. I am just now feeling like I could possibly do legs again. I mostly hit muscle groups once a week, sometimes two depending on how the days fall. I’ve gotten much better results making sure I take 2 rest days a week. If I go balls to the wall on a workout, I am not hitting that muscle again until the following week.
My bis and triceps take about a full week. Legs? About 4 to 5 days. It’s different for every part
Sometimes my triceps can linger on for quite some time too, it can completely destroy a pressing session if they are still sore from last session.
I've played around with variable rotation with more rest for tougher body parts.
I Forget exactly, but it was something like this.
1 Legs, Biceps
2 Chest, Triceps, Abs, Calves
3 Back
4 Biceps, Abs, Calves
5 Triceps
6 Chest, Abs, Calves
7 Legs, Back, Biceps
8 Triceps
9 Abs, Calves
10 Chest, Biceps
11 Back, Abs, Calves
12 Legs
Then start over. Take a rest day, or days when you feel like you need it.
You can adjust this for yourself, but this was the general gist.
I feel the soreness if I haven't been to the gym in a long time on day three. I say 4 days. Maybe a different store in my 20s, but as i age it takes more time. Even on PEDs.
It becomes frightening doesn't it when it takes longer to recover even on gear, you wonder just how bad it would be if you were still natural!
Only 6% say 7 days … that shocked me.. in my experience if your training high intensity your going to require at least 5 days 7 being optimal. 46% saying three days …. Get out of here there is no way you are recovering fully in 3 days if your training to your full potential at high intensity unless your a genetic freak and even then top competitive bodybuilders can’t recover at that rate
IMO, it comes down to the body part trained and with how much intensity. There are weeks that my lats hurt for 5 days and the same week my chest isn't sore after 3. I train to failure for most every exercise, allowing for some common sense at times. There are so many variables to consider. I saw Jay Cutler on YouTube not too long ago and he said the average is 72 hours. I am inclined to think the CNS is what really needs the most rest.
I did an upper/lower split M/T was heavy upper/lower, Wednesday rest, T/F was more hypertrophy. I adapted pretty quickly, but it was really more of an experiment to keep my training fresh.
One thing for sure is the older you get the longer the CNS takes to recover, I remember when I was younger mine was never knocked out for more than 1 to 2 days after deadlifts. Now it literally can be 3 to 4 days. You can be as recovered as you want but if you can can't the nerve signals fully firing to the muscles to contract then training is pointless.
Muscles recover faster than people realize unless they’ve taken a hiatus from training. Their muscles could be good to go but tendons and CNS could absolutely not be recovered. That’s why you see folks on gear ripping shit off the bone. AAS have their muscles recovering much faster than other parts of the body.
I think it could be largely dependent on bodybuilding training vs powerlifting training too. If I’m doing bodybuilding stuff that’s lighter, long eccentric, deep stretch under load, for 10+ reps til failure I’m good to train that same part ~3 days later. If I’m in a powerlifting cycle and pushing the heavy ass squats/deads for the 1-3 rep range I might need 7+ days to go again even though my muscles feel fine. The fatigue from all the axial loading gets intense. Biggest mistake I see younger folks making. Trying to rip those heavy deads 2x a week and then they start getting weaker and weaker each week.
Haven’t met a person yet who can hang with me in the gym either, so I know I train hard. They always do 1 leg day with me, end up laying on the floor, then have excuses about why they can’t make it back to the gym with me. Granted you look like a goddamn gorilla based on your avatar so I bet we would have some great times in the gym
Yeah Fuck that - I wouldn't try and keep up with someone who does a 5k run every morning BEFORE lifting weights!!! LMFAO
So buddy, I don't know how much you know about the CNS and how it works. But in say deadlifts where it is sending of a lot of nerve signals to engage a tonne of muscle to move a bigger weight, why does this 'tire' it out? Why can the CNS not just send a load of signals and then after a workout still be good to go the next day? What is it about what it is doing that makes you feel so tired and fatigued?
So I don’t think the CNS system is tired per se. I think we use “CNS” as the “other” category for fatigue that would be too complicated to explain otherwise. Muscle cell damage (aka soreness) and tendon micro tears are easy to explain. What about the extreme loading/stress put on the spine during deadlifts? Motor-neurons in peripheral areas of the body I.e. the muscles being worked in the exercise? Those two things aren’t really “CNS”, but I feel we all classify them under such. There is research showing contractile velocity after heavy squats/deadlifts is decreased due to motor neurons locally (quads in this study I believe) just unable to fire fully. Plus I bet there’s a self preservation effect going on after putting the spine through that much load, sort of how the brain won’t let you contract a muscle fully if it hurts in order to keep you from injuring it further. Don’t know if that mental blunting of force generation to protect the spine would technically be “CNS” but it seems like an acceptable category to place it under. Next there’s gotta be some adrenaline response fatigue. I’m sure you’ve been extra hyped up to do a extremely heavy set of squats/deads then just mentally felt out of it afterwards. Then you try to lift something maybe 50-100 lbs lighter as a drop set and it feels heavier than the heavy set you just lifted. I’d classify that as “CNS” fatigue as well even though it may not truly be your CNS that is drained.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard of folks like Eddie Hall say he was trying deadlifts twice a week because his muscles felt recovered but he kept getting weaker. Then he switched to a heavy pull every 7-10 days maybe 14 days and that’s when the weight blew up and he pulled that 500kg. Be willing to bet he was on so much gear that his muscles were likely recovered damn near instantly after each training session lol
I've been trying to find the ideal training routine/timing/frequency for deadlifts the past few years, keeping it getting stronger whilst not waiting too long and losing the groove with it, whilst ALSO not detroying all my other lifts in the process which it has a habit of doing!! Lol I settled on every 10 days too being the prime frequency to keep strength progressing, I have tried many times at the 7 or 8 day mark and even though I feel ready and no longer sore - its a different story once I start to get into the heavier loads. I always stay sore around the top of the hamstring tendons and glute insertions, if I am still sore there I just cannot pull heavily and break the ground. Even if I go light then all I do is add extra fatigue and recovery onto an already sore lift that needs to recover. Ohh Bro for sure, I am sure you have seen the videos where he says he has been training deads and his eyeball popped out of its socket, so he put the weight down and pushed it back into the socket LMFAO And then got back to it
Seen many a video with him saying whatever it takes to be the best I'll do it, I will basically risk dying to beat the other guy. So basically what he is saying is if it takes 20 Anadrols per day during the last 2 weeks of peaking then thats what he will do. I imagine a full 10ml's of Test Base were pinned before that deadlift attempt - also. It would of been interesting to hear what Thor also ran before that 501kg he did, because clearly by lift day he was SMASHING gear in Big time by the look of his face! Lol Not just down to the gear though - they are HUGE blokes to begin with. Creatures from another world.
For sure I bet the body is trying to protect itself and the spinal area by simply shutting you off from activating it all, same as pain receptors stopping you grinding a rep. Its a shame there isn't new recovery methods being researched as to how to help recover the nervous system better and quicker, as far as I know all you can do is rest and more importantly sleep. Tonnes of protein and a lot of carbs. Mind you Eddie does have his cryo chamber for the Oxygen therapy which he believes a lot in, I bet it helps too.
I'm looking at my old spreadsheet from November 2021. I hadn't been to the gym in a few months. I weighed 196. The first day I go, my buddy had me doing 225 deadlift for reps. Wow. Ouch. That whole weekend I did nothing but drink water and eat like a dinosaur and sleep like a baby. I also stopped taking adderall, stopped drinking and stopped smoking. 3 weeks later guess what I weighed? 212! That's 16 pounds!
This is the thing mate - once you begin lifting weights it naturally forces you away from all the bad, shitty things in life as you no longer have a taste for them like you do when you are not lifting or doing anything. The thought of drinking alcohol when all you want to do is eat and drink fluid turns your stomach, smoking goes completely against your training and hampers your lungs.
But we can sure BET not many people are training real high intensity…. Im probably included in them