Rest sore muscles? Rule-of-Thumb?
Steven York
understand that sore muscles are the result of muscle damage, calcium going
to this damage, and the muscle repairing itself. I've also read that these
muscles should not be worked on for at least 24 hours to give them time to
rejuvinate.
My question is, if (at the end of 48 hours) if the muscles are still sore,
is it okay to work on them again?
--SY
Screachy Preachy
Yeah--basically the damage is already done! What you want to
avoid, next time around, is damaging *new* tissue!
It is a misconception that you tear down muscle to build
muscle. The two are simply *coincident* to one common stimulus: high
exertion.
The best way to do this is to try to *anticipate* the onset of
DOMS, and stop just short of it. If you do this, you will have your
cake and be able to eat it, too: You will have exerted the muscle
sufficiently to signal the hypertrophy response (eventually), WITHOUT
having damaged any muscle.
My understanding is that these damaged muscle fibres CANNOT be
repaired, so they are *lost*!. One gets stronger IN SPITE of DOMS, not
because of it. DOMS is essentially a sub-cutaneous inflammation due to
dying cells, with the full entourage of histamine, WBC attack, and
everything else that makes you hurt. Avoid it.
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Kristofer Hogg, ms, rd
HoloBarre Rehab/Fitness/Stretching Systems, Yonkers, NY
to email: Remove the numeric value of pi in my address
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Michael
I'd like to make a suggestion. I'm not formally educated in nutrition
or physical fitness, but I am quite an enthousiast, and have done as
much reading as I can on these topics. Regarding the rest time for
your muscles, it actually depends on a few different factors. Yes,
all muscles require a minimum or 24 hours, actually more likely 36
hours to recouperate. But that's a minimum. The size of the muscle
and the quality of your diet are also critical factors in determining
how much time a muscle needs to recouperate. Biceps for example, a
rather small muscle group, need about 36 hours after a moderate
workout, 48 hours after a more intense one. This is only though if
you're taking in adequate proteins, cabs, vitamins and minerals. (By
the way protein intake is mistakenly exaggerated by a lot of people.
If you're eating higher quality proteins, 1 gram per pound of LEAN
body mass is enough. If you really are gung ho about it, 1 gram per
pound of bodyweight is the max you should consume. Exceeding that can
be toxic, particularly to the kidneys. It's unnecessarily expensive
too.) Anyway, a larger muscle group, such as your quadriceps for
example (most of your upper leg) usually need 4-6 days rest, again,
depending on the intesity of your workouts. I'd like to add one more
point that I learned by trial and error. If you eat like a typical
person, you'll gain muscle like a typical person. If you really want
to gain muscle, get a good book about sports nutrition and take it
seriously. I KNOW from experience that diet has had the most impact
on my physique. You can workout until you're blue in the face, but if
you're not eating accordingly, you just won't get good results. Good
luck!
z_bumbi
> It is a misconception that you tear down muscle to build
> muscle. The two are simply *coincident* to one common stimulus: high
> exertion.
This was something new for me...
> My understanding is that these damaged muscle fibres CANNOT be
> repaired, so they are *lost*!.
This too, where have you read something stupid like that ?
Bjorn
michae...@hotmail.com (Michael) wrote in message news:<459412d0.0306...@posting.google.com>...
>If you really are gung ho about it, 1 gram per
> pound of bodyweight is the max you should consume. Exceeding that can
> be toxic, particularly to the kidneys.
Toxic ? For a healty person ? Where can I read about this very
alarming fact ? I haven´t found anything that supports it and as many
people who participates in different sports eat more than that amount
it´t hard to see that it would be true. Many obese people also go over
this "limit" for that matter.
>It's unnecessarily expensive
> too.)
This may be true though..
>Anyway, a larger muscle group, such as your quadriceps for
> example (most of your upper leg) usually need 4-6 days rest, again,
> depending on the intesity of your workouts.
Between 4-12 days is what my books and experience says but as for legs
it´s mostly more than less anyway :)
>I KNOW from experience that diet has had the most impact
> on my physique. You can workout until you're blue in the face, but if
> you're not eating accordingly, you just won't get good results.
This is the best advice ever.
Bjorn