Rest and listening to your body

There may be a time when you are so focused that you want to go 6 to 7 days a week of high intensity workouts, but your body needs recovery time. Especially when dealing with resistance training, this rest period is very important and we recommend 2 to 3 days for the same muscles groups. 

When performing resistance training exercises, the muscle is being broken down and if you do not give it the proper rest time then the muscle cannot rebuild stronger. Delayed on-set muscle soreness is a condition of muscle soreness that is experienced by someone who has completed an intense workout in the previous 24 to 48 hours. This is believed to be cause by microscopic tears in the muscle fiber. The only known method to really deal with this is rest and workload progression, or working up to weights so the muscles are not being shocked as much. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, shows little to no reduction of this soreness. 

So, we need to learn how to listen to our bodies and give it the proper rest. Working out with a slight soreness is not necessarily a bad thing, but if you are too sore to perform resistance exercises for that muscle group then switch up your routine a little. Allow your muscle groups to recover and enjoy your workouts :)

Aptitude Wellness Consulting© 2009