Sunday, May 4, 2008

Muscle building tips: The importance of the recovery phase

Muscle building tips: The importance of the recovery phase
Have you spent any time browsing through the bodybuilding
magazines at your local bookstore? If so, you've probably
seen quite a few recommendations on how to improve your
workout, not to mention the ton of advertisements for the
latest supplement fad. Likewise, you may have heard talk
around the gym about which techniques are best for
weightlifting or which supplements you should take.
Unfortunately, chances are you've heard little about the
importance of a recovery program for building muscle. If
you've struggled to make progress in the gym, or if you
started out with great gains only to have quickly reached a
plateau, then this discussion is for you.

In order to explain the recovery phase, we should first
review how muscle is built. If you want to force your body
to grow muscle, you first have to give your body a reason
to build it. After all, biologically muscle is difficult
to maintain, and your body would rather not have to deal
with it. If you wish to stimulate new muscle growth, you
must give your body a reason to need it.

When you lift a heavy weight and challenge your muscle
beyond its previous limits, muscle fibers are torn and must
be repaired. Your body will rebuild the muscle with more
mass and strength than before in order to prevent this kind
of stress from recurring in the future. What does this
have to do with the recovery phase?

Muscles must be given enough time to rebuild before they
are put under this kind of pressure again. This requires
adequate raw materials from your diet, but it also requires
significant amounts of rest. You must limit the frequency
of your workouts to make sure your body is ready, and many
experts recommend only a few hours of training per week.
You can think of this concept as Less is More.

Training to exhaustion, for example, is usually considered
over training and can put a heavy strain on your nervous
system and immune system, not to mention your muscles
themselves. Because your nervous and immune systems take
longer than your muscles to recover, you need to be very
careful to avoid over training in the gym. You'll probably
find yourself overdoing it from time to time, but be
careful not to make this a habit.

By following this simple but crucial advice, you can avoid
long-term injury or illness from over training. Moreover,
you'll have a better time progressing through your workouts
and building muscle from week to week if you give yourself
enough time to recover between workouts.


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If you would like to learn more about how to gain weight,
visit Jon Cardozo's Web site at
http://maximum-muscle-gain.com . Learn the secrets to
building a muscular physique and avoid the myths of the
bodybuilding industry. Brought to you by Jcardozium.

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