Rest and recovery.....

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WKR
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What are your thoughts on rest and recovery, extended (3-5 day) recovery periods and their frequency, regular days off and amount of good sleep daily? Age is an important factor here so please include your age. Occupation impacts this imo, sitting all day or physical work? Assuming 1-1.5 hrs of hard training on training days. What are you generally doing on training days? Thanks.
 
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Im 44 a truck driver , I’m constantly in and out of my truck so medium active , 3am-3pm shift. I split my rest days , but ultimately listen to my body. Doing a strength program right now through Crossfit , two weeks ago all lifts were down and just felt bad . Took three days off and came back feeling rejuvenated and very close to my 1 rep max in all lifts and conditioning times and reps were better. I get 5 -6 hours of sleep a day witch is not enough IMO
 

Poser

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The only true forms of recovery are eating and sleeping. Anything else, be it mowing the yard, working at a desk, or drinking at the bar, or, for that matter,walking to the bar, would fall under the “fatigue management” category. In a perfect world, an athlete would only be sleeping or eating when not training. Sense few people, if anyone, can actually meet that criteria, you do have to carefully consider how much training stress your body can handle in relation to how much sleep and quality eating you can get vs. how much additional fatigue and stress you experience living life.

If you’re training hard, you absolutely need more than 8 hours of sleep: 10 hours probably being the most ideal amount of sleep for real world conditions: job, family, social obligations etc and that probably requires a good amount of discipline and planning for most people with real lives to achieve. If i can get 8-10 hours of consistent sleep, I find that I seldom, if ever, need more than 48 consecutive hours of dedicated time off from training/sports. That being said, I do rest for 48 hours frequently. If I were getting less than 8 hours of consistent sleep, I imagine that I would need longer periods of consecutive rest days.
 

kda082

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Hey Zap, work desk job but mow 7 lawns as side gig, and my own place. 48, work out Tues, Thurs, Sat for 1.5 hrs. Have lifted 30 yrs, but trying new program of full body 3x per week. I still isolate but do 4-6 sets per body part. It’s weird but I’m making good gains. If I’m not feeling it I dial down the sets or intensity. I do short 2-3 mile runs 3x per week but low intensity so my legs recover. So far I like it better than splits I’ve done for years. It is odd not destroying a muscle with 12-15 sets per workout, but it’s easier to hit key movements and still getting same total sets per week just spread out. If I’m sore I can always skip a Thurs for extra recovery.
 
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This subject seems like something that professional athletes and trainers talk about, but doesn’t really apply to normal people. I’m 41 and typically workout 30 minutes a day. I consider the other 23-1/2 hours recovery. When I get more serious about getting ready for a trip, like I will in a month. I’ll double and often triple the amount of time I workout, and I’ll be much better off because of it. For me, it seems like the more time I can prioritize in my life for training the better off I am. It’s just hard to prioritize that much time all year round, and keep motivated. If I was a professional fighter going through a camp, training 6 hours a day, I would worry about recovery.


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I am just starting to get back into shape. Mechanic so fairly active for most of the day and then i come home and do push-ups sit ups and lunges then when I wake up in the morning I walk a mile. I have found for me if I take a day off I get lazy and don't want to keep going. I was once in good shape and was going to the gym every day, I was in decent shape then at around 20 years old and then took a couple days off after pushing myself too hard and then never got back to the gym and gained over 80 lbs. Even now if I take one day off I have to fight myself from making excuses to not do it. I am now 27.
 

Brendan

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For me, it's really about intensity of exercise. A real hard workout, I need two days off in between with good sleep and food or I will feel that I'm not 100%. 1 day seemed like it'd do it when I was younger, but no so much now that I'm almost 42.

I do have a desk job, but even on days that I'm not doing anything - I walk the dog 3-5 miles easy. Stay active and workout year round, somewhere between 10-15% body fat.

I try to get 8 hours of sleep daily, definitely doesn't always happen and end up needing a 10 hour catch up day...
 
OP
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WKR
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Jmo, but rest and recovery definetly applies to normal folks who are doing a 1-1.5 hr hard workout daily. Add in physical work daily and it becomes more important, then it becomes extremely important as you get older.
 
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Kootenay Hunter

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Intense 1 hour works outs. I don't do back to back days, but I do something in between...a run, something active. Your body will adjust if you keep it up. If you take 3-5 days of recovery, your body will never adjust and you won't increase your 'workout day stamina'. sometimes you have to push through the first few workouts sore and then things get better as your body kicks into gear so to speak.

I feel that the days I'm the sorest afterwards, I did not do enough 'recovery' activities after the workout: hydration and electrolyte replacement, protein, stretching, and cool down - a good walk afterwards to move out the lactic acid.

Ideally, I'd like to get to 4-5 back to back days with a couple days rest, more for just time spent doing other things than to rest the body.

I used to play/train competitive soccer 6-7 days a week and was never sore, the constant actively keeps you going.
 

LostArra

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The only true forms of recovery are eating and sleeping. Anything else, be it mowing the yard, working at a desk, or drinking at the bar, or, for that matter,walking to the bar, would fall under the “fatigue management” category. In a perfect world, an athlete would only be sleeping or eating when not training. Sense few people, if anyone, can actually meet that criteria, you do have to carefully consider how much training stress your body can handle in relation to how much sleep and quality eating you can get vs. how much additional fatigue and stress you experience living life.

If you’re training hard, you absolutely need more than 8 hours of sleep: 10 hours probably being the most ideal amount of sleep for real world conditions: job, family, social obligations etc and that probably requires a good amount of discipline and planning for most people with real lives to achieve. If i can get 8-10 hours of consistent sleep, I find that I seldom, if ever, need more than 48 consecutive hours of dedicated time off from training/sports. That being said, I do rest for 48 hours frequently. If I were getting less than 8 hours of consistent sleep, I imagine that I would need longer periods of consecutive rest days.

8-10 HOURS OF SLEEP?? In one night?? I'm doomed!
 
OP
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WKR
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33

If you take 3-5 days of recovery, your body will never adjust and you won't increase your 'workout day stamina'.

Just to clarify, I was referring to a periodic longer rest period not a routine one when I mentioned 3-5 days. Something like every 6 months or so. Hitting it for 4-8 days straight and then taking a day or two off due to feeling worn down just is not working for me so I am looking to modify that to something more routine. Imo the regular regiment of a strict routine is the best way for progress to be made. I am going to try 3 on and 2 off starting tomorrow, strength/free weights after work and a short weighted road ruck (plan to start at 50# - 1 mile and add 1/4 mile each 3 day session till 3 miles then stabilize at that distance) before bedtime for 3 straight and then two days no fitness exercise just work exercise. As per usual plans may be modified as needed....plus I have to find a way to work some swimming in there....maybe day 2 instead of the ruck?
 
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Brendan

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Intense 1 hour works outs. I don't do back to back days, but I do something in between...a run, something active. Your body will adjust if you keep it up. If you take 3-5 days of recovery, your body will never adjust and you won't increase your 'workout day stamina'. sometimes you have to push through the first few workouts sore and then things get better as your body kicks into gear so to speak.

I feel that the days I'm the sorest afterwards, I did not do enough 'recovery' activities after the workout: hydration and electrolyte replacement, protein, stretching, and cool down - a good walk afterwards to move out the lactic acid.

Ideally, I'd like to get to 4-5 back to back days with a couple days rest, more for just time spent doing other things than to rest the body.

I used to play/train competitive soccer 6-7 days a week and was never sore, the constant actively keeps you going.

One comment to add here..

I agree with you as a 33 year old. But, my early 40's has been very different than my early 30's. I absolutely need more rest and recovery even if we're not talking 3-6 days at a time, although those get worked in periodically through the year... Probably a trend that continues into 50's and beyond.

My strategy is low level walking / biking / machine rest days coupled with stretching and foam rollers, low to medium intensity endurance work, and less frequent but high intensity workouts no more than 2-3x a week. If I'm feeling tired - high intensity has to wait.
 
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WKR
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One thing for sure.....if you have higher fitness goals and your older you need to have a good plan, persistence and patience.
 

Poser

WKR
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Just to clarify, I was referring to a periodic longer rest period not a routine one when I mentioned 3-5 days. Something like every 6 months or so. Hitting it for 4-8 days straight and then taking a day or two off due to feeling worn down just is not working for me so I am looking to modify that to something more routine. Imo the regular regiment of a strict routine is the best way for progress to be made. I am going to try 3 on and 2 off starting tomorrow, strength/free weights after work and a short weighted road ruck (plan to start at 50# - 1 mile and add 1/4 mile each 3 day session till 3 miles then stabilize at that distance) before bedtime for 3 straight and then two days no fitness exercise just work exercise. As per usual plans may be modified as needed....plus I have to find a way to work some swimming in there....maybe day 2 instead of the ruck?

It really all depends on how stressful these sessions are, how much sleep you’re getting and how well you eat but 3 consecutive training days is potentially a lot of stress for the average guy with average recovery abilities.
For a somekind of a frame of reference, the US Men’s cycling team trains 5 days a week in 3/1 and 2/1 splits and sleep a mandatory 10 hours a night + naps during the day.

The stress of training sessions only has a benefit if you capitalize upon the recovery and adaptation. Just putting in the work for the sake of putting in the work and not capitalizing from the Stress-Recovery-Adaptation cycle offers little return on your work investment. That being the case, a person who trains 3 days a week intelligently and puts effort into sleeping and eating can easily produce better results than someone doing 5 days a week just for the sake of doing 5 days a week. Recovery quality trumps training volume almost every time, particularly when we’re talking average joe’s with jobs, family and mental stress. If you’re only sleeping 6-7 hours a night like the average American is, a training program designed for someone sleeping 70 hours a week isn’t going to work so well. Sleep is training.
 

OXN939

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Just to clarify, I was referring to a periodic longer rest period not a routine one when I mentioned 3-5 days. Something like every 6 months or so. Hitting it for 4-8 days straight and then taking a day or two off due to feeling worn down just is not working for me so I am looking to modify that to something more routine. Imo the regular regiment of a strict routine is the best way for progress to be made. I am going to try 3 on and 2 off starting tomorrow, strength/free weights after work and a short weighted road ruck (plan to start at 50# - 1 mile and add 1/4 mile each 3 day session till 3 miles then stabilize at that distance) before bedtime for 3 straight and then two days no fitness exercise just work exercise. As per usual plans may be modified as needed....plus I have to find a way to work some swimming in there....maybe day 2 instead of the ruck?

Definitely work the longer ~72 hour rest periods in every 3 or 4 months. Also, a lot of people interpret that as "take 48-72 hours off from working out." If you use that time to drink a bunch of beers and not sleep very much, you're getting zero benefit out of it. Make sure you drink close to a gallon of water a day, sleep at least 7 hours, and do some deep tissue stretching.
 
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It really all depends on how stressful these sessions are, how much sleep you’re getting and how well you eat but 3 consecutive training days is potentially a lot of stress for the average guy with average recovery abilities.
For a somekind of a frame of reference, the US Men’s cycling team trains 5 days a week in 3/1 and 2/1 splits and sleep a mandatory 10 hours a night + naps during the day.

The stress of training sessions only has a benefit if you capitalize upon the recovery and adaptation. Just putting in the work for the sake of putting in the work and not capitalizing from the Stress-Recovery-Adaptation cycle offers little return on your work investment. That being the case, a person who trains 3 days a week intelligently and puts effort into sleeping and eating can easily produce better results than someone doing 5 days a week just for the sake of doing 5 days a week. Recovery quality trumps training volume almost every time, particularly when we’re talking average joe’s with jobs, family and mental stress. If you’re only sleeping 6-7 hours a night like the average American is, a training program designed for someone sleeping 70 hours a week isn’t going to work so well. Sleep is training.

This is theory talk. This all sounds good, but I don’t see it in practice. From what I see, all the best performers are the hardest workers. Most of the problem with our culture is people not working hard enough, not a lack of rest. Maybe if I believed anyone was really putting in an hour and a half of hard work, I’d consider this being a real thing. In an hour and a half at the gym weight lifting, most of the time is spent waiting in between sets (recovery).


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OP
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WKR
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Definitely work the longer ~72 hour rest periods in every 3 or 4 months. Also, a lot of people interpret that as "take 48-72 hours off from working out." If you use that time to drink a bunch of beers and not sleep very much, you're getting zero benefit out of it. Make sure you drink close to a gallon of water a day, sleep at least 7 hours, and do some deep tissue stretching.

(y) I do not drink alcohol, stay very well hydrated year round and try to get 10 hours of rest a day.
 
OP
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WKR
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This is theory talk. This all sounds good, but I don’t see it in practice. From what I see, all the best performers are the hardest workers. Most of the problem with our culture is people not working hard enough, not a lack of rest. Maybe if I believed anyone was really putting in an hour and a half of hard work, I’d consider this being a real thing. In an hour and a half at the gym weight lifting, most of the time is spent waiting in between sets (recovery).


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'Always strive to be the hardest worker in the room'..The Rock.
If your in the gym and look around and your honestly working harder than 90% of the people there your doing good. I take timed 2:30 between sets and do band isometrics for shoulders 75% of the time between each set. Honestly, not that many people are really pushing hard so I agree with you 100%.
 

OXN939

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(y) I do not drink alcohol, stay very well hydrated year round and try to get 10 hours of rest a day.

Sounds like you're set! Hot yoga is a good one, too- classes aren't cheap, but it's huge for flexibility and thereby injury prevention. I'll go to 3 or 4 in the next 50 days between now and my next hunt.
 
OP
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WKR
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Yoga classes are free at my gym for members...I guess I should start going.
 
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