The importance of rest

I have just discovered why having rest days are important. This week, I've been to the gym on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. I had previously  managed to have at least one day off between gym work outs. So going on both Sunday and Monday were out of character. Monday, when compared to Sunday's workout felt weaker. However, take a day off and Wednesday's session was really good. I felt powerful, and actually pushed heavier weights around tonight.

Also, another thing that bears this out is that you do your muscle growing outside of the gym, ie between sessions. This means your rest days are for recovery and growth. I think that 48 hours between sessions might not be enough. You see, inadequate rest and recovery leads to overtraining and in fact either stalling your progress, or even moving backwards.

Once I discover a way of measuring my progress, maybe by weights added per month, i'll switch to a 72 hour gap between sessions to see if either my weights get lower or my growth gets bigger. The ideal situation is a balance between forcing your muscle development an allowing time to recover and grow.

I think that more research is required.

Anyway, weigh in tomorrow, and I've not been 100% good on the diet. Not even close. :-)