Recovery Time between workouts

[speedo]

The problem is that there's no real quantifiable way (that I'm aware of) to determine if you're fully recovered or not, so we just end up going on feeling alone. Am I the type that will recover in 4 days? Or the one that might need 10 days? Who knows? The only tangible sign that we haven't fully recovered yet is muscle soreness but that doesn't always happen with every workout, so I don't think that going on muscle soreness, or lack thereof, is a very reliable indicator either.

I've referred to George Sheehan before. He was a cardiologist and marathoner who wrote for Runners World. He used to say "We are each an experiment of one." The point being, we each have to learn to listen to our own body to learn what we can and can't, should or shouldn't do.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

Baron, as an aside, it seems we're approaching the issue from opposite ends. You'd like to determine how soon you can work out again whereas I'm more interested in finding out how little I can do to get pretty much the same outcome.

 

[Baron]

Baron, as an aside, it seems we're approaching the issue from opposite ends. You'd like to determine how soon you can work out again whereas I'm more interested in finding out how little I can do to get pretty much the same outcome.

Haha... Pretty much!

 

[speedo]

Fred, Have you read Static Contraction Training by Peter Sisco?

 

[rocketman987]

Baron, as an aside, it seems we're approaching the issue from opposite ends. You'd like to determine how soon you can work out again whereas I'm more interested in finding out how little I can do to get pretty much the same outcome.

It's almost the same however, you can't get the same outcome by training less, once recovered. Baron and you will be recovered, but he'll have more workouts, more stimulus in the similar time frame. He'll get bigger, sooner.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

Fred, Have you read Static Contraction Training by Peter Sisco?

No, I did not. I had to look it up. I see that it is co-authored by John Little, who also co-authored Doug McGuff's Body By Science as well as some of Mentzer's work. Little also wrote about something called Max Contraction, which sounds like the same thing. It sounds isometric-y, which I don't find very appealing, since I prefer full range of motion. But to be fair, I don't know enough about it to render a valid opinion. Could you give a few highlights, and do you use it, yourself?

 

[Frederick Foresight]

Baron and you will be recovered, but he'll have more workouts, more stimulus in the similar time frame. He'll get bigger, sooner.

And let's not kid ourselves, after working out for so many years, and at my age, I can't really expect to get stronger or larger anyway. Not that I'm an amazing physical specimen by any stretch, but my strongest and biggest days are behind me. That's just how it is. And while I'd like to get a bit bigger and a bit stronger, increased volume and frequency didn't do it.

 

[rocketman987]

Isometric will never get you as big as concentric/eccentric.

 

[rocketman987]

Then, what you want to do is prevent atrophy. This doesn't take much frequency at all. However, you might lose a little skill at lifting in the movement with less frequency.

Much about what is called "strength" is about skill, and not raw torque. especially with the more complex compound moves.

 

[Frederick Foresight]

Then, what you want to do is prevent atrophy. This doesn't take much frequency at all. However, you might lose a little skill at lifting in the movement with less frequency.

Much about what is called "strength" is about skill, and not raw torque. especially with the more complex compound moves.

Yes, but I'm still working out as though I'm looking to gain in strength and size. "Maintenance" sounds like coasting. If you saw my workout, I don't think you'd see it as coasting. As for the frequency, I already noted that I hit a plateau at higher volume and frequency, so why bother with higher volume and frequency if less gives me the same outcome? The only thing that I haven't decreased is intensity. I have arguably increased it because I now hold briefly at concentric failure and finish with a very slow negative, plus I do 2 drop sets in similar fashion for each of a couple of exercises.