Hello Everyone,

I would like to share some research with all of you about your proper REST after weight training or a hard workout.

Rest assured, don't sabotage your gym and diet efforts by underestimating the importance of recuperation.

Exercise, diet and rest form the triangle of physical growth. If you're lacking in any one of these three sides, your triangle will effectively collapse into a flat line. It's safe to assume all of you realize the importance of weight training and nutrition in weight training, and yet you probably spend little time focusing on recuperation.

It's time to wake up and stop taking recuperation for granted. You must give it some of the same analytical thought and effort you put into working out and eating. There are two main reasons for doing this. First, how well you plan your recuperation will have a direct effect on how well you work out and how well you eat.

Training, nutrition and rest are interdependent. Second as you've likely heard before, it's only when you're resting that you are truly growing. During weight training, you essentially deplete your muscles. When you eat and drink, you replenish them. When you rest, they grow, hopefully stronger and larger than ever before. If you don't get enough rest and the right kind of rest your physique will never reach its true potential.

Here's a basic guide to maximizing recuperation for your weight training benefit.

SHORT-TERM NEEDS

Most recuperation takes place immediately after completing a set of exercises. You gain back more than 90% of your strength within one minute.

Thirty seconds to a minute is a normal rest period. Wait even longer between especially heavy sets of basic exercises. The clock is much less important than the signals your body gives you. Perform another set only when your breathing has returned to normal and you feel most of your strength has returned. There are times when you want to train quickly, and there are techniques that depend on little if any rest between sets. However, in most circumstances, you should allow yourself to almost completely recover from one set before beginning another.

Immediately after a workout, endeavor to stay warm. Warmth maintains your muscle pump longer, and a pump will keep your muscles loose and keep necessary nutrients coursing toward the depleted cells, thus fostering recuperation.

Conversely, cold can diminish a muscle pump and stiffen muscles and joints. In addition to the obvious benefits for your friends and family, a hot shower after a workout can also help to keep muscles warm and recovering.

HOW MUCH REST?

Healthy muscles will recover from workouts on their own, with no special prompting other than a proper diet and an adequate amount of rest. It generally takes three to five days for a bodypart to recuperate and grow after an intense weight-training session.

Averaging this to four days means a muscle trained on Monday should be ready for another session on Friday and then again on the following Tuesday.

Let soreness be your guide. Mild muscle soreness the day after a workout is a good thing. It highlights the fact that you had a productive session. Muscle cells have been depleted, and they'll need time to recover and grow back stronger than ever.

Don't train that bodypart again until the soreness has all but disappeared. In other words, if a muscle trained on Monday is still sore on Friday, skip a day or two until the soreness abates. If soreness is etreme, if it is located anywhere but your muscles or if it persists without diminishing for a week, it is something other than a precursor to muscle growth and you should consult a doctor.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your body is to skip going to the gym. If you continually stress a bodypart before it can recover, it will merely get weaker and smaller. If you allow it to recuperate after such stress, it will grow stronger and bigger.

Always guard against overtraining. THE HARDER YOU TRAIN, THE MORE REST YOU NEED.

SLEEP

As an adult, it's important that you get approximately eight hours per night of continuous or nearly continuous deep sleep to experience enough body and mind to properly be refreshed. Nearly everyone suffers from occasional insomnia, especially during periods of increased stress. More than 75% of all insomnia is caused by anxiety.

If you have trouble sleeping, avoid CAFFEINE and other stimulants in the evening and develop a pattern of going to bed and waking at the same time each day. MILK, which contains the sleep-assisting amino acid tryptophan, may be of some help, as may natural supplements and over-the -counter medication. Please be cautious using such so you don't become dependent on a pill. If sleep disorder persists, consult a doctor.

STRESS

Stress depletes your energy reserves and slows down your body's recuperation. Stress can come in the form of anxiety or it can be caused by physical hindrances, such as drugs, alcohol, illness or an improper diet. The physical hindrances are the easiest to combat. You must simply eliminate or minimize such problems.

A healthy lifestyle void of drugs or alcohol and with plenty of WATER, PROTEIN, NATURAL FOODS, VITAMINS AND MINERALS will allow your muscles to most quickly recover from workouts.

Working out when sick even if you're suffering only from the common cold, is often counterproductive, because illness saps your ability to recover from workouts.

ENHANCING RECUPERATION

There are things you can do to aid recuperation beyond getting enough sleep and nutrients and keeping stress in check.

Stretching not only keeps your muscles and joints pliable, but it can also increase blood flow, assisting recuperation. If you WAKE UP SORE, STRETCH the ACHING MUSCLES. Massage helps loosen tight and sore muscles and increase blood flow. Heat can also aid recuperation whether it's applied in the form of a whirlpool, a sauna, heating pads or a warm bath. Whirlpools are often the best method, becausse they provide both heat and a water massage. Warmer than average temperatures bring blood to the skin and the muscles, thus keeping your body loose and recuperating. Warmth can also help to alleviate minor joint pain.

Relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga aid muscle recuperation. These techniques help allevaite stress, and stress may be impeding the speed at which you recover from workouts.

REST AND GROW

Just as you can't grow without enough exercise and nutrients, you also can't grow without enough rest. Pay close attention to how your body is recuperating from workouts and how you can improve this crucial element of your regimen. Don't think of the time you spend out of the gym as resting. Think of it as growing!