Friday, May 15, 2009

Muscle building and the importance of getting enough rest

By Jon Cardozo

Have you ever wondered how often you should be training in the gym? Once when I was taking some lessons from a personal trainer, I visited the local gym several times in one week.

A while back I visited a gym and had a session with a personal trainer for a few days. One thing that struck me was that several people kept showing up every day to do the exact same exercises. When I had a quick conversation with them, they boasted that they worked out several days a week.

After speaking to a lot of experienced trainers and doing research on my own, it's become clear that many beginners make a lot of mistakes in the gym. One of the most dangerous things for a new trainee to do is spend way too much time in the gym.

Believe it or not, over training can result in a number of significant symptoms. You can actually becoming ill if you don't give your body a chance to recover after a series of long hard workouts.

Even if you don't become sick, you may not be getting the results you want if you spent far too much time in the gym.

Remember why muscle grows in the first place. When you lift a weight that is more than your body is accustomed to, you are stimulating the muscles to grow.

This process can continue throughout the next day, so if you don't give your body a rest your muscle building efforts will probably suffer eventually. You can tell this is happening if you fail to progress during the next workout. Your body really does need to rest in order to prepare for the next, more challenging workout.

Remember to give your muscles enough rest if you're serious about maximizing your muscle building efforts.

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