Taken from LBEB site
Lately there has been a large influx of new followers
on the Facebook page, and with that inevitably comes questions regarding
frequency of training. More than a few people asked me and the athletes why we
say to squat every day, stating that they heard "muscles need at least 48-72
hours to recover."
Not sure where this tidbit of information originated,
but it seems to be a blanket statement that does not apply to all the different
facets of strength training protocols. I have divided recovery into what I
consider to be three important aspects that I will touch upon in this
article:
1. The quality of recovery time is more
important than the quantity.
Coach Mike Burgener
once said "There is no such thing as overtraining, just under-recovery."
This statement holds true for all of us. Sure, you can bust your butt during
training and take 48 hours off in between workouts, and still have joint pains,
poor performance, and minimal gains. Why?
Your recovery time may be wasted. Simply taking time
off does not ensure proper recovery. If you spending your recovery time eating
processed crap, sitting at the computer(with forward
head posture) and not spending any time working on SMR, getting proper
sleep, or keeping your joints happy, then you are not truly recovering.
Personally for me, if I have papers and posts to write over a weekend when I
take two days off, I will feel worse on Monday after those two days than if I
were to take one day off, due to sitting in a compromised position.
If your recovery is on point, you can easily work a 4-5
day split every week, following proper periodization protocols, which will be
explained below. Start treating your recovery as another part of your training,
because it is.
2. The amount of volume, load, and frequency play an
important part in recovery time.
It's fairly common knowledge that the amount of muscle
and CNS stimulus has a direct effect on progress made: Too much stimulus and
injuries/burnouts can occur, too little stimulus and no progress will be
made.
When we say that we squat every day, we aren't
squatting 90-100% of our max every day, it varies based on the program, and the
protocol for reps is as follows: as the volume (# of reps) decrease, the load
(weight) increases. Following this protocol will allow lifters to train 4-5 days
a week with proper recovery and program design. Arguably the most effective
training protocol for a drug-free lifter is "supercompensation." Coach Mike
Conroy once told me that supercompensation will give a drug-free lifter about
90% of the results of a lifter who uses drugs, the caveat being that it will
take 3-4 years longer to reach the same goal.
Supercompensation follows a simple protocol:
% = % of maxes
% = % of maxes
Week 1: 65%
Week 2: 70%
Week 3: 60%
Week 4:75%
Week 2: 70%
Week 3: 60%
Week 4:75%
This type of program can be used in a 4, 8 or 12 week
program, following the outline of 2 preparatory weeks, 1 deload week, and 1
performance week. The percentages will increase as the months progress, usually
with an end goal in mind, such as a meet. As the percentage increases, the
volume decreases, allowing for proper recovery time between workouts. This
example applies particularly to Olympic Weightlifting, but can be slightly
altered for other sports as well, which brings us to our last
topic.
3. Different goals require different lengths of
recovery time.
The notion that 48-72 hours is required most likely
came from the realm of bodybuilding, where allowing time for muscle growth is of
the upmost importance. Thibadeau states that
different muscles take different lengths of time to recover, depending on the
size of the muscle, I would add to that the set and rep scheme when calculating
recovery time.
Obviously a bodybuilder, whose goal is to create as
much micro-tears in the muscle tissue (4x12) is going to be different than a
powerlifter whose concern is to see strength/power gains by focusing on less
reps and heavier weight (5x2). The powerlifter's rep scheme will create more
stress on the CNS than the actual muscles themselves, which will allow for a
faster recovery time. Although, a smart powerlifter will be doing assistance
exercises to create more muscle tissue as well.
I agree with Chaos&Pain
(NSFW, unless you work for me) that I think too many athletes are overly
concerned with recovery and are afraid of putting in a lot of hard work. It
doesn't take steroids to be an exceptional athlete, you may not end up like
Klokov, but with what we know about chemistry, neuroscience, and recovery
abilities, you can get pretty damn close to the level of a moderate steroid user
if you do your research on optimal recovery practices that are
legal.
However, to all you Crossfitters: please take MORE rest
days. Most gyms post workouts that are made for an athlete who is 100% recharged
and ready to go, not someone who has done 6 WODS in a row and hasn't slept more
than 4 hours a night all week. I see too many people get injured simply because
they don't take enough rest days from Crossfit, the stress on the CNS from back
to back WODs is unbelievable. Eating peanut butter and drinking Progenex will
not turn you into Froning, so please take a damn rest day.
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