I’m sure you’ve heard that old bodybuilding adage before.
Well, there’s truth in it.
Weightlifting alone doesn’t make your muscles bigger and stronger. That’s what happens after the workouts.
That’s why the work that your body does to repair the stress and damage caused by training is just as important as the work you do in the gym to stress and damage your muscles.
The bottom line is if you’re not fully recovering from your workouts, you’re going to gain muscle and strength slower than you should.
This goes beyond muscle soreness, too.
The presence or absence of soreness is a factor to consider, but it’s not the acid test of post-workout recovery. Just because you’re not sore doesn’t mean your body is ready for another hard workout (and, on the flip side, just because a muscle group is sore doesn’t mean it can’t be trained again).
You see, heavy weightlifting places a lot of stress on the body that goes beyond muscle damage. It impacts your joints, glycogen stores, and nervous and endocrine systems, and it leaves a residue of systemic fatigue and inflammation that accumulates over time.
Your body does an excellent job of setting all this right, though, if you give it what it needs, which boils down these five steps:
1. Eat enough calories 2. Eat enough protein 3. Eat enough carbohydrate 4. Get ~8 hours of quality sleep every night 5. Take the right supplements
Let’s dive in and learn how to do each correctly.
What did you think of this episode? Have anything else to share? Let me know in the comments below!
Mike Matthews is the founder and CEO of Legion as well as the author of several award-winning fitness books, including Bigger Leaner Stronger, Muscle for Life, and The Shredded Chef.
His simple and science-based approach to building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy has sold over a million books and helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever, and his work has been featured in many popular outlets including Esquire, Men’s Health, Elle, Women’s Health, Muscle & Strength, and more, as well as on FOX and ABC.
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