FORUMS > Body Building Forum Rules

I've got two questions regarding this subject.

First off, I know you're suppose to rest 48 hours after a workout to give your body a chance to recover, but is it still okay to work out that particular muscle group 48 hours later even if it's still sore? Or should I just wait?

Also, I was just curious... will a person's body continue to get results the entire time it's sore or will it only get results the night after a workout?

Sorry if I worded my questions oddly :O

i think it depends on your age how quickly your muscles recover.. and also depends on how long you've been working out. Usually after 48 hrs if ur still sore.. working out the same muscles gets rid of the soreness.

i've come to realize the more i work out, the less sore i am. i actually workout for a series of days in a row, for weeks at a time, and then i give myself down time or recovery for a couple of days straight. sometimes i'll take a week off. if you're feeling particularly sore, up your potassium intake (eat more bananas) to counteract the lactic acid that's building up in your muscles. be sure and stretch too.

if your still sore after 48 hours, you need to start taking some kind of recovery suppliment. Your body MUST have its recovery time. By working out that hard you have broken down your individual muscle fibers. Now they need to heal. By not takeing enough recovery time your body cannot build the muscle back up. U will not gain size in this manner. However, doing this will make you stronger, if your goal is strength, then yes you can work out on the same sore muscle group. So depending on what kind of results your looking for, work out accordingly. Hope that helps answer your questions.

I have been following Mike Mentzer's High Intensity Principles, and although I may perhaps be missing details, here is what I understand regarding rest and recovery:

- Exercise is stress. For illustration, assume that Monday is an arm workout. It does not matter whether you just exercise your arms on Monday, because your entire nervous system is employed and taxed to perform the exercise.
Therefore, utilizing Seyle's principles of stress adaptation, one must permit the nervous system adequate time to recover from the stressor before adaptation can occur. Sure your legs are fresh to workout on Tuesday, but your central nervous system probably isn't.

-Regarding the glycogen recovery process, you don't utilize the glycogen stores in your arms only. Your body utilizes gylcogen stores from your entire body to feed our working muscles energy. Therefore, similar to the central nervous system, it needs to be replenished, even though your legs are fresh for Tuesday.

-Before growth can occur, recovery must occur. Muscular glycogen replenishment happens generally within 24 hours, and nervous system recovery within 48 hours. But if you train very intensely (i.e. heavy weights), the body requires more time to fully recover. So, 48 hours, in mine and Mentzer's minds, is the minimum rest interval you should utilize when training with heavy weight lifting/working towards complete exhaustion. Actual growth happens within day 3, 4, 5, etc. Many of Mike's clients noticed hypertrophy even after 1-2 weeks of non-exercise. Now he does not recommend designing your programs with weeks of inactivity; however, to illustrate, the body requires much time to adapt/grow.
Basically, if your body is stressed out about thinking of your next workout, then it probably has not recovered enough.

- Rather than utilize supplementation, FOOD is the best 'supplement'. Ensure that you are eating the appropriate amount of calories and that they are properly distributed among the 3 macro-nutrients (carb, fat, protein) according to your body's metabolic type.

If you are interested in reading material regarding recovery, I suggest:
- High Intensity Training: The Mike Mentzer Way
- any textbook detailing the physiology of stress. Seyle is a good theorist to start with.

I hope this proved useful. Good luck in your jounrney, man!

I totally agree with that Militant Jock.


The one caveat is some people don't need so long to recover. There's a bunch of guys at my gym who go give days a week and work out intensely - and recover fine.

I'd say for most people, that just doesn't work.

Trouble is, none of us thinks that we are 'most people' ;)

While it is true that GENERALLY you don't need that long to recover
If you're a novice and your working out the same muscles while they're very sore you're likely to change the biomechanics to offset the soreness and THATS where the danger for most people lies

MilitantJock makes a good point.

Also to consider is what muscled groups are worked and how they affect the CNS. If you bust your ass in the gym and really fry your legs you are going to tax the CNS much more than really working out your arms. This is because the legs are a much larger muscle group and require a lot more expenditure from your body's resources in order to perform and complete the workout.

I believe it's relative compared to how you workout and how many sets you do. If you do 16 to 20 or more sets for a body part you will need more rest.

I generally train a body part every 8 days. I do anywhere from 12 to 22 sets total per body part.

Example: Legs
4 sets of regular squats
4 sets of leg presses
4 sets of front squats
4 sets of hack squats
4 sets of behind the leg squats

I'm sore for usually 4 days after doing this type of quad workout. I will do hamstrings with glutes on another day.

I don't advise doing more than 20-24 sets total in a day. Taking the CNS (central nervous system) without allowing adequate recuperation will take its toll on your health.